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\u201cI\u2019m a dreamer,\u201d Caleb Lucien says, \u201cAs a matter of fact, my motto is, \u2018it does not cost anything to dream. If you are dreaming, dream big.\u2019 Over the past 40 years, I\u2019ve dreamed a lot for the Lord, for my personal life, and for Haiti. And there is one thing I\u2019ve learned: when the Lord wants it, He\u2019s going to provide.\u201d<\/p>\n
Caleb Lucien is from Pignon, Haiti, about two hours north of the capital, Port-au-Prince. He is one of nine children and the son of a pastor. He attended Washington Bible College in Maryland in the 80s to get a Bachelor of Arts in Christian Education, and would also go on to Dallas Theological Seminary (DTS) to earn a Master of Theology and a Master of Arts in Christian Education. \u201cMy goal and vision was always to return to Haiti.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toward this end, he sought sponsorship from mission organizations to send him back as a national missionary. All but one told him no, and the one that said yes had a condition: he would have to serve in Argentina for three years before going back to Haiti. At this news, he became frustrated. He knew he needed to be in Haiti. Seeking advice, he contacted some of his friends.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey said, \u2018you have a vision. You have goals. You have a place for ministry. Why don\u2019t you<\/strong> start something?\u2019 And that\u2019s how, in May 1984, we get Hosean International Ministry, Inc., with the goal of empowering Haitians with the gospel of Jesus Christ through life skills training, education, business and economic development, and whatever else the Lord would lay on our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n Caleb took inspiration for the name from the book of Hosea in the Old Testament, which means \u201csalvation\u201d or \u201chelp.\u201d Haiti\u2019s past and present has been fraught with struggle and suffering, thus Caleb determined Hosean would be fitting \u2014\u00a0and hopeful.<\/p>\n Fellowship\u2019s involvement with Hosean dates back to the very beginning. The same year that Caleb was about to go to DTS, a professor there who\u2019d heard about Caleb brought some seminary students to Pignon to meet him. Providentially, one of Fellowship\u2019s founding Teaching Pastors, Bill Parkinson (who also graduated from DTS), was there at the same time on a mission trip. The professor and Bill happened to spot each other at a market, and the professor introduced Bill to Caleb. The two have been friends \u2014 and their organizations, partners \u2014 ever since.<\/p>\n Speaking of partnerships, Caleb\u2019s most important one \u2014 his marriage to wife Debbie \u2014 began in 1993. A few years prior, in 1989, Debbie was working at UAMS as the Assistant Head Nurse Manager in their surgical oncology unit and was also very involved in volunteering at Fellowship. She says she had \u201creally been challenged by [the] teaching at church encouraging believers to really step out in faith and see how they could serve.\u201d This also produced a desire in her to go on a mission trip. The following year, she went on a weeklong medical mission trip to Haiti and met a certain young man who hosted her group for the week. At the end of her time there, she asked Caleb how she could be praying for him. He said he wanted to be married. So, she started praying for a wife for Caleb. Little did she know \u2014\u00a0she was praying for herself!<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.fellowshipar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/baec111e-56fa-4d55-b08f-813f270b5ff8.jpg” alt=”Caleb and Debbie, c. 1992″ title_text=”Caleb and Debbie, c. 1992″ _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” width=”50%” max_width=”50%” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Caleb visited Little Rock in the fall of that year and spent time with Debbie both in a group setting, and one-on-one. It was during that visit that he asked her to accompany him at a friend\u2019s upcoming wedding. Fittingly, at that wedding they discussed their relationship and what moving forward would look like. They dated for two years, seeing one another every couple of months, and talking on the phone weekly. They got engaged in 1992, and of course, married in 1993. They share two daughters, Charissa and Lydia.<\/p>\n The couple has worked side by side to spread the gospel through their work with Hosean for over 30 years. Caleb\u2019s primary investment has been in the area of education and youth outreach, as well as business and economic development. Below are each of the branches of Hosean, along with some fast facts about them:<\/p>\n The gas station and restaurant were strategic endeavors for the long-term future of Hosean. \u201cThey are businesses that we established so that the ministry would continue to have support,\u201d Caleb explains. \u201cAnd if you see the trend in terms of support for nonprofits or mission organizations, it\u2019s declining tremendously. It\u2019s not at the pace that it used to be in the past\u2026 and so that\u2019s the value of establishing businesses that can support the local economy but at the same time sustain the ministry. And it\u2019s been very effective and very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_gallery gallery_ids=”31031,31029,31030″ fullwidth=”on” _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″][\/et_pb_gallery][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Through all the various outreach efforts of Hosean, Caleb and his team demonstrate their understanding of James 2:15\u201316 (ESV): \u201cIf a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food,\u00a0and one of you says to them, \u2018Go in peace, be warmed and filled,\u2019 without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?\u201d Indeed, Caleb says, \u201cfood is not the only answer, but when people are hungry, and even if you were so convincing with the Word, they\u2019re not going to listen, and so we take a very holistic approach to ministry. I know we do a lot of education, we do a lot of feeding, but our priority is to see people coming into the Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s hard to overstate the impact Hosean has had on northern Haiti. \u201cI mean, in our community today, now we have a middle class that didn\u2019t exist before,\u201d Debbie says. Caleb adds that as opposed to 30 years ago, when there were 0 secondary schools in Pignon, \u201ctoday, we have 15 secondary schools in our community. All of them that have been started by a former student.\u201d (It\u2019s also important to note that none of these developments reported by the Luciens are spoken in a self-congratulatory manner, but rather a God-congratulatory one.)