Team 26 Wednesday work

We all had another VERY productive day. The final tally of Ohio people here is at 115, but there are also three other groups of up to 20 who are working in town this week so we are an obvious presence here with a population of 2700. Many jobs were completed today and people are starting new tasks tomorrow.

Everyone went on fun trips tonight. Some to Harry Potter, some out to restaurants, and the New Life group got a boat ride from the man who docks this boat next to their project house.
Jim Gaul, and the Westerville Schools group spent the day painting and cleaning. Some worked to build up the church building's electrical, plumbing, and drywall.
Gotta make your work fun...
Here's the group picture from the Westerville Schools group from the restaurant they ate at tonight.
Ms. Nancy who's house we are rebuilding turned up with Watermelon for the volunteers this afternoon. The temperatures have really been unbearable, but I have yet to hear anyone really complain or whine. I'm really impressed with the groups we have and feel immensely blessed to get to serve with them.
The King's house is coming along, but there is a lot of work left to do. More volunteers will work there tomorrow and Friday to try to finish as much as possible. We're hoping to raise some more funds to get replacement glass for windows that were broken during the storm.
South Dayton Church of Christ Flat cleared off the storm damaged house next to the park.
Matt Moon and the Minions have nearly completed the awning they've been designing and building all week.

Macey from the Sunbury United Methodist group paints trip with Timi who lives at their project house. 25% of the population is Vietnamese/Lao shin/Cambodian as the boat people after the war were settled here.

With this many people in camp, it's impossible to enumerate all the work we complete in a day each night. I can't reach all the people with cameras and stories are harder to come by, but keep checking back the rest of the week to share in our experience.

Team 26 Tuesday Update

Whew!!! It's Hot!!!

And busy!!! Really you can't understand either statement unless you are here. We have 26 concurrent job sites being worked. We've completed... I don't actually know.... A dozen or more with more coming online.

Some have been large rehabs of kitchens, bathrooms, painting, roofing, windows, walls, electrical, all in one structure and the progress on those after 2 days work has been incredible. Some have been tear downs and cleanup of properties so that rebuilding can even begin... 2 years after Katrina... Many have been small roof repairs, half roofs, some drywall, steps, painting, community cleanup, and other efforts.

Five jobs are helping the local Nazarene mission effort complete the work left over from their relief operation which is no longer receiving volunteers. The cooperation of the Body of Christ is incredible. People participating in these jobs are working through 5 different organizations (church, Servants Unite, Hilltop, Bayou Recovery, and the Nazarene group) to serve seamlessly. Not to mention the impressive cooperation we've gotten from the local government and other disaster relief orgs supporting the efforts here.

What an amazing work He has given us. Below are a few pictures from the last day's work:

Team 26 Monday Update

OOPS! The blog didn't happen last night. We did have 26 new sites yesterday and (as predicted) productivity was bad during the morning till we got all the new supplies and tools delivered that we missed in planning Sunday night. It was crazy busy, crazy hot, and crazy crazy for all of us.

I'll post more pics from the last two days this evening.

Team 26 Sunday

Every time I come down the fellowship hall at the newly dubbed, Hemley Road, Church of Christ (old Methodist building) fellowship hall is further along. It was crowded at church there this morning with many of our 130 volunteers in attendance.
Supplemental tents are added to the 100 person capacity Hilltop camp to shelter volunteers from the (2nd night in a row) tropical downpours that come out of nowhere.
Today was a free day for most of the crews to go sight seeing. This morning Sunbury UMC took their group picture at the dock by our camp.
Their T-shirts have a roster of all their group.
The Westerville Schools group spent the day at the beach. Pictures below is the South Wrestling "Bayou Smack Down!!! Sunday, Sunday Sunday!!!"
South Fencing Team...
South Sunscreen Club...
Hey Team 3 and 7 participants! Remember Sharon Oaks and Vicki and Tim Smallwood from South Dayton Church of Christ?
They get the pleasure of tearing down one of the last remaining, half Katrina demolished houses along the waterfront which happens to be right next to our camp. Today was shoveling and hauling debris from the area. Tomorrow is tying on a rope and pulling it the rest of the way down with some.... persuasive horsepower.
I spent the afternoon matching job assignments to the skills of the MANY construction leads we have in this team. It's very unusual to have so many experienced construction people in a group and that will make us very productive. Tomorrow, teams will be working 24 simultaneous sites!

A large group will be starting repairs on this 1800s home on the bayou to get the grandmother and 3 kids out of the camper and back in their home.
This place has a lot of character, charm, and a kewl veiw.
More updates tomorrow and through the week, so check back daily to keep track of us.

Team 26 Cruises Into the Bayou

Originally planned as Team 27, some consolidation makes this our 26th Katrina response team. Groups from Sunbury United Methodist Church, Westerville Schools, New Life Church in Canal Winchester, and South Dayton Church of Christ are arriving throughout the day in Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Actually 80% of them all arrived between 7:00 and 7:30 this evening.

I'm waiting for the last group as I write this and enjoying an offshore lightshow.

...And now as I come back to this posting I've been working on since 2:00 this afternoon, I've helped them set up their tents and get settled.

Tomorrow is church and sightseeing for the team. I hope to get back some pics of their adventures and have a few to post from our exploration the last couple of days. Then Monday it'll be everyone hard at work.

Keep watching all week for daily updates.

Prayers are requested for our safe travels, work for the week, and success at showing the people here they are cared for and not forgotten.

