Gaspart is located a about 4.5 miles to the east of Pignon near Fontaine and a little over a mile north of the road to La Victoire.
Description:
The church at Gaspart is a single-room structure made entirely of concrete block, stuccoed and painted. The roof is tin. It doubles as a school during the week. Since these pictures were taken an additional room has been added to the church and an outhouse has been dug in the courtyard.
History:
Gaspart has a special place in our heart. Not only is it the home town of Madam Pastor Sidoine (Pastor Sidoine's wife), but it is also the first church we built, and the place where Pastor Kirby first passed out gift packages to the children and realized what a profound ministry God had revealed. If you would like to see a short video of that trip, click on the arrow below. The resolution is bad and some damage had been done to the file (the audio portion was lost); but you will get the feel of how remote it was and how happy the children were to be visited. The music was recorded in Pignon around 2002 and features Sanon and the Jerusalem Baptist Church Youth Choir.
It remains a thriving church and school today and will always be a destination we love to "stop by" to share the Gospel. We have held multiple revivals here over the years and have always enjoyed being here at night because of the beauty of the night sky. When there is no moon and no clouds the "heavens declare the glory of God" and it is marvelous in our eyes!
Photo Album:
This is what the original church/school building looked like in 1998 when Pastor Kirby first visited Gaspart. As you can see nothing but roughly-hewn boards and a dirt floor.
We provided the funds to build the new concrete block building sometime between 2002 and 2004. This photo shows the footer being poured which was the way we used to construct our churches. The stones were collected from nearby fields.
The Luciens make all of the concrete block they use themselves. The concrete is mixed on the ground by hand and then pressed into molds. Here you see the block for the new building drying in the sun.
The building was completed early in 2004 just in time for our first-ever team to arrive in January of that year. You can see the original building to the left. The team's work project for this trip was to paint the newly constructed building both inside and out.
