About us
The Story Behind the Mission
JMI began in March 1997 when God called Odain Fortune to plant God's Church of Jubot in Gressier. After sixteen years of faithful ministry, he handed the reigns over to his son, Jeff Fortune in August of 2013.
Pastor Jeff brought to the church a vision to reach the lost and care for the urgent physical needs around him. As he ministered to his community in Gressier, Christ affirmed his vision through practical experience. He saw that in addition to being spiritually lost, many families lacked access to education, healthcare, food, and economic opportunity. He recognized that the desperate physical needs around him not only provided an opening to share the Gospel with people, but also sometimes served as a barrier to belief which could be overcome by meeting those needs. This reality shaped his conviction that ministry must be holistic addressing the whole person, both physically and spiritually.
As Pastor Jeff sought to be faithful to the vision for the church Christ gave him, the ministry grew. Over the years, God sent international supporters to help the church meet the physical needs of the Haitian people in Gressier. The church became a center of hope by reaching the lost for Christ through healthcare outreach, feeding programs, planting a sister church in Bobonee, community engagement, and civic leadership discipleship.
When Christ led the church to meet the educational needs of its community by establishing a Christian school, it realized that the ministry had grown beyond that of a local church into a dynamic and expanding mission. Consequently, and in April of 2026, the church registered with the Haitian government as a mission under the name of JMI. This move brought more legitimacy, structure, new ministry opportunities, and long-term sustainability to the ministry through legal recognition, rights, and protections.
Today, and through its diverse ministries, JMI seeks to see lives transformed by Christ and communities restored through sustainable, holistic ministry.
About the Pastor
Pastor Jeff has a deep and genuine passion to see the nation of Haiti transformed from spiritual and economic poverty into prosperity. His concern is not one of a detached love of humanity, but a concrete love for the people in his specific community for Christ's sake (Matt. 22:37–38). His commitment to serve the Lord by caring for the Haitian people was demonstrated during his high school years when he lived in the United States as an exchange student in New Jersey. At that time, he was faithful to the burden Christ placed in his heart when he intentionally gave up the opportunity to live a life of comfort in the states in order return to a hard, but fulfilling life of serving the Lord in Haiti (Heb. 11:25).
In order to better serve the Lord, Pastor Jeff sought to get the best ministry training that he could. Consequently, he received his B.A. in Theology from the Baptist Theological Seminary of Haiti (May 2017) and his Master of Christian Education from Indiana Wesleyan University, Marion, IN (June 2022).
In October 2020, the Lord sent Juline to serve alongside him and to share his passion for ministry and community impact. Together, they are raising their two sons, Jeffrey and Joshua, in a home grounded in faith, service, and purpose. Together they seek to see lives transformed by Christ and communities restored through sustainable, holistic ministry.