John McGuire

Update on our friend Brendan

Friends,

I hope this finds you all in good health and spirits! As for here in St Bernard we are coming right along. It has been a long 22 months and i am sad to say that my run has come to an end. As of June 1 i had to stop with the volunteer operations through Hilltop and IRC. Financially i just cant do it anymore and have to go back to work. It has been a fun 2 years and i don't regret one minute of it. We had fun, helped a lot of people, and started something that will continue on for years to come. I am honored to have met and worked with each and every one of you. As for me i am currently working for the American Red Cross out of Washington, DC but stationed here in Chalmette as a Community Recovery Specialists. This is a temporary program started by the Red Cross after Katrina and wont last long so in the nature of helping people and construction i am in the interview process with the St Bernard Long Term Recovery Committee for the position of rebuild coordinator for the parish. So wish me luck with that endeavor. And since i am use to pretty much working seven days a week while you guys were here i am also trying to speed up the process at Home Depot of getting material and will be starting there next week part time. So next time you guys come down i will try and speed up the loading process for you!

I will still be involved with volunteer efforts here and in New Orleans, but instead of being committed to one group i will have access to dozens of groups. So if you find yourself needing a place to go let me know. If and when i finish my home here in Chalmette I will be able to keep groups of 15-20 in my home so i will keep you all updated on that.

Once again thank you all for your dedication and patience while you all have come down here to help us. I think about and tell stories of our time together at most all of my presentations and it seems like just yesterday you all were here.

Take care and if any of you are in the area drop me a line and well have lunch!

Thank you all

Brendan Hendrix

985-517-1581

2304 creely dr

Chalmette, La 70043

Missions Presentation to Gracepoint Church

I had the massive pleasure today of speaking to the GracePoint Community Church congregation in Lewis Center (North of Columbus) on missions involvement and their personal walk. Thanks to Pastor Terry Lewis, Missions leader Melissa Ruble and the missions team for the opportunity to encourage the congregation to participate in missions to strengthen their faith and to offer opportunities to volunteer with Servants Unite. This was an excellent experience for both I and Pat Hazelet (Team 20) who came up to speak to people who stopped by the table.

The script, as I wrote it, not quite as I presented it, is in the next blog entry down. I'll flesh it out with links and references more over the next several days and hopefully have MP3s you can download from the audio recording. I welcome comments, and questions, either publicly to the blog or privately via my email. I'd love to present to your church too, so please check with your church leadership for open opportunities we can fill.

I am out of town all week with the Westerville Christian high school youth for Summer in the Son at Kentucky Christian University, Grayson, Kentucky. After a stressful and frantic week, preparing this lesson and other responsibilities I was blessed to end the day with a gymnasium sized worship venue and the David Crowder band leading. That was a great way to fill back up! I'm looking forward to a week of youth ministry and getting to know our kids better.

God bless all and may he continue to bless our work. Amen!

John McGuire

What keeps us from Missions - Living the Grand Adventure

Who’s the coolest adventurer you can think of?
My favorite is Indiana Jones. He pelts off into the far reaches of the world after whatever treasure with not much more than his smarts, his whip, and his trademark Fedora hat.

We all ran off to New Orleans after Katrina on a grand adventure with no idea what we were to do or how or even where we would sleep, but we knew we had to go. And we were amazed at what happened, how we were used by God, and the fact that it was so chaotic that obviously no human was in charge, yet everything happened that needed to.

Our Call to Missions
We are all called to missions. In all the New Testament gospels and Acts, Jesus is quoted issuing the Great Commission when visiting his followers who were in hiding after His crucifixion and resurrection.

Matthew 28:18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

Luke 24:46 He told them, "This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.

John 20:21 Again Jesus said, "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you."

Acts 1:8 you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.

In the Old Testament, Isaiah equated service to others as Worship, or fasting. Back in his day, 700BC, God had retreated from Israel as described throughout chapter 57. In verse 3 of Isaiah 58 God tells us through His prophet that he heard his people ask why they fasted if He didn’t respond. In verses 4&5 He answers because their 1 day fasting as worship ends in fist fights with each other. He asks sarcastically, “is this the kind of fast I have chosen?” then goes on to explain what he expected of them and us.

Isaiah 58
6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

I believe we all know this in our heart of hearts and that’s why I’ve blown through this pretty fast, but we look at this as just another obligation in our lives.

Jesus tells us this is not to be a burden because his “yoke is easy and [His] burden is light.” (Mat 11:30). Are you stressed out? “You will find rest for your souls”, He tells us. This is a Grand Adventure that our hearts crave; a work that we can get lost in; worship that never ends while we are here. All this has been true in my experience and is echoed by volunteers and other missions leaders I have worked with. The more important discussion I’d like to have with you is…

What keeps us away from Missions
If we have this “Great Commission”, This Grand Adventure that we were made for and designed to execute, why do we have such a difficult time with it? What stands in our way?

Missions, by nature, tend to fall under the social justice category. Us “Christian Conservatives” tend to look at social justice issues as liberal, leftist, and even communist. I’m one of you, remember? How do we discern who really needs help and who is taking advantage? How do we provide the “hand up, not a handout” that so many service organizations strive for? We get suspicious of people and don’t trust that our giving will be truly appreciated or effective. We don’t want to “waste our resources” on those who are unworthy.

