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From Waveland, MS April 7, 2006 |
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Greetings! Pathfinder Mission is one week old as of last Tuesday. In one week the Lord has blessed us so greatly. Let me list of the provisions … He has blessed us with a location. We are located next to Little Zion Baptist Church in Waveland. Little Zion is allowing us to "tap into" their utilities and to use some of their facilities as we establish our camp and ministry. We have received tents for our operations and volunteer sleeping quarters. The Christian Appalachian Project has loaned us a shower trailer from. Friends from Indiana and California have set up our electrical and plumbing. We will refurbish the fellowship hall at Little Zion Baptist Church for us to use as a mess hall and meeting place while we are located there, our intent is to leave it in better condition than it was before the storm. We have a space cleared in the back and covered with gravel to build pods. Next Monday morning we will be receiving 106 pods from Demotte which will make 250 pod sets delivered for assembly by volunteers. We have built a shed for our tools and pod operations. We received approval from the land owner next to the church to use her property while we are ministering from this location. Friends from Stockton, AL are bringing cots for the volunteer tent on Monday. A ministry from South Carolina is providing a kitchen trailer the week after Easter. We will use that trailer until we have a kitchen established in the fellowship hall. Friends from Vicksburg, MS will be gathering kitchen appliances and equipment at the end of April to help establish that kitchen. Friends from Eclectic will be bringing cabinets for the kitchen. A volunteer crew from North Georgia gutted the fellowship hall. They also roofed a small building with metal that they cut on site, that we will use for storage. We also launched our ministry web site. And there is more … Coal Mountain Baptist Church had come to Little Zion to help restore their church. While there they built 11 pods and delivered 8. We already have over 20 requests for pods and a number of requests for help with homes. And we haven't even opened our doors formally. (The need for help is still so great!)
The other day, I commented to Martie that I feel like I am holding on to a playground merry-go-round (some of those reading this may not know what that is ) I am grabbing hold of the bar as the merry-go-round is turning -- faster and faster -- until my feet can't keep up. I know that if I try to keep running I will fall -- so my only option is to jump on and let the merry-go-round carry me -- so that is what we are doing -- letting God carry us as His power moves all of these activities and the hearts of so many saints for the accomplishment of His purpose. Only He doesn't just spin us in a circle, but carries us on a journey that leads to great blessing and His glory and praise. What a great place to be -- where God is at work, trusting in Him and marveling at the work of His hands. If there is one thing that I want to encourage you to take away from your experience in Mississippi it's this: God has awakened you to his heart for people in need - physical and spiritual --both in Mississippi and in your own home town. Our faith is not to be hidden in a hole or put under a bushel but demonstrated by our actions and priorities. Lay your life down for the Lord as your spiritual worship (Romans 12:1). Why? For the LORD is a great God And a great King above all gods, 4 In whose hand are the depths of the earth, The peaks of the mountains are His also. 5 The sea is His, for it was He who made it, And His hands formed the dry land. 6 Come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you would hear His voice, Psalms 95:3 - 7 (NASB) We have come back to Montgomery for a couple of days to chip away at this "great mountain of possession". Actually we are making some progress. Our friends from North Georgia hauled some of our things that could be used to support the ministry down to Mississippi last week and, last night, moved those things that we would never sell ( like the bed Martie's dad was born in) to their home for safe-keeping. The rest we will sort through and sell or give away -- Martie and I feel like we dismantling 30 years of our life. It is quite a balancing act running between Waveland and Montgomery. There are some those things that we would like to sell on Ebay. If anyone who reads this is gifted in doing that and would be willing to help us, please let us know, soonest. Martie's health has been better than it was. However, she continues to have periodic struggles with it, so please continue to pray for her. Some have asked us if we are at the point that we could receive volunteers. The answer is YES, but they would have to be self sufficient with respect to food until we get a kitchen in. When we return to Waveland we will begin the planning for outreach to the community - both physical and spiritual. I'll share more about the form that will take later in the month -- particularly the spiritual outreach and ministry. We will meet with representatives from Saddleback Church next Monday night at Bay Vista Baptist Church in Biloxi. Martie and I, along with many others, have been invited by Saddleback Church to go to California for a week --- to attend the Purpose Driven Church Conference the week of May 15th-- Saddleback is paying for it PTL . We have friends in Alabama who have agreed to cover the camp while we are gone. Dear friends, Martie and I want to thank all of you for your prayers. With the establishment of this camp, we will have new financial obligations; electric, refuse, phone as well as other expenses …. We are committed to not being a burden to Little Zion but to be a blessing. Please pray specifically that God will provide for those needs and will continue to provide for our personal needs as well. Finally Brothers and Sisters, please join us in giving praise to our God from whom all blessings flow ……. Charley Ps. I just talked with my pastor, Alan Cross. Their son, Caelen - 7 months old, has a growth on his side which has been diagnosed as a tumor. They are in Birmingham today where the doctors are even now taking a biopsy. Please pray the Lord will show His great mercy and love toward Caelen and this precious family. That the tumor will be benign and his health will be restored to the glory of God. Thank you
Charley & Martie Elgin Pathfinder Mission Waveland, Mississippi http://www.pathfindermission.org(228) 493-1081 Isa 58:12 …. you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
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Pathfinder Mission, P.O. Box
3313, Bay |
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228-469-0507 |
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