Missions & Missionary Work, Religion & Spirituality 

RIPE NOW is a book which contrasts the vision and practice of missions in the Haitian setting from the global vision of the Great Commission as commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ. While Frantz Lacombe was pursuing his Masters in Divinity at Moody Graduate School in Chicago, the Lord burdened his heart to investigate why many ethnic churches are not involved in the Great=20 Commission worldwide? Using the Haitian church as a case study, the author has skillfully and painstakingly examined the historiography of 511 years of missions (1492-2003) in Haiti, including 187 years of Protestant evangelization in Haiti (1816 - 2003). The analysis reveals a limited vision of the Great Commission in the Haitian Church with clear causes and effects. This limited vision has a ramification with the way the gospel was brought to Haiti and the way it was received by Haitians. In an attempt to address this limited vision, many Haitian pastors and laypeople helped refine a survey that was distributed to Haitian believers in Chicago. The purpose of the survey was to assess the Haitian believers understanding of the Great Commission. The reader will appreciate the difference in understanding between the younger and older generations, between men and women, as well as the interpretation of the results of this study. To remedy this constricted vision in the Haitian church, Pastor Lacombe has developed a theology of missions in the Gospels and the book of Acts as a model applied by Jesus Christ Himself. In his final examination, the author demonstrates how an ethnic church can move from a limited vision to a global vision as modeled by his small congregation, the New Missionary Baptist Church in Evanston (Illinois). Author biography: Frantz Lacombe is the founder and Executive Director of VIGCOM Ministries (Vision of the Great Commission Ministries), dedicated to mobilizing and equipping ethnic churches to send missionaries to each contin ent of the world as their contribution to the fulfillment of the Great Commission. He is currently the Senior Pastor of the Nouvelle Eglise Baptiste Missionnaire in Evanston, Illinois. As a former student of INAGHEI (Institut National d'Administration de Gestion et des Hautes Etudes Internationales) in Haiti and an accountant, Frantz Lacombe has been greatly used by God in planting churches both in Canada and in the USA. Responding to Gods call for theological training in Chicago, Pastor Frantz Lacombe has co-planted the Nouvelle Eglise Baptist Missionnaire in Evanston. For three (3) years, he has been the President of the Haitian Pastors Association of Illinois. For ten (10) years, he has been the Radio host of "Hour of Revival" and for five (5) years the Television host of "Missionary Hour" in Chicago. Frantz Lacombe received his Bachelors diploma in Pastoral Studies and his Masters in Divinity from Moody Graduate School Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of the book RIPE NOW, and a conference speaker on evangelism, missions, Sunday School and Youth. - from Amzon