Rebuild Lakeshore

As you can see, the Mercy House looks great! This past week our friends from Central Baptist Church of Corbin KY built back steps to the rear entry landing. Friends from South Jersey mudded and sanded the sheet rock in the lower level. If we can find someone this week to texture the walls, local teenagers will paint the interior walls next weekend.

Next on the list; we need to stucco the main house, lay pavers for the 32 X 16 front entry, and brick the 10 X 10 pump house. I do not have anyone on the volunteer list for the foreseeable future who have listed these skill sets. If you have experience in stucco or brick, please consider making a special trip to Lakeshore to help with this project. Contact us and let us know you can come. We will put you up in the newly built bunkhouse and I’ll personally prepare an authentic Creole / Cajun meal for your crew.

3 Comments »

Yesterday, by faith, Lakeshore Baptist Church voted to construct a permanent bunk house to continue hosting volunteers. We pray that this first step in our master plan will, in part, make our zoning board happy. We hope to keep our existing quarters for a little longer as well. The structure will also ensure that we can continue hosting mission teams for a long time to come.

The building will sleep 38 people in two rooms with adjacent restrooms and showers. Sitting on sturdy pilings 9′ above ground the structure will exceed the new flood plain regulations. Lord willing, we plan to break ground in the next few weeks.

We need your help to finance this project. For $200 you can sponsor one of the 38 beds and have your name installed on a recognition plaque placed in the rooms. For $1,500 a church can sponsor one of the 20 exterior 8′X8′ pilings. A plaque with your church name, city, and state will adorn the respective post. This sponsorship program will not only finance the project, but also serve as a wonderful testimony to God’s provision of brothers and sisters in Christ from across the country who have stood along side of us in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts to the glory of God.

Download and print this Sponsorship Form (pdf) and send in your contribution or pledge today.

13 Comments »

Yesterday I posted about a man currently living in a tent. Samuel story is not unique. This past Friday we had two families come by the church asking for tents and blankets. I did not catch their full stories, but circumstances have driven them to seek shelter in sub-third world country living conditions. As MEMA begins to pull all cottages from Hancock County in light of the March 31 deadline to close out all government provided temporary housing, we fear more and more families, individuals, and elderly will get pushed out with nowhere else to turn.

We have a few tents packed away from the days we used to sleep in tents here on the church property after the storm. Some of them show signs of wear, but we have been going through them seeing which ones could be used by folks needing shelter.

I know tents do not provide a good solution, but the limited shelter beats sleeping outside exposed to the elements. For many people, these are the only two alternatives. To help with this pressing community need we find ourselves, like the first days after the storm, once again asking for donations of tents, sleeping bags, cots, and blankets. If you would like to help in this way you can ship these items directly to our church property or make financial designated contributions for the cause. You can find our address on the contact page. Thank you so

No Comments »

If you have been to Lakeshore, you know that we own an awkward shaped piece of property. In the image above, the green area represents the land owned by Lakeshore Baptist Church. The kitchen and distribution center sits on the far left, the metal church building in the middle section near the road, and the Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John quonset huts are in the area to the far upper right.

For the past few years we have been praying for an opportunity to acquire the two pieces of land in red and blue. This could square up our property and make the land more useful. We have been talking to the land owner of the property in the lower right corner. Up until now he has been unwilling to part with it. This past week he placed the land up for sale. He is asking $50,000 (or best offer) for the 100′ X 185′ lot. Although the property would serve the ministry well, we do not have the funds to buy the land.

We wanted to share this news with our friends and ask you to join us in prayer as we seek the Lord’s greatest glory in this matter. Perhaps someone may be interested in purchasing the property and donating it to the church as we continue ministering help and hope in the name of Jesus Christ to our community.

No Comments »

As temperatures rise on the gulf coast, folks in Lakeshore have been coming by our our church property looking for help with clothing their kids and themselves for the summer. The bare shelves of our distribution center have not been able to keep up with the need. At one time we had to turn away clothing, because of limited storage availability. While I’m a little reluctant to open the flood gates with a clothes request, we do need summer clothing, in good condition, to provide for the families in our community still struggling to get on their feet. We especially can use clothes for men and children, like short pants, blue jeans, short sleeve shirts, T-shirts etc.

At the risk of sounding ungrateful, please do not send winter apparel at this time. We do not have space to store clothing during the summer months. We also want to be good stewards of your transportation costs and our dumpster fees, so we would greatly appreciate culling out moldy garments, threadbare pants, and shirts with holes or stains before sending them this way.

Many churches have found clothing drives very successful. Set aside some space to receive donations of clothing in your facilities. Promote the drive in a number of ways. Local newspapers often receive press releases for charitable efforts like this gladly. If you belong to an SBC church, contact your association and ask if they could spread the word to the sister churches in your area. Other denominations should have similar channels of communication. In your announcement, do not forget to point them to the Rebuild Lakeshore web site (rebuildlakeshore.com). Enlist volunteers to sort through the clothes, labeling according to gender and size. Fold clothing and place them in shipping boxes. Make the sorting date a church wide event as you pray for those in Lakeshore benefiting from your generosity. Investigate the most cost effective way to transport the clothing to Lakeshore. You may find someone willing to drive the clothing down more economically than commercial shipping. If you have a team coming this summer, perhaps they could carry the boxes with them. If you do need to mail the packages, you can find our address on our contact page.

On behalf of our community, thank you so much. Know that your donations will help clothe a person in need this summer, for the glory of God. (Matthew 25:31-46)

No Comments »

We build most of the houses in Lakeshore on 8X8 piers. We have been renting a 24″ auger to dig the holes to set the pilings. Owning our own auger would make better use of our financial resources. We have a John Deer 250 Skid Steer that can accept an auger attachment. If anyone could locate and purchase an attachment to fit the Skid Steer for our rebuilding, we will put it to good use.

