Rebuild Lakeshore

A few weeks ago a group from Missouri built the forms and last week a team from Oklahoma poured the concrete footers for a 1200 square foot storage building that will serve our mercy ministry. A 30 X 40 metal quonset hut, similar to the church, will sit about 20 feet out the back door of the Mercy House. We have poured the footers, now we need crews capable of pouring the slab and erecting the building. If you would like to help with this project, contact us to schedule your mission trip to Lakeshore.

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Along with all sorts of other activity and construction, in the last couple of weeks we have put insulation under a few houses and covered the ceiling of a car port.

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Believe it or not, 4 1/2 years after Katrina, storm debris still litters the landscape. A few weeks ago, a group of volunteer teenagers spent the day pulling items from the woods that the storm had deposited there. They found tires, car parts, household items, children’s toys etc.

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We often get folks visiting Lakeshore to see how their church can help the ongoing efforts. Last week we had a couple of pastors come by. I just hammered out a quick email to them and thought it might be helpful to copy here.

Hi Rick,

It was great to meet you the other day. Thank you so much for your interest in the ongoing ministry here. We look forward to partnering with the churches of your area as we minister help and hope in the name of Jesus Christ on the gulf coast. The need remains great and there is no way we could continue without generous folks like you spreading the word and rallying support.

As we discussed, our biggest need at this point is financial. As we continue hosting volunteer groups who work out in the community we desire to help local residence get self sufficient. A big step in that direction is to get a roof over their head. Volunteer construction teams from across the country continue to flood into our area. Any help with our budget needs to run the camp site will be greatly appreciated and will leverage our ability to provide assistance in the long-term recovery efforts.

In the meantime we also want to minister to their daily needs of food, clothing etc. So, I’m excited to hear about ya’lls planned food drives that will stock the empty shelves of our Mercy House with groceries for hungry families. We can take any kind of non-perishable food items such as canned goods etc. We can also take clothing, especially men’s and children’s items and furnature.

Above all we covet your prayers. As you know, recovery of an entire community takes time, patience, hard work, and effort. We pray for God’s sustaining grace as we work together for his glory on the gulf coast. Thank you so much.

by grace alone,

Pastor Don A. Elbourne Jr.
Lakeshore Baptist Church
http://lakeshorebaptist.net

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We had a great day yesterday. Here is the press release announcing the event:

Lakeshore Baptist Church will host a free seminar on “How To Stretch Your Grocery Budget” March 18 th from 10:00 am- 12:00 noon. In these tough economic times families find themselves struggling to make ends meet. A few simple to implement strategies can help your meal plans cost less. Courtney Elbourne and Juanita Shiyou will demonstrate how to make great tasting meals on a limited budget and have fun doing it.

The seminar will include special music by local vocal artist Britney Bostic and door prizes will be awarded. Pre- registration for the seminar is required and limited to 100 people. Pre-regestration forms are available in the church’s distribution center quonset hut on the church property from 9:00 am - 3:00 pm Wednesday-Friday March 10-12. Event attendees to the seminar will receive approximately 50 lbs of free groceries. Child care will be provided. Lakeshore Baptist Church is located at 6028 Lakeshore Road in Lakeshore MS. For more information call the church office at (228) 469-0110.

As you can tell my the news video above, the community received the event well. About 80 families attended and seemed very engaged by the seminar. btw, yes that is my lovely wife, Courtney, doing the teaching in the video.

The newscaster, Jeff Lawson, summed up our desire well when he quoted, “Give a man a fish and he eats today - Teach a man to fish and he eats the rest of his life.” This seminar is the first event of its kind as we strive to enhance our mercy ministry with education. As we help families become more self sustainable we want to combat poverty in our storm ravaged community. We look to host events like this in the Mercy House on a regular basis.

Thank you for remembering us in prayer and supporting the ministry God continues here on the gulf coast.

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Last week folks from Tennessee helped us move a lot of dirt. this week a big team from Kansas picked up where they left off. Lord willing, one day we will have this place cleaned up, landscaped, and looking good…. one day.

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The most compassionate and loving thing you can do for any person is to lead them into eternal life and joy through faith in Christ. To feed, clothe, heal, house, and educate a person without a view to their being converted to Christ is not truly loving, any more than merely giving a person pain killers for their fever is when you could offer them the antibiotic that would take the infection away. Therefore feeding, clothing, healing, housing, and educating are good, but they become truly loving as part of a call to repentance and faith in Christ. So evangelism and world missions are the centerpiece of the mission of a compassionate church.

- John Piper

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Hancock County has been laying water supply pipe in our area. The contractor has granted us some of the resulting dirt fill to use in preparation for our new parking lot along Second Street.

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Our volunteers from New York partnered with some Amish guys from Pennsylvania and constructed the floor, walls, and roof of another new home last week. This one sits about 14′ above grade on the bayou in Waveland.

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