Last week, on my way home from Alabama, someone hit me up for money at the gas pump north of Louisville. He gave the “trying to get home (to Columbus no less) spiel. I gave him $5.00; he gave me a toothy smile and a “God bless you”. The people at the other pumps blew him off. I pumped my gas, hit the restroom, and grabbed a drink at McDonald’s before coming back out to my truck where his car was still setting at the next pump. As I pulled out, he came out the door with 2 frapachinos and a sticky bun. That adds up to about $4.85 I figured. He gave me the same grin with a bit of “sucka” behind it.

I was mad. I knew he was lying when I gave him the money, or I’d have filled his tank, but my first reaction was discouragement and that made me mad. I got over it after some brooding up I-71 and decided I’d do the same thing next time. Not because it’s the socially responsible thing to do, but because Christ calls me to serve others. Our love for Him makes us willing to do what may seem unwise from the World’s perspective.

WWJD? Jesus helped all who needed it. Now we can argue that He certainly had a gift of discernment we can’t hope to obtain, but this guy touched pariah’s of His society healing the blind, demon possessed, the lame, and the outcasts. He hung out with evil tax collectors and prostitutes… put down the religious elite and put forward simple fishermen and trades people as his apostles.

The people described in Isaiah 58 were like us too. Wrapped up in their own advancement economically, and seeking more influence in their world. Is the church you know really any different today? Many aren't.

We work VERY hard to provide for our families, an honorable thing. We want to give them the best. We pursue the American Dream of a comfortable house in a safe neighborhood. We send our kids to Christian, or other private schools, or at least strive to live in a “good” school district. We focus on our family’s advancement, setting up our kids to be happy, popular, and well educated, plotting and saving for the day when they are paid off and we can retire and enjoy our spouse, fishing, and traveling.

What are we teaching our kids though? Are we displaying the Great Commission to them, or teaching them to look out for number 1?

Our primary resources are time and money. The quest for one takes from the other. We struggle to maintain a balance between them, spending enough time with our families while also working to provide for them.

I have come to believe our quest for the mythical "American Dream” has hijacked way too much of our resources, both time and money that we should be investing in our mission; this Grand Adventure. The dream itself has been hijacked by marketing in our society and economy that is driven by consumer purchasing, much of it on credit.

This sounds like radical stuff and it was in 700BC too. I’m not here to give you a guilt trip or to strong arm you into joining my mission. It doesn’t matter to me what you choose as your mission outlet. There is no shortage of opportunity there.

I am here to share a secret with you that if you don’t have one; if you aren’t actively spending your time in service to others in some way that you are missing out on a grand adventure.

Think about your financial situation. Most of us don’t own the houses our families live in, a creditor does and we pay rent in principal and interest every month. We don’t own the cars we drive, or the TVs our families watch, or the programming, or worst case, the groceries we are eating because we are purchasing them with credit. When we look at our own finances, we realize we are not “rich” = living the American Dream. Most of us are still a couple paychecks away from being homeless, no better off than the poor people in inner-city Columbus, Appalachia, Africa, or New Orleans we are working so hard to rise above.

Is that scary? We are trusting in a socioeconomic system that will eventually let us down. We are not trusting the God of our lives who calls us to His work, this grand adventure, but ourselves, our money, our employer, our banker, our financial planner. Our very Christian walk has been hijacked to advance our worldly selves, in place of our mission, our commission. Our light burden and easy yoke have been replaced by an inescapable debt burden, high stress, and poor health.

We can find our way out of this, but in a spiritual world at war, we have to realize that there is heavy opposition. Like any other addiction, it’s a one step at a time, day by day struggle.

If you have a dollar or other bill in your pocket, take it out and look on the back. Even a coin will do. Even our money has a message for us. What is it?

Because I also work in youth ministry, I subscribe to Relevant Magazine even though I’m not in the target demographic personally. The lead article in the latest issue primarily focuses on money and faith, though it applies to our time as well. I found some excellent fodder for this talk there and quotes from some Christian authors whose opinion I have a lot of respect for.

Donald Miller (Searching for God Knows What and Blue Like Jazz) references the story of the rich young man from Luke 18 and explains:

This guy had said, ‘I do everything right,’ and Jesus said, ‘Well, do this.’ (give all he had to the poor and follow Him) And he couldn’t do it. Jesus was trying to say, ‘See, you’re not OK; you’re sick just like everybody else is sick.” Then He says, “I’ll heal you.’ And the guy says, ‘No, I want to stay sick.’

…The real issue is about addiction and it’s about addiction to money. We live in a culture that’s addicted to money, and we’re addicted to what money can buy us. And we’re fooled into thinking that, ‘I can buy this product, and this product will make me happy.’ And we’re fooled because the average American sees 3,000 commercial images a day. It’s like somebody constantly asking you if you want crack – 3,000 times a day. And you only take it once a day… that’s not good.”

More importantly, if disaster relief work has taught us anything, it’s that this stuff we buy, our houses, our jobs, our economic system is amazingly ethereal; not real, but contrived.

Does this look like your vehicle?
living room?
Your kitchen?
Your front garden?
What about this?



The people who own these homes in Chalmette, Louisiana were middle class people who did everything right. Paid their mortgage, worked hard, saved for retirement, paid their insurance, furnished and stocked their homes with the things they needed. They were living the American Dream. These homes sold for over $200,000 before Katrina wasted them and all their contents. The insurance didn’t pay because it was flood damage, not storm damage. They didn’t have flood insurance because they weren’t required to or even advised to because the levy systems, they were assured, would protect them.

Like the insurance? Like their employer? They lost their jobs because the businesses were all wiped out as well or they couldn’t find housing less than several hours away.

