We look forward to seeing all of you who are in town during this holiday weekend as we continue in our series, “The Prisoner.”  How Paul was able to say the words, “to live is Christ, to die is gain,” will be the focus of this week’s message, “Live or Die.”

You won’t want to miss it.  Pastor Brent may teach while twirling sparklers?!

We started day two by heading back to LaGrange St. We found out yesterday that pizza places won’t even deliver to this neighborhood because it is so rough. But God is bigger than all of that because all we feel is the love of Christ when we go in to those houses to do the work. It was an emotional day as the team would start out scrubbing hard to de-contaminate an already gutted house only to find out the house won’t be able to be saved. A homeowner of one of those houses was named, Bart. He was a retired vietnam veteran. We found certificates of service on his walls. His deepest desire was just “to get back into his house.” Our hearts broke when he told us he’s just trying to find a place to sleep that night.

Several ladies on our team suited up in Tyvek suits and crawled under houses to excavate sewage soaked duct work and piping. They were troopers as they would come out covered in mud only to take a break then climb back in to the next house.

As we were working on one house whose living room basement was completely immersed in water for several days, on of our guys crawled up in to a nook to do some work. After pulling up some boards, he found a set of miniature university of TN football player figurines still in position from a child’s play. After giving them to the homeowner, she called her 40 yr old son. Her son remembered those toys and said he hadn’t seen those since he was 10. This choked us all up as we are continually reminded that we are not just doing a job but loving people through a huge loss.

We have been able to give out some food to those hungry neighbors thanks to some homemade goodies donated to us by Connection Church in North Augusta. At the end of the day, all Samaritan’s Purse teams come together for dinner and share time. We all marvel in awe of how God orchestrates our days work. We are His hands and He is doing an awesome work! Thank you to our In Focus family for your prayers and support.

Becky Kridner

We arrived in Nashville at 1:30 am Thursday morning. After a short 3 hour sleep, we headed to Samaritan’s purse staging area at Bethel World Outreach Center.

Somewhat tired but very excited, we checked in for our first days assignment. Our team leaders, Kurt and Jenny, showed us the way to the low income neighborhood we would be serving. The smell of mildew was strong but the sense of community was even stronger. Our team prayed for compassion for the homeowners who were in shock from the devastation to their homes of 10, 20, 30 years. One man, in particular, broke my heart. He sat in his car on his driveway for hours because he had nowhere to go. Another man looked at the pile of rubble in his front yard, helpless to rebuild with no flood insurance and very little means of income.

A neighborhood lady woman, Mary, had been helped by Samaritans purse one week earlier. She had a strong faith in the Lord and was going throughout the community saying, “Look what these Christians have done for my house!” She was such a blessing because she truly paved the way for us to be trusted & listened to in the community. We presented bibles to the homeowners after we completed the gutting & de-contamination of their homes. This was a wonderful time for the team to pray & witness to the homeowners. Two men in our neighborhood accepted the Lord after praying with two chaplains from Samaritans purse. The homeowners were very appreciative of all that had been done. Through all the hard work, it was a blessing to serve others and plant seeds of Christs love and grace in their lives.

Becky Kridner

We have wrapped up our first trip here in Nashville and it has been intense but full of joy. It’s so awesome to see the faces of grateful homeowners as we gut their house and get it ready for a rebuild. At the end of each job, we present a Bible signed by all of the team members. They have lost everything but one of the first new things to own is now a study Bible. We are not just tearing out insulation, drywall and flooring, but impacting lives and showing the love of Jesus by selflessly serving. Not for our gain but so that Jesus’ name would be made famous in the earth.

Take a look at the video to see all of the work that took place in the house we finished today. It’s now ready to dry out and prep for rebuild.

See you tomorrow for Part One of The Prodigal God!

Stephen Lechner
Creative Arts Director and Blog Host

Day 3 is in full swing here in Nashville, TN. This is the last day of the trip for this team and we are determined to finish strong. We are back under the house in crawl spaces pulling out wet insulation and duct work. At our lunch break, we are currently 2/3 finished with that job. Check out a few pics below! There’s much to do, so this is a short update. Check back tonight for the last video post.

Stephen Lechner
Creative Arts Director and Blog Host

Stephen Lechner
Creative Arts Director and Blog Host

We are in the middle of Day 2 in our Nashville relief efforts. Even with a 9:30pm bedtime, 6:00am came awfully early this morning. Despite that, our team was enthusiastic and ready to serve. Right now we are taking a much needed lunch break after ripping up the rest of the hardwood floors we started on yesterday. Thankfully, no major injuries to report! We came and knocked the job out like pros.

We hear this next job will be a “doozie” so check the photostream below for updated pics throughout the day and a video update tonight. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Stephen Lechner
Creative Arts Director and Blog Host