Friday, September 05, 2008

Getting Ready for the Big Return








Yes, the focus is on last minute details! The church is getting ready for their first Sunday back in their own sanctuary! Pastor, Pastor Joel and Monty worked on the information center yesterday and Monty was still working on it until nearly 11pm last night. It looks fantastic!


The carpeting is still being "fine tuned", the base is being installed and other touchups are ongoing. The sound system was unveiled on Wednesday night and they spent the evening getting things tuned just right.


The pews won't be here for awhile yet but the white folding chairs are set up and ready to be filled. This Sunday will be a great welcome back!


Monty and I are always amazed at the end results of seeing a church rebuilt because we never see it "before." By the time we come in it's been gutted and we have nothing to compare it to but other gutted churches. We both agree that the end results are always beautiful and must surely bring a smile to God's face as He sees His new house of worship!


We are also making final preparations for our incoming Ohio team and our own Vineyard team who are returning tomorrow for another day of service. Rob will be bringing another group and this time they will be working in an entirely new home, Ms Sandra's. She lives along the banks of Hawcreek and was more than flooded. They will be working to restore her basement area. She is so excited to meet them and no doubt the day will be filled with blessings.


The case management crews and the construction crews have been busy fine tuning our voucher program. For those clients who have either exhausted their funding or didn't receive any funding and still have work to be done in their homes we are offering a program where we can provide their materials and volunteer labor. They must have a case manager, must have no funds of their own to use and must have provided the case manager with all the documentation they need to verify both. It's a wonderful program and will be such an amazing blessing to all who receive it's benefits!


We are now up to 25 case managers and each one is priceless. Out of those we have 11 who are hospital employees and we might be loosing them in another month as the hospital nears reopening. If and when that time comes we will transition the clients from the nurses to the other case managers and all will continue to flow forward. I am living in complete denial that they will be returning to the hospital and so far it's working pretty well for me! :)


I have a special prayer request --- the amazing lady who manages the Volunteer Action Center here has a sister and mother living in Baton Rouge, LA. We all know that area was hit hard by hurricane Gustav. Not only are they dealing with that but her sister discovered she has cancer! She is young and in need of prayers! We all know how much power there is in prayer and she needs that divine power now.


We all need to also be praying about the storms that are swirling around out there. Hurricane Ike looks like he is going to be a force to deal with and Hanna continues dumping enormous amounts of rain. As we go into another weekend let us all remember our southern and eastern neighbors who could surely use our prayers of protection!


Until next time . . . Susan and Monty

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