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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
To that end, the Hope Bible Institute was begun in January of 2006.Â
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.Â
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
