Rebuild Lakeshore

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We broke ground for the Mercy House about 16 months ago. Progress has been somewhat slow for a number of reasons, not the least of which has been our priority to help folks in our community get a roof over their head. Most of our volunteer efforts have been focused in the direction of homes for local residence and that has been by design. We do, however, finally have the end in sight on the Mercy House project.

In the last few weeks teams have set the cabinets downstairs and built shelving for the distribution center ministry. If we can get the rough in plumbing inspected this week, we should be able to move forward with the insulation and sheet rock in the upper level. A generous cabinet builder from Louisiana has the kitchenette ready to install. The tile flooring has already been laid, and other than the soffett under the downstairs porch and a little paint here and there, the outside of the building is done.

Lord willing, the team here this week will erect the metal storage building out back. We still need to lay out the parking lot and spread the limestone. The fence and a few other details will probably have to wait until after the first of the year, but as we inch closer to the goal, my excitement builds. I’m looking forward to moving in and seeing the ministry here continue to grow to the glory of God on the gulf coast.

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In the last five years you have been so generous to provide blessings of hope to Lakeshore families in need during the holiday season. As we look to Christmas 2010, Lakeshore Baptist Church wishes to remain a conduit of help to hurting people. If you or your group would like to “Adopt a Family”, please contact Mrs. Bea (228-324-0778) for information on how you can provide a Christmas gift for families on our benevolence list.

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The Fellowship Hall project of Lakeshore Baptist Church constitutes the next phase in the church facility master plan. The building will include a large multi-purpose room, kitchen, restrooms, and educational space. The structure will sit approximately 12 feet above grade to exceed the flood zone requirements. The enclosed lower level will provide miscellaneous storage space as well as give appearance of a beautiful two story structure instead of an awkward building precariously perched atop stilts.

The configuration of the building, as seen in the attached drawings, allows for a central great hall with the kitchen protruding to the east and a restroom and hallway off to the north. This north wing will eventually connect to the proposed sanctuary building to provide seamless access between the two structures.

Movable walls within the main room will section the space off into smaller rooms as needed. These areas will serve the educational ministry of the church, allowing for flexible and efficient use of available square footage.

The large wrap around shaded gallery will aid in the energy efficiency of the building, provide overflow seating in nice weather, and set the building in the historic French Creole vernacular architecture of the gulf coast region.

Design Details:

Dimensions:

The dimensions on the drawing represent a general vision for the buildings. The final plans may vary a few feet here or there in order to best use dimensional lumber and take into account other design considerations as the plans unfold.

The Restrooms:

This preliminary drawing does not include the exact layout of the restroom facilities. The restrooms will include sinks, commodes, and urinals, as well as showers. The showers should be hidden behind a secondary interior door since they will not be used on a regular basis. A drinking fountain can be located in the alcove, just outside the restroom doors.

Bridal Room:

The women’s restroom is located to the north in-order to connect to a multi-purpose room in the forthcoming sanctuary building. This room can serve as Sunday school class space and other small group meetings, but with direct access to the women’s restroom, it can also serve as a bridal room for weddings.

The Hallway:

The hallway connecting the two buildings has the restrooms to the west allowing for a large bank of windows facing east overlooking the courtyard and giving a view of the side of the sanctuary and the kitchen balcony.

The Great Room:

The high ceilinged main room of the building will serve as multi-purpose space, especially as a dining hall area for fellowship meals. Movable partition walls can allow for flexible configuration of Sunday School classrooms. Tall French doors, with transoms, symmetrically located around the room, will provide natural light into the building.

The Kitchen:

A spacious, well equipped commercial kitchen, will provide for the food preparation needs for the church’s various events and ministries. A serving window will open into the main room. The layout allows for traffic flow from the sanctuary, through the hallway, past the serving window, and then into the main dining area.

Storage:

The area labeled “kitchen” in the drawing will also need to include 2 storage areas. One for kitchen and food preparation needs and a second, for miscellaneous items, especially chairs and unused tables. The lower level will provide additional storage.

Utilities:

A platform out the back of the kitchen (east) can serve to elevate the HV/AC equipment, the walk-in freezer, and the main meter box for the building.

Building Access:

A stairwell situated at the north-west corner of the building will provide exterior access to the second level from the sanctuary side of the building. A double staircase on the south side of the building will face the main parking area. Another set of stairs (not pictured) will need to be located at the north east corner of the building to provide easy access to the kitchen area and to the utility platform.

Look and Feel:

R. C. Sproul says, “every form is an art form and every art form communicates something.” We want our fellowship hall to communicate the glory of God to our community as a place where his people gather together for fellowship with one another, pass along the “faith once delivered to the saints” and to welcome others to savor the supremacy of Christ over all things. To that end, the old south ambiance of the building will tie the congregation to its historic past rooted in the community as we pass along a legacy to the next generation. The multi-purpose space will host church fellowship meals, wedding receptions, banquets, as well as other events. The overall impression of a large family home rather than an industrial complex or commercial structure will speak to our identity as the family of God living life under his Lordship, on the gulf coast; to the praise of his glorious name and the spread of his matchless fame.

(your comments are welcome as we hammer out more details)

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The Lord has given us beautiful weather for the last several weeks. I haven’t been in front of my computer to blog much. I just noticed I’ve only made three posts in the past month and a half. We have seen a lot of work accomplished in that time.

