Friday, March 31, 2006

Calvary Church in Lancaster, PA

Calvary Church sent a team down here back in January. I (Doug) was very excited about this team...since my brother-in-law and sister-in-law were on the team (along with my two nieces). They did a wonderful job and are sending a second team next week.

They have decided to start a blog that will be updated throughout the week they are here. You can follow along with their adventures at calvarykatrina.blogspot.com.

Friday, March 17, 2006

God's hands and feet on the ground

If you haven't met them yet, I am pleased to introduce to you Chris and Janette Beebe. While most volunteers come down with a week-long work team, Chris and Janette are smack dab in the middle of a two month stint volunteering here at Berean. They arrived at the beginning of February and will be here until the first week in April, living in their RV.

Chris and Janette are retirees who spent most of their lives in Hawaii and currently reside in Rohnert Park, California. They are passionate about missions and have gone on a number of short-term trips. They found out about Berean from friends who came down with a work team in October.

Their main role is to work directly with work teams. When a new team arrives, they are ready to greet them, give them a tour of our facility and lay out their work for them. I can't tell you how helpful that has been for us. They have freed up our staff to be able to focus on breathing life back into our normal church ministries after months of dormancy.

Chris has also taken it upon himself to tackle some of our long overdue projects. He has completely overhauled our tool shed, adding shelving and brackets throughout. With the help of both work teams and church members, he is in the process of building a shower trailer.

Janette has been a great help both in the office and in the kitchen. She has worked alongside of Julie and Robyn to coordinate the jobs for work teams. The "work team" kitchen stays tidy and organized...well, at least decently tidy and moderately organized...considering how many work teams are using it!

Chris and Janette have truly been a Godsend. We are so thankful that they are here. It has been an honor to partner with them in ministry to New Orleans after Katrina.

Keep Chris and Janette in your prayers. They will be with us for a couple of more weeks before returning to California. Oh, and pray for us as we try to remember how to function without them. Who knows, perhaps God could call you to play a similar role in the future here at Berean!