Saturday, December 31, 2005

They're Headed Home!

At 4:00 Eastern, the team was leaving Birmingham Alabama after stopping for lunch.

As proud as I am of my wife Melinda and her mom Nancy for being so selfless as to take this week between holidays to go serve others, I was very happy when she called to tell me they were on their way home. Our loved ones left St. Tammany Parish around 9:30 eastern time and are heading back towards us. We should be welcoming them home Sunday evening. Spare ribs and sour kraut will be for dinner at the McGuire house this year.

Lord we thank you for the generosity of spirit of these volunteers to go be your hands and feet. Please protect them on their return journey home, help them to have a pleasant trip home and help the time till we see them again pass quickly. Amen

Team 6 - Friday Update from Troy

Today was a unique day. We spent the day with a family in New Orleans East just east of the 9th ward gutting houses on a cul-de-sac. The family lost literally everything and they had already gutted their house and were coordinating the clean up efforts for all of their neighbors.

While we were gutting their houses one of the ladies came home and began going through her belongings on the front lawn. She says you don't know how trivial everything is until your entire life is in a pile in your front yard.
A quick story today that was so cool. This lady wanted to find a comforter that was from St. Croix that meant a lot to her. She looked for a little while and gave up. Ross and Justin found out that she was looking for something, the dove right in and started looking through this smelly pile of trash.

Ross kept picking things out and showing them to the lady and she would reply, "No honey, it's a comforter." a few minutes later, Ross emerges and asks, "What's a comforter"! And to add to it all, it was an ecru comforter, and a few seconds later, Justin emerges on the other side of the pile and asks, "What color is ecru."

It was a funny situation, but with a very deep meaning behind it. Too many times, we feel we need to have all the facts and information and then decide if we want to help. These two guys saw a need and literally dove right in. We NEED to have that attitude all of the time, not just in a time of crisis. Thank you for your prayers and pray for a safe trip home tomorrow and Sunday.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Friday, December 30, 2005

Where the team is working today

Here is a map of where our team has been working today. They left the remaining and still soaked portion of Crowder Road Church of Christ to dry out and have been working in a culdusac nearby, one block off of lake Pontchartrain in East New Orleans.

It's important to note that while power has been restored to most areas, most individual houses still are not on due to water damage even when there is power in the neighborhood.

One of the residents on the culdusac has been working with the Operation Nehemiah while living in Batton Rouge. He started bringing volunteers into the culdusac to clean up one Carrolton Avenue church member's house, then another from Crowder Boulevard CofC and someone else came home so they cleaned out that house. Our team was there to complete two that had been started and also cleaned out a third house.

Tim Hines who is one of those heading up the Tammany Oaks effort and building a permanent disaster relief organization down there told me today that of all the members of all the Churches of Christ in New Orleans, only 80 are still there, 65 of those at Carrolton Avenue where the housing was less damaged.

Team 6 - Thursday Update from Troy

Today was an extremely long day. The work is definitely starting to wear on us all. We are moving a little slower and moaning a little more. But it was a great day. We were at the Crowder Blvd CoC again today. The entire front of the building is now completely stripped and a majority of the back is free of furniture and debris.
As we were packing up to return to Tammany today, Gregory Hamilton, one of their elders came back and he and I walked through the building together. As he surveyed the front he was overjoyed. When we got to the back and saw the progress, I told him that we were a little disappointed that we did not get it all done today, he stopped in his steps, turned to me with tears in his eyes and said. "When you showed up without the bobcat, my heart sank because I felt that not much work would be done with this crew. As I stand here today, I never dreamed that even with the bobcat, that this much progress could be made in two days."

He has sent pictures to as many families as he had e-mail addresses for and he told me that there are three families now trying to make it back because of the renewed spirit they have from seeing their church home coming back! I reminded him that our God is able to do more than we can ever hope or imagine, he said "I Know". We prayed together and then went and prayed with the entire crew.

Today was Lee's birthday so we all went to the Cheesecake Bakery after devo tonight and had a great time. Also as a side note, we had the devo tonight and Kasey and Justin did a great job with the singing. (Paul was his usual great self with the ole power point.)

Tomorrow they have a circle of about 6 houses in the lower 9th ward that we get to gut out before leaving on Saturday morning. Continue to pray for the work here, and pray for Kasey as he leaves us via train to join his family in Colorado.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Thursday, December 29, 2005

Team 6 - Wednesday Update from Troy

WOW! What a day this was. Our assignment for today and probably the rest of the week is at the Crowder Blvd. CoC. This is a church in the infamous 9th ward. The day began with a stop at the Carrolton Avenue CoC. That, as you will remember, is the church we demucked back in October when we were here last. They have the pews from Tiffin Road in Findlay in place and are having services on a regular basis now. It was exciting to see the progress being made. In fact they are now acting as a staging area for "The Nehemiah Project" the rebuilding of the churches in New Orleans.

We left Carrolton Avenue and headed for Crowder Blvd. As we exited the interstate I thought we had regressed to the days immediately following Katrina. No power on in the entire area (including street lights and traffic signals), people were very sparse, even animals seemed to be in hiding and all building deserted and in shambles. It was simply amazing. I guess I was lured into thinking that things were better than they were based on the media.

I met with Gregory Hamilton, a Crowder Blvd elder. He told me that out of a congregation of 150 members, only about eight have returned. He is committed to rebuilding God's house in the 9th ward regardless of the opposition he is faced with. We prayed with him and went straight to work.

The entire building has to be gutted. It was quite easy since the front of the building was glass, we simply removed the remaining glass and framework and the auditorium opened up to the street. Our team had the auditorium gutted in no time and began working on the rest of the building.

It was rewarding to see the face of this elder begin to glow as we demolished his building.




As the furniture and walls and the like were carried to the curb, he knew that God was at work preparing the way for a rebuilding, and he understood it all too well.

We also had opportunity to witness to a single mother and her 12 year old daughter as three of our crew spent two hours removing some large appliances from her home across the street and then praying with her and leaving her with water and food.

I spent a considerable amount of time with Tim who is the principle of a private pre-K to 8th grade school down the street. He was principle for all of 9 days when the hurricane hit. Out of 897 students who were enrolled, he is opening back up this Monday with only 212 students who are back. He was overjoyed to be able to stop working for a few minutes and simply share what he has been through with someone who wanted to listen to him and shared a passion for children. We prayed and he walked back to his school.

It was a very tiring day, but a very rewarding day. Our crew is exhausted but looking forward to going back tomorrow. Today we got a glimpse of how in our weakness, He is strong.

Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair, Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Wednesday, December 28, 2005

Team 6 - Wednesday's Work Report

Tammany Oaks hosted a total of 80 people last night including our team. Others were from Kokomo Indiana, Huntsville, Alabama, Missouri, Virginia and other locales. 20 more joined from Colorado tonight with more expected from New Jersey.

Some of our team worked laying the 2nd floor decking in the new building and cutting trees, but most of them are working to muck out the flooded Crowder Boulevard Church of Christ in the Upper 9th Ward seen here, before the storm.

Cement pillars and a brick wall inside the church were pushed into the auditorium. The crew removed all the debris, pews, etc from the auditorium and 5 classrooms today with 15 more classrooms to go.

They are working with Gregory Hamilton, an elder at the church that had a membership of 150 before the storm. Only 8 of their people, including kids and elderly, are able to live in the New Orleans area currently so he was very happy to have so much outside help with the church building. He's also working to clean up his house that got 5 feet of water.

Fortunately the Northland church bus has already had it's can't miss visit to the mechanic. This trip it was just a couple of rebar holes in the back tires that have been patched. Should be good to go for the rest of the trip!

Melinda McGuire

Team 6 - Wednesday Update

Greeting from warm Mandeville, LA. We arrived around noon today without incident. As usual, we had a warm and wonderful reception from the gang at the University CoC in Tuscaloosa and got a great rest last night. We left Tuscaloosa about 8:15 this am and as we came closer to our destination, I was filled with a turmoil of emotion. I was recognizing some familiar sites, but things were a little different. Some signs of progress can be seen.
The sides of the roadway are pretty much cleared, but as we got close to the cities, the ever-familiar blue roofs remained. They were everywhere. The highway signs were practically all repaired, but homes and businesses were still just as I left them in October. It is as if nothing had been done. I guess I was expecting more.

Caiti Morris reminded me that possibly the reason so many businesses were in disrepair still was quite possibly due to the fact that people were too busy trying to get their homes repaired that their work places suffered. She is probably right. As we went to a few stores to get some supplies, signs abounded that they were still operating on skeleton crews and limited supply STILL!!

The greater New Orleans area is an area of about 4 million people and it is estimated that only about 300,000 people have returned to their homes. The continued need is quite overwhelming.

We are going into N.O. tomorrow to begin de-mucking operations at another inner city church building. This will probably be our assignment for the remainder of the week.

As I reflected on my emotions today, I was taken to how God must feel with my life. He has given me everything I need for life and Godliness, however, I sometimes get preoccupied on my own agendas and the real work suffers. As a result he looks at me sometimes I am sure and says, "I was expecting more by now". But He just loves on me and helps me up where I am. I am so grateful for His love, His grace, His mercy and His salvation!

Thank you for your support and continued prayer.
Love 'Em Like Jesus,
Troy Blair,
Youth Minister
Northland Church of Christ
www.ncocfamily.org
tblair@ncocfamily.org

Monday, December 26, 2005

Katrina Team 6 in Tuscaloosa

Team 6 arrived in their overnight stop at University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa, Alabama at around 8:00 central (9:00 in Ohio). All those feeling ill this morning are feeling better and they're all bedding down for the night.

The team left the Spring Road Church of Christ this morning at 8:30 in a mix of snow and drizzle. This is a partial team picture. The team, led by Troy Blair includes:
Lisa Blair
Tom McClanahan
Josh Fairchild
Melinda McGuire
Nancy Michael
Paul Ping
Jason Read
Kasey Dunkin
Justin Ping
Amanda Evans
Caiti Morris
Lauren McVicker
Dan Roades
Jessica Fino
Lord, please bless these volunteers. Make their trip safe, their bodies strong, their minds sharp, and their hearts open to the direction of your spirit. Please use them in turn to bless those they will work along side and those they help this week. It's in Jesus name we ask this blessing. Amen

Thursday, December 22, 2005

2nd Servants Unite Meeting - by popular request

I originally scheduled the 12/27 meeting at Spring Road CofC based on assumed availability of more people between the holidays. That seems to have been an erroneous assumption as several who wish to be included can't make it, so we will have a 2nd meeting where we will cover the same agenda items and make a few basic decisions about the structure of the organization:
Thursday, January 5
6:30-8:00 pm
Westerville Christian Church
Room NW 4&5
471 East College in Westerville
Literally around the corner from Spring Road.

Agenda:
  • Introduction of attendees with short bio (10 min)
  • Report on God's accomplishments through this group and our current resources (5 min)
  • Report on Tammany Oaks' status and needs (5 min)
  • What is Servants Unite going to be? (60 min discussion)
  • Mission
  • Membership
  • Organizational Structure
  • Relationship to Tammany Oaks and other US groups
  • Faith affiliation
  • Decisions required for incorporation of non profit (10 min)
Please read through my thoughts as a starting point for discussion.

If you know of anyone interested who does not have email, please pass this on to them and let me know of anyone who should be added to the list.

John McGuire
614-523-3996 home
614-404-8610 cel

Mathew 9:37He said to his disciples, "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few. 38So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send out more workers for his fields."

Monday, December 19, 2005

12/26 Trip and Update

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!!!

This morning we loaded more than 500 toys and gifts on a truck to go to Mandeville, LA to be distributed to families, tent cities, and trailers over the next couple of days. The trailer will arrive in Mandeville sometime tomorrow and the dedicated staff there will begin sorting and preparing your awesome gifts for delivery. Thank you so much for responding in this way. God has blessed us so much with the opportunity to continue to work in this ministry and each of you has answered the call in so many ways. We really appreciate your giving and loving hearts. Combined with the toys collected by Master Provisions around 3000 toys will be handed out all from the Ohio and Indiana areas. Praise God for His great works of compassion!!!!!!!!

On December 26 we have a team of 14 workers headed down to Mandeville. I have attached our workers list so that any of you who need to can review it and let me know if I have made any errors.

These workers will leave the Spring Road Building at 74 S Spring Road Westerville Ohio on Monday December 26th at 8:00 AM. They will travel to the University Church of Christ in Tuscaloosa Al. arriving around 8:00 PM that night. The congregation there has been so hospitable to us all. We thank God for their willing hearts and supplying our teams with food and a much needed place to rest. On Sunday morning the team will attend the 8:30 worship with the church and then head out to Mandeville arriving sometime in the afternoon. Your time of work will begin immediately. The staff at Mandeville will check you in and begin to identify assignments for all of you.

On Saturday morning you will begin loading up sometime after breakfast and devo and be off to Hendersonville Church of Christ in Nashville TN where you will be hosted for the night. Sunday morning you will have breakfast, worship and be on your way home back in Westerville in the late afternoon timeframe.

