How would you answer that question?

Is it through tradition?

Is it having compassion for the poor, afflicted, and oppressed?

Is it sharing with others about God’s love in Christ?

And once you have settled on a definition of a mature Christian, how would you go about instructing, guiding, and strengthening yourself and others, to continually mature in Christ’s likeness?

What is a mature Christian, and how do we as the body love, call, encourage, and challenge one another to mature in Christ’s likeness?

When pondering these questions it is helpful to read the following passage—to gain a better perspective and understanding—in Philippians 3:12-14:

Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

These verses are referring to us maturing into Christ-likeness and not in regards to our salvation as Christians—born again believers who are complete and whole upon believing. The journey towards Christ-likeness begins with a sense of honesty and dissatisfaction—hence the expression “press”. And the Greek word press was used of a sprinter, and refers to one who is aggressive and energetic action.

Now that we have established that pressing is not in about striving, but about aggressively and energetically walking the journey set before us, we can see that Paul lived in a state of actively pursing the things of God—what God was leading and placing before him to do and complete. As Paul walked the path laid before him, he was sensitive to the Holy Spirits directing within him, which was an inward and ultimately manifestation of Christ-likeness.

Going deeper into these verses we see the words “lay hold”, which in the Greek means “to make one’s own possession”. God chose Paul and equally Paul chose to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit in laying hold of the things God was leading him in.

In order for us to live the sort of life that Paul lived, we need to see that we are complete and whole… forgetting those things that are behind, whatever—whether these things are past deeds and achievements or failures and sins—that maybe that we tend to let distract us from aggressively and energetically embracing the journey.

As Christians we are complete and whole, able to “press” forward on the path that is before us, especially as we chose to be sensitive to the direction of the Holy Spirit within us. Knowing that we are right where we should be flowing in the moment of the journey, pouring out ourselves in the things that God has before us—maturing in Christ-likeness along the way.

Now that this has been brought to your attention, take a moment to seek God and what He might be leading you in when it comes to being apart of an organization such as CPIHaiti. I encourage you to prayerfully consider what might be in store for you being apart of something that is beyond yourself-extend yourself and be the hands and feet to help those that are less fortunate than you.

The meeting was about to begin when I found my place at the back of the room on a rickety, plank bench next to an elderly Haitian man.  He flashed a warm, genuine smile at me, motioned hello with a tip of his hat and quietly said, “Bon jou.”  I extended my hand to him and he placed his weathered, calloused hand in mine.  He, like so many of the men in this village, had spent a life working the land, loving his family and serving in the community.  He pulled out a Bible, notepad and pencil from a tattered plastic bag and turned his attention towards the front of the room.

My Friend

Kendal had begun his introductory remarks and was passing out an outline that had been translated into Creole.  My back row friend and me both took our outlines and prepared to fill in the blanks and follow along with the teaching.  Kendal asked everyone to turn to a specific book in their Bibles and the other 15 Haitians in the room began flipping pages and locating the reference that had been assigned.  Kendal began to lead us through the outline, giving us the key words needed to fill in the blanks.  A few minutes passed and I glanced over at my friend and I realized that he was lost.  He still had a warm smile on his face, but it was mixed with a look of confusion, embarrassment and appeal.  He motioned to me for help in filling out his outline while his Bible lay open to a book that was not referenced in the teaching.  He could not read or write.

He was not unintelligent or unmotivated.  I am certain he had accomplished much in his life.  The sheer fact that he had lived well beyond the median age in Haiti (57 years) speaks of his determination and endurance.  The problem was that he was never given the opportunity to learn how to read or write.  Education in Haiti is for the privileged and this man was not among them.

Kendal continued his teaching, but I could not bring myself to focus.  I sat there imagining the opportunities and relationships that I would be excluded from if I could not read or write.  The world is filled with complex truths, beautiful realities, diverse streams of perspectives and opinions, inexhaustible topics and issues, logic, art, poetry, solutions, ideas and MOST of them are contained in the form of written communication.  This man had experienced a lifetime cut off from all of these because he could not read.  He reminded me why the CPI team is doggedly committed to providing opportunities for Haitians to learn basic skills that will enable them to access the world of possibilities around them.  Reading is one of those basic skills that I will never take for granted again.

Grant and I wanted to share with you the amazing updates happening between our partners in the U.S. (The Crossing Church) and our partners in Haiti. Read below, subscribe to our RSS feed, comment, and forward it to a friend if you find it interesting!

This is just an example of the power of partnering. More to come!

Kenny,
It’s called ‘Imagine School South Lake’. They have a character development program at the school and want the kids to grow ‘world eyes’. Sherry chairs the team and so she presented a Cornerstone School partnership as an option. They loved it!

