Blog Posts by Aaron Osborne

From the Field: Haiti Mission Trip

For much of 2019, Haiti has been experiencing significant political instability and economic hardships.

This has resulted in RBC cancelling several family missions trips to one of our partner churches in Pignon, Haiti. However, from June 27 to July 2, four men from RBC were able to go down and visit Pastor Francois, Pastor Aldean, the 62 children they care for, and the Philadelphia Baptist Church of Pignon.  The video below shares a few highlights from our trip. 

While we can’t solve all of Haiti’s problems and struggle to even relate to issues like 30%+ inflation, we can make a difference in the lives of one community in Haiti. Besides our usual goals of loving on children, encouraging the church, and maintaining and repairing equipment, our primary goal for this trip was helping set future educational and life goals for four of Pastor’s oldest children. In a society filled with hopelessness about the future, helping map out next steps for them, gives so much life.  

Through your generosity, these kids will have the opportunity to go to university or trade schools to learn a profession. We pray for their futures that children who were orphaned, may one day be loving husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, church leaders, etc. and break the cycles of bondage through the Lord. It is a long term investment, but one where we trust God is transforming lives.

Celebrating Generosity: Youth Summer Camp 2018

A few hundred Senior and Junior High youth recently returned from our 2018 Summer Camp in Mt. Hope, WV. We saw the Lord do some incredible things in the lives of students as we examined the topic of fear through a biblical lens. Thank you to the many volunteers who graciously gave of their time, talents and treasure to serve our students and show them the love of Christ throughout the week. Thank you, RBC, for being a generous church!

From the Field: Letters from Haiti

From the Field

We recently received a couple letters from the ministry we support in Pignon, Haiti, and wanted to share them with you.  National pastor Francois Romelus runs a church of approximately 250 people in addition to the local elementary school and an orphanage where he cares for around 55 children.  Over the past several years we have sent multiple teams to work with the ministry there and develop many deep relationships.  On Sunday May 1st, Pastor Francois’ son Aldinn, who runs much of the ministry, shared briefly in our Sunday services. He also brought several letters that we wanted to share with you.

Please continue to pray for the ministry in Haiti as they face many challenges but rejoice in the hope of the Gospel.

LETTER FROM PASTOR FRANCOIS

letter_from_haiti_francois

 

LETTER FROM THE 3 ELDEST BOYS AT THE ORPHANAGE

Son, Romane and Jerry are the 3 eldest boys at Pastor Francois' orphanage. The letter below is from them.

Son, Romane and Jerry are the 3 eldest boys at Pastor Francois’ orphanage. The letter below is from them to you.

letter_from_haiti_sons

God at Work in First Fruits

For over 20 years, the youth ministry has run the First Fruits project the Saturday before Thanksgiving. Every year, we raise money by raking leaves and doing other jobs throughout the day. That evening, we purchase lots of food and deliver the food to families in need in our community. This year, with an army of over 650 workers, we raised over $43,000 to provide food for over 100 families. We were also able to provide college scholarships to five local high school seniors.

Because we have been doing this for so many years, it is easy to just assume numbers like these will happen. But every year God does something that just makes us realize it is His work and His plan, not ours.

First, this year we had over 200 students from Parkview and Herndon High School sign up to work with us. These students have no affiliation with RBC, but the schools announced the project and they came to work with us. As a youth ministry, we are always trying to think of creative ways to reach out with the truth and hope of the Gospel to the students around us, and it’s so cool how God has taken something we designed to care for those in physical need and open so many doors for us to tell so many students about their greatest spiritual need. We never had a “strategic plan” or “vision” to turn First Fruits into an outreach, but it is now our biggest outreach of the year. Please pray for the hundreds who heard the Gospel at First Fruits.

Second, God orchestrated several food deliveries in ways that only He could. To identify many of the families we assist, we work through parent liaisons at several local public schools. We seek families that are experiencing hardships, but not currently being helped.  These families are then randomly assigned to one of our 32 teams.

This year, as one team was entering the home of the family they were delivering to, the face of a young girl and her parents lit up. They were excited not for the food, but that one of the people delivering the food was the girl’s preschool teacher from several years prior. This instantly broke the ice and allowed for a powerful opportunity to share the love of Christ. When a group of strangers walk into someone’s home with bags of food and gifts, it can be awkward. But God, in providentially working out the right family with the right team, completely changed the situation. Only God can work out situations like that.

A similar situation happened with another team. They were supposed to deliver food to a different family, but at the last minute their delivery was switched. It just happened to be switched to a family a team member knew, which has opened the doors for additional ministry and care for the family.

God is not random. Our God is powerful and is doing great things in our midst, even when we don’t recognize it. Thank you so much for giving us jobs, working with us, donating to the project, and being part of what the Lord is doing to make His name known in Northern Virginia.

Below are some highlight pictures from the day. Enjoy!

From the Field: Haiti Family Mission Update

From the Field

PastedGraphic-3Over Spring Break, a team of 21 parents and Jr. High students flew to Pignon, Haiti to serve with RBC-supported national pastor, Francois Romelus (featured here in a previous From the Field). While adults from RBC had visited before, it was the first trip that included students, and it was amazing to see the way the Lord used them.

PastedGraphic-7Pastor Francois runs an orphanage of 50+ children, and it was such a blessing to see the ways that our students could play and interact with them, despite the language barrier. Our students were really able to open up the children there and practically show the love of Christ. On top of playing games of soccer, teaching them to skateboard, braiding hair, and hanging out, we also had several special opportunities with them.