It all crumbled. They were us too. One tornado, one flood, one asteroid, whatever, and we’re in the same boat.

Tony Campolo is another of those "new socially active Christian authors" that is quoted in the article:

When you think, ‘How do I love my neighbor as myself?’ It becomes just impossible to do that within the worldview of the American dream,” But I think what’s exciting is that Jesus has another dream, and Jesus is offering us [that] dream.

Can you picture your house and possessions after a “hurricane Katrina?” Draw a mental skung line at about 4 feet up the wall and visualize the mold and rot on everything below it with the mildew creeping up the wall above.

The way out
Missions is our way out of this mire we’ve worked our way into. Our way of connecting with the urgings of the Spirit, loving our neighbors, worshiping our Lord unreservedly, and beginning to live this grand adventure we are called to and crave so strongly.

In disaster relief and recovery work, the lyrics of Audio Adrenaline's song "Dirty" off the WorldWide CD has become our theme song and echoes this:

Tired of being clean, sick of being proper
I wanna live among the beggars and dig out in the dirt
Step outside the walls we built to protect us
Don’t be afraid to get some mud on your face.

Come on, come on everybody.
Come on, come on and serve someone

Let's get dirty, let's get used
No matter where you come from
If you're beaten up or bruised
Let's get foolish, let's get free
Free to be the one thing
We were meant to be –
let’s get dirty

Volunteers, most of whom had never been on a mission trip before, found amazing freedom in doing this work!? Angie G, an early volunteer after Katrina supplied the quote I use on the blog, web site, tabletop display, and business cards.

"I don't want to go back to church and dress up and everything be nice and pretty. What we've been doing here is real church; it's getting dirty and helping people."

Who listens to the band Switchfoot? Their song “American Dream” will not leave my head. It became my personal theme song as soon as I heard it. These couple of verses perfectly illustrate what I’ve been talking about and the new philosophy I’m working to adopt in my life. No, I’m not there yet either. I’m one of you, remember?

When success is equated with excess
The ambition for excess wrecks us
As top of the mind becomes the bottom line
When success is equated with excess

If your time ain’t been nothing for money
I start to feel really bad for you, honey
Maybe honey, put your money where your mouth’s been running
If your time ain’t been nothing but money

I want out of this machine
It doesn’t feel like freedom
This ain’t my American dream
I want to live and die for bigger things
I’m tired of fighting for just me
This ain't my American dream

When success is equated with excess
When we’re fighting for the Beamer, the Lexus
As the heart and soul breath in the company goals
Where success is equated with excess

‘Cause baby’s always talkin’ ‘bout a ring
And talk has always been the cheapest thing
Is it true would you do what I want you to
If I show up with the right amount of bling?

Like a puppet on a monetary string
Maybe we’ve been caught singing Red, white, blue, and green
But that ain’t my America,
That ain’t my American dream

Their lyrics only mirror biblical truth in modern poetry:

Luke 16:13 – “No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Matthew 16 - 24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. 25 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. 26 What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?

“We were meant to live for so much more!” (another Switchfoot lyric), “but we’ve lost ourselves.”

What’s in it for me?
After itemizing what true Worship/Fasting is, God continues in Isaiah 58

8 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness [a] will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

9 Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.

The grand adventure.
Who’s the coolest adventurer you can think of?
The bible is full of adventurers living this grand adventure.

Wanna be one?

Servants Unite exists for 2 reasons. To serve victims of natural disasters and a fallen world. And to serve volunteers without faith, or who are not experiencing the fullness of their faith, living this grand adventure. I pray that you will find and accept that challenge in your own life and find the deeper faith, personal relationship, and constant amazement at God working in this world that so many others have.

Bow with me please:

Thank you Lord for all these volunteers who have given a week or more for Your work to answer Your call. Thank you for the opportunity you've given to minister to the afflicted, to break the yoke of oppression, depression, and hopelessness. Thanks for allowing us with our limited skills, but the benefit of Your Spirit guiding us to feed the hungry and rebuild shelter for those made poor by this tragedy. Thanks for allowing us to reflect your noonday light. Thank you for helping us to find this "real" faith, this "true" and compassionate faith you mean for us.

Lord, I ask a special blessing on those here today that they will ask You to help them seek Your will for their life. May your spirit burn bright in them for all the world to see and my they find Your burden light and Your yoke easy. I pray that they find their role in this grand adventure and experience the joy that only You can bring.

I ask these things in the name of Jesus.

Amen

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 6/16 for several Saturday's

If you can work any of the next several Saturday's, please contact Deb directly

We will be in need of some extra volunteers the next several Saturdays to help supplement some of our current builds, beginning Saturday, June 16 from 8:30am-4:00pm. Site and activity will vary depending on need. We will schedule people on a first come first serve basis as space permits. No prior skills required, leadership provided.

Volunteers need to wear comfortable clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty. Volunteers must wear hard-soled shoes (work boots preferred) or tennis shoes. Absolutely no sandals or open toed/open heeled shoes allowed on site. Bring a water bottle and lunch. Hats and sunscreen are always a great addition to your work day.

If you have your own tools (i.e. hammer, pencil tape measure, nail apron/tool belt, utility knife, and speed square), please bring them, but label and keep track of tools. If you do not have your own tools, tools will be available on site.

Please let me know if you are available and interested in helping out, and I can send you more information.

Thanks!

