MFI's "Missionary Spotlight":

showing the people who are sharing the Gospel in the West Indies

December Spotlight - David and Sarah Dirrim, Haitian Christian Foundation

David and Sarah Dirrim have been serving the Lord in Haiti since 1991.  Before coming to Haiti, David began the Sunset School Of Preaching in 1981, which later became Sunset International Bible Institute.  Sarah was in AIM in 1980, then went with a team to Sydney, Australia.  After almost a decade as a cabinet maker and weekend preacher, David and Sarah returned to Sunset in 1990, finished the preaching course, and went through missions.  After preaching in Valliant, Oklahoma, for three years, the family moved to Cap Haitien, Haiti to work with an orphanage and church there.  After four years at the orphanage and two back in the States, David was asked to be the director of the Center for Biblical Training, a preacher-training school in Cap Haitien where he'd taught since its opening.  They have six children, 3 adopted from the orphanage here who are all now in college in Oklahoma.  Three younger children are still at home and Sarah teaches them.

The Center for Biblical Training is located outside of Cap Haitien, Haiti.  The school's mission is to educate and mentor Haitian men to be "servant evangelists" to the Haitian people.  Twelve students selected from all over northern Haiti complete a three-year program.  The school has graduated three classes, the last class graduating just a few weeks ago.

The school campus is situated on 4 acres, with three main buildings: the main building containing student dormitories, the director's home, visiting teacher's apartment, classroom and offices, the dining hall/dormitory building that also contains meeting rooms for seminars, and the guest dorm and maintenance building.

The first congregation of the Church of Christ was established in northern Haiti in 1978 by Brother Joseph Albert (1938-1998), a native Haitian evangelist then from Port-au-Prince.  The church in northern Haiti grew consistently to over 50 congregations with 5,000 members, and today is the fastest growing in Haiti.  The need for trained servant evangelists and other church leaders was great, but opportunities were limited.  For years, Haitian church leaders, U.S. Missionaries, and supporters of the Lord’s work in Haiti had prayed about forming a foundation to establish a preacher training school in northern Haiti.  As a result the Haitian Christian Foundation (HCF) was formed in 1993.  That same year a 6.4 acre tract of land was purchased for the Center for Biblical Training (CBT) just outside of Cap-Haitien in the area of Galman-du-Plaa, and ground breaking occurred in 1994.  After raising the necessary funds, building the campus, selecting on-site U.S. missionaries, and selecting the first student body, the Lord blessed HCF with their opening ceremony in January of 1997.

As part of their "servant training" program, the students visit congregations in the local area.  They enjoy getting to know other Christians, and to see how graduates of the school are getting along in their new works.  They teach and lead singing during the week at the congregation that meets on the school property.  The congregation that meets on the school property, along with supporters of the school, have also built a house for two old people in the church who have no family to care for them.  The students take food to them once a day.  Groups from the school have recently re-roofed and painted their two-room house.  In addition, two of the students have begun a class for children in the neighborhood.  They invited every family in the neighborhood to send their children to the class.  They meet every second Sunday afternoon for a Bible lesson, singing, Bible memorization and playing.  The students are beginning a class to teach reading to the children whose families are not able to send them to school.

The CBT has recently begun a translation project to provide materials in 12 core classes in Haitian Creole to use in Satellite Schools taught by the graduates.  The courses will also be available to congregations, and for distribution to denominational leaders through the churches.

David and Sarah Dirrim have spent the past 14 years serving the Lord in Haiti.  To learn more about them and their ministry, friends and supporters are encouraged to visit their website, or write to the Dirrims at the following mail and e-mail addresses:

David and Sarah Dirrim
Unit 1063 - HCF
3170 Airmans Drive
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946
E-mail: cswampdog@yahoo.com