Several teams have made great progress on a few projects, especially the three I reported on a couple of weeks ago. The one house passed all the rough in inspections. We have hung the insulation and sheet rock, painted, laid most of the flooring and set the doors. Lord willing, this week the baseboards will go down and if the kitchen cabinets come in, they can get set next week. I asked the family where they planned to put their Christmas tree, because if everything goes well, they should celebrate Christmas in their new home; perhaps even Thanksgiving..

The second house also has had its insulation and sheet rock hung, the walls have been mudded and sanded and folks are painting there as I type this. Some time in the next couple of weeks, we look to lay the linoleum floor and the homeowner will be almost ready to move in.

Several issues have been addressed at the Mercy House and progress moves forward. We started grouting the brick pavers under the front porch. We’ve set the cabinets and hung the lights downstairs in the future home of the distribution center, and the slab for the storage building out back finally got poured.

I could tell you more, but how about a few pictures:

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Our calendar looks almost clear for November and December. The weather forecast calls for mostly beautiful weather on the coast during those two months, and we could use your hands in our ongoing projects.

In particular we have two houses we would like to see the families celebrate Christmas in. They near completion, but we need a few more teams to wrap things up and move these folks from their temporary housing into their new homes.

I’d also love to plan a Christmas party in the new Mercy House, but unless we put a few more teams on the calendar between now and then, those plans will be premature.

Also we have several more projects in the planning stage as we look to 2011. Stay connected for details. I should have some very exciting news to share soon.

Meanwhile, let’s close out 2010 with these three completed projects. God has accomplished so much for his glory in our community with your help. I praise God every day for our partners, like you, who continue to push recovery forward on the gulf coast to the praise of his name.

Contact us today to plan your trip. We look forward to serving with you.

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In the last few weeks we have received several large shipments of donations. I wish I had time to highlight every group that generously supports our distribution center with food, clothing, and household items. We could not minister to the vast need that exists in our community without your help.

One of our contributors, Blaise Dornisch, regularly collects donations in Pennsylvania and drives them down to Lakeshore. In a recent mail out he reports:

Members of the Stepping Stone Foundation recently traveled to coastal Mississippi five years after the anniversary of hurricane “Katrina”. Many area residents continue to struggle with hardships left behind as a result of the storm. In addition, the effects of the BP oil spill have been particularly devastating to much of the regions work force, as consumer confidence in the safeness of seafood has greatly diminished sales. Many of the residents whose livelihood is on the waters have yet to receive compensation for their lost wages.

Lakeshore Baptist Church continues to demonstrate Christ mercy through this incredible ministry God allows us to participate in. The items received in the last few weeks will go out to families in need, almost as fast as they came in. Please consider doing a similar collection in your community, as we partner together for the spread of Christ fame on the Gulf Coast.

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Nathan Combs, of the Livermore Reformed Baptist Church in California, spent a good chunk of the summer with us. He put together this slideshow of pictures from his time in Lakeshore. Thanks Nathan.

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Five years ago, an apocalyptic storm of biblical proportions rained down on the gulf coast. My friend, Dr. Russ Moore remembers his hometown of Biloxi and traces the connection between Christ and Katrina, giving a strong theological framework to demonstrate how the smoldering remains and deep scars in the landscape groan for the day of redemption and serve as sign posts of repentance pointing to the risen Christ.

I can feel his pain as he explains his first trip back to the gulf coast. His feelings mirrored my own first walk through the rubble of our destroyed church buildings. Dr. Moore provides the best biblical treatment of the storm I’ve read so far. Let me urge you to read the full article. He says it better than I can.

I always feared seeing my hometown turn into Armageddon, and five years ago, sure enough, that’s just what happened. As a small child, I would sit in the pews of my church and imagine, as our pastor flipped through one apocalyptic scenario after another in his prophecy charts, what our town—Biloxi, Mississippi, on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico—would look like after the seals of the Book of Revelation had been opened, after all hell broke loose on the world as we knew it.

When I’d mention such things, the Southern Baptist adults around me would try to comfort me with the details of our then-trendy 1970s pop-dispensationalist eschatology: “Don’t worry about that, honey; the Rapture of the church will have happened by then, and you won’t be here to see it.”

That really didn’t comfort me, though, as much as they thought it would. Yes, my raptured soul would be safely sequestered in heaven, while tsunamis and locusts and horse-riding specters ravaged our hometown, but it would still be gone, washed away in a flow of blood and debris. I would be exiled from it. And home would be taken away from me—forever.

I knew I wasn’t supposed to think that way. This world is not our home, you know. We are citizens of heaven, resident aliens here for a vapor. But, still, the idea of my little beachfront community buried beneath the collapse of unbelieving civilization was hard to take, so I tried not to think about it, focusing instead on the scenarios the preachers actually talked about: the sudden evaporation of New York or Washington or Hollywood or Rome, all those Babylons that, we were told, were exalting themselves against God, and corrupting our values with prayerless schoolrooms and primetime soap operas and heavy metal music and nuns (though with a half-Catholic family, I never believed that last part).

I outgrew the dispensationalism (while holding onto the gospel underneath it all), but I still lived to see my hometown face an apocalypse. And rather than watching it all helplessly from a cloud in heaven, I had to watch it all, even more helplessly, on CNN.

Read the full article “Christ & Katrina” by Dr. Russell D. Moore

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Lakeshore Baptist Church buildings, before and after hurricane Katrina.

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