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The following God Story illustrates how our Lord uses members of the ACCTS Staff at strategic locations to facilitate the development of Christian military leaders, and foster the growth of Military Christian Fellowships (MCF) in support of the world wide Association of Military Christian Fellowships (AMCF).
In the winter of 2011, the ACCTS Staff in San Antonio learned that a Haitian Officer in training at the Defense Language Institute (DLI) was interested in training as a chaplain to help resurrect the moribund MCF in his country. God answered a host of prayers, and Jonatant, a member of the Haitian Coast Guard who had recently been ordained, was allowed to extend his stay in order to participate in the Chaplains Interaction held at San Antonio in the spring of 2011. He later wrote of that experience, "Since I don't have full control over my time, I find myself often times unable to do all that I'd like to do for the Lord. Also, living among many people who are not born again requires a strong will and God's special grace to keep a good testimony among those with whom I have been working for so many years."
In early June 2012, ACCTS staff member Dell McDonald and Nestor Ogilvie, the AMCF Vice President for the Caribbean and North America, were in Haiti to encourage Jonatant and the fledgling MCF. Jonatant had been asking the Lord for confirmation about his potential return to the US for training at the Coast Guard International Maritime Officer Course (IMOC) - a return that he was not especially eager about, as it would mean another lengthy separation from his family at a critical time in Haiti.
Just before Dell and Nestor were to leave Haiti, Nestor noted that Jonatant would be seeing the ACCTS staff in San Antonio again. When Jonatant later asked what he meant, Nestor couldn't remember making the comment. As Dell tried to reconstruct the context of the pronouncement, Nestor suddenly announced, "Jonatant, you're going back to Texas!" Jonatant asked when, and Nestor declared, "Very soon!" On July 15 Jonatant and two of his countrymen were having lunch with the ACCTS Staff in San Antonio!
After the brush-up English course at DLI, Jonatant and his companions arrived in Yorktown, VA on 20 August, where another ACCTS Staff family had arranged to serve as their sponsors during the 4-month IMOC course. (IMOC sponsors introduce international officers to American culture through frequent interactions in such events as shopping, dinners, museum trips, or decorating a Christmas tree.) During the Haitians' time in Yorktown, the local ACCTS staff was able to link them up with sources for Bibles, Christian Books, Christian contacts, and other materials to help them mature the Haitian MCF. "So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow." (1 Cor. 3:7)
The Haitian MCF now meets in a tent at lunch each day for Bible Study and fellowship, and their numbers are growing. They are standing strong for the Gospel in a country where the truth is often distorted by Voodoo and other pagan practices.
Sadly, on 4 February 2013, the day after his 41st birthday, Jonatant was murdered by unknown assailants while traveling to work, leaving his wife and sons without their husband and father, and the MCF without their leader. Although we cannot comprehend this tragedy, we know that "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants" (Ps. 116:15) and that Jonatant is now safe in the Savior's arms.
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