Meet God’s Ambassador to Haiti: Cebien Alexis
Great Opportunity to bring Help and Hope Directly to the Haitian People
Since 1492, when Christopher Columbus landed in Haiti, the country has known mostly suffering. Haiti was once France’s wealthiest colony. Its great yields of lumber and sugar cane were possible only through the labor of imported African slaves, who were worked so cruelly that they usually died within a few years. Slavery in Haiti was perhaps the most brutal the world has ever seen. Finally in 1799, slaves, outnumbering their colonial masters by 10 to 1, carried out the only successful slave revolt in history. Haiti became the world’s first post-colonial black-led nation. Sadly, though, thanks to oppressive and evil governments and natural disasters, the suffering of the Haitian people has continued. Lying only 700 miles off our shores, is there something we as believers can do to bring them relief through the love of Christ? YES! And now is the time!
Haiti, with its ten million people, is the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. To worsen things, in January 2010, a massive earthquake virtually destroyed the capital of Port-au-Prince, resulting in 300,000 deaths and leaving 1.5 million homeless. In October 2016, devastating Hurricane Matthew slammed into southwestern Haiti, affecting over 2.1 million people. Some of the damage is shown above.
Despite the billions in aid money given for Haiti over the years, conditions for the average Haitian have not improved. Why is this? One big reason is the funds given have not been invested wisely in Haitian leaders whose heart is for the people, leaders like Cebien Alexis, shown right. It’s time for a change!
Cebien Alexis sees the gospel as the only answer to Haiti’s problems. And he knows how best to apply it. Cebien came to the Lord as a boy through a Baptist missionary’s vacation Bible school. When he told his family, his father kicked him out of the house. With help from relatives, he completed high school, and Bible school as well. The Bible school taught not only the fundamentals of preaching, church history, and theology, but also many practical skills. Cebien absorbed it all. Then he enrolled in a correspondence course with a Swiss seminary. Following more study in Switzerland and the Ivory Coast, Cebien received a Doctoral Degree in plant-based medicine in 1979. But most of that he did in his spare time.
In 1971, after graduation from Bible school, Cebien launched into evangelism, impelled by the Lord to reach his people with the gospel. At age 27, Cebien used his last $12 to rent a run-down building in the town of Ile Adam and buy lumber for benches. He held his first evangelistic meetings and planted a church in that town with 11 newly saved people. Before the end of the year, 100 people were meeting regularly for worship.
From that small beginning, Cebien’s ministry, EBAC, known in English as Army of Christ, has borne great fruit. Cebien and his co-workers have raised up more than 200 churches in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the process many witch doctors have come to Christ. An orphanage has been founded which has transformed the lives of hundreds of children. Cebien conducts evangelistic crusades four times a year. When possible, EBAC helps provide buildings for thriving churches. His ministry includes elementary schools and school lunch programs, business start-up projects for church members, and disaster relief. Faith Christian University, started by Cebien, provides training to Christian men and women in agriculture, nursing, environmental protection, and disaster risk assessment.
The Lord is using Cebien in powerful ways to win his people to Christ and help them improve their lives. He is known by most people in Haiti, including the powerful. At one time, he was asked to be Haiti’s ambassador to Germany but turned down the offer. His answer: “Why should I serve man when I can serve the King of kings?”
In June Christie and I and a small team will be visiting various ministry sites with Cebien in Haiti. It will be a great opportunity to see the work Cebien has been doing. HBI was blessed to send funds to aid in the relief work following Hurricane Matthew. We have sent funds for schools, building projects, pastoral support, economic development and the like. Now we will see first-hand how the funds have been utilized. We plan to bring funds with us that can be applied directly to the most urgent areas of need and opportunity. The more we can raise, the more we can directly support this excellent work. One current project Cebien is working on is the provision of 3 goats to families that lost everything in the hurricane. This will enable them to both earn income and provide sustenance to their families. By growing their flocks, they will be able to give young goats to other families. The cost is $200 per family.
