MFI's "Missionary Spotlight":

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

December Spotlight - Pastor Saint-Ange Monestime, Hope Baptist Church

Pastor Saint-Ange Monestime has been the pastor of Hope Baptist Church (an affiliate of His Harvest Fields) in Cap Haitien since June of 1998.  Since its humble beginnings of 100 attendees, it has grown to a regular attendance of 1,600-1,700, with a membership roll of 2,100.  Initially, his church met in an empty school building loaned to them by First Baptist Church of Cap Haitien.  After four years there, they were able to purchase land closer to the city of Cap Haitien and begin construction at their current location.  Construction has occurred in three major phases, beginning with an outer wall and a modest structure that was used both for worship services and Sunday School classes.  In the last two years, construction of the main church building has progressed steadily.  The two-story building will ultimately feature a second floor main sanctuary with fellowship hall and offices on the first floor.  At this point, the main floor is being used as the sanctuary (above left photo and center photo below) while construction continues above.  Surrounding the church are several outer meeting rooms (left photo below), used for the fourteen Sunday School classes.  Pastor Saint-Ange and his congregation have two Sunday services, a Tuesday evening prayer meeting and a Friday evening Bible study. 

Saint-Ange Monestime grew up in a Catholic family in the small village of Acul-Du-Nord outside the city of Cap Haitien.  He has three sisters and one brother.  Two of his sisters now live in the United States.  His father died in 1994, having been saved only a few months before.

A close friend of Saint-Ange, who is now a church staff member, led him to the Lord in 1985.  A few months later, he moved to Cap Haitien, became an active member in a local church, and then a Sunday School teacher.  With a desire to be better equipped for the Lord's service, he enrolled in Bible school in 1988 and received English training there as well.  He was offered a pastoral position in 1991, but he did not feel that he was ready to be a pastor at that time.   In 1995, he met and married his wife Evelyne in Florida.  In January of 1996, he began attending Bethany Theological Seminary in Alabama, eventually receiving Master of Ministry and Master of Arts in Religion degrees.  He returned to Haiti in 1998.  He and a group of friends met to pray about when and where to start a church.   The pastor of First Baptist Church of Cap Haitien offered the school building where the church began.  He and his wife now have two children, Caleb and Jedida.

The Lord has prospered Pastor Saint-Ange's church in many ways.  While the physical structure has expanded and offered more room for his growing congregation, he has also worked closely with MFI to help his people.  Twice each year, MFI dental and medical teams come and offer their services in makeshift clinics in the church building.  Evangelistic outreach is an integral part of these short-term missions teams (see photos below). 

Beginning in 2003, Hope Baptist Church has been involved in planting other churches in neighboring villages, with a new church opening each year since then.  Four of his former Sunday School students even opened a church in Saint Thomas, Virgin Islands!  All of the pastors of these new churches were previously members of Hope Baptist Church. 

In addition to his pastoral duties, Saint-Ange offers daily radio broadcasts to Radio 4VEH for outreach to the listening area in northern Haiti.  Each Thursday, he spends four hours taping programs that will be used on the air throughout the week.  His two Sunday sermons are also broadcast.  Cassette tapes of his programs are also being used by Haitian churches in Miami and Orlando.

Pastor Saint-Ange's desire is to train lay leaders and possible future pastors.  To that end, the Hope Bible Institute was begun in January of 2006.  Thirty-four students are enrolled in an associate degree program designed to prepare them to be future church leaders.  Ultimately, the goal is to create a four year seminary to train future pastors.  In September of 2007, Hope Bible Church will also begin operating a primary school for children in grades K-4.  Since there are no restrictions on using Bibles in schools in Haiti, this will be an excellent way to reach the young children with the message of the Gospel of Christ. 

Pastor Saint-Ange Monestime has spent over 20 years serving the Lord and the people of Haiti.  To learn more about his ministry, friends and supporters are encouraged to write to him at the following mail address:

Pastor Saint-Ange Monestime
Unit 1041 - HHF
3170 Airmans Drive
Ft. Pierce, FL 34946

There are many ways in which the Lord can use His people to share the love of Christ.  MFI's "Missionary Spotlight" shows how different people and different missions organizations have answered His call, and through the ministry of MFI, have gone forth to share the Gospel in the West Indies.

June/July Spotlight - Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF)

January/February Spotlight - Baptist Haiti Mission

November Spotlight - Paul and Belle Romeus, Grace Missions International - Haiti

September/October Spotlight - MMS Aviation, "Preparing People and Planes for Worldwide Mission Service"