KATRINA UPDATE: January 2008

GENESIS CHURCH

 

 

Dear Fellow Partners:

 

Happy and Blessed New Year to y’all. (Hey we are in the South) What a year we have just completed. It has been such a blessing to see how God has transformed the ministry in Waveland/Bay St. Louis. The Christian Life Center (CLC) continues to become a mission outpost for so many wonderful churches. We are humbled by your commitment to this community as we continue to “finish well”.

 

I am so encouraged and blessed as I have seen the CLC team come together. We have been praying for several months for David and Donna Cornelius, John and Chrissy Rohmayer, and  Heather Lang(Shannon’s soon to be wife). John and Christy have moved down and are in their new home. Heather has moved as well and Dave and Donna are on their way. What a tremendous team God has brought together!  This is certainly a team committed to our mission: “Fighting despair with Christ’s compassion and igniting hope with His love”.

 

Let me give you a quick review of what God allowed all of us to be a part of during this past year 2007. I say,” all of us”, because none of this would have been possible without your prayers and support.

 

• We help remodel over 60 Homes
• We held VBS for 75 kids
• We had a Youth outreach with MAZE that impacted over 100 youth
• We continued to host Friday evening “Coffee House” with 50 plus attending
• We fed 1500 people by distributing over 200 turkeys to families in the area
• We were able to bless 750 children through the distribution of nearly 3000 toys with Toys for Tots. We gave out over 50 beautiful bikes  as well.
• We went through a successful leadership transition with the installation of Pastor Mark Young as Director of CLC.  Mark is an Associate Pastor for Outreach at Genesis Church. Melissa Young will care for the financial books and gift receipts.
• The District placed Dave and Donna Cornelius as the Pastoral Couple for Waveland Community Church, thus freeing Mark for Relief Ministries.
• We were able to see our Volunteer base come back with a passion to serve

 

PRAY with us as we look ahead in 2008:

 

• We are building a Thrift Store that will provide needed clothes and furniture for the families in the area. ( a furniture store gave us the inventory of good used furniture valued at over $25,000 to help start the store)
• The Thrift Store will be a much needed Community Connection Point.
• We are starting a Family Training Center to meet  specific family needs
• We will help Pastor Dave build the Waveland Community Church as we continue to build bridges and relationships throughout the community.
• We will continue to rebuild and remodel homes destroyed by Katrina. Our goal is to help complete 60 homes.
• We intend to invest at least $40,000 in special needs reconstruction for the poor (those that have no insurance and continue to live in FEMA housing)

 

 

HERE ARE OUR IMMEDIATE PRAYER NEEDS:

 

• Pastor Dave and Donna are moving down in a few weeks to lead the Waveland Community Church. They still need to sell their home in Toccoa, Georgia. This is an urgent request. Thanks to a generous gift from a friend of CLC, we have been able to help Dave with his mortgage payments so they could come down and help us, but the HOME NEEDS TO SELL. So keep that high in your prayer list, please!
• We need a long term volunteer to help with camp cooking. We can provide room and board. Our current camp cook will return to the Midwest in April-May. This is a tremendous ministry both to the staff and volunteers. If you know of a retired person that would love to give us 6-8 months or longer, please let us know.
• We also need a volunteer to help with the Thrift Store. We will also provide room and Board. It would be great if we were able to get a retired couple, one to cook the other to run the Thrift Store, that would be really helpful.
• We need to begin a Building Fund for the Thrift Store. We have the $25,000 dollar inventory, and two make shift huts to house all of the stuff. We need however to begin to build a building that will better serve the long term need of the community.
• PRAY for a continued flow of volunteers through out this year. As it now stands we are in good shape. You guys are talking up the ministry, sharing testimonies and experiences, and people are calling daily asking about opportunities. This is wonderful. KEEP IT UP!  You guys are GREAT!

 

 

Again, Friends, we couldn’t do this without you and it is so great to partner with you! God is building an Army of Volunteers that are ready and willing to help the helpless in Jesus Name. We are seeing God build a community of Faith that extends from you the volunteers, through the long term staff, to the communities of Waveland/Bay St. Louis. What an opportunity to Follow our Lord to the Needy of this area and complete His Mission for these dear ones. We are part of something bigger than ourselves and something very special. Thanks for holding the ropes for us and thanks for allowing God to use YOU to FINISH WELL  for His Glory!

 

Embracing His Mission Together,

 

Pastor Don Young, Genesis Church