We set up Easter Egg hunt with them and talked with them about the resurrection of Christ. We treated them to s’mores cooked over an open fire, after which everyone licked clean their sticky fingers. We had English classes as they taught us some Creole. And we took the oldest ~20 students to a beach a few hours away. Most of them had never been to the ocean and didn’t know how to swim. It was a treat for them, and a blessing to have fun with them.

PastedGraphic-1We also had the blessing of helping the local church run a VBS-style children’s program. While it was a bit chaotic at times with almost 400 children who couldn’t speak English, it was an amazing blessing to serve the community. Our theme for the week was “Mwen Se Trésor Bondye” or “I am a Treasure of God’s”.

We had a great opportunity to play and do crafts with the children and act out Bible stories, as the national pastors taught God’s Word. At the end of each day, each the church provided a meal of rice, beans, and a little chicken for the children, and it was humbling to see how so little meant so much to them. Please pray for the children to understand that they are God’s Treasure.

PastedGraphic-4Finally, we were blessed with many opportunities to connect with and encourage the local church. Eric Smith, the chairman of RBC’s elders, taught a marriage class. We were able to hear the testimonies of and pray for all of the national pastors and elders of the church in Pignon. Please continue to pray for them as they face many hardships and persecution to lead the church.

PastedGraphic-2Thank you to the many who prayed for this team. We definitely saw the answers to many of your prayers. Please continue to pray for Pastor Francois’ children and their futures, as there are very few career opportunities for them.

**Thanks to all who attended the team review on Wednesday, 4/29 in the Jr. High Room. Please continue to pray for Pastor Francois and the ministry there.

From the Field: Pignon, Haiti

From the Field

Pastor Francois Romelus and his wife, Madou, have humbly and faithfully led a church in Pignon, Haiti, since 1982. They have a church of over 200 people, run the local elementary school, and care for a large number of widows and about 50 orphans. They were in northern Virginia the weekend of February 22nd, when services were cancelled due to inclement weather. He recorded the following message to Reston Bible Church:

 

A team of 21 parents and Jr. High students are going to work with their ministry over Spring Break (March 26-April 3). The team will be running a VBS style camp for several hundred neighborhood children, trying to show God’s love for the orphans, and caring for the local church. God is doing much through the ministry there, and we want to be an encouragement to them.

Please pray for:

  • The church in Pignon, that their faith in and dependence on the Lord would continue to deepen in the midst of many challenging circumstances.
  • Pastor Francois and his wife Madou, that they would be encouraged in the Lord.
  • The RBC team, that we would be a blessing and encouragement to the church in Pignon. Specifically, that we would be able to communicate to the children how much God treasures and values them.

 Many people have asked about ways to help care for the orphans in Haiti. You can check out an Amazon.com wish list for them by clicking here. There you will find items that will be a blessing to them. You can purchase them off Amazon.com or elsewhere, and drop them off at Aaron Osborne’s office at RBC by Wednesday, March 18th, and we will deliver them. If you have any questions, please contact aaronosborne@restonbible.org.

Youth Summer Camp 2013

I still remember my first time attending RBC Summer Camp.  I grew up in a Christian home and knew all the Bible stories and memorized all the AWANA verses, but I didn’t see how it all impacted or affected my life.  The summer after my freshman year of high school, I went to camp, and for the first time in my life I took a break from all my electronics and non-stop activities and thought about what all this “God stuff” I knew about really meant in my life.  I still remember the speaker explaining God’s love and forgiveness and it just “clicking” for me as I saw into the depths of God’s incredible grace towards me.  Looking back, here are some of the ways I have seen camp affect me:

Summer Camp allowed me to build friendships.  I went from being a kid who only came on Sunday morning and felt alone even at church, to always wanting to be at youth group.  Over my time in the youth group, I went from being quiet and shy to being outgoing, because I had real relationships and I understood the acceptance of God.

Summer Camp forced me to focus on God.  There is no magic formula.  We just remove distractions, focus everything on God, and it is amazing what He teaches.  We give students an extended time alone with God on Thursday morning, and it is amazing how for many students this is the best part of the week.

Summer Camp allowed me to make decisions.  When I stepped back from my world, I could make decisions about what was really important.  I could really decide who I wanted to be.  This is one reason we are excited about our topic this year.  We are going to be studying the life of Daniel.  While in our society truth and morals are relative, Daniel had the core convictions to follow God regardless of the circumstances around him.  Even in captivity, he was convinced that God’s Word was true, God is Good, and God’s commands are to be obeyed.

Summer Camp gave me memories.  Camp was just flat out fun.  Between spending a week with friends and tons of great activities, it was always a highlight of my year that has left me with so many great memories.

I don’t know exactly what decisions will be made this year at Summer Camp, but I trust its impact will extend far beyond what I will ever know.  Watch the first video (above) to hear some stories of how camp has impacted lives.  The second video (below) contains fun highlights from last year’s Summer Camp.

Details and Registration are available at www.restonbible.org/summercamp If you have any questions about camp, please let me know (aaronosborne@restonbible.org).  We also have several scholarships available, where students can work to earn a portion of the funds they need for camp.  For registration and scholarship information, please contact Mallory Clark at malloryclark@restonbible.org.  Discounted registration ends May 12th.