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus
3140 Westerville Rd
Columbus, OH 43224
Office 614-364-7020 (direct line)
Cell: 614-332-9192
Fax: 614-414-0432

Servants Unite Update

This article is written about the woman who has become the head harvester for Christ in Bayou La Batre. She has devoted what may be the rest of her life to rebuilding this community to soften hearts and win souls. She is under heavy spiritual attack, on her health, her ministry, her spirit, and her faith, though none have wavered. Please pray for Daphne, the work she and we are doing there, and the new Christians who are joining the flock almost daily that they may be disciples and have a true and active faith and relationship with our Savior.

Servants Unite is sending half the volunteers who are scheduled to work in Bayou La Batre during the Hilltop summer work camp. The goals for those 6 weeks of work is to perform reconstruction for 20 families that will utilize $50,000 worth of building supplies. We will be effective without extra funding to cover building materials, but not nearly as productive resolving the worst needs such as roofs, drywall, plumbing, and electrical work that is required for people to inhabit safe homes.

This cost is not usually the burden of this organization and Hilltop has taken it on for this project. But, if you or your church can make a special donation just for building materials for our trip July 7-July 15, please contact me immediately at my cell phone, or email address published on the blog.

Other weeks have availability through the end of July and two teams are scheduled into New Orleans after the Hilltop camp closes. You can still participate in any of them by contacting me as well.

If you are available the week of August 1st, we need help breaking down the Hilltop camp in Bayou La Batre for storage. We will drive down and probably spend the week packing it up and transporting it to an as-yet-to-be-named location to wait for the next response.

I will be speaking at GracePoint church in Lewis Center (northern burb of Columbus) Sunday June 17 on Servants Unite and missions. If you are a member, I hope to see you Sunday and if not, I encourage any to visit that day to share the story of your mission experience in disaster relief at the Servants Unite booth. Please let me know if I should expect you.

John McGuire

BLB camp setup Wednesday update

Here are todays pictures

I'm heading home in the morning, but Corky, Rick, and Chrissy are continuing the remaining camp setup. We've learned a lot about setting up the first response camp. We have the design and parts together after many trips to Lowes and Marshall Marine. Consensus among us is that we need approximately 10 people to set the camp up and I'm looking for good volunteers to be those first responders. This will require a lot of lifting and long days in not so ideal conditions after we roll it all in behind the next storm. Let me know if you are interested.

The water is on tonight! Actually it was on this afternoon, but we had a couple (8) leaks that required a little glue and some clamps. The sewer hookup is running too so we have running water, showers, sink in the kitchen tent, porta potties, a dumpster and tents to sleep in. There are cots to sleep on and tables and chairs for the common tent. There are grills to cook on and we have the ice maker, but not plumbed yet.

Two more tents remain to be erected. Frankly, the 4 of us who were here all week are just flat sick of lacing tent sections together and being out in the sun to do it. Setup really requires more people to make it work. More cots must be retrieved from Slidel tomorrow. The walkins are coming a day or two later than planned. The 35000 KW propane generator will be in tomorrow as well as there is no word back from the electric company. Hopefully that'll still come through. Keep praying!

Also pray for hearts to be touched through the work here this summer, for the staff to come and holdup under the heat and rigor of running the camp, and for safe travels for all, including me driving home 13 hours tomorrow ;-)

Satellite Internet with wireless access will be up and running in the camp for volunteers and staff next Friday.

Tuesday Setting Up the Hilltop Camp

Bayou La Batre is HOT in the summer. I heard back home in Columbus it'll be down to 40 tonight, but it's still in the 80s here at 11:00 central. Made working slow during the afternoon when the predicted rain didn't come. I'll take wet yesterday working to hot today.

We still got a lot more done today. Here's the pictures I took. The kitchen tent is up and mostly stocked with the Hilltop and Bayou Recovery Project stuff. We tapped into the park water supply and ran the line through a short trench and back to the camp. Half the plumbing in the camp (water and sewer) are done and will be completed tomorrow. Another sleeping tent went up and another framed. Walk-in freezer and fridge arrive tomorrow and hopefully large propane generators.

Pray for a link to the power grid for the camp. That'll be a lot cheaper and more convenient than the generators, but is nearly the last piece of the puzzle to fall into place.

The first volunteers arrive tomorrow! A couple groups wanted to come work with Bayou Recovery before the Hilltop camp opened, officially and by the weekend there will be 80 volunteers in camp!

No conversions today, like Sunday and Monday, but I had a great conversation with a seeker last night. Please pray for those to happen too and that they would have ears to hear.

I'll try to put up an update tomorrow before heading for home, but may be pressed for time and put it off a day. Keep checking though, as lots of things are happening fast and this is the easiest way to keep you all up to date.

May God bless you and your families as you consider service with Servants Unite, or any other effort.

John McGuire

Hilltop Camp Setup - Monday

Here are the pictures from today

Mostly this is self explanatory. The tents were finally delivered and they are GREAT! We got to play soldier of God all day setting up camp. We also got final approval for the water line to the camp from the park. Tomorrow Tim Hines is bringing the walk-in refrigerator and freezer from New Orleans and Crossroads is loaning us their large propane generators for power though we are still pursuing a local utility connection.

The first tent took 8 of us 4 hours to set up and it still needs to be "fixed". The second took a little more than 2. The third which is the common tent/dining hall, almost twice as big took 4 of us about an hour and a half. While we are sore, we are getting much better at assembly! This will take quite a while to pack out for an evacuation, but should be doable and something we can put back together at a new site in a couple days depending on the number of people helping.

