A major earthquake hit the tiny island nation of Haiti shortly before 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12. The epicenter was near the capital city of Port-au-Prince. News reports show massive destruction and major loss of life.

Although CMF does not have any missionaries working in Haiti, two of our partner organizations, FAME and IDES, have extensive ties in this poorest nation in the western hemisphere. FAME (Fellowship of Associates of Medical Evangelism) reports on its website that it has “received updates from most of our partners and they are safe, but report much destruction of their facilities.” FAME will be involved in both relief efforts in Haiti and long-term reconstruction.

The IDES (International Disaster Emergency Services) website shares that “Lifeline Christian Mission, Christianville, and Christian Mission South Haiti have all suffered some structural damage. By God’s grace, no one was seriously injured on their premises. However, we have heard reports of injuries and lives lost within the Christian Church/Church of Christ community in and around Port-au-Prince. One of our partner missions in Gonaives is preparing to send Haitian volunteers into the affected area to render assistance.” IDES anticipates that it will be working with multiple partners in Haiti.

Your donations for relief work through both of these agencies will be greatly appreciated. To donate, go to www.fameworld.org or www.ides.org.

Thirty-six of the 37 Missions of Hope eighth-graders who took the placement test this fall that is required to move on to higher education in Kenyan schools scored above the passing mark, reports Wallace Kamau, director of MoHi International. “A team has now been formed to work on getting all 37 students into good high schools,” added Kamau. “We prefer boarding schools in the countryside that are well-disciplined and more likely to uphold Christian values.” (more…)

CMF Executive Director Doug Priest used his recuperation time from two foot surgeries last year to revive a 25-year-old year dream of seeing many of the unpublished works of well-known missiologist Alan R. Tippett on the bookshelves. Doug, who served as Tippett’s assistant in the 1970’s while at Fuller Theological Seminary, initiated the project with publisher William Carey Library. The publisher was more than happy to “publish anything of Alan Tippett’s that we can get.”

The first book slated for publication, “The Jesus Documents,” was edited by CMF recruit Shawn Redford. This book is an anthropological look at the four gospels, and will be available in March 2010. The second book, co-edited by Doug Priest, “The Ways of the People,” is a reader in missionary anthropology. It is slated to be published in June.

Two more books on mission history in the South Pacific have been prepared and sent to William Carey Library. One is a missionary biography of John Hunt and the second is an autobiography of Fijian evangelist Joeli Bulu. Another volume of Tippett’s best writing in ethnohistory is close to completion.

Since these books were all written before computers, they must be scanned and then digitized, followed by the lengthy process of correcting and editing the scanned copy.