We also could use a trailer, with ramps, to haul the Skid Steer and our Tractor from job site to job site. Right now we have been driving the tractor around town, which is slow going, or rigging precarious make shift ramps to load the equipment onto our trailers that are not designed for that sort of thing.

Update: We have purchased an auger attachment. We could still use a equipment trailer with ramps.

1 Comment »

Some of our generous friends from Louisianna donated a camper to the relief effort. We can use it for housing volunteers, however we need to get it to the church property somehow. Its in good condition for sleeping, but doesn’t run. If anyone has the capability of towing a 31′ RV please let us know by calling the church office at (228) 469-0110. Its currently located in Denham Springs LA, about 90 miles from Lakeshore.

No Comments »

Lakeshore Baptist Church needs energetic college or seminary students willing to spend their Spring or Summer (2008) semester working in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts on the gulf coast. In partnership with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, qualified and approved semester missionaries will receive travel, insurance and an honorarium ($75 per week of service) from NAMB. The church will take care of housing, food, and local travel expenses.

NAMB Ministry description:

The community of Lakeshore Mississippi took the brunt of hurricane Katrina. Two years later the area still suffers from the massive devastation left in the storms wake. Lakeshore Baptist Church continues to host, house, and direct volunteers from across the country as she ministers to gulf coast residence through running a food distribution center, cleaning property, rehabbing houses, constructing new homes, encouraging the distressed, proclaiming the gospel, holding church services, and bathing the community in prayer.

The student missionaries will benefit from serving with us by utilizing and stretching their gifts and talents through participating in an incarnational ministry of making a tangible difference in the life of storm victims and hurting people. They will work along side volunteers from across the country making valuable ministry contacts as they develop relational and leadership skills. Students will enhance the ministry capacity of a missional church desiring to see God glorified at every level of their communities life.

We would love to see energetic passionate students come work with us this as we weld the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts to a Christ-centered, God-exalting, Bible-saturated, confessionally rich, gospel driven ministry of hope.

If interested, visit NAMB’s Answer the Call web site, fill out an online application, and email me about your desire to come help Rebuild Lakeshore to the glory of God.

2 Comments »

People often ask us to publish our most pressing needs. Since the storm destroyed all our buildings, the most urgent need has always been storage space for contributions, building materials, and other things to fuel the ongoing relief effort. Now that we have a new warehouse, and a forklift, we could use pallet racks to make best use of the vertical space. The 12 foot ceilings will allow us to stack pallet several high and double or almost triple the usable storage in the 30X60 building. We think that three 30′ rows would serve to ideally expand the maximum capacity. If you would like to adopt this need, please contact us.

UPDATE: A big thank-you goes out to Jim and Nancy Staeck for donating the needed racks.

No Comments »

Shortly after the storm we acquired use of the flooded local elementary school gym to use as a warehouse for collecting and staging contributions and building materials for our ongoing projects and very active distribution center. The gym gave us about 8,000 square feet of storage space and we usually have it packed to capacity with goods coming in and out. We can’t thank enough the school board and the county supervisors who made these facilities possible for the good of the community. Literally thousands of people received aid and resources because we were able to utilize the building.

The school board recently informed us that we need to vacate the premises for a June 1 schedule demolition to make way for the school’s reconstruction.. This news sent us scrambling for alternative storage options. Providentially, a local resident offered a parcel of land for our use, and we have begun making a transition. We plan to replace the gym with three smaller shelters, a stick built structure, a metal Quonset hut, and a big tent.

Stick Built Warehouse:

Our friends from Trinity Lutheran Church in Japa Maryland planned and collected materials for a 30X60 building on the donated property. (See artist rendering above.) This 1,800 square feet of storage space will tremendously help with our warehouse needs. The Maryland team will construct the building on their June 11th trip.

Metal Quonset Warehouse:

Last year a generous man in Georgia donated a 30X40 metal Quonset hut, similar to the one we use as our church facilities. We plan to erect this building adjacent to the stick built warehouse to provide an additional 1,200 square feet of space. We need to pour a slab for this building. We estimate about $2,500 for the foundation. Please contact us if you would like to contribute toward this project.

Big Tent Warehouse:

Some of our good friends from Virginia donated a 40X60 tent to the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts in Lakeshore.. We plan to incorporate the tent into the warehouse complex to give us another 2,400 square feet under roof. Not ideal for long term use, this tent will give us breathing room while we make plans for a more permanent solution. We need to pour an asphalt pad for the tent to sit on and keep the stuff off of the wet soggy ground. If you would like to help with the asphalt for this project, please contact us.

Forklift needed

When we loose the gymnasium, we will also loose the forklift used to unload trucks and move pallets. We need a replacement. We think an all terrain forklift would work best. We would love for someone to donate or indefinitely lend some equipment for this purpose.

Bigger Warehouse plans

The three planned structures, the stick built warehouse, the metal Quonset hut, and the big tent, will give us approximately 5,400 square feet to replace the 8,000 we will loose when the gymnasium comes down. Since we look to have the ongoing relief, recovery, and rebuilding in Lakeshore continue for several more years, we find ourselves praying toward a much larger building that can serve as a warehouse for the foreseeable future to meet our long term needs. The generous family providing the land for those three buildings has graciously offered enough space to rebuild a gym sized structure as well. A building that size would pose a considerable investment. Please join us as we seek god’s will in this matter.

5 Comments »