In 1999 Tim was invited by a ministry friend to participate in a mission trip to Haiti. The organization was called Friends of Haiti Organization (FOHO) and the goal was to build a school in a small mountain community in the southern sector of Haiti where this team had previously built a church 9 years before. When the trip was over and the school was standing, I came home but I left my heart in Haiti. Three months later a pastor friend called to share that God had placed my name on his heart following a mission trip he had recently made to Haiti. He visited a para-church organization called OMS International (formerly Oriental Mission Society) who has a large compound in the northern sector of Haiti near Cap-Haitien that included a clinic called Bethesda Medical Center. He described the clinic as having an excellent reputation in the community but that, even to his novice eye, the laboratory definitely needed some help. It was clear that God had opened two doors so I immediately called OMS and asked if I could visit Bethesda for two weeks in the summer of 2000. As a professor of Clinical Laboratory Science I realized that between my expertise in laboratory medicine and a two month vacation in the summer, God has orchestrated the perfect combination to embark on this calling.

From 2000 to 2002 I traveled to Vaudreuil, Haiti for two weeks each summer to consult with the laboratory at Bethesda. My role was to help them improve current procedures, conduct training sessions with the laboratory staff, and to develop additional laboratory procedures to improve the laboratory services.

In 2003 God opened two more doors. My daughter, mother and two of my Clinical Laboratory Science (CLS) students asked if they could join the summer team and serve with me at Bethesda. The first medical mission TEAM was born. Also this year two other Haitian clinics observed our activities at Bethesda and asked if I could visit their clinics. I saw this as another door God had opened and a laboratory ministry had developed. During this period it was becoming clear what God was doing and that I needed ministry partners to provide financial contributions and medical material donations in order to keep pace with our growth.

2003 Randolph World Ministries, Inc. Medical Mission Trip Team Members

In 2004 I received other requests from my CLS students to join the team and from other Haitian clinics to extend our services to them as well. In 2004, one of my financial contributors indicated that she felt led to make a sizeable contribution if she could deduct it from her taxes. I began to seek an accountant or tax attorney to complete the 501(c)(3) paperwork. In 2004 an accountant from the United Methodist Church in Macomb, IL, Carol Carter, volunteered to complete the paperwork on our behalf. In 2005, Randolph World Ministries, Inc. was officially born. From 2004 to 2006, Randolph World Ministries, Inc. continued to recruit larger medical teams and accept more Haitian clinic clients requiring that we extend our two week summer trip to three weeks, then to five weeks. Also during this time the spouse of a professional colleague, Jim Schoeberlein, volunteered to create a ministry logo and create a website.

2004 Randolph World Ministries, Inc. Medical Mission Trip Team Members

Tim also felt God’s call to alter his research focus in 2004 to include projects that would provide medical benefits to Haiti. Since Haitians are genetically African and sickle cell is known to occur in both Africa and Haiti, Tim began to test patients for sickle cell. After 6 years of testing Haitians for sickle cell we have determined the prevalence of sickle cell carriers in Haiti to be approximately 15%. Unfortunately, most Haitian labs do not test for sickle cell causing upwards of 90% of patients with sickle cell disease (not carriers) to die before the age of 6 years old. In 2005, Tim had an idea for a new test for sickle cell that could detect the carriers and those with the disease using a method that is simple, cheap, and rapid enough to be used in Haitian clinic labs. Our vision is to get a large grant to open three sickle cell centers in Haiti; one in the northern sector, one in the central sector, and one on the southern sector. The grant would fund our new test in sufficient quantities so all babies, children and pregnant women could be screened and diagnosed for sickle cell disease so those with the disease would receive life-long treatment and live beyond childhood well into adulthood. We are also developing several other new tests to include a test for hemoglobin (to evaluate anemia), bilirubin (to evaluate liver disease), HbF test (to determine if one of the sickle cell treatment is working), and HbC (to detect other diseases like sickle cell).

In 2007 God opened another major door. We were asked to service 4 clinics in the southern sector near Port-au-Prince and one in the central sector near Gonaives. At this point we had acquired seven clinics but all were in the north around the Cap-Haitien area. During the winter of 2007, I visited these five clinics and accepted them as permanent partners of Randolph World Ministries, Inc. These five acquisitions made it necessary to introduce an annual winter trip to supplement our annual summer trips. In addition, 2007 also became the year our medical teams began to diversify from primarily laboratory professionals to include other healthcare professionals allowing us to service the entire clinic, not just the laboratory.

During this period our rapid growth curve and diversity of services to the people of Haiti steepened dramatically. In the fall of 2008, Haiti was hit by a series of four hurricanes that literally flooded our ministry partner in Gonaives, Eben-Ezer Mission. Since our inception God had put in place over 150 financial contributors and I felt led to email them with an urgent request for financial assistance to help the survivors of the floods obtain food and water until the large NGO’s could get their large gears turning. Within 2 days of the flood, Randolph World Ministries, Inc. was able to send $2,000 to Pastor Michel, President of Eben-Ezer Mission, and another $2,000 before a week had elapsed since the flood. Pastor Michel indicated that our contribution was essential in the survival of many of his people between the time of the flood and the arrival of the first shipment of food and water from the Red Cross.

2008 Randolph World Ministries, Inc. Medical Mission Team Members

The year of 2010 brought the greatest and most dramatic change to the ministry. In January, Haiti was rocked by a series of earthquakes that will forever change the country. Again, Randolph World Ministries, Inc. enacted our disaster relief efforts and was able to send financial assistance and two medical teams to Haiti within the first three months of the disaster. Through this disaster, God tripled our financial and medical materials contributors allowing us to do so much more for the people of Haiti.