THINGS WE STILL NEED FOR THE UPCOMING TRIP:
  • We need two trucks – preferably 250’s or bigger. We need to tow a supply box trailer and a trailer with a bobcat on it.
  • I need to know if any of you going has a CDL and would be available to drive the small Northland bus
Things for you to bring: Work clothes, sleeping bags, air mattress if you want to be sure to have one, some money for food to and from LA, and a great attitude for serving the Lord.

Please be in prayer for our friends at the Tammany Oaks Church of Christ. These volunteers have been working non-stop since the hurricane in August and need our support and prayers. Make sure you let them know how much we appreciate their efforts and that we love them.

God bless you all and again, thank you for responding to His call.

Because He first loved us,

Brad

Please call me with any questions 614-288-5825

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Alicia and Brett's Wedding Pics

...are on the Tammany Oaks WhereISawJesus blog in this posting

Wednesday, December 14, 2005

LA needs you now!!!!!!

You have responded before and again we have the opportunity to show LA that they are not forgotten.

I received a call today from Master Provisions which is the group that has been helping us with so much of our shipping. They had been trying to collect toys for the kids in LA who would not have any this year. Because they have previously served in this mission field as a deliverer of goods and services they did not get the response they hoped for…………………….. This is good news for us!!!!!!!!!

We need you to reach down and let God touch our hearts yet another time for these people who have suffered so much. Master Provisions will have a truck at the Spring Road Church of Christ on Monday December 19th with room for up to 1\2 of a semi load of toys. That’s a lot of toys for the kids of LA, but let me assure you there are lots of kids in LA who need our love. Just to give it some perspective, we just sent 750 book bags down to LA and when I called to be sure they were needed they told me they had already handed out some 20,000 but there were three more schools getting ready to open after the holidays and the book bags would indeed be needed.

So the question is can we do it. In this time of hustle and bustle for ourselves and our loved ones, can we take a few moments, a few dollars, and a lot of prayers and do this for these people. For those of you who watched Extreme Makeover Home Addition on Sunday night you saw what the area was still like just over a month ago. Well after crying though out the “pay it forward” theme of the show my wife looks over at me and says what are we gonna do about how we are feeling!!!!!!!! She is and continues to be one of the key inspirations in my life!!!!

Well here we are with our opportunity in Extreme Makeover Soul Addition our chance to pay it forward once again to those in need. And I know you find it how I do, I receive so much more by just taking the time and doing it than I could ever give to anyone. Join me and let’s fill that truck.

For ideas on gifts you can go to whereisawjesus.blogspot.com and in the current needs section, click more details and there is a whole list of ideas. Remember you don’t have to make this hard on yourselves; these gifts are going to children who most likely will receive nothing else for Christmas.

Once you have your gifts here is what we would like you to do:
  • Select your gift or gifts
  • Select a gift bag appropriate for the gift or gifts – do not put the gift in the bag, they will prepare the bags in Mandeville. This will keep us from having to write out what each gift is etc.
  • Bring both to the Spring Road building, 74 S Spring Road Westerville, sorted by age group 1-12 or 12 to 18 and by boy or girl by 5:00 PM on Sunday Evening.
  • We will have designated areas set up at the church for the 4 categories. Just drop your gift and we will take care of it
Don’t kill yourself trying to find a gift bag, if one is not available we will take care of it. I am going by the Dollar store today and buying what they have for any that come in without.

For those of you who wish to help and can not get free to buy a gift and get it over to Spring Road simply let me know your purchase or monetary desires and we will have volunteers purchase and prepare your gifts.

So come take a moment and “Lets fill that truck”!!!!!!!!

For the 6 of you who have responded to me already, thank you and God bless you. For those of you still considering your gift, thank you for your kind thoughts and hopefully we can make it into your schedules for these kids.

The email went to 650 people, please know and understand that we are aware that there are many efforts going on in many areas for many different people. We do not judge or track who responds to our plea and who doesn’t, we simply appreciate when God moves anyone to action for the needs we are trying to fill.

May the God of peace and love greatly bless you and your families this Holiday Season

Brad

Monday, December 12, 2005

Servants Unite in 2006 and beyond

As Brad mentioned in his last email, there are two more trips planned being sponsored by Spring Road, Church of Christ, December 26-January 1 or 2 and January 14-22. With the help of some professionals in our volunteer ranks, we are working to set up an independent non-profit organization to carry the Christian disaster relief banner after that time. There are both long range and short-range goals for this organization:
  • Continue to support relief and recovery efforts from hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
  • Plan and prepare for the next disaster where we are needed.
The primary scope of the short-term goal remains the same. Send volunteers and needed supplies through Tammany Oaks relief effort in Louisiana. These will continue to be scheduled the first of each month with special trips for spring break or as needed. Additional functions for those who can’t travel may include sponsoring hurricane victims who have relocated to our area and working with Habitat for Humanity to build houses for those families here and components for assembly down there.

The long-term goal will also be important. I believe that by coordinating a large number of church congregations from our area, we can build a fast, comprehensive, and efficient response to future disasters. A coalition of church families organized through Servants Unite communications channels would be a fully loaded broadside waiting for the order to fire. By further combining our organization with other startup and long-standing Christian disaster relief organizations around the country, we can build a much more efficient, but yet loosely organized and independent mutual aid network.

We’ve begun building additional communications tools to keep all in touch. I added you all to a new mailing list which is a more efficient way to send broadcast emails. These email newsletters will come out every week or so with summary information from blog postings. The blog, servantsunite.blogspot.com, will be updated in real time as things happen or need to be posted. The web site, www.servantsunite.org, will contain standard and comprehensive information most useful to those new to the organization including signup sheets, trip information, etc.

I thank God for the opportunity to work with all of you on this project and hope you will all continue to support Servants Unite. To make this work, we have two needs. More volunteers to spend a week at a time working in disaster areas and more volunteers in leadership roles to grow and support the administrative functions of the organization at home. I will be scheduling a meeting the week between Christmas and New Years to discuss ideas from interested people and will send details when a time and location has been determined. If you are interested in serving further in Servants Unite, please email me at john@servantsunite.org.

Till the next email, please be praying for the staff and long-term volunteers at Tammany Oaks and all those who are working to rebuild their lives and others from this disaster. Please also pray for our group and others like it that seek God’s wisdom and blessing to continue doing this work.

John McGuire

Monday, December 05, 2005

Team 5 - Report from the field

We arrived safely. We had a lovely evening at Victory Place. Peggy served us some chili, and cookies and bread. It was a nice surprise.

On Sunday we worked on sorting and wrapping Christmas presents for the children hit by Katrina. That was fun.

