Bible Connection Podcast: Hands and Feet
Will McGinniss is perhaps best known as a founding member of the Christian band, Audio Adrenaline. In 2003, he, co-founder and lead singer Mark Stuart, and the rest of the band formed the Hands and Feet Project for orphans in Haiti. Eventually, Will and his wife Andrea moved full-time to Haiti with their young children to be active leaders in the ministry on a day to day basis. In this sixth episode of the Bible Connection Podcast, Will and Andrea share their experiences, adjustments, and lessons about walking in faith with a faithful God.

      
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Will & Andrea McGinniss

In this episode of Bible Connection, Will and Andrea McGinniss share the journey of the Hands and Feet Project, a ministry serving orphaned and abandoned (known as restavek) children of Haiti. Started in 2004 by the members of Christian band Audio Adrenaline, of which Will is one of the founding members, Hands and Feet pre-dated Haiti’s national social services organization and the devastating hurricane and earthquake that brought the world’s attention to the nation.

Initially, Will and Andrea planned to support the ministry through the band’s platform from the USA. But after a few years, they and their three young children moved to Haiti full time to oversee the day-to-day operations. They describe the criticism they faced from friends and family, and how initial mishaps on their first day actually helped them settle in.

Today, Hands and Feet is a multi-faceted organization fighting the Haitian orphan crisis. The ministry not only provides the long-term family-style care for these children in need, but also developed programs that support families in the surrounding community. Hands and Feet now has multiple locations in the southern peninsula of the Caribbean nation. They have created an entrepreneurial employment opportunity called Haiti Made, host economically-sensitive mission trips, and more. All of these serve to create sustainable solutions to help families thrive.

Finally, Will and Andrea reflect on the lessons they’ve learned about faith, family, and how the Bible is speaking into their lives today.

Excerpts from This Podcast

“After buying into a faith and giving your life over to Christ, how does that parlay into a real outflow in your actual life?”

“Haiti by its nature is so captivating. It just calls to you as a person who is adventurous, but also if you have parts of you that are super compassionate, or if your heart breaks when you see need or hurting.”

“The first step was taking our family, which is when things shifted from him being the mouthpiece and visionary to the day to day struggles and ways to serve. That first trip moved to a week every summer, to two weeks, three weeks, a month, and eventually to when we were asked to move our family there.”

“All of our friends thought we were nuts. There was a lot of pressure. People told us we were bad parents for putting our children’s lives in danger.”

“We had to push the negative voices aside and say we’re going to trust what God has called us to do.”

“Hands and Feet has really curated a very special trip for families to Haiti. We want them to experience what it’s meant in our family and our relationship with our kids.”

“When Audio Adrenaline originally established Hands and Feet, it was to care for orphaned children. Ever since that period, we’ve just been learning. And every step of the way, adapting to the needs of the country, our knowledge, what we’re passionate about, our ability and capability to serve, and what that looks like. Now we’re able to say that we’re fighting for families, we’re caring for orphaned and abandoned kids, and that looks a lot more broad than what we originally planned.”

“In creating this great experience on our campus, we created a situation that was alluring for people in the community who, living in the state of poverty that most Haitians live in, thought that this has got to be a better opportunity for at least some of their children because they’re so poor and can’t care for all of them.”

“It really shifted our whole focus for how we do life in Haiti and do it healthy. We could have the best intentions—and we did. The band had the greatest heart to start the work, the people who have gone own there to serve have abandoned great jobs and life here in America to serve. You can do that with not all the knowledge in a way that hurts the country, hurts families and hurts people. That shifted everything from how we bring people in on missions and how we do everything. How can we have a great cultural exchange, how can we have these programs that work along Haitian people that can provide a job or at least not take a job.”

“What we realized was all this effort and care that we gave these students potentially could throw them into a world that has no opportunity. That circles back to why they were abandoned in the first place, due to the economy, lack of jobs, a lack of ability to support yourself and a family. How are they going to make it?”

“We began to look at all our campuses as a job creation piece, which led to an organization called Haiti Made.”

“Full circle, you see how our care transitioned to preparing them to leave Hands and Feet in a very healthy way with a transition piece, and then creating Haiti Made to give them a job opportunity along with our campuses as a place to plug them in.”

“When we walk in faith, it’s not going to look normal to the world. It’s actually going to look really crazy, and very abnormal. It may look reckless sometimes.”

“When you follow God in a childlike faith or without reservation, every time he shows up and does his part. He even turns bad times into good.”

“You’ve got to be in motion. God will take that motion and do something with it. He can’t do something with someone who won’t get off the couch, who’s not willing to move.”

Featured Scripture: Psalm 27

Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord!

Numbers 6:23-26

The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.

Episode Links:

Hands and Feet Project website

Haiti Made website

Losing My Voice to Find It: How a Rockstar Went Silent and Discovered His Greatest Purpose — Audio Adrenaline co-founder, Mark Stuart’s book on his faith journey, including the work at Hands and Feet Project.

      
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