This site is so great, right on the water with a great breeze blowing all day. If you've been trying to decide whether to come, please do. You will be very blessed to be here working with the people here. There are volunteers scheduled every week, but space is still available for all weeks except July 7-15 when 126 people are scheduled from Servants Unite already. There is also space in Chalmette and New Orleans with IRC and Crossroads throughout the summer to go stay there and work where so much is still needed.

Keep praying for our success and obstacles to be removed from our path.

Hilltop Camp Setup - Sunday Report

Here's the pictures from today.

I am not a plumber... but I'll be putting all the pipe together for drains from the shower trailers and campers in the morning. Had an enormous amount of quality time with Corky at Lowes picking through bins for the PVC parts we needed for drain and water supply lines.

Our tents that were to be delivered between 8:30 and 9:00 via semi this morning weren't. Thought that specific a time for delivery of anything must be too precise to be realistic. Shoot, the cable guy can't say which day of the week he'll actually show up. Anyway, the truck broke down in South Carolina. The part isn't available till tomorrow, but they should still be delivered tomorrow they say.

The pressure is on. We're still awaiting the final approval of the water, cooperation from the satellite Internet service company (I'm getting certified to be an installer so we can have mobile Internet), and working to get a power supply to the camp other than generators... noisy generators. The first team is actually going to be in June 7 now.

Correction (and a reminder on how fast things change). At 9:30pm I got a call from Corky that the truck driver is at our exit and wants to know if we can unload him... He's getting a hotel till 9:00 tomorrow so it looks like we'll be putting up tents all day and I get to drive home Tuesday!

We had church with the Texans and local congregation who for the first time met in the fellowship hall of the new building! Carol and Royce Ogle from Whites Ferry Road were there with their associate minister who gave the lesson (after Royce led singing). One of Daphne's 11 year old protégés, Devon, came forward with her grandma to be baptized at the end of service. We all went out to the park where the camp is with her and she was baptized in the ocean... The Lord is alive and working diligently here and in these people! Prayer's are requested against the opposition who is working hard to the contrary.

Robert Madchen will be here with us tomorrow to set up the tents and get the camp finished and I'll get more pics out then.

Check back tomorrow!

Hilltop Camp Setup - Saturday Report

Things are really moving down here. A complete set of the pictures I took today are here.

Chrissy joined Corky and I last night and Rick White flew in this afternoon.

You'll find pictures of the first few pieces of equipment we moved over from Slidel today - Chrissy's grill and camper, the red shower trailer built this winter, two vans and a trailer. We also set up Corky's trailer on the site and moved the BBC shower trailer over from Sweet Bethel church where the camp was supposed to originally reside.A crew from Texas spent their 2nd day working on the fellowship hall at the new church building. They have drywall up and mudded and have expanded the size of the kitchen adding a nice pass through. We'll be there for church in the morning so more pictures of that tomorrow.

We joined them and some church members for Mr. Rosevelt's "trash in da pot" and great conversation among all.


The last couple of shots are after we got generators up and running at the camp and the sun was for practical purposes gone for the evening. The bugs were horrible without bug spray, but not a problem with.
And so ends the first night of the Hilltop Bayou La Batre camp.

Pray for the power issues to be resolved. Hopefully we can get lines run in rather than depending on generators for the length of the camp. While we want to be prepared with generators and a power management plan for first response, it isn't the most practical in this environment where full services are available.

More people are signing up for more trips into August! The response from volunteers wishing to be hands and feet and from the recipients of our help continue to bless my life and reafirm we are doing His will and working in His kingdom.

Thank you for all you do! Check back for more updates tomorrow.

John McGuire

Tomorrow morning the tents come in

Today in Bayou La Batre

Even though Tropical Storm Barry is heading for Tampa (my friend Barry Raymond must be so proud :-) to start off the hurricane season, the weather was beautiful in Bayou La Batre today. I'll be a certified Wild Blue satellite Internet installer before we are through... I've been working on setting up the unit from the Machen's in Slidell here and for our next response.

Corky and I spent much of the day shopping for parts and staking out the locations of trailers and tents in the park we are inhabiting for a couple months this summer. The pics of the work on the new church building and the location for the camp are here.

Check back for more updates tomorrow!

Hurricane Season Starts

And to celebrate, I'm in Bayou La Batre setting up camp for the summer with Hilltop, testing our disaster response plan, and getting some red cross training. I'll get you pictures and more information later today on the blog.

We have 126 people presently scheduled from Ohio to work in Bayou La Batre the week of July 7-15! That's 26 over capacity, but we'll find room for everyone. Other weeks between June 15 and July 27 are still open if you want to come join in. We'll also be scheduling trips into August and beyond.

June 8, North Canton Church of Christ will be in Chalmette working as will Linworth UMC the week of July 27. Each team numbers approximately 30.

The first day of the season with two storms named so far, one in the Atlantic and one in the Pacific, plus the much larger response we have this summer make me wonder what God has in store for us. Teams scheduled during season are our first responders if a new storm comes in. Once a hosting organization has a camp set up, the area is safe, and there is work to do on the ground, we'll redirect our scheduled teams and other first response crew into the area.

Thanks for your servant hearts and spirit as this effort continues and we prepare for the next one.

John McGuire

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 6/2

We need 5 volunteers (on a first come basis) this Saturday, June 2nd on a construction site.

Volunteers assist us in mainly framing 2nd floor walls on Saturday from 8:30am to 4:00pm. No prior skills required, leadership provided.