Monday, we organized the warehouse, so that they can start moving things to their new facility, and we also unloaded and sorted Christmas presents.

Do not tell any perspective women volunteers that the showers are out doors MASH style. It was very, very, very, Cold!!!!! We haven't been able to go out into the areas as yet, I really hope we get at least one chance to go out into the area and help some people directly. That's about all for now.

Gail

[Editor's Note: Sorry Gail, when the new building is done, the showers will be indoors and have hot water ;-) ]

Thursday's Truckload

With everything going on last week I forgot to post about the truckload of stuff we sent down. We met Jim from Master Provisions at 7:30 Thursday morning at Spring Road. We paletized the boxes of backpacks and other items from Springfield, the remaining supplies at Spring Road, some furniture, and a washer dryer set. Jim has a partial truckload of Christmas gifts he's delivering down there December 20, and is carting our stuff along with it.

Thanks Jim!

Five people showed up to do the loading: From left to right, Robin, Jim, Karl, Randy, Brad and yours truly behind the camera.



Some people worked harder than others ;-)

As far as supplies go, all this stuff and anything else we could send will be distributed on arrival to needy families down there. In order to continue doing this, we need a warehouse/dropoff facility more appropriate than the Spring Road building. Optimally, a business that would donate some warehouse space with a loading dock. Maybe a storage unit. Maybe some better idea we haven't even thought of. If you have connections for such a place, please email me.

Sunday, December 04, 2005

Team 5 Arrives!

Gail and Carolyn arrived around lunch time (central). Spoke with Brett on the phone and he said it was really hopping down there today. Good thing our ladies are there as they are the only short term volunteers this week.

We really have to be sending more help, as a group, as a community, as a state, and as a country. If you have any interest in supporting this continuing effort, please take the time to find out more and help where you can whether that be joining one of the teams we send down, helping to organize logistics here, or funding trips. This is a very frugal operation; a completely volunteer effort. Every minute of time and dollar you put into this will directly help some greatly suffering people in the gulf coast.

Saturday, December 03, 2005

Help for Katrina Victims in the Columbus Area

I've been in contact with a local agency who is matching displaced gulf coast residents in central Ohio with groups interested in sponsoring a start to their new lives here. Firstlink.org is an established social services agency in Columbus. They are working with other intake agencies to match recipients when they locate a donating group. Recipients have ranged from individuals and couples to families of 7. Seventy Five matches have been made in our area and Kim at Firstlink tells me there is always a recipient available when she has a donor group. I've also spoken with the disaster relief mission coordinator at Indian Run Methodist Church who has sponsored 9 families through this program with great success.

This becomes a more urgent need December 15. FEMA will stop paying for evacuees to stay in hotels in this area 10 days before Christmas. Agencies have been finding apartments for them, but they are in need of furniture and all household items as they have lost everything of this nature in Louisiana or Mississippi.

This is an excellent opportunity for those of you who have wanted to do something from here because you couldn't travel to Louisiana. Firstlink estimates it costs around $3,000 to set up housekeeping for singles or couples. Obviously this would be more for larger families. Firstlink has a list of items here on their Katrina relief site. Donor groups should collect the household items and install them in the new living quarters before the recipients move in.

Listen, I know donor fatigue is a very real thing. Many of us have contributed as much or more than we can comfortably handle this year. As this illustrates, though, the need is enormous and not going to moderate significantly in the near term.

If you organize a group of donors for this effort, please let me know, even if you wish to remain anonymous. If you would like to join a donor group, send an email and we'll help connect you with others.

To sponsor a family, email Kim Kallmeyer at Firstlink or call her at 221-6766 x117

Team 5 is off and Running!

Our December 3rd team is in Birmingham, their overnight stop for tonight. After a few last minute cancellations, this team is made up of Gail and Carolyn Canini from Westerville Christian. They are staying with Homewood Church of Christ tonight and heading on to Mandeville in the morning.

Please say a prayer for their successful and safe journey.

It is a slow week for volunteers at Tammany Oaks. Gail and Carolyn will be working with the staff and 7 long term volunteers who are there. I spoke with an Ag Science student at Ohio State yesterday though who is leading a team of 30+ down there next Saturday.

Brett White sent a newsletter to all volunteers that have left email addresses while at Tammany Oaks. There were 701 unique email addresses on that list out of 989 volunteers who were registered. That's a lot of volunteers! If you didn't get Brett's email, send a message to whereisawjesus@gmail.com with your name, address, and whether you volunteered at Tammany Oaks. I'll make sure we get you on the list for future updates.

Check back on this blog during the week. I'll post Gail and Carolyn's activities while in the field. They don't have a digital camera, but maybe I can get some new material from our friend Alicia.

John McGuire

Friday, December 02, 2005

Storm Victims Praise Churches

This article is on the Washington Times site today at http://www.washtimes.com/national/20051201-114736-6989r.htm

Noteables:
Louisiana residents gave churches higher marks than government agencies in responding to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

On a scale of one (not effective) to 10 (very effective), residents gave churches the highest mark of 8.1, and New Orleans city agencies and state agencies received the lowest rating of 4.6.

Hundreds of churches and synagogues stepped up to help when municipal, state and federal governments faltered in their early responses to the devastation wrought by the hurricanes. They fed, clothed and sheltered survivors and raised more than $100 million to do so.

The survey said 39 percent of Louisianans had a friend or family member stay in their homes, and 14 percent provided shelter to someone they did not know previously.

Wednesday, November 30, 2005

December 3 Trip

Well team once again we are sending off workers to assist in the hurricane devastated LA. This week three more have volunteered their time to go and labor in love as we have all been called to do.

I have been excited to learn that many who have attended our trips have gone back down on their own, organized trips of their own and gone, or encouraged others to go. I don’t know why I am always amazed at how the Lord works to get His jobs done but I am. Guess it’s a weakness in faith. If you have gone write and share your stories so we can share them with everyone.

God loves you and so do we. We thank you for all you have done to support His efforts. On 12\26 we will be sending an additional 20 or so down to LA to work and then we have a group of 10 or so plus a group gathering in Dayton to leave on 1\14\06. We, the Spring Road Church of Christ, want to let you know that the Jan. trip will be our final sponsored trip for now. We will continue to monitor the situation, our resources, and ways we can help and keep in touch with you. An independent organization, Servants Unite, is going to take up the mantel and continue to work and coordinate efforts to the region. I will be passing on email lists and information for those working in the effort to use to communicate with all of you. I will be assisting Servants Unite in any way I can and in many areas so don’t breath a sigh of relief, you are not rid of me yet!!!!!!!

