Haiti for Christ Ministries
On December 9, 1977 Joel and Yvonne were married. They knew each other ten weeks. By March they were together on the mission field in Port au Prince, Haiti.
As non denominated, missionaries Joel and Yvonne often worked to support the ministry. Joel would rise early to do a live radio show in Creole. Evenings he was often asked to act as interpreter for some American visiting Haiti.
Translation occasionally generated donations from visiting evangelists. For the first five years of ministry Joel and Yvonne lived in a house with no running water. Their second son, Paul, was born in that house at 28 Ruelle Lily. The Trimbles had no personal vehicle until a team from Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, Alabama raised the funds to purchase a new Isuzu jeep.
By 1981 Joel and Yvonne lead evangelism team that traveled to villages with a flatbed truck loaded with sound equipment, courtesy of David Wilkersons World Challenge. Joel, the evangelist, would preach open air services and show the Jesus movie in Creole, courtesy of Bill Brights Campus Crusade for Christ.
One afternoon Joel and Yvonne came home to a note asking to borrow their film projector. Later that evening thirty year missionary to Mexico, Daniel Ost took young Joel Trimble by the hand and asked him, Tell me what you do here?
Joel explained that he preached the gospel four times a day on a local voodoo station and was a traveling evangelist. Danny encouraged Joel to open a church featuring nightly services. With the financial support of Pastor Roy Stockstill, Bethany Baptist Church in Baton Rouge , La, Joel did and the Center of Faith, Hope and Love was born.
In 1987 the Center of Faith had grown to over 5,000 members worshiping under a large tent on government land. When the Duvalier government was deposed the Center of the Faith was forced to relinquish their land. With no where to go its church members filled nearby churches.
Today four children, six grandchildren and decades later, evangelism in the US and Haiti and Creole television broadcasts in the US and Haiti comprise Haiti for Christ ministries.
