By Nate Poppino - Times-News writer Posted: Monday, February 1, 2010 2:00 am (0)
Renea Kelley wipes her eye while praying during a Magic Valley Baptist Association 5th Sunday Sing held at Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls. Members of Eastside and Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian are being held in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, after attempting to take children outside the country without proper papers. (Drew Godleski/ For the Times-News)
Members of two southern Idaho churches on Sunday bowed their heads in prayer for their friends and fellow believers, imprisoned in Haiti after trying to take a group of Haitian children outside the country.
Meanwhile, the jailed Americans prepared to face a Haitian judge today, while the orphanage that took in the 33 children reported some still had living parents.
The 10 U.S. Baptists, including people from Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls and Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian and residents of Texas and Kansas, were arrested by Haitian officials on Friday while trying to take the children across the border to the Dominican Republic without proper paperwork. The group said it simply was trying to rescue them from the earthquake-ravaged country, but Haitian Prime Minister Max Bellerive and other officials said they believe the Americans were part of an illegal adoption ring.
Detained members of Eastside’s congregation include Pastor Paul Thompson, 43, his son Silas Thompson, 19, and Steve McMullen, 56.
Associate Pastor John Martinez urged his congregation Sunday morning to focus their “minds’ attention and hearts’ affection on God,” because “God already knew what was going to happen. Nothing has surprised him or caught him off guard.”
“He is the one who can make a difference, and he will,” Martinez said.
Concerned for their missing pastor and peers, church members prayed over a variety of Bible passages such as Romans 8:35 — “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Later in the day, they found support from other Baptist churches in the Magic Valley during a previously scheduled evening fellowship session.
Three Eastside members and others from Twin Falls had stayed in the Dominican Republic and were not arrested, including Helen Requa’s husband John.
“He’s 80 years old” and still worked to get the new site ready for the children, she said.
Church members told the Times-News they were surprised by the weekend’s developments, but believe their missing members will be all right in the end.
“It was such a shock, because I thought things were going so well,” church member Audrey Kinch said.
“I’m just excited to see them have the chance to share God’s glory with people,” said member Blake Burton.
The nonprofit New Life Children’s Refuge was formed just last November, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s records. The churches became involved because the founders of the proposed orphanage are members of Central Valley.
New Life’s plan, as posted online, involved gathering “100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages” of Haiti and then driving them to a leased hotel in the Dominican Republic until the actual orphanage was built.
Speaking to reporters Sunday afternoon, Central Valley Senior Pastor Clint Henry defended the Americans’ actions and said the church hopes the “false charges” are resolved during the group’s court appearance today.
“My concern is: How long is this going to take?” he said of the process the detained face in Haiti.
While the earthquake has brought a tide of support to Haiti, New Life’s plans had been in the works for months prior to the disaster. After the earthquake happened, the church responded to the need by sending a team, Henry said.
“The entire reason for going down at this time is to try to rescue children in their suffering,” he said.
Some believe otherwise, and since the arrests, Henry has had to field phone calls to the church with obscenities and false accusations, he said.
On top of the Haitian government’s belief that the Americans were illegally trafficking children, other aid groups in the country criticized New Life’s plan as foolhardy, especially with recent restrictions aimed at restoring Haitian families after the quake. Bellerive’s personal authorization is now required for the departure of any child, but the Baptists hadn’t been following news reports and didn’t think they needed Haitian permission to move the children.
The children, ages 2 months to 12 years old, were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children’s Villages, where spokesman George Willeit said they arrived “very hungry, very thirsty, some dehydrated.” The orphanage worked Sunday with the Haitian government, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and others to reunite them with their families.
“One (8-year-old) girl was crying, and saying, ‘I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.’ And she thought she was going on a summer camp or a boarding school or something like that,” Willeit said.
U.S. officials and members of Congress are reportedly working to sort out the situation. Mike Mathews, a staffer for U.S. Sen. Jim Risch and an Eastside member, said Risch, fellow Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson are all following the issue.
Complicating the matter is the religious nerve the New Life proposal touched in a country that has received much of its aid in ways that challenge its own rich religious traditions.
Many at Eastside expressed their hope Sunday that the imprisoned group would spread Christianity among the Haitians. And Thompson clearly viewed proselytizing as an important aspect of the trip, according to posts on a church-linked blog and Facebook in the days after the quake.
“My prayer: ‘The Haitians shall know that He is the Lord,’” he posted on Facebook on Jan. 21.
At least one Voodoo leader found the orphanage plan — to give each child “new life in Christ” while facilitating their adoptions by “loving Christian families” in the United States — deeply offensive.
“These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves,” said Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti’s Voodoo Priest’s Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses. “We need compassion, not proselytizing now, and we need aid — not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.”
Staff writer Ben Botkin contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in News, Local on Monday, February 1, 2010 2:00 am Updated: 10:20 pm.
Members of two southern Idaho churches on Sunday bowed their heads in prayer for their friends and fellow believers, imprisoned in Haiti after trying to take a group of Haitian children outside the country.
Meanwhile, the jailed Americans prepared to face a Haitian judge today, while the orphanage that took in the 33 children reported some still had living parents.
The 10 U.S. Baptists, including people from Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls and Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian and residents of Texas and Kansas, were arrested by Haitian officials on Friday while trying to take the children across the border to the Dominican Republic without proper paperwork. The group said it simply was trying to rescue them from the earthquake-ravaged country, but Haitian Prime Minister Max Bellerive and other officials said they believe the Americans were part of an illegal adoption ring.