Praise God for all He does and provides. Thank you for letting God work on your heart and being involved in this effort to help so many. I want to encourage you to keep the disaster relief staff at Tammany Oaks in your prayers. They are taxed, tested, and pushed every day. They would counter with they are blessed everyday, but seriously, they need our prayers and encouragement. Lift them up, lift those who have lost so much up, and just pray for the continued efforts. You can see more of their day-to-day efforts at http://whereisawjesus.blogspot.com

Please let me know if I can be of any assistance to any of you. You are in my prayers and in our hearts and we thank you. Just as an FYI tomorrow we are loading up a trailer that will make its way down to Tammany on Dec 20th. We are loading up 750 book bags filled with supplies, a couch, loveseat, and chair, a washer and dryer, and other items for victims of the hurricane. Thank you to all who contributed. We also plan on boxing and loading items that were not picked up from the church that were used in the efforts. If you need me to set something aside for you to pick up please email me or it will go down there and be put to good use. Again thanks so much for all you gave and have done.

Because He lives,

Brad

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Why all the strong storms this year?

This article is a good meteorological explaination in laymen's terms.

FYI, Tropical Storm Epsilon formed today in the central atlantic, 5 over the previous 1 year record. We've also seen the strongest storm on record and the most to reach hurricane strength this year.

Next year's forecast is for 15-20 like this year was. We went well over that.

Be thinking about the long term of Servants Unite and what role you would like to play. I'll be getting more information and questions out regarding that shortly.

John McGuire

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Tammany Oaks Relief Article

This article was posted today on World Net Daily. This is an excellent "About Us" piece for the Tammany Oaks led effort. It describes the activities, the volunteer experience, and the successes that have been realized.

Of particular interest is the volume of support this mission has provided:
  • Fed 3000 families.
  • Distributed millions of dollars of supplies.
  • Provided 500 volunteers; the equivalent of hundreds of thousands of dollars in free labor.
This makes it so easy for us to educate our family, friends, coworkers, and churches about this project. Can all of you loyal readers and members of our effort from Columbus take a few minutes to forward this article on to these people in your life?

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Recommended Reading

OK, I have to confess, I haven't read these articles yet myself, but the beginning of the cover article of the current issue of Time that you can get on the web site without paying for access had me cheering. 'bout time the mainstream media started covering this more. Starting to feel like we are the only ones broadcasting the desperate situation that is going unabated. You can find more info here.

Warning: the following is preachy and begging and may turn you off if you don't understand my sincerity. Please take this as a heartfelt plea on behalf of people who are depending on us.

As a nationwide effort, we have fed thousands of people through our efforts. We have cleaned out hundreds of houses. We have been Christ's own tools to touch the hearts of souls who need so much to know that they are not forgotten and that we care. Yet with all we have accomplished, there is so much more still to do.

Some of our Columbus volunteers have made repeat trips on their own and some have committed to full time mission work in the area as a result of their involvement, but as a group, we have not contributed to the effort for nearly two months. On December 3, due to the loss of some volunteers this week, we have 5 people planning to go down. I'm afraid, like the national media and most others out of the area, that even our group is getting complacent.

Please, do not let the enemy assure you that the situation we have been working to overcome is less than dire.

The need is no less than our first month where we sent 160 people and 100,000 pounds of supplies into the area. In some respects, the need has only grown. I'm afraid the breath we stopped to take after the 4th consecutive week of volunteer teams has been mistaken for completion of our task.

We are committed to keep organizing this effort from here, and the organizers in Louisiana are committed to keep serving as well.
  • The church in Mandeville is purchasing a building to use as a relief center.
  • They continue to receive quite a bit of donated supplies and appliances.
  • They are organizing efforts with other churches in the area.
  • They continue to accept requests for help from the entire area around lake Pontchartrain and other areas east and west effected by the hurricanes.
Volunteers are still the #1 need. The tornado damage in Evansville Indiana recently was taken care of over 5 days by 600 volunteers a day from the area who were not effected by the storm. The damaged area in Louisiana and Mississippi is not like that. Everyone in the area is hurt. They cannot help eachother as everyone has been a victim of the storm's devastation to some degree. Volunteers from outside the area are the only hope for hundreds of thousands of families to get their lives back.

Even if you can't go personally, you can help regain our lost momentum. Some are making repeat trips. While this helps considerably, we all have families to support and jobs that depend on us. What our effort really needs is greater recruiting. We need to get more church congregations involved. You can help do this by working with leadership at your church or other churches that are not involved in a hurricane relief effort currently. You can work through your friends who are members of un-involved churches. If you have volunteered, you can tell friends and fellow parishioners of your experience... and the need... and the solace you were able to provide to people who's lives have been interrupted. You can reach out to coworkers and become a resource they know to go to for hurricane relief related questions and help they wish to provide.

We will help you if you ask. We have appeal DVDs published for volunteers and donations. We can help you build a talk. We will also speak in person to a group if you are uncomfortable doing so personally.

I have found 2 people in the last week, now scheduled for the January 14 trip who have been looking for a way to help since the storm. There are many out there who just need to know that our group exists.

Your testimony is powerful and will lead others to this work if you allow God to use you in this way. I pray that you will all respond by redoubling your personal efforts to bring attention to the continued need and be conduits for new volunteers.

John McGuire

Saturday, November 19, 2005

December 3 trip info

Hey teams:

Hope you are all getting ready for a wonderful Thanksgiving. Please take a moment and lets remember our friends in LA who have suffered through so much for the last 3 months. I realize the media has left the area and this makes us let them wander from our minds, but stop. Consider the devastation and know the efforts are ongoing. You can see current news at http:\\whereisawjesus.blogspot.com.

The teams are still demucking houses, mostly down in New Orleans. There is ongoing tree and clean up work. Right now they have a real need for individuals who are willing to drive their Penske straight trucks who will be able to feel good about helping to get supplies and needs out to other centers. Everyone cannot be in the midst of the destruction. Drivers are needed and valued. No special license is required. (Editor's note, from personal experience, this is a very rewarding and high impact task)

The relief team has purchased a warehouse with significant opportunities and property. Their dream is to build a dorm for housing volunteers, a kitchen and then have a warehouse for housing supplies in this effort as well as other disaster efforts. To accomplish this they need licensed tradesmen from the construction, plumbing, and electrical fields. They take possession of the building the first of Dec so our team on 12/3 could be integral in getting a jump-start on this God provided opportunity to serve others. If you have these skills please make sure you email me immediately so I can let them know you are coming.

