Update 12-15

Progress Report on the Relief work Tammany Oaks Church of Christ
Sunday, December 11, 2005 by Brett White

Special Presentation today at Assembly : Ted Jackson, a shepherd at TOCC, also Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer showed a frame by frame presentation of his journey from the evacuation from Katrina, rescue operations, lootings, fires, deaths, floods, and cleanup operations.

Herald of Truth- On Thursday December 8, church leaders from around the area met with Steve Ridgell of the Herald of Truth Ministry out of Abilene, Texas. He presented us with the exciting offer of a radio spot broadcast on local radio stations, bringing a short message of hope and invitation to learn more about Jesus. Listeners will be encouraged to call an 800 number or contact their local Church of Christ. Those attending enthusiastically embraced the idea. But we need to gear up because the "fields are white for harvest and workers are few." (B. Gilbert)

Prayer Campaign - -Next Wednesday, we plan to start a designated forty days of prayer for all the people we have met and contacted through the relief work. Of course we have always been interested in meeting spiritual needs in addition to the physical needs, so we are praying the Lord to provide a way.

BIG MOVE- The "warehouse" (i.e. sanctuary) here at Tammany Oaks Church of Christ is about to be largely evacuated of all the relief supplies. The youth group is having an all-niter at the church and they are going to be using the facility. This is preparing the disaster relief team to get moved into the new warehouse in Robert, LA (down the road from Mandeville) by the end of the month. The facility is shaping up pretty nicely with lots of skilled labor volunteers coming to help get it ready to move into.

Marriage : Alicia Shrewsbury and I got married at the TOCC Church building Monday December 5, with staff and volunteers in attendance. The bride and groom were adorned in their yellow volunteer shirts and blue jeans. The ceremony was conducted by Justice Wallace Porter. We enjoyed our honeymoon this week at undisclosed locations in LA (lower Alabama). We met and married here at the Disaster Relief Ministry. She's from Hurricane, West Virginia (no lie).



I was a little late in sending this out…I fell ill to a bug, but I'm getting better all the time… God bless, Brett.

Special Presentation today at Assembly: Ted Jackson, a shepherd at TOCC, also Pulitzer-Prize winning photographer showed a frame by frame presentation of his journey from the evacuation from Katrina, rescue operations, lootings, fires, deaths, floods, and cleanup operations.

Pictures are like trying to tell people about doing this relief work/trying to explain the scope of the problem here in Louisiana. You see the image and it's gripping, but you can go out to eat and forget about it when you walk away. Ted is a GIFTED photograper. I would normally say that I wish everyone here could have seen his presentation, but really, it would just be another attempt to explain everything and not conveying it. "The pictures don't do it justice... you would just have to see it for yourself." But thanks Ted, for trying to do it justice. The images were unforgettable.

Update 12-2-05

Press Coverage
It’s good when the media expose news that will remind people about the efforts here—and what God is doing. We met Bobby Ross from the Christian Chronicle who already has excellent coverage up on the website. These were pictures taken earlier this week.

A television crew from WSET ABC channel 13 Lynchburg, Virginia followed a furniture shipment from Gleaning for the World Concorde, VA down to our warehouse, and into a survivor’s home. They spent more than a day filming the operation here and interviewing servants.

And concerning the article Nick wrote, we already have had a phone call from a team from Branson MO booking a trip for January.

Also, Check out the coverage in Time magazine.

Progress on Building
The original powerpoint presentation aimed for starting work on Dec 1 and having occupation by the end of the month, but it’s starting to look a lot like occupation by Dec 15. We still need plumbers, a mason, a master electrician, and carpenters. The sooner the better! We are really looking forward to this growth move.

Expanding Capacity
Many of the churches of Christ relief groups were invited this week to Camp New Orleans in Algiers, a tent city run by Deployed. Usually a housing unit for emergency workers, currently housing contractors, home inspectors, and soon to be housing FEMA workers getting kicked out of their hotel rooms. We were given staying rights here. Carrolton Avenue and Hilltop are planning to use this facility a lot—it’s a good set up and close to the work. We could use this for overflow, virtually freeing up our capacity to basically however many people will come and be willing to stay off campus.

Appliances
Many of the appliances sent down by Churches of Christ Disaster Relief out of Nashville are being given to good homes. I’ve been very blessed to be able to visit homes for the screening process that usually ends up turning into precious moments of encouragement and prayer.

Prayers
If you are interested in praying for some of the people who have been helped in the relief effort specifically by name, I will send you a list so that you can include them in your daily prayers.

2 You From Me 4 Him
The Christmas toys have already started coming in from all over to distribute for the kids who lost their toys during the storms. Call the church or email Jessica Toyoufromme4him@hotmail.com


Greatest Needs – Our greatest need of all time is more volunteers. If you can schedule to come down, you will always be put to work.
Booking Calendar: click here
Booking a Group: send Brett an email s.brett.white@gmail.com

Update from last week

I know I haven't been writing so much blog-wise (I wonder if that word has ever been used before?) So besides making up words, I've been really busy down here. I don't know if I told you, but I've been shifted from the "physical" work at the operation here to the "spiritual" work. Mostly, I've been doing visiting. Many of the visits are to "screen" for appliance giveaways via Churches of Christ Disaster Relief, Inc., out of Nashville. They always turn into ministry opportunities.

Isn't God crafty? I thought I wasn't going to be doing full time ministry after leaving Savannah. Sure, that's where my heart is, but I feel like my buttocks were burned in the ministry game. I was sick of politics and didn't want to "play the game" that ministers do in institutional churches. But he got me in the back door by this physical work going on here with this ministry, and ends up... I'm back in the ministry side of things. I'm not really employed as a minister per se, but my role here has shifted that way. Not that God needs me "being a minister" but I need this. It's feeding me deep.

Hey, so here's an update from last week:

My buddy and brother Nick Diamantides was published in the Word Net Daily, an article on the work here. Click here for a link to it.

Thanksgiving
The staff and entire volunteer regiment served 1600 meals in Lafitte on Wednesday. We have about 40 Volunteers here for Thanksgiving holidays. The local staff from the church fed all of us in a scrumptious meal! It was wonderful.


Starfish report
Every week that goes by, a few more git-r-dun’s are taken off the big stack. But there are always more to put in their place. We have sent some crews into Chalmette which is one starfish out of many. Trucks are still rolling, supplies are still being sent to the greatest places of need.
On new building:
Volunteers from Indiana and Maryland (and other places) did a Thanksgiving Day “sweep” of the new place—organized and stacked all the building materials, did a lot of cleaning, and some electricians knocked out a portion of the wiring. One step closer to moving in.

NEEDS
For the new building project, we still need to schedule:
· Plumber – setting kitchen and bathroom plumbing, showers, sinks
· Electricians – fixtures, main panel, lighting
· HVAC- Air units and ductwork
· Carpenters – framing, finishing, decking
· Mason- office section of building (on front)
· Miscellaneous- Drop ceiling installation, sheetrock, flooring, security system

IF you are interested in helping with the new building, please keep in close contact about the progress. We can always use you for “anything that’s needed” but if you come down here for a specific trade skill, we want you to do what you came for and don’t want it to be DONE when you get here.
PowerPoint Presentation for Building Project