I presented the partnership possibility at a staff meeting and invited any interested teachers to participate. So far 17 classes have signed on! They’re doing a variety of things: most have a ‘Coins for Cornerstone’ jar in the classroom; kids are bringing quarters, nickels, dimes to fill them. One class brought in $24 the first day Other classes are collecting picture books, gathering school supplies, writing letters.

Two weeks ago I came to school and introduced Haiti to 12 classes in four different 30-minute assemblies; 60 kids per period, for a total of almost 250 kids! I told them most Haitian kids eat pretty much only rice and beans and challenged them to help purchase food. One kid went home and persuaded his family to eat only rice and beans for one meal a week, taking the money they would have spent and giving it to Cornerstone instead! He makes them sit on the floor with the lights off, since they don’t have electricity in Chauffard Very creative!

One of the teachers, Peggy Wamback, will be coming with us in December.

I don’t know where this will lead, but I love it I believe it has a good possibility of becoming an on-going partnership between the schools, which would be the goal. Other Imagine Schools around the nation will hear about it–there may even be possibilities of other connections.

Let me know what else I can tell you!

Thanks!
Kendal

If you would like to learn more about partnering for Transforming Travel or to help with the cause in Haiti, please let us know!

Passionately,

The CPI Guys!
Kenny and Grant

I recently read that Peter Drucker said that non-profits not only change lives; “non-profits are the PINNACLE OF AMERICAN SOCIETY.“ 

He went on to describe that this is so because non-profits are where Americans make time to volunteer, donate, or 
contribute significantly in some way to a cause that is greater than they are without expecting pay but personal satisfaction that they are doing a good work. 

This is the core of what Community Partnership International is becoming. 

I came out of a highly valuable strategy session yesterday with our Director, Kenny Ellis. We were able to discuss further not only the mission, but answer the question “what is the value to the contributors”. 

COLLABORATORS FEELING VALUE

There are those of you who donate. There are those who volunteer. There are those of you who are just waiting for us to tell you how you can partner in various ways. (Its coming! We just want it to be clear and easy, team!) 

The biggest thing for us is for our collaborators, our contributors, YOU, to know the value of partnering. 

We want to be sure that you know that there is HUGE value for our Haitian partners. They are being fed. We have a building project under way with our fabulous partnership with The Crossing Church in Orlando. 

Lives are being changed in the Kensckoff area, and we are so glad that you are a part of that. And that is powerful for our Haitian partners. 

But we want you to sense the same benefits for yourself. It is our desire to offer several ways to partner. 

There are the basics; donations, volunteering, recruiting, etc. 

But we want to take it further for those interested. We want to be a platform for you to expand in your executive skills. We want to establish a certification program for those who know their life direction will be in public service. We want to make room for your gifts to expand throughout our network of distribution centers and churches across the entire nation of Haiti. 

In serving Haiti we want you to feel served. 

We know that there are many places for you to put your gifts to work; local churches, civic organizations and local 
communities. 

We hope that, as you search for your place to serve, that we will be a destination for you and your friends and family. Feel free to let us know if you any ideas, or if you know more specifically ways you would like to partner. 

You are our number 1 resource; collaborative synergy and ingenuity. 

As we are here formulating, we ask that you do the same and let us know how we can help you achieve. 

CURRENT STAFF NEEDS

More directly, we could use some assistance immediately. Some of the ways we could use your help: 
- web site development 
- development of our internship program 
- assist in systemizing our Transforming Travel trips 
- presentation development 

These can be worked on anywhere in the world, so if you know of anyone who could help, put them in touch with us. 

In the next month we have several important presentations to raise funding for our projects in Kensckoff. These are very important appointments, but it leaves several other projects idle. 

If you have any gifts in these areas and would like to help, we would be highly interested in talking. Feel free to contact us at cpihaiti@gmail.com. 

UPCOMING EVENTS

- We meet with Vision 360, a church-planting organization throughout Florida in May 
- We have several key PRIVATE donor meetings throughout the rest of April and May 
- July 18th – 25th we are taking a second team from the Crossing Church to Kensckoff, Haiti. (Team of 10.) [If you 
ever want to just take a short, guided trip to Port-au-Prince, contact us. We can arrange trips that we call "Quick Turn" trips to just introduce you to the area and culture.] 
- June 1st we hope to launch our promo material. Watch for it. 

Thank you for everything you are helping with, team. 
We look forward to hearing from you real soon! 

Most Sincerely, 

Grant R. Nieddu 
(772) 321-1840