Items we need for our trip 12\3
  • Trucks and Trailers - I need to know if you have a truck that can tow a trailer down to LA with our team. If you have a trailer (preferably closed in) I need to know the size, hitch size, and type of electrical hook up (4 pin flat or round). I need two of these for this trip please help.
  • Funds - we are still in need of $20,000 for funding our 6 trips. Please approach your business associates, your churches and your friends with this need. Checks can be made out to Spring Road COC Katrina fund.
  • Personal Hygiene items - deodorant, shampoo, and the like
  • Sheet sets - full and twin
  • Towels and Washcloths
Toy Drive - There is a real need for toys for many of the kids from displaced families. They have little time to consider gifts or Christmas, as they are lucky if they have the opportunity to focus on getting back into their homes. We need a volunteer to step up and help coordinate and organize a toy drive. For the 12/3 trip see the where I saw Jesus site for items, ideas etc.

Book bags - I picked up over 750 book bags filled with supplies in Springfield from a church who collected them and had no way of getting them down to LA. If we can secure the trailers these will be going with us and can serve the children who will be returning to school after the break.

Please review and consider the above needs. Take an hour out of your week and call some people and spread the word. We cannot do this without you and our faith demands that we not forget those in LA and MS who have been through so much.

I look forward to hearing from you as we continue our efforts!!

(For a current, realistic view of the need that remains, this is a great story to read or listen to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5018068)

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Licensed Construction Leads Needed Urgently!!

Like the larger more established relief organizations, Tammany Oaks is looking long term and expanding into some new space, a half finished building they are buying from another church. It is desperately needed to be a warehouse, dorm, kitchen and eating area, office, and indoor showers! Work must be completed by licensed tradesmen (checking on what that means in Louisiana and Mandeville) to pass inspection.

Obviously there are a lot of details to work out, but if there is any possibility that you would be able to help on this building during our Dec. 3, Dec. 26, or January 14 trips, please contact me about this special project. Contact info is on the right.

Here's the blog entry that speaks briefly about it. That entry also has a link to a powerpoint slideshow with more detail that explains what's happening and what's needed to get this thing operational in January.

John McGuire

Sunday, November 13, 2005

Couple of Tidbits...

Those of us from Ohio, West Virginia, and North Carolina who've volunteered in Louisiana with this group have so many stories to tell and found so many places where we saw Christ working in the hurricane stricken area. You can share these with the greater population of volunteers who have been working through Tammany Oaks by mailing them to katrina_update.post@blogger.com. This blog has been available for a week or so at http://whereisawjesus.blogspot.com. WhereISawJesus is a great place to keep up on what is happening with the mission.

To further illustrate the need for volunteers, as stated in the news article I pointed out last week, large faith based groups are renting facilities planning a multiyear relief effort.

Some new pictures appeared on the sharing site this week (just found them today). These were taken by "Stacey" who I've inquired about further. I built a web gallery of her pics. There are two interesting subjects. They've been working in areas right by broken levies that really are apocalyptic scenes. Also, they've been distributing school and other supplies through schools. You can see an amazing flood of yellow shirts in this work. Her gallery (which says John McGuire at the top of the pages through some frustrating settings in Photoshop Elements) is at: http://www.therenos.com/katrinaPictures/stacey/Gallery/index.htm

More people are inquiring about going on trips. On December 3, just under three weeks away, we will see off the next group. Join us in praying for the Lord to send more harvesters to his field.

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

A thank you and request from one of our new friends

Editor's Note: Received this today from one of the team members from near Cleveland, Lee Stauffer

See below for an email from Danny and Luca to see where all the Spring Road donated appliances went. This is a picture of Kevin (Ohio), Danny (Slidell) and Lee (me Ohio) and Luca (Mandeville) in front of Danny's destroyed house in Slidell. In case you didn't know, Dan and Luca are the local men who took all the appliances.

We have an effort to accumulate more donated appliances, kitchen sets, boys and girls bedroom sets, as requested by Dan and Luca. We hope to coordinate our efforts with the Spring Road church efforts, for example, staging donations with you and working delivery through your planned trips in December, January and February

We are exploring the possibility of acquiring some low cost used autos, as the need described by Dan and Luca seems great.

October 11, 2005

Lee,

How is everything going. I tried to call you the day after we had showed you our side of town to see if you needed any help gutting houses. I got your company voice mail, so I figured I couldn’t reach you. We really appreciate the stuff you brought. I have distributed everything to various families in need. I will go through my neighborhood and get a list of things for you. Most have said that they liked the idea of us trying to coordinate the efforts to make a bigger difference.

Many were like I was when we were first talking only asking for clothes, because they do not want to seem selfish. I assured them you all really wanted to help and wanted to know the things that we really need and may be able to continue to use in the future. Furniture and appliances were things that were mentioned. Gift cards to home depot, Lowes, Sears and Wal-Mart also seem like really good ideas.

If this is not what you were expecting from me and I am being too pushy please tell me! I would like to make it easier for you to figure out how to help. I need things just like others, but I see an opportunity to help many with our connection. If you ever have any reservations about anything please let me know.

Just in making the trip down here and visiting with my cousins and I you made a difference. I wanted to let you know that 2 stoves went to a lady that not only lost her house but her rental house that was a form of income for her. One fridge went to my sister-in-law who was living out of an ice chest. One went to my mom who is just basically living with my cousin. One fridge and one stove went to a para from Slidell jr. that is living atop the concession stand at the local baseball field, and the other is going to a teacher who lived on that 1st road we brought you down with all the houses gone. The dishwasher went somewhere, but I don't really know where, because my wife gave it away while I was at work.

I just wanted you to get a small idea of how much you already helped. Tell your friends we thank them tremendously and if they do not mind I want them to send me some copies of the pictures. It takes good men to do what ya'll did and we will not forget it around here. I'll have to send you a mailing address for me, because I do not have one at the present time.

Thanks, you have no idea the difference you are making,

Danny Tullis

Update on tornado relief in Evansville Indiana

I spoke with Bill Bowley, a member of the ministry staff at Crossroads Christian Church in Evansville Indiana this evening with the goal of making plans for a long weekend relief trip. Instead I got a rather amazing waive off. As extraordinarily damaging as the storm was, they have had massive volunteer response and have handled the immediate need.

On Sunday they put out the call for volunteers expecting 50 or so, but 200 showed up. On Monday 400-600 came and worked, and around 600 more today. He has a map showing damaged areas that need attention marked in green and marks them off with red as they are covered. As of tonight, he has only 2 green areas left, individual streets in a couple of developments. WOW! And, the church has been functioning as a Red Cross shelter and relief center this week.

His expectation is that 600-700 will come tomorrow and finish off the immediate need. I'll be checking in over the next week as to their status and he has our contact info should they determine they need out of town help.