Detained members of Eastside’s congregation include Pastor Paul Thompson, 43, his son Silas Thompson, 19, and Steve McMullen, 56.
Associate Pastor John Martinez urged his congregation Sunday morning to focus their “minds’ attention and hearts’ affection on God,” because “God already knew what was going to happen. Nothing has surprised him or caught him off guard.”
“He is the one who can make a difference, and he will,” Martinez said.
Concerned for their missing pastor and peers, church members prayed over a variety of Bible passages such as Romans 8:35 — “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Later in the day, they found support from other Baptist churches in the Magic Valley during a previously scheduled evening fellowship session.
Three Eastside members and others from Twin Falls had stayed in the Dominican Republic and were not arrested, including Helen Requa’s husband John.
“He’s 80 years old” and still worked to get the new site ready for the children, she said.
Church members told the Times-News they were surprised by the weekend’s developments, but believe their missing members will be all right in the end.
“It was such a shock, because I thought things were going so well,” church member Audrey Kinch said.
“I’m just excited to see them have the chance to share God’s glory with people,” said member Blake Burton.
The nonprofit New Life Children’s Refuge was formed just last November, according to the Idaho Secretary of State’s records. The churches became involved because the founders of the proposed orphanage are members of Central Valley.
New Life’s plan, as posted online, involved gathering “100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages” of Haiti and then driving them to a leased hotel in the Dominican Republic until the actual orphanage was built.
Speaking to reporters Sunday afternoon, Central Valley Senior Pastor Clint Henry defended the Americans’ actions and said the church hopes the “false charges” are resolved during the group’s court appearance today.
“My concern is: How long is this going to take?” he said of the process the detained face in Haiti.
While the earthquake has brought a tide of support to Haiti, New Life’s plans had been in the works for months prior to the disaster. After the earthquake happened, the church responded to the need by sending a team, Henry said.
“The entire reason for going down at this time is to try to rescue children in their suffering,” he said.
Some believe otherwise, and since the arrests, Henry has had to field phone calls to the church with obscenities and false accusations, he said.
On top of the Haitian government’s belief that the Americans were illegally trafficking children, other aid groups in the country criticized New Life’s plan as foolhardy, especially with recent restrictions aimed at restoring Haitian families after the quake. Bellerive’s personal authorization is now required for the departure of any child, but the Baptists hadn’t been following news reports and didn’t think they needed Haitian permission to move the children.
The children, ages 2 months to 12 years old, were taken to an orphanage run by Austrian-based SOS Children’s Villages, where spokesman George Willeit said they arrived “very hungry, very thirsty, some dehydrated.” The orphanage worked Sunday with the Haitian government, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross and others to reunite them with their families.
“One (8-year-old) girl was crying, and saying, ‘I am not an orphan. I still have my parents.’ And she thought she was going on a summer camp or a boarding school or something like that,” Willeit said.
U.S. officials and members of Congress are reportedly working to sort out the situation. Mike Mathews, a staffer for U.S. Sen. Jim Risch and an Eastside member, said Risch, fellow Sen. Mike Crapo and Rep. Mike Simpson are all following the issue.
Complicating the matter is the religious nerve the New Life proposal touched in a country that has received much of its aid in ways that challenge its own rich religious traditions.
Many at Eastside expressed their hope Sunday that the imprisoned group would spread Christianity among the Haitians. And Thompson clearly viewed proselytizing as an important aspect of the trip, according to posts on a church-linked blog and Facebook in the days after the quake.
“My prayer: ‘The Haitians shall know that He is the Lord,’” he posted on Facebook on Jan. 21.
At least one Voodoo leader found the orphanage plan — to give each child “new life in Christ” while facilitating their adoptions by “loving Christian families” in the United States — deeply offensive.
“These types of people believe they need to save our souls and our bodies from ourselves,” said Max Beauvoir, head of Haiti’s Voodoo Priest’s Association, which represents thousands of priests and priestesses. “We need compassion, not proselytizing now, and we need aid — not just aid going to people of the Christian faith.”
Staff writer Ben Botkin contributed to this report.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Posted in News, Local on Monday, February 1, 2010 2:00 am Updated: 10:20 pm.
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Update:
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Report: Detained Baptists may be tried in Florida
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Haitian officials and U.S. diplomats are now weighing sending 10 American Baptists, mostly Idaho residents, to the U.S. to be prosecuted, the Associated Press reports.
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The 10, including members of Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls and Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, were arrested while trying to take children out of Haiti without proper paperwork. The Americans have said they simply wanted to rescue orphans from the earthquake-ravaged country and take them to a planned orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
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The 10, including members of Eastside Baptist Church in Twin Falls and Central Valley Baptist Church in Meridian, were arrested while trying to take children out of Haiti without proper paperwork. The Americans have said they simply wanted to rescue orphans from the earthquake-ravaged country and take them to a planned orphanage in the Dominican Republic.
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Haiti's communications minister told the AP the group might have to be sent to the U.S. because his country's court system has been crippled by the Jan. 12 earthquake.
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Meanwhile, Jorge Puello, a lawyer in the Dominican Republic representing the group, says one is a diabetic who fainted and has been hospitalized. Puello also alleged the group has been treated poorly, kept in a small room at Haiti's judicial police headquarters without adequate medical care or food.
Meanwhile, Jorge Puello, a lawyer in the Dominican Republic representing the group, says one is a diabetic who fainted and has been hospitalized. Puello also alleged the group has been treated poorly, kept in a small room at Haiti's judicial police headquarters without adequate medical care or food.
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Posted in Local on Monday, February 1, 2010 10:35 am Updated: 10:40 am.
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