<\/p>\n Beyond the donors, sponsors, and businesses, Caleb says it\u2019s quite clear what has ultimately sustained Hosean for four decades. \u201cThe first thing I would say is the faithfulness of God. With everything that has been going [on] in Haiti, it is very rare that an organization started by a national, for nationals, has been able to sustain itself for that long. And it is nothing that I personally have done, but God Himself. The second thing is, when you are in ministry, and especially in the nonprofit world, people want to see if you are going to keep your word in terms of the support they have sent in, and how you said you were going to use it, and how it has been used. If we receive funds to give to a child, those funds go to the child. If we receive funds for a vehicle, it goes for the vehicle. If it is received to build a building, it goes for the building. And that need[s] to be the sponsor and organization relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Not just Hosean \u2014\u00a0God\u2019s faithfulness has provided for the Lucien family in massive ways. Debbie recounts two separate times their family was staring down the barrel of colossal medical bills, and how God stepped in in both situations. The first was after the birth of their second child, Lydia. After God had already<\/em> miraculously sustained Debbie\u2019s pregnancy while she was battling malaria, Lydia had to be hospitalized at two months old for a separate medical issue. The bill ended up being $30,000. They were strategizing how to pay it off and were thinking it\u2019d probably be best if they left Haiti so that Caleb could get a full-time job in the states. But God! The insurance company, which was not faith-based, took a look at their situation and believed the hospital to be overcharging them. So, they waived the bill. The entire thing. All they asked for in return? A photo of Lydia. \u201cThey said that would be an encouragement,\u201d Debbie says.<\/p>\n As if that wasn\u2019t enough, years later they would find themselves in a similar situation \u2014 with an even steeper bill. In 2020, Caleb\u2019s older brother Henoc passed away suddenly due to Covid. Caleb\u2019s grief took the form of him laying on the couch for five days, refusing any food or water. This sent him to the ICU for eight days. For that, they owed $100,000. They were bracing themselves to be paying that for the rest of their lives. However, in what was now becoming a bit of a trend for the Luciens, the clinic wrote off that bill in its entirety<\/em> as well. Debbie says she was thinking to herself, \u201cI could get used to this!\u201d<\/p>\n As miraculous as both of these situations were, there was one radically life-altering example of the Lord\u2019s provision for the Luciens that dates all the way back to 1967, when Caleb was just seven years hold, and quite literally made Hosean even possible. Caleb\u2019s father was taking his older brother and sister to school in the northern coastal city of Cap-Haitien, but he could not take Caleb, as their family couldn\u2019t afford it. By God\u2019s grace, the principal asked Caleb\u2019s father if he had any other school-aged children. He said yes, but explained the situation. The principal replied, \u201cbring him to school; as long as he\u2019s willing to study, we\u2019ll look for a sponsor for him. He will not have to pay anything.\u201d<\/p>\n Find one they did, and that individual sponsored Caleb\u2019s education for the next 15 years<\/strong>. Caleb was and is endlessly grateful. Of sponsored children in Haiti, Debbie says, \u201cIf they know someone is investing in them, a lot of things change.\u201d Caleb tried locating his sponsor for many years, with no luck. In yet another example of God\u2019s immense kindness, though, a few years ago one of the daughters of the sponsor reached out to Caleb on Facebook, asking him if he was that same boy from years ago whom their father had supported. He replied in the affirmative, to which she said, \u201cwe\u2019ve been praying for you, my dad always told us that we have a brother in Haiti!\u201d Caleb got the extraordinary opportunity to meet two of the man\u2019s four children just a few years ago. Sadly, their father had passed away, so Caleb never got to meet him. But getting to know the daughters, whom he refers to as his sisters, has been an absolute gift.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/www.fellowshipar.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/7ec9782f-e302-4106-8c6d-1cf174a53e7e.jpg” alt=”Caleb with one of his %22sisters,%22 i.e. one of the children of the man who sponsored Caleb’s education.” title_text=”Caleb with one of his %22sisters,%22 i.e. one of the children of the man who sponsored Caleb’s education.” _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” width=”50%” max_width=”50%” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.0″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Reflecting on his own sponsorship story and the ripple effect that our actions can have, Caleb says, \u201cI think when we get to eternity, we\u2019re going to see so many people that even though we don\u2019t know them, we never met them, that God has used so many of us to impact lives and to make a difference, and all of it is for the Kingdom.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s the key to ministry and missions for Caleb and Debbie: obedience to God, for the glory of God and for His Kingdom. As Caleb puts it, \u201cMissions is not location, it is obedience to God.\u201d He also says there\u2019s a specific sequence that needs to happen to prepare one\u2019s heart for missions: \u201cif you want to get involved in ministry and in missions as a whole, start serving at home. Because I don\u2019t see how you\u2019re going to develop love for people, or a group of people that you don\u2019t even know, when you can\u2019t serve right here at home. That\u2019s number one. Number two: don\u2019t confine God to your little world. God is a global God. And He\u2019s working all over the world. See where you fit in, in His plan. And missions is not an option, it\u2019s an obligation.\u201d The same goes for prayer. \u201cYou don\u2019t pray for things you don\u2019t care about,\u201d Caleb says. \u201cYou may pray vaguely, but you pray with greater passion for those you know and you come to love.\u201d<\/p>\n Regarding succession and the future of Hosean, Caleb says, \u201cit\u2019s not really up to me to know or to decide who is going to be the next leader of Hosean. My responsibility is to invest into the lives of people, into the lives of young people, who would catch the vision, and who would feel called by God to go to Haiti and be the leader that God wants him to be.\u201d<\/p>\n\n