God is Good!

Monday, November 07, 2005

Harrowing Tales Emerging from Sunday's Storms

There are many new victims of another catastrophe for us to pray about and consider helping today. A major twister up to 3/4 of a mile wide destroyed 100 mobile homes damaging another 125, destroyed an apartment complex, and private residences near Evansville, Indiana very early Sunday morning. The path of the storm is over 20 miles long.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WEATHER/11/07/tornado/index.html

Local info in the Louisville paper here.

Like other stories that we have been following, the death toll, property destruction, and human suffering that has been wrought is still surfacing. A 22nd person has just been found to be a victim and over 200 have been treated for injuries.

Pray hard and pray often.

If you have connections in this area and can provide information about needs, please get me in contact with them.

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Still Going and Going And going .................

Hey team we are still at it and God is at work. He is so faithful.

Yesterday I received a call from a church in Springfield Oh who has 750 filled book bags for kids. They said if we can get them to LA we can have them. I am going over tomorrow to pick up as many as I can get in the trailer I have and we will see about the rest from there.

Praise God for all He does and how he supplies.

We currently have 4 people signed up and about 4 or 5 thinking about the December 3 trip. If you are interested in going then please get with me.

There is a lot happening in Mandeville and God is at work.

Check out this new blog http://whereisawjesus.blogspot.com/ (more on how to post to that later). It is our hope that God will provide the time and information to keep it filled with current activities and praises.

I know you are all in prayer. We love you for all you have done and ask that you continue to remember our brothers and sisters in LA, MS and Fl. Pass on the DVD’s and spread the word. We continue to pick up new interest in working in the area and know God will use us.

Also for those who want to be a part of a single massive effort check out http://www.eightdaysofhope.com.

Pray for us and we continue to be thankful and in prayer for you.

Brad Hayes

Sunday, October 30, 2005

Message on Missions - Dr. David M. Faust

David Faust, President of Cincinnati Christian University, spoke at Westerville Christian this morning for Missions Sunday. He taught from Mathew 9:35-38 that we've found applies so well to our effort. For reference, that is:

The Workers Are Few 35Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. 36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."


He presented this lesson so well that I asked his permissions to share it with members of this relief effort and he happily agreed. You can find the MP3s of his talk on the picture site in this folder: http://www.therenos.com/katrinaPictures/David%20Faust/

Now everyone gets their own message from any given sermon. Mine was that the calling God has put on my heart is real and will be fulfilled. Many others of you have told me you have the same motivation to spend more time or full time in missions and ministry. While you won't hear it three services in a row running presentation graphics like I did ;-) I think you'll find Dave's talk inspirational too.

Saturday, October 29, 2005

Faith Based Relief - Times Picayune

I don't know what you all thought you were signing up for when we first got into this, but I imagine, like me, you never considered the long term implications. This article is a front page item in the Times Picayune today. I hope you can all take the time to read it, though it is rather long. Some important quotes:
"We feel changed. We'll go back different than we were going in. We've gained much more than we've given," Hoffman said.
For the present, however, "It's impossible to describe waves of compassion that swept through the Gulf region after Katrina," said Jim Towey, [President's Office of Faith Based Initiatives] director. He called the work "historic and heroic."

The Salvation Army has purchased a warehouse in LaPlace to store food for its massive distribution program. "That's a three-year commitment," spokeswoman Capt. Deb Osborn said.

"This is a major, major catastrophic disaster, and it's going to take five years, minimum, maybe a decade, to get people back into shape," said Gordon Knuckey, an official with the United Methodist Committee on Relief. "I know we're settling in for at least five years."

Thirteen Southern Baptist mobile kitchens working in southeast Louisiana are about to reach a landmark of 10 million meals, four times the previous records, set in the Sept. 11 recovery and after last year's cluster of Florida hurricanes, said Robert Reccord of Southern Baptist Disaster Relief.

Kathy Powers, a staff member at Aurora [Methodist Church] who receives the volunteers, had similar sentiments. "Most people speak of feeling a real compelling call," Powers said. "It's a feeling that this is what God wants me to do, and many say it's so strong they simply cannot say no."
In order to keep answering, our mission requires one thing... More volunteers. Those of us who have gone and many who for very good reasons could not go have felt and continue to hear this call. Absolutely every person who has volunteered that I have talked to since our return has been anxious to go back and heartsick to not be there now.

Life on this planet is practical, however. We can't all up and leave. We have families to support, jobs and employees who count on us, and ministry work locally.

The solution to both problems is to share this experience that we have had. Go when we can, but continually pray for and offer the opportunity to others. This call from God that we are all hearing is to be recruiters and not just doers. If you need any asisstance presenting what we have been doing, seeing, and feeling, where you don't feel you can do so yourselves please contact Brad, Troy, Robin, or I.

Shout it from the mountain tops. God is good! _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _!

Amen.

Friday, October 28, 2005

Brett White's Video

Brett White, aka "hippie", aka "ministry hobo" build a movie of pics, many of them taken by people from Columbus. If you have broadband, you can find it here. Download will take several minutes. If you're on dialup, don't even try it ;-)

Got Stuff?

So many of you so kindly donated items to be used by our teams while in LA. We thank you for all you have done and for allowing us the use of these items. I know a lot of time and effort has gone into making these items available and in getting them to us. We pray that God will bless your family and expand your boundaries as a direct result of your faith.

The following items remain at the Spring Road Building and are available for pickup most days and during special arrangements:

2 Large Green Tarps
1 portable fold up camp table
12 fold up chairs different colors and sizes
6 folding lawn chairs different colors
8 small propane tanks (filled)
1 blue tent with metal poles
1 sleeping bag – blue outside and red white and blue plaid inside
2 sleeping bags with blue and yellow outsides
1 sleeping bag blue and green outside
1 sleeping bag black
1 green and black air mattress
3 blue air mattresses
1 taupe air mattress
1 small oscillating fan
2 extension cords
2 green and white tents with mosquito mesh sides
Several tools including hammers, crow-bars, and small sledge
1 green and gray cooler on wheels
1 Coleman 1\2 gal cooler

Please make arrangements to come by and pick your items up. Again we appreciate you help.

I also need to inform you that we will be canceling our volunteer trip for Nov 5. We simply had no one sign up for it. We have 3 so far for the first week in December, 6 over Christmas break and several committed for the Jan 14 trip. Please be in prayer about your availability to go and help and spread the word to friends and associates about our work. There is still much to do in LA and MS and they need us. It is our prayer that the DVD’s will help get the word out to some new people to help in our work and in what we are trying to do in our service to our Lord.

