{"id":8804,"date":"2014-07-23T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T23:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=8804"},"modified":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T01:35:30","slug":"oms-conference-in-marion-part-two-going-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/?p=8804","title":{"rendered":"OMS CONFERENCE IN MARION – Part Two: GOING HOME"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beyond all the fun we had with the teens at the recent OMS International Missions Conference, we were also given the privilege of addressing the entire conference audience on Friday evening in order to raise awareness of what we are doing in Haiti and our need for support in getting back to work there this fall.The schedule was pretty tight, so we were asked to write out ahead of time what we planned to say.\u00a0 Below is the text of what Melissa and I shared that night.<\/p>\n\n\n

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“When Melissa was first introduced to OMS\u2019s ministry in Haiti,\na stop at Cowman International School was just another item on the itinerary\nfor her short term mission team. She had no warning that the Lord would be\ncalling us to teach there:\u00a0Melissa in kindergarten and first grade and I\nin junior high.\u00a0 That was 2010.\u00a0 Cowman had 23 students.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

“This year\u00a0Melissa and I finished our first\nyear on staff at Cowman.\u00a0 The student\nbody has swelled to nearly 100, with more expected when school starts again in\nSeptember.<\/p>\n\n\n

“It\u2019s a rapidly growing ministry because there\u2019s a rapidly\ngrowing demand in Northern Haiti for what Cowman provides: a Christ-centered\neducation in the English language.\u00a0\nCowman\u2019s value to missionary families is obvious.\u00a0 It is a support to all other OMS ministries\naround Cap Haitien in that it allows missionary parents to devote their time to\nministry with the confidence of knowing their children\u2019s education is in good\nhands.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

“Most of our students, though, are not MKs (missionary kids).\u00a0 They are Haitians and Haitian-Americans whose\nparents appreciate a Western approach to education \u2013 who want their kids to\nknow English \u2013 and who want them, especially, to know Jesus.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

“Like one of Melissa’s kindergartners, Abby, who came to her one day after the morning Bible lesson and said, “I don’t know Jesus in my heart, but I want to!”<\/p>\n\n\n

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“We\u00a0started at Cowman last year by special permission.\u00a0 Even though we were not 100% funded, the school needed us in place.\u00a0 The need at Cowman for this upcoming school year is even greater, but now the funding MUST be in place before we return.<\/p>\n\n\n

“Cowman International School of Vaudreuil, Haiti, has been in\nexistence for fifty years and has never had the capacity to offer a high school\neducation.\u00a0 Until now.\u00a0 Internet curriculum and an expanded staff\nmake it a realistic possibility.\u00a0 God\nwilling, our son Caleb\u2019s class (currently 8th<\/sup> graders) will have the\ndistinction of being the first to graduate from Cowman with a high school\ndiploma.\u00a0 That goal is within reach, but\nit will be set back if Cowman loses two out of its seven core teachers this coming\nschool year due to lack of funding.\u00a0 [We stuck to the script pretty closely, but this closing was adlibbed in the moment:] \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

“I realized something recently: a profound change has occurred in my approach to raising the funds necessary for us to return to Haiti.\u00a0 I don’t know that it\u00a0is evident to anyone else looking on, but I feel it deeply in my soul.\u00a0 “Here’s the change: Last year we were raising support to get us to Haiti.\u00a0 This summer we are raising support to get us Home<\/em>.”<\/p>\n\n\n

******<\/p>\n\n\n

We are still in need of further support to get us to Haiti and to keep us there throughout the coming school year.\u00a0 If the Lord is\u00a0nudging you towards being a part of this ministry, please consider joining our support team at http:\/\/www.onemissionsociety.org\/give\/theGrosses<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Beyond all the fun we had with the teens at the recent OMS International Missions Conference, we were also given the privilege of addressing the entire conference audience on Friday evening in order to raise awareness of what we are doing in Haiti and our need for support in getting back to work there this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8804"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8807,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8804\/revisions\/8807"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}