Habitat for Huggins Update: Moved In!

It’s official:  the Habitat for Huggins house can once again be called HOME! After an entire year of prayers, love, and hard work, the house is occupied. Move-in day has been described as “Simply AMAZING. Holy. Truly beyond words.” Thank you to everyone who had a hand in this transformation; you have truly done God’s work.

If you didn’t get to help out as much as you had planned or hoped, don’t worry. This mission has just begun! WordServe Church is already saving funds for the next family in need.  The entire offering collected at WordServe’s Community Candlelight Christmas Eve service was donated to Habitat for Huggins!

To learn more about Habitat for Huggins visit wordserve.org/habitatforhuggins.

Habitat for Huggins Update

Since December, WordServe has been involved in an on-going project called Habitat for Huggins.  WordServe was contacted through our adopted school, Huggins Elementary, about a family in need of major home repairs. The family has eight children, four of whom are currently attending Huggins. After meeting with school leaders, counselors, and other city officials, WordServe decided to commit to rebuild this house and make all the necessary repairs so that the family can return to their home.   Going into the project, we as a church realized that this was a great undertaking that could take up to a year to complete.The following video highlights the vision for the project, as well as showing the “before” condition of the home.

With the help of many volunteers from WordServe, a host of handy “Mikes”, generous donors from the community, and God’s gracious provision, much progress has been made on the home!  The house demolition and clean up was completed on May 10 and we have turned the project over to a contractor for flooring, framing, drywall, roofing, electrical, and plumbing.   Check out the current transformation!

We are excited about the challenges still left before us and feel that this project is clearly in line with our vision of “transforming communities one relationship at a time.” This project is a direct link to our adoption of Huggins Elementary and represents our focus on changing the community through the schools. It is our hope that every person connected to WordServe will play some role in bringing this project to completion. We know it will take skilled workers for much of the construction, but it will also take people willing to serve through clean-up, painting, prayer, food for the workers, and in any other way that God might lead someone to serve.  We will provide updates when the contracted work is complete and we are able to schedule our regular Saturday workdays again.  We hope you will take part in what God is doing to transform our community one relationship at a time, through one hammer and nail at a time!

How Long, Lord?

“O LORD, how long will you forget me? Forever? How long will you look the other way? How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day?” (Psa 13:1–2 NLT)

The injustices in this world are maddening, aren’t they?  Why should some have so much, and others so little? And why doesn’t God do something about it?

Do you know what I think?  I think God IS doing something about injustice and hardship… he’s inviting us to partner with him to bring restoration and peace.

A young mother who is now doing her best to take care of her young children plus some extended family might have been thinking, “How long, Lord?”  With 8 children to care for and a house that needs some help, she approached WordServe to see if we could help.  After planning, consideration, and on-site evaluation, WordServe’s Compassion team decided they could take on her house repairs.

Mind you, this won’t be a weekend project.  This will be many weekends, all done by volunteers on their time off.  As I thought about the scope of work, the enemy’s voice started up:

• WordServe can’t do this… it’s too big
• The Church will promise and get hopes up, but you won’t be able to deliver
• You’ll do more harm than good

Indeed, as I rode out to meet the family with our Director of Compassion and our project manager, I couldn’t help but wonder, “How can WordServe possibly pull this off?”

As this thought crossed my mind, we rounded the next turn. I couldn’t help but notice the street sign:

Big Prayer Road

No… I’m not making that up.  That’s the road name!  And that’s the answer.

God knew long before my doubts that there was a need.  God has been preparing the work site and the workers.  And God is inviting us to join in what God will pull off… not WordServe.

The Psalm above started with a cry for help, but don’t stop reading there.  And more importantly, don’t live there!  Have the faith to see the end of the story, even before the end is clear:

“But I trust in your unfailing love. I will rejoice because you have rescued me. I will sing to the LORD because he is good to me.” (Psa 13:5–6 NLT)

Want to help?  How about starting with some “Big Prayer?”

Serving joyfully,
Bill

Visit http://www.wordserve.org/habitatforhuggins for regular updates.  Volunteers welcome!