He is still at work and He still has a plan …………… we just need to figure out if we are part of it!!!!

Because He first loved us,

Brad

Thursday, October 27, 2005

Uncommonly Personal Reporting


Was somehow pleased to hear a professional, hard nosed reporter with the impression we have come away with:

Article

Seeing it in person, I can't seem to wrap my head around it. Even as I read over my notes, I can't believe it.

Maybe it'll get easier.

Somehow I doubt it.

Daniel Sieberg

Florida - Thursday UPDATED @ 11:00PM

UPDATE: I talked this evening with someone from Hialeah Church of Christ on the north side of Miami Florida who had been to Tammany Oaks two weeks ago. While he says it's nothing like Louisiana and Mississippi have been, they are none-the-less short on ICE, Propane for grills, and water. Their biggest resource shortage is gas, but not much we can do about that. Destruction is spotty and some are quite needy while others are just fine. We still need to help the needy ones.

We're going to try to mobilize some supplies to them, but that may be one of two forms. We can collect a lot of stuff here and ship it like we have been, but we are checking to see if it is not faster, more economical, and efficient to purchase bulk supplies from a national supply company and have them dropped at the church.

Other ideas are welcome. You can email me, call at 614-523-3996, or call Brad at the numbers to the right.

Check back for futher updates Friday and look for an email when the plan is solidified.

For up to date news from the area:

The Miami Herald has a blog up that seems to be very current and informative at http://blogs.herald.com/herald_hurricane_reports/. The main site is http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/.

Napels news is here: http://stormedition.naplesnews.com/.

The keys are covered by: http://www.keysnews.com/hurricaneedition/

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

First Pics from Lake Charles, Louisiana area

Take a look at this slide show that came from our client in Lake Charles Louisiana.

Brad

Monday, October 24, 2005

Promo Video available

Dear Relief Supporters:

Just wanted to let you know that we have created some DVD'’s designed to assist a group in taking a special collection for the ongoing efforts in LA (remember we need an additional $50K), and one to assist in recruiting volunteers to go to LA on one of our work weeks. Both videos are on one DVD and there are both a cappella and instrumental background song version available.

The purpose is to use in the collection of money or the recruitment of new workers. Our efforts are losing momentum but as those of you who have been there know the work is still great. Please, if you can get these in front of some new audiences send me your request complete with your name and address for sending.

Thank you

Brad Hayes

Friday, October 21, 2005

New Communications

Congratulations, you've found the new blog site! Please note that you can post comments to blog postings for others to see. Look for the link at the end of the posting.

In case you don't have it, the new URL for information is: http://www.servantsunite.org

We've added another new communications feature, the Yahoo group or listserve. Click here to join servantsunite listserve. Clicking the link will take you to the yahoogroups site where you can log in or create a new account which is relatively simple and painless. There are three steps:
  1. Enter your information and choose an ID and password
  2. Click an additional link in the confirmation email that is sent to your email address
  3. Login to yahoogroups to set up your preferences. Be sure to turn off all the advertising preferences.
If you've never used yahoogroups, it is a forum you can join and submit postings by email that are distributed to the other members. You can comment or reply to each other's postings and share files or pictures from the group. When setting up your preferences, you can choose to receive an email for each posting to the group, receive a daily batch of postings, or only check postings from the web interface.

The iMarketing term for all this is a "virtual community" and these three features along with bulk email have served this effort well in that regard. Please pray with me, "Lord continue to bless or efforts with the time, people, and other resources needed to do the work you have called us to. We thank you for the opportunity to serve and for inspiring in us the creativity to invent these tools we use, and the passion to answer your call. Please grant us wisdom and the inspiration of Your Holy Spirit as we endeavor to serve. We ask you to bless the multitude of recovery organizations helping to shine your light in the gulf coast and other places darkened by sin's evil touch and please bless those we are working to help who have suffered many personal tragedies. In Jesus name, Amen".

Update from Brad

Hey Team:

See below posting for pictures. It is the best I have seen to tell the story of the "de-mucking" with pictures. They are taken in a sequence that give you a good sense of the Totalness of the mess. Enjoy and realize that there is still much to do!!! These pictures were taken less than a week ago!

I am sad to tell you that to date we have no volunteers signed up for our Nov 5 trip. We need at least 8 people to send a crew. I realize vacation time is short, the holiday's are upon us, and there is much for everyone to do. Please consider you schedule and this opportunity for service. If you can participate on the November 5 trip please contact me before Weds. The 26th as we will have to make a determination regarding the first trip at that time.

Suggestion from John: Lets wear our red T-Shirts Sunday morning and ask about making a very quick appeal at our respective church services. I did get two volunteers for other trips at Westerville Christian last week with that small effort. More beneficial long term is to work with our church eldership/leaders to build their support, participation, and focus on this project. Let us know if we can help you with this.

Praise for the day is that Tammany will be positioning more than 200 volunteers in various works beginning today and through the weekend. Praise God for He is good and He is faithful.

Brad Hayes

John Carden Pics from Last Week's Demucking

As some of you are already aware, David and I went back to the Gulf coast to help in the relief effort again. I took a few pictures while we were down there and I have them ready for your viewing pleasure - if you are interested.

They can be viewed at http://home.comcast.net/~thecomputerdoctor/Katrina2

Note that he capital "K" is important - the server at Comcast is case sensitive. Also note that the Comcast server is somewhat slow.

I noticed that I had "fat fingered" the URL for the first set of pictures in my original message. In case some of you had a problem getting that set to load properly the correct URL is http://home.comcast.net/~jwcarden/Katrina

Enjoy,
John C. (Pop)

Thursday, October 20, 2005

Servants Unite!

That's the name were using for this ongoing effort. Hope you like it 'cuz the new domain name is registered and the site is copied over to www.servantsunite.org ;-) Nothing new there yet today, but there will be soon. This name was chosen as we believed it to be both descriptive of our work and a call to action and cooperative effort from all of the body of Christ as well as those with a servants heart who haven't claimed Him yet.

We're watching hurricane Wilma as I'm sure you are. Be watching here, on your email, and on servantsunite.org for announcements. Best guess is that it will hit St. Petersburg or points south as a major hurricane. Be praying that away and at the same time prepare for the eventuality that we will need to respond quickly with water, ready to eat food, and that all important Gatorade. If we do, we'll need the supplies, trucks, and drivers on short notice this weekend or early next week.

Everyone involved in this effort has been so responsive, those who have funded trips, the first 160 people to go, those at home, who during the third week filled half a semi trailer on 24 hour notice... I am so personally impressed with the hundreds of people involved in this project who are letting God use them freely. May He bless all of you.

John McGuire