On the morning of Jan. 12 the project had been completed and the men, along with members of the Haitian congregation, were holding a dedication service to consecrate the new roof.

As the pastor prayed, Bentley says he heard a sound out of his right ear that sounded like a train had derailed.

"The dirt started moving, shaking our feet, and the blocks of the church started clanging," he added. Everyone ran outside. The church escaped damage and no one was hurt.

While it was a frightening occurrence, it was over quickly, but the men had no idea of the devastation that had occurred. They got in their van and started down the mountain to Port-au-Prince and their hotel.

It is now obvious to Bentley that God provided safe passage for the group to get back home beginning with the man on the front-end loader clearing the rocks that had fallen from the mountains.

In Port-au-Prince, they found people crying in the streets. Many were walking around in a state of shock. One man was pushing the body of his wife in a wheelbarrow and begging someone to help him find a place to bury her. Streets were blocked as debris was everywhere.

Miraculously, their hotel rooms and belongings were not touched.

Within a couple of hours, an official from the American Embassy came and instructed them to report to the Embassy where arrangements would be made for them to be evacuated. Five missionaries who were there from Michigan were able to send text messages to let Georgia family members and friends know that their group was safe.

The next day, three of the men left on a plane bound for New Jersey. One day later, the remaining dozen boarded a military cargo plane headed to Miami.

The flight provided another example of God’s protection. During the flight, Bentley began to notice the soldiers moving quickly up and down the aisles talking to each other. The time stretched into a twice as long as the flight should have taken. The plane was going much too fast to land and the landing gear never lowered. Once they touched down, the soldiers were yelling anxiously for them to "move, move, move."

Fire trucks were on the tarmac. When Bentley looked back, the plane was smoking. One engine had burned up. One of the military men said to Bentley, "Only God brought that plane down."

Despite the harrowing experience, Bentley plans to return to Haiti in April. He plans to complete Disaster Relief training being offered by the Georgia Baptist Association so he can serve as a chaplain when any type of disaster occurs in the United States or abroad.

Bentley says this earthquake experience has taught him a lesson.

"We take life for granted," he said. "I don’t understand everything that happened, but I know God was in control."