By Philip Timothy, Message Staff Writer
The Lord will open doors that no man can close, and close doors that no man can open!
– Revelation 3:8
COVINGTON – When the Lord opens doors of service, boldly walk through.
Over the past 40 years, Johnny Huffman has learned to do so and has been blessed time and time again.
[img_assist|nid=6175|title=Johnny Huffman and Murrey Rabenhorst fill a 40-foot container with supplies for an earthquake-stricken orphanage in Haiti|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=100|height=67]Since 1972, Huffman and his wife, Sissie, have run Fairhaven Children’s Home outside of Covington in rural southeast Louisiana.
Through the years, the couple have not only ministered to the children in their care, but to their community, and as well as communities in the Appalachian mountains, Mississippi Delta, and on Indian reservations in Montana and Arizona.
In 1995, the Lord opened several more doors of service which led them to expand their outreach to assist the needy in Zimbabwe, the Philippines, South and Central America, Mexico, Zululand, South Africa, Sudan, Haiti and Romania, by shipping containers filled with relief supplies, medicine, food, clothing and vitamins.
Within days after the earthquake struck Haiti on Jan. 12, Johnny Huffman began receiving calls from people wanting his help to send a container to the victims of the quake.
“I had several people call me and ask me if we were going to ship a container,” said Huffman, a member of New Zion Baptist Church in Covington. “I tried to explain to everyone that it is one thing to load a container, but quite another to be sure that it arrives at the intended destination. I knew that logistics on the other end would be extremely difficult, to say the least.
“My shipping agent called and asked if I wanted to reserve a container. I told him I wasn’t sure, and he told me don’t wait too long because they would go in a hurry,” said Huffman.
“That evening, I was so tired,” said Huffman, “I just wanted to go to bed. I thought to myself, ‘There will be hundreds of containers shipped in – I do not have to do this.’ Well, as I lay down and thought how good it felt to have a place to lay my head, I thought of the thousands in Haiti who were sleeping on the ground with no shelter or anything.”
Huffman prayed, “Ok, Lord. If you want to ship a container, I will do my part.”
The next day he called his shipping agent – Brian Scheele – back to see if there were any containers left to reserve. Scheele said he thought he would be calling and had already reserved him one.”
Huffman then got a call from Pastor Gary Chambers of Church of the Living Waters in Tatum, Texas. For several years, Huffman had assisted Chambers and his group to ship containers filled with much-needed supplies into an area of Romania where his group ministers.
“A few years ago, Gary became involved in Haiti and has been there several time, working with Pastor Jean Romain,” said Huffman. “Romain’s ministry, Good Shepherd’s Love, is an outreach ministry in Haiti that also includes a church, an orphanage, a school and medical clinic. The orphanage houses 56 boys.”
In the meantime, Murrey Rabenhorst, Longview Christian Fellowship Minister of Global Outreach in Longview, Texas, contacted Huffman about getting supplies, equipment and medicine to the Romain.
“He is very excited and encouraged by the outpouring of generosity of so many people in filling a container of much-needed supplies to help him begin the rebuilding process,” said Rabenhorst.
“When I was looking for someone to get the supplies to Jean, everyone that I spoke with kept bringing up Johnny Huffman’s name,” said Rabenhorst. “He is a man of faith. He definitely has been the right man for the job.”
Huffman, though, quickly shies away from any such talk.
“God deserves all the praise and glory here. I am but His servant,” said Huffman. “He wanted this to happen and it is happening. Not because of me, but because of Him. I thought it would be impossible, but I have come to find out that God only does the impossible.
“The Lord just opened the doors and has been putting it together. I have had people calling me and wanting to do something. They want to know that it will get to the people who need it.”
Local businesses, schools and organizations in Texas and Louisiana have pitched in, contributing money, tents, food, baby formula, medicine and building material. The outpouring of generosity has been humbling to Huffman.
“The cost of shipping the container – $7,500 – was received by a gentleman who had prayed about what he could do to help in Haiti,” said Huffman
Because of the massive destruction caused by the earthquake, a couple visiting with Huffman purchased a commercial cement mixer.
“Earlier in the day, I had shared some of the needs with this couple. After they left, I was sitting in my office with Sissie and the wife ran back in and said, ‘we prayed about it.’ She handed me a $3,000 check for the mixer and left.
“I assure you it wasn’t anything that I did. It was all God. When God touches hearts and people respond to His prompting that is when all of our needs are met,” said Huffman.
And needs are being met. More than $65,000 has already been raised between the three groups, and money continues to pour in.
On Feb. 26, members of Hope for Others Ministry, Church of the Living Waters and Longview Christian Fellowship along with 60 volunteers loaded a 40-foot-long, 8-foot wide, and 9-foot-high container with more than 45,000 pounds of much-needed supplies and building equipment.
Included in the container was 10,000 pounds of 5/8-inch rebar, two concrete mixers, material for setting forms, electric jack hammers, hand tools, a generator, a bar-b-que pit, charcoal, a washing machine, several thousand pounds of food, tents and tarps for shelter, medical supplies, cleaning supplies, personal hygiene supplies, and a few boxes of clothes and shoes.
The container, which shipped from Houston at the end of February, arrived in Port-au-Prince March 16 bound for Pastor Jean’s compound, where the rebuilding process is already underway.
“Gary is planning to going to Haiti and is coordinating his trip with the arrival of the first container,” said Rabenhorst. “He is going to determine what it will take to rebuild the orphanage and what items are needed in this next container we are shipping.”
Items for the second container are being prepared and will be loaded on March 18th said Huffman.
“If this doesn’t speak volumes about the American Christian spirit of giving and serving, then I don’t know what does. I believe there is no limit in what can be accomplished when the body of Christ works together,” said Huffman. “We praise God for working things out as He did.”