CUBA COMMITMENT

CUBA COMMITMENT

Updates:

Please pray for us as we plan a couple of more trips into Cuba this year. Printing that has been funded from you and printed in the country should be complete by the month of May and in a trip scheduled then or later in the summer we should be able to disperse all known printed matter during that trip. This could include both titles of creation tracts and the ABC’s of Christian Growth in Spanish. Continue to pray for our travels in the US as I will be traveling to a conference on compliance with travel and trade regulations to countries such as Cuba sometime between now and the end of the summer. This will allow us to stay abreast of the regulations of Office of Foreign Assets Controls and Bureau of Industry and Security. A report via DVD is in the works as we speak and should be at your door steps sometime this next month. We are planning a meeting soon for all interested soon. This meeting will be for follow-up and planning. It will consist of information, video and testimony from those traveling to Cuba for us; information gathered by government resources in the US ; and strategy planning for our coming travels. If you are interested in being involved in this meeting, please inform me via e-mail and give some blocked out dates for confirmation of attendance or dates that you will not be able to make it. The meeting should be complete within one day, but we are scheduling it for two to allow all discussion and information to stimulate more thought provoking discussion. Proverbs 11:14- “Where no counsel is, the people fall but in the multitude of counsellors there is safety.”

Information:

“Is it necessary to follow the rules?” I believe so and I believe that the Bible teaches that we are to do so for our testimonies sake, until such rules are declared unethical, immoral, or unbiblical. “Is it important to abstain from the appearances of immoral, unethical, or illegal activities, even though you have committed no crime at all?” Again I believe we would all agree that the answer is yes, we must be ever cautious. In recent months there have been several informative e-mails I could have written but chose not to for sake of the content and the leaking of this content to persons who do not have our best interest or the sake of the Gospel in mind. I want to show you then another example of how the Government is cracking down on illegal travel and unsanctioned expenses in Cuba, even if no fault is at hand, the people in question are still “in question,” and this is not where I want us to be.

A New York City High school teacher recently took a spring break trip to Cuba with some of his students. This trip has raised concerns about whether the group violated U.S. travel restrictions to the Communist country. Monday a city Department of Education spokesman said this month's trip to Cuba was not officially agreed upon by the district or the school. The Government spokesman repeated back that “the school's Web site featured a call for applications and a list of selected students, as well as details of previous sponsored trips to the island.” This gives the school responsibility to the allegations and all subsequent charges will be handled to the organization and not necessarily to the individuals nor sponsors. The Treasury Department hands out travel licenses for Cuba trips, as we well know. Permission is granted to some groups, including for those seeking to engage in religious activity or humanitarian aid. Educational licenses also are granted, but not at the high school level. People who violate sanctions can face penalties ranging from warnings to a $65,000 fine. Cantor said the education department had asked a special investigator to see if any school regulations were violated on this trip or previous ones. However, it's unclear what the education department could do if the teacher and the students acted independently. The law states clearly though, our obligations to the Treasury Department especially to the OFAC division of the Treasury. These laws, no matter what personal regulations or business protocol you may have, supersede all other protocols for your business, it’s the law! In mid-October, the teacher in question posted a release on the school's Web site advertising that applications for this year's trip were available. An essay was one of the requirements. It was unclear how many students actually went on the trip, though a school Web site posting listed about 30 students who had been selected for it. The school principal when questioned told the New York Post that the school had denied approval for the trip but that the teacher went ahead and arranged it. Because of 2004 regulation changes and recent changes to OFAC regulations, this school is completely liable. In our case... a missionary goes to Cuba , commits fault, your Church can and will be liable, even if you explain that it wasn’t your dealings. If our Church sends an e-mail or posts a trip on a website, this obligates us to the missionary and all fault is therefore allocated to the organization (Church/School) and not to the individual, until the case against the organization is complete, then subsequent cases against the individuals or leadership can and will be opened.

Again, this behooves us to do things “decently and in order”. We have an obligation to the cause of Christ to do things without destroying our testimony, even by accident. Metropolitan Baptist Church is striving with all we have to find the regulations, new rulings and seek answers from our Government and the foreign entities to which we have to deal with. Please, do not hesitate to ask if you need more information about these rulings, or have a question of your involvement.

Prayer Request:

It is necessary, indeed vital that you pray for us as we strive to help the Cuban men there and find “doors” that God has opened for us. Please pray for our soon scheduled travels and that God would help us in these travels to have divine encounters with the men and women to whom we are suppose to be working with. We want to be working where God is working, please pray to that end.

In HIS Service,

Travis A. Jones

travis@metrobc.org

cuba@metrobc.org

Metropolitan Baptist Church

6051 Azle Ave.

Ft Worth, TX 76135