Rebuild Lakeshore has posted the video link to WLOX 13 in Biloxi that is reporting the possible closure of the church and relief efforts at Lakeshore Baptist Church.  I have posted a comment on the Founders blog  and here about the need for prayer and finacial and physical support.  Please consider giving to Rebuild Lakeshore today, and as always, keep them in your prayers.

This past week, a team from our church along with several other churches ministered as part of the Rebuild Lakeshore.  For those of you may not be familiar with Rebuild Lakeshore, Don Elbourne is pastor of a church whose community (and church buildings) were completely destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.  Since then, Don and his church have committed themselves to rebuilding not only the church buildings but also the homes of people in their community.  Since Katrina, Lakeshore Baptist Church in Waveland, Mississippi has hosted hundreds of volunteer teams from across the country with a long-term commitment to loving their neighbor by helping rebuild lives by rebuilding homes.

I write this post to request prayer on behalf of Don, the project leadership team, and the entire church because it appears that the County Planning and Zoning Commission is seeking to pass a resolution that would virtually stop all future efforts to minister in the community after May of this year.  While there have been various groups who have come and gone from this area, Lakeshore has remained faithfully committed to the task of bring hope to the destitute and a helping hand to those who have no where else to turn.  Years after Katrina, still there are folks living in tents or practically homeless.

I don’t know all the rationale of the County Commission, but I struggle to hold back the frustration and confusion of preventing the rebuilding of lives and homes of people who have lost everything.  Instead of placing their hand on a love-motivated shovel, they are placing it on a law-making pen in pursuit of taking the very privilege (and responsibility) of caring for the needy away from those who are bearing the burden and seeking to be a blessing.  If there ever was a needed time of cooperation seeking the good of the people, surely it is now.

Apparently, the proposed resolution must first be approved by a Board of Supervisors before it goes into effect.  If it does, Lakeshore Baptist will have until May 31 to shut down the operation which began the day after Katrina devastated literally everything.  If this happens, it will be a tragedy for the people of Hancock County and a serious handicap to future volunteer work among people whose hearts are big but whose hands will be tied.

Please join me in praying for this situation, especially for the opportunity for Rebuild Lakeshore to work out an agreement with the County Commission that will enable them to continue the work in their community.  May God who defends the destitute and oppressed be gracious and turn the hearts of politicians to the cause of loving their neighbor than writing a new law.

Here’s a video giving a glimpse into the realities they see every day:

Mission Dates October 5 to 11 Team Cornerstone Christian Fellowship

Where Mississippi, city of Lakeshore What Katrina Rebuild, Year 3, homes

Contact Me simon@myJesusSpace.net (480) 580 9503

Here in August 08 waiting for deployment

DEAR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES – PLEASE LEND ME YOUR SUPPORT. THANKS. -simon

August 29, 2008 was the 3rd anniversary of Katrina. The work there is ongoing as it takes time to rebuild houses on a voluntary basis without government’s aid, one at a time. The individual mission cost is $800, half of which I plan to meet and the other half I am raising support for. I would be so blessed if you would consider partnering with me in this great cause. I am taking a week off work to serve in this mission.

If you cannot join us in going, join us in providing! Here is how.

a. Prayer (Matthews 25, Jesus values the “least of these”, so let’s share kindness)
b. Support of $10, or more, as God leads and enables you to give with compassion.

Please kindly take time to prayerfully reflect on this call. Respond with (a), (b) or both!

If you choose (b) financial provision (for the cost of 2 cuppa joes), please choose 1/2/3 below:

Specify the pledge amount and tell me so that I may tally up the support funds;

1. Write me a check payable to Cornerstone (on the Memo line specify “Mission MS”)

2. OR, give online at www.cornerstonechandler.com/giving/index.php if you are familiar with online giving options already (credit card, e-check). Under ‘funds’, choose Missions Donation.

3. OR, if you come by Cornerstone, use one of the offering envelops to enclose your check* (see 1) and drop it on the offering plate or inside one of the “towers”.

Thank you thank you!

Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed the campus of Lakeshore Baptist Church as well as hundreds of homes.  From the day until now, Pastor Don Elbourne and his amazing group of volunteers have been rebuilding not only the church but the homes of the entire community (some stats).

As you know, Hurricane Gustav took a similar track to Katrina’s path though a little westward.  Don has returned from evacuation and provides and update on the conditions on the ground.  Don writes:

We have returned to Lakeshore praising God for the physical safety God granted us. My family escaped harm and our house did not suffer any damage or take on any water. The church property, on the other hand, took a significant hit. The storm surge did not reach the church building and the office stayed intact, but Gustav totally destroyed our kitchen, took down our white storage tent, damaged some of the Quonset huts and basically made a mess of the camp site.

We need your help. We need folks to come down, help clean up, and put things back together. We will not have cooking facilities for a while, so you will need to bring your own food and a way to cook. We do have power, places to sleep, and shower restroom facilities. Contact us, or just come.

Please pray for the efforts that have been ongoing now for several years.  Pray for a spirit of perseverance and greater partnership in the rebuilding in this region.  Perhaps you or your church might be interested in partnering with Don and Lakeshore.  In any case, let us hearken to the call to remember those afflicted with such providences through prayer.

Summertime is very tempting and yet rewarding period of the year for many of us.  It is when we usually take vacations, attend conferences, and enjoy a little down time.  But summertime is also a very dangerous time that can easily be wasted away.  For those of you who are college or seminary students, please allow me to draw your attention to my friend Don Elbourne who is spearheading the Rebuild Lakeshore project (see button on the left).

Don writes:

Lakeshore Baptist Church needs energetic college or seminary students willing to spend their Spring or Summer (2008) semester working in the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts on the gulf coast. In partnership with the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, qualified and approved semester missionaries will receive travel, insurance and an honorarium ($75 per week of service) from NAMB. The church will take care of housing, food, and local travel expenses.

Lakeshore Baptist, along with the entire community, was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and they are still in the process of rebuilding their church and homes in their community.  I can guarantee that, should you “spend” your summer with Don and the mission-driven believers of Lakeshore, you summer will not be wasted.  Again, hear Don’s heart in his request:

We would love to see energetic passionate students come work with us this as we weld the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts to a Christ-centered, God-exalting, Bible-saturated, confessionally rich, gospel driven ministry of hope.

If you are interested, visit NAMB’s Answer the Call web site, fill out an online application, and email Don about your desire to come help Rebuild Lakeshore to the glory of God.