Volunteers need to wear comfortable clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty. Volunteers must wear hard-soled shoes (work boots preferred) or tennis shoes. Absolutely no sandals or open toed/open heeled shoes allowed on site. Bring a water bottle and lunch. Hats and sunscreen are always a great addition to your work day.

If you have your own tools (i.e. hammer, pencil tape measure, nail apron/tool belt, utility knife, and speed square), please bring them, but label and keep track of tools. If you do not have your own tools, tools will be available on site.

If you are available and interested, please email me for details.

Thanks for all you do!

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus
3140 Westerville Rd
Columbus, OH 43224
Office 614-364-7020 (direct line)
Cell: 614-332-9192
Fax: 614-414-0432

Hilltop Newsletter for May 2007

The current Hilltop Rescue newsletter is posted here

From June White of Hilltop Rescue:

Dear Friends,

So much has been happening since we sent out our last newsletter. Sadly, we had to close down our facility in Chalmette in order to turn the school building back over to the parish. We saw the hand of God moving throughout our time in Chalmette and are very thankful that we were able to serve there.

But as the old saying goes, the more things change the more they stay the same. We have spent the last few months working on how to make Hilltop Rescue a mobile organization capable of responding to a disaster in any area. This has brought us back around to where we started. We will be setting up a tent camp for volunteers in Bayou La Batre, Alabama this summer, and Corky will be running the camp. Working under the direction of the Bayou Recovery Project, we will be doing a wide variety of work and are very excited about the opportunities we will have to help there. Read about it in the attached newsletter, and please be in touch if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

June White
Director of Communications
www.hilltoprescue.org

Summer Planning

Couple events to pass along to you all. I'm writing from Slidel, Louisiana at the Madchen's where we are planning on the summer camp with Hilltop and Bayou Recovery Project. We visited Bayou La Batre again today, had great food, and great fellowship with Miss Daphne and Billy.

This is the site where we are setting up tents to host volunteers from June 15-July 30.

We also ran across several of the Marquette students who the Buffalo group and I worked with in March. They came right back down after finals. Josiah, swimming barefoot cut his foot up on oysters and is hobbling around unhappy. Working relief injured isn't nearly as much fun.

Remember our friends the love bugs from right after Katrina? They come out in May too!

Thursday night was a parent's meeting for the Westerville South IB and Central group. We had a good information session and questions and answers. This team along with Sunbury United Methodist, South Dayton Church of Christ, and New Life Canal Winchester make up a team of over 100 from Ohio working at the camp July 7-15. This week is closed, but others will be available as we go forward and there is interest.

Keep posted for info on Kansas. I may be taking a team the Tuesday after Memorial Day. May not though. Most of the word back is that there really is nothing to rebuild/clean up. Still monitoring though and I'll keep you all posted.

Please pray for those afflicted in Kansas, the gulf coast, and this fallen world. Also pray for a productive Hilltop meeting, strengthened relationships, and the funding we need to pull off all the work we have before us this summer.

John McGuire

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 5/19

We need 6 volunteers (on a first come basis) this Saturday, May 19th on a construction site.

Volunteers assist us in building/installing the sub floor and deck on Saturday from 8:30am to 4:00pm. No prior skills required, leadership provided.

Volunteers need to wear comfortable clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty. Volunteers must wear hard-soled shoes (work boots preferred) or tennis shoes. Absolutely no sandals or open toed/open heeled shoes allowed on site. Bring a lunch and a water bottle. Hats and sunscreen are always a great addition to your work day.

Tools will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own tools if preferred. Please label and keep track of tools.

If you are available and interested, please email me for details.

Thanks for all you do!

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus

3140 Westerville Rd
Columbus, OH 43224
Office 614-364-7020 (direct line)
Cell: 614-332-9192
Fax: 614-414-0432

Check out our NEW online registration system on our website: www.habitat-columbus.org for upcoming Volunteer Opportunities. Check often!

Greensburg Kansas - Before and After

Weather Channel has a video segment with satellite images of the town before and after here

Kansas Update

I'm sure you've all been watching the news stories like this one. Greensburg Kansas is pretty much wiped out. I had the pleasure (in serving the Lord) today to help get a 30 foot trailer and supplies ready to roll out. This would have been impossible without Tim Shivers (Team 7) of New Life in Gahanna loaning out his new Diesel GMC 2500.

Thanks Tim!

Churches of Christ Disaster Response Team is ran by Laura and Mark Cremeans. They are from Ohio originally, but are relocating to a new base of operations in Gainsville Florida. After 10 years of part time first response when Hurricane Charlie came through, they sold their construction business and went full time. This trailer will join a kitchen trailer, shower trailer, RV, and tool trailer that will all be on-site between tomorrow and the weekend. They'll let us know about volunteer requirements over the next week. If you are feeling called to go help, be making some very tentative plans and I'll get the word out if I'm taking a team out. We may well be joining them in the next couple of weeks.

Whites Ferry Road will also be in Greensburg this weekend. Note the referenced appeal letter from Carol Ogle. We are not in competition, but are partner's in God's work in disaster relief. Servants Unite is a faith based operation, but not affiliated with any particular church. Church of Christ partners are who we have worked with for Katrina relief. If you know of other church organizations working in Kansas, please pass along the info.

We're all looking at fundraising and preparation for the upcoming spring storm and hurricane season. Servants Unite as well is down to a couple thousand dollars. We'll need approximately $10,000 to cover expenses for our teams through the end of July, though they are paying a lot of their own way. A very large response for a new hurricane causing the sort of damage Charlie, Ivan, Katrina, or Rita did will call for a $30,000 immediate outlay to cover shipping, transportation, and supplies.