Will you help us increase what can be done? Gifts can be given online at
www.hope-builders.org or sent in by check to PO Box 91359, Austin, TX 78709. Gifts received by May 30 will travel with us to Haiti and go directly into helping bring spiritual and holistic blessings to the Haitian people.
Let’s make an eternal investment now in this needy island, so close to home!
With love in Christ,
Lance & Christie Thollander
“Today, we served approximately 200 displaced Christians, all newly arrived from Iraq with just the clothes on their backs. A hot plate of rice and beans, tabouli, and a piece of chicken filled the stomachs and warmed the hearts of those in need. Looking on, I was again struck by the number of widows and children, who always bear a heavy and unfair burden from war. Following a time of prayer and delicious food, all were invited to take what they needed from tables of clothing, blankets and more. All left with a copy of The New Testament in Arabic. The kids gleefully charged the table of Christian children’s books and departed with one or more treasures clutched to their chests.
Syria is now in its 7th year of civil war, with a total of over 400,000 dead, and 6,000,000 Syrians displaced. The end of the violence and suffering is not yet in sight. Brother Isam is now on his way to deliver much needed support for medicine and food and another $9,000 for Bibles. Recently Manara was given permission to enter the latest refugee camp in Jordan, near the Syrian border. The excitement of these stressed people in need is evident. It’s been an unusually cold winter in the desert. Yet, in the midst of this makeshift camp, these parents find a way to educate their children. Your help is invaluable to every refugee man, woman and child in this camp.
The rice harvest is over. This year 5800 pounds of rice was harvested. Six acres of new
OFU’s Women’s Impact Network conducted Bible studies among the Mankidia ladies. It is encouraging to see how gladly the women participated. The Pre-school center is going on well. The number of children is growing steadily. 
Last year 3 medical camps were held and 600 patients were treated and given medicine.
We have continued scholarship support for 18 school children. An additional 18 children received one time support at the beginning of the academic year. There are many more needy children because of the earthquake. Many of the mothers (single women) sobbed when they shared their stories of how we have helped. They shared the impact on their lives and the relief they experienced through the scholarship and support package their child received from our ministry support team, God’s Love for Orphans and Widows (GLOW). This picture shows children studying outside because their school building was destroyed.
The fifth batch of 23 trainees graduated after completing six months advanced tailoring training on March 20th. Since the start of this program, 79 participants, many of them widows, have completed the tailoring training. Many graduates are ready to start their own tailoring shops but need funds to purchase a sewing machine. The picture above shows the tailoring graduates. 
GLOW, in partnership with a local Christian organization, distributed around 360 plastic water pails with attached filters, which are simple to use and to keep clean. This will supply families living in remote villages with safe water, prevent gastrointestinal illness and reduce childhood mortality. Here is a water filter set being explained.
Here’s another testimony from a village that we visited. Pastor Palsang and some of our team walked into the village. The pastor’s neighbors’ wife was in labor and called the pastor to pray for her. He quickly rushed there and as he was praying, she delivered a daughter in front of them. They walked back to the church and told us what happened. We returned to the house with infant supplies. There the mother and the new child were sleeping in a dark corner of a hut they had built after the earthquake flattened their three level house. We learned that their two daughters died when the house fell and buried them during the earthquake. This newborn is their sixth child. This is a family of believers who attend the church in the village. They asked us to pray for them and thanked God for this new gift to their family, bringing them joy and healing of heart. It was good to be there to witness and celebrate life with them in the midst of all the pain and hardship they had been through.
Our sewing and tailoring training has been extended to more districts. The local churches there promote and manage these projects. This brings local buy-in to the effort. The church sets up the center, installs the sewing machines and obtains government approval. The training is primarily for flood victims and those who do not have the skills to make a living. The cost is $2500 to set up each training center with the necessary machines. We are also working to provide filtered water for the 300 households.
