Bishop Al Gwinn's job is mostly cerebral. It involves a lot of mediating and encouraging, preaching and convincing.
So when he and the 16-member cabinet that governs the N.C. Conference of the United Methodist Church looked for an opportunity to do something physical, they weren't content with mere symbolism.
Last month, they hopped on a plane and spent the week adding siding, insulation and roofing to a new building that will become the dormitory for the Ryan Epps Home for Children in a suburb of Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital.
The project, four years in the making, was launched by Helen Little, an 80-year-old woman from Clayton who has been visiting the island nation for nearly 25 years and encouraging Methodists and other Christians to help her start a home for boys and girls.
Little, a member of Horne Memorial United Methodist Church, wouldn't miss out on the opportunity to work alongside her bishop. So she joined the 22 member-delegation that swooped down on the little town of Michaud to help make her vision a reality.
Haiti has been much in the news this year after the Jan. 12 earthquake that devastated the Caribbean nation. Recently, its people have seen another catastrophe: a cholera epidemic has claimed more than 2,200 lives. Religious groups have rushed in to raise money, clear the rubble and rebuild.
The North Carolina conference, which spans the eastern half of the state, contributed more than $1 million in the days after the quake.
To many in the conference, Haiti is not just a struggling nation worthy of charity, it's a place that inspires a special bond. One of its pastors was killed when the Hotel Montana collapsed in Port-au-Prince during the January earthquake . The Rev. Sam Dixon was learning how the denomination could help leverage medical care for Haitians when he was pinned inside the building, trapped there for more than 55 hours. He died from his injuries.
The conference had dedicated a chapel in its new Garner headquarters to Dixon. The bishop's trip was another way to pay tribute to his life and mission - by helping the people of Haiti.
"You can listen in the news or read in the paper about the plight of poor, destitute people. But you really can't know what that's like until you encounter it for yourself. The journey is to be with the poor, and then to be able to reflect on what you're seeing and experiencing. And then, really and truly, there's the beginning of transformation."
Their trip Nov. 15-22 was the first time the conference's cabinet, which oversees the work of 836 churches, had traveled together to a developing country to help with a construction project. Gwinn, 67, had been on mission trips to Barbados, Belize, Brazil, Honduras and Jamaica. He has worked alongside former President Jimmy Carter and Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller building homes in the United States.
"The bishop jumped right in and did whatever needed to be done," said Al Carpenter of Clayton, chairman of the Ryan Epps Home for Children, a nonprofit created in North Carolina to raise money to build the school and church. "It was a really hard-working group." Little, a homemaker and mother of three, became an advocate for Haiti after she was widowed in 1983 and began taking trips there. This last trip was her 50th. She named the home she helped start in honor of Ryan Epps, a Clayton teen and a student in her Sunday school class who died in a car crash in 2005.
Initially, she envisioned a two-story concrete building for the 40 boys and girls the home hoped to attract. A foundation had already been laid. But after the earthquake the group determined they would need massive amounts of reinforced steel bars to make it earthquake-proof. Instead, they settled on two prefabricated metal buildings, the first housing a church and classrooms and the other a dormitory and dining room.
After the earthquake shattered their rented quarters, the 12 children, mostly orphans who are already a part of the home, camped in tents. In April, during another trip, Little and several others helped erect the church and classroom building, where the children and home administrator live in makeshift quarters.
"These children are well-fed, well-trained and loved," said Little. "It's a very happy place. This is how Haiti will change: one child at a time."
On Sunday, the bishop delivered the first sermon in the church. He spoke directly to the orphans, telling them they were children of God, blessed and equipped to help in the work of redeeming the world.
Dirty hands, busy hands
But for Gwinn the trip was life-changing. Like everyone else, he worked with his hands from dawn to dusk and stayed in a motel that was sparer than the cheapest American chain hotel. "My commitment in coming back from this journey is to live on less so I can give away more," he said.
As an example, Gwinn and his wife, Joyce, typically give each cabinet member a holiday gift. This year, he and his wife made a donation to buy windows for the Ryan Epps Home. They plan to dedicate one window in honor of each of them.