This money may be pledged by churches for such a response or donated outright, but I need to start getting an accounting of what we can count on when the next emergency strikes.

Keep all those working in relief in your prayers as well as those who have lost so much in these disasters. Please pray they will see Christ in our work and seek him and be closer to him in their lives.

John McGuire

Habitat Opportunity for Saturday 5/5

We need a couple extra volunteers this Saturday, May 5th on a construction site.

We need 5 volunteers (on a first come basis) to assist us in building some first floor walls on Saturday from 8:30am to 4:00pm. No prior skills required, leadership provided.

Volunteers need to wear comfortable clothing that they don’t mind getting dirty. Volunteers must wear hard-soled shoes (work boots preferred) or tennis shoes. Absolutely no sandals or open toed/open heeled shoes allowed on site. Bring a lunch and a water bottle. Hats and sunscreen are always a great addition to your work day.

Tools will be provided, but volunteers are welcome to bring their own tools if preferred. Please label and keep track of tools.

If you are available and interested, please email me for details.

Thanks for all you do!

Deb Light
Volunteer Director
Habitat for Humanity-Greater Columbus
Office 614-364-7020

Ever wonder about the fruits of your labors?

Whites Ferry Road Church of Christ in Monroe Louisiana has sponsored a disaster relief effort for 25 years. They have provided most of the funding for Billy and Daphne's Bayou Recovery Project in Bayou La Batre where we spent some time this spring. Last week during a focused spiritual "revival" in town a lot of prayers came to fruition.

Please read Carol Ogle's report for the details.

Servants Unite Update

Topics for this update:

• Spring ServeFest
• Other Local Missions
• Prep for Next Response
• Spring Break Wrapup
• Summer Schedule

I haven’t gotten to organize special projects for the upcoming Servefest Saturday, but there are a couple options available. Getting to be short notice, but New Life has a couple projects working in Franklinton that need some more volunteers. Huber Ridge Middle School on Walnut at Spring Road in Westerville is planting flowers in some newly cleared beds. Also Ridgeview Park cleanup in Huber Ridge, on Buenes Aires just north of 161 is Saturday morning. With storms tonight your neighbors may have brush to be cleared or the widow lady down the street may need her porch painted or gutters repaired. I invite you to take Saturday as a day of service to our community through one of these activities.

The next ServeFest will be in October. We’ll have more rehab work lined up in Franklinton as we establish a supporting relationship with Lower Lights Ministry out of Bellows Avenue Nazarene and Rebuilding Together, Central Ohio, a local rehab charity. These organizations are much like Hilltop and Tammany Oaks’ relief ministry in scope and organization. Just the kind of effort we can support through volunteer hours.

I am looking for churches who are willing to donate their parking lots for a Friday and Saturday, volunteers, and $5,000 in expenses or any part of that to build a house to send into New Orleans. We can frame out walls and sheathing here in a Saturday and pack it on a truck to have the lot available for Sunday morning services. This is in cooperation with Crossroads Missions through Help Build Hope http://www.crossroadsmissions.com/helpbuildhope/. Construction of the houses will be completed in New Orleans Central City. It’d be really kewl to have a local crew start this here this summer and send a team to work with Crossroads in the fall to put them together to get the end to end.

I’m having a difficult time scheduling meetings with church leadership to plan our next response and formalize Servants Unite’s relationship. Your assistance in facilitating these meetings is going to be fundamental. It is urgent we determine what resources and locations are available for relief supply collection and packaging as well as finances to send in volunteers for our next response. We use frightfully little money in this mission, but reserves which have never exceeded $14,000 are nearing $0 and the funding for the organization is another issue I need to address. Priorities are involvement in current Katrina relief and local efforts, prep for next response, and funding in that order.

For Spring Break trips, we sent 101 man weeks of Labor to Bayou La Batre, Alabama and Chalmette (New Orleans) Louisiana. The cost of van rentals, gas, and board with our hosting organizations cost our organization approximately $8,000 plus the contributions of some of the teams I estimate around $7,000 more. I wish I could give you an inventory of the people we’ve helped, the spiritual growth among volunteers who are believers and those that aren’t, the new friendships that have formed between people from all over the country… but it’s an immeasurable quantity. Unfortunately, even blogging hasn’t been nearly adequate. Amazing people do this work. People who attract other people to them. Fishers of men. You’re all to be commended and I am so thankful to be blessed by working shoulder to shoulder with the majority of these volunteers this spring.

Summer is going to be bigger! Here are the trips presently scheduled:
6/8/07 North Canton Church of Christ 27 volunteers
7/3/07 New Life Church, Canal Winchester 15 volunteers
7/7/07 Westerville Schools 50 volunteers
Sunbury United Methodist 40 volunteers
South Dayton Church of Christ 10 volunteers
7/27/07 Linworth United Methodist 30 volunteers
?? Norway Avenue Church of Christ (Huntington, WV)

Teams from June 15 through July will go to Bayou La Batre, pending any new disasters that require our response. Teams before that camp and after will be working in Chalmette (New Orleans). Add your group to one of these, or pick your own date. There’s plenty of work left to do!

I will be focusing on getting everyone where they are going for these trips, setting up local mission opportunities, and continuing to grow the organization to more churches. You can help with that and in all we do. Even full time I need a lot of volunteers to help manage all these activities. Please get back to me with your interest and availability!

Servants Unite!

John McGuire