4/20/08                                                                                         Mark 8:34-35

“BLESSINGS RECEIVED AND GIVEN

OUTSIDE THE COMFORT ZONE”                      

(MISSION TRIP TO GULFPORT MISSISSIPPI)

Rev. James Singleton

This was my first mission trip. Up until now I have been able to successfully avoid them and I have avoided them for two reasons. The first reason has been my skepticism over their value. I have not been convinced that they really do all that much good. I viewed them more as Christians attempting to feel good about doing something that the government can really do better and on a much larger scale.

The second reason why I have avoided mission trips is because I like to be comfortable. I like to sleep in my own bed, to eat what and when I want, to work on my own schedule and time table and to do the work that I feel qualified to do. A mission trip means I am sleeping God knows where, eating God knows what, and doing work I am not qualified to do because it undoubtedly involves tools and physical labor.  

But I found myself a part of this mission team because Nancy Hachat asked me one Sunday before church why I didn’t go on mission trips and I couldn’t think of an excuse fast enough to reply and the next thing I know I have arrived in Gulfport, Mississippi wondering why I am here and what I am going to do.

Our team was part of the recovery initiative that our denomination has put into place to rebuild what Hurricane Katrina destroyed in August 2005. When I arrived with the team my first thought was, “This place doesn’t look so bad.” You could see construction crews working on the beach which was large and wide. There were plenty of trees, grass and open areas all around. It looked quite beautiful.  

And then it dawned on me—there are trees, grass and open areas all around—but no buildings! This once thriving tourist destination used to be filled with houses, condominiums, casinos, hotels, restaurants and businesses. But they were all gone! The closer I looked I started to see foundations without buildings, torn signs indicating restaurants no longer there, and buildings that remain standing but are completely gutted. And though the beach was large and beautiful, no one was on it!  

It felt like a ghost town. I began to realize that something monstrous happened here beyond imagination.

Our team was assigned three house projects. There was the Pavolini house, the Garner house and the Nickerson house. All of them had been nearly destroyed and were still in the process of being rebuilt three years later because they were all poor and couldn’t afford contractors whose prices have jumped ten fold since the hurricane.

The Pavolinis were rebuilding their house themselves until Mr. Pavolini came down with kidney failure to the point of needing dialysis and has since become bedridden.  

Marsha Garner is a single mother caring for her children, grandchild and niece alone and she has been living in a house that would be condemned as unfit if it were around here. Her spirit was running on near empty.

And the Nickerson family consisted of Bryan and Candy and their three children: Aaron (9), Annalisa (5) and Bryanna (4). Their home was partially collapsed and the inside was filled with four feet of mud. It had to be gutted and rebuilt. Their three neighbors’ houses had all blown away leaving only the empty foundations as a reminder of what was once a neighborhood. They also found a dead body buried under the debris at the corner of their lot. I was assigned to the Nickerson house.

Our team was a dream team that was assembled by God. The Pavolini and Garner houses were in desperate need of a plumber and rarely do volunteer groups have a skilled plumber. Our group had Bob John, a pipe fitter. The Nickerson house needed a team of people working together because all that was up were the outer walls. There was no dry wall, insulation, or anything else on the inside and it had been that way for a year.  

Their project was stalled do to the lack of funding. What was needed was someone who could organize, teach, and lead a team to do what needed to be done to turn that skeleton of a building into a house.

That team captain turned out to be Scott Sidol. The rest of us were all fit into place and paired up and became a well oiled machine.  

For the next five days were worked on those three houses from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. plumbing, dry walling, insulating, mudding, beading, painting, cleaning and transforming wreckage into homes.

To tell you about their experiences I call upon:

First Service: Emily Orchard

                       Allie John

                       Marsha Stubbendieck
 

Second Service: Bob Eley

                           Jackie Allen

                           Scott Sidol

Our host church was the First Christian Church of Gulfport, Mississippi. It is a small congregation of around thirty or forty members. Every member of the church suffered partial or total loss to their own homes in addition to needing to rebuild the inside of their own church. When the members were able to return to their church they decided to turn it into a mission station to house volunteer groups coming down to clean up and rebuild.  

One of the highlights of the week was Wednesday night. We invited the members of the church to come for dinner in their own church and to eat and worship not only with us, but to meet the families they were helping through us.

It was the first time this had ever happened. We all gathered together to share a meal, host church members, volunteers, and families receiving help. If there was one common story we heard over and over it was that if it weren’t for volunteers coming down, the Mississippi Gulf coast would not be in the process of being rebuilt. “Volunteers rebuilt my house” was the most repeated phrase. It has been volunteer church groups that have put the people of Mississippi back into their homes—not the government.

We all gathered for worship and it was a beautiful service. All of them were especially impressed with our youth who sang the Prodigal Son and left us all in tears. The boy, Aaron Nickerson, had referred to his house as “the broken house” and I said in my message that night that our mission was to take their broken houses and turn them into healing houses. Our group gave each family a flowering hibiscus plant as a symbol of new life. We shared the Lord’s Supper and then everyone spent time talking and getting to know one another. We were on holy ground.

By Friday each project had been taken as far as we could take it. The Pavolinis house had plumbing installed and was mostly finished. Marsha Garner’s house looked like a new house and Marsha herself looked like a new person with restored hope.  

And the Nickerson house had been transformed from bare studs on the inside to a house with walls and ceiling. Candy would come over every day to thank us and come over every night to sit alone at the kitchen bench and dream about moving in.  

The last day we were at the Nickersons, Candy handed me a gift. It is a plaque she and her husband made that says:

First Chirstian Church

Wadsworth, OH

No one

Is more cherished in this world

Than someone

Who lightens the burden of another.

Thank you.

(Author unknown)

Words cannot express

Our gratitude

For helping our home become the

“healing house.”

Bryan, Candy, Aaron, Annalisa, and Bryanna

Nickerson

Gulfport, MS  April 7-11, 2008

 This plaque is what this team did on this trip. We brought healing to three houses. The government didn’t do it, but the Church did. I learned that if it wasn’t for mission trips, these people and thousands like them would still be without homes. This church has made a difference through its emphasis upon mission.

And as for being uncomfortable, yes it was uncomfortable. But had we not stepped out of our comfort zones, we would never have received or given the blessings that God showered upon us all that week. And that’s what I want to leave you all with—a challenge.

If we constantly remain doing only what we are comfortable doing, our faith can become stale and unchallenged. I realized that I was asking the wrong question all these years I have avoided mission trips. It’s not a question of what I can’t do; it’s a question of what God can do through me if I am willing to place myself in a position to be used.

So I challenge you to not be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and take on a challenge, whatever that may be, and expect to receive and give blessings that can never happen if you always remain comfy. As Jesus said, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” God’s blessings are found while we carry the uncomfortable cross out of love for others.

I cannot say enough about the people who represented this church. They all made me proud and we thank you for allowing us to represent you in the ongoing mission work of Jesus Christ.

                                                                                    AMEN.