Hurricane Katrina North Shore Disaster Fund Update #61
This is the sixty-first update for the Hurricane Katrina disaster relief fund for the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore. This includes the Covington, Abita Springs, Mandeville, Slidell, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
Pastor Sprague has sent another e-mail update about the minstry of Trinity Church in the North Shore and New Orleans.
"You're Not Crazy!
You're not crazy! These are words our teams need to hear. Our team volunteers have now exceeded 2,700 and have logged in 110,000 man hours. There were 142 last week. Wow!
Over the past several weeks, the volunteers have included a high percentage of college students. Some of these students have given up the beaches of Florida for New Orleans. They gave up fun in the sun to gut homes. Narcissism has given way to activism. These young adults are about the cause of Christ. They are not crazy! I am so encouraged by hundreds of college students.
Our volunteers have given up vacations to be in the devastated Gulf Coast. Often they drive across the country, sleeping a night or two in a church basement or a Motel 6. At Trinity, they sleep on a stained carpet on the floor with 80 others and choose to work all day in the heat. They get back to Trinity tired and drenched with sweat. Yet, they are not crazy!
Volunteers constantly tell me that their lives are turned upside down. In losing their life, they find life. In giving, they receive. In dying, they find they are really living … some more than they ever have in their entire lives. These volunteers are making a difference. Beauty is coming out of ashes. Where sorrow resided at night, joy is coming in the morning. Our volunteers are not crazy!
Our Wednesday night services have been electrifying lately. A week ago, it seemed that every team brought their worksite homeowner to the service. Imagine - broken, devastated people who lost virtually everything. Yet, an army of volunteers had been with them for the week. Volunteers and homeowners stood to their feet and exclaimed joy, hope, and thankfulness. The sharing could have gone on all night. These volunteers are not crazy!
One homeowner said, "Before Katrina, I was worth two million dollars. Now I am worth nothing. I wish I were dead." A team member thought about saying, "Don't be afraid. The Lord sees you." Instead he said, "We are here to help you." 35 team members arrived and blew this man away. During a prayer meeting at the end of the day the homeowner prayed, "Help me, Lord, with my unbelief. Give me faith to believe." The team volunteer said, "Sometimes Mike, people have to see the Lord before they can hear Him."
One team said, "The mission of New Orleans has restored PASSION and compassion to the entire congregation of Faith Evangelical Free, Woodruff, WI." They are having community events (with local media coverage) to re-tell the stories of what God did in New Orleans. The team needed a truck to get a huge amount of donated bathroom home accessories from Wisconsin to New Orleans. Where would the truck come from? They heard the story of my desperation early in Katrina when I told my associate, "Go into Covington, look for the first 18 wheel truck driver you see, and tell him that God needs your truck!" If you remember, God provided the truck in two hours. This team stepped out in faith, called a truck owner, and God provided a truck. God is awesome! "The eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth that He may strongly support those whose heart is completely His" (2 Chronicles 16:33). Amen? Amen.
Pray:
1. Pray for me. I am just keeping my head above water. The opportunities are incredible. However, being short-staffed is stretching. We are voting on a candidate Sunday and diligently interviewing others. Pray for strength, wisdom and endurance. Thank God for what He is doing despite our weakness and limitations. God often uses the weak things of this world. He has one weary pastor right now.
2. Pray for our strategic planning this week on the future of our Compassion ministry. This is so important. I believe our souls will be damaged if we get out of the Katrina ministry before God's timing. If we fix up our own homes and neighborhood and then forget about the poor and the city, we will not be about God's heart. Pray for us as we continue our commitment to being the church of the stained carpet for the long run.
3. Pray for resources to continue the work. We need $50,000 for furnishings for our new building and over $500,000 to pay off our new building.
4. Pray for a massive mobilization effort over the next 30 days to prepare our family discipleship building for effective service - self-help, painting, playgrounds, projects, decorations, etc.
5. Pray for our month-long open house for the entire community during the month of June. Our desire is to reach out to the Northshore with the love of Jesus. The community is white unto harvest.
The June schedule is as follows:
June 4: Children - Jubilee Gang - high energy multi-media ministry experience
Adults - Steven Mosley, One-man drama (Rick Warren's Drama Pastor)
June 11: Children - Gene Cordova, Ventriloquist
Building Dedication
Community Picnic
June 12-16: Vacation Bible School - Mega Sports Camp
June 18: Children - VBS Sunday
June 25: Children - Commandos! USA - high energy power team imparting God's message6. Pray for revival in the Gulf region and at Trinity Church.
Betting the Farm on God,
Pastor Michael Sprague (04/23/06 10:00 PM CDT)"
Don't forget that Grace Student Ministries High School group will be going to Trinity June 11 - 18, 2006 and will be the fifth team that Grace has sent down to serve in the area. Please keep them in your prayers while they raise the necessary funds to make the trip.
Please consider a contribution to the combined efforts of this blog and Grace Community Chapel of St. Peters, MO, in raising money and volunteers for ministry teams to be sent to Trinity Evangelical Free Church in Covington, LA, to be distributed locally to the Lake Pontchartrain North Shore and New Orleans area. You will find detailed donation information by clicking here.
