Alliance’s 6th Trip To New Jersey

  1-The Alliance Baptist Fellowship group returned for their 6th trip with their usual youthful hearts ready to serve in most anyway they could. Josh and Paul enjoyed working with them this week; 2-They had been studying and testing hard over the past weeks and working hard this week so they at times did the college break sleep; 3-Zac and Nick wanted to see what was happening next door.  4-Best dressed Santa contest; 5-Billy has gotten a lot of help from locals in Jersey but never had a Seaside Heights officer offer him a ride before.           1,2 & 3–The team sanded, primed the Gross home as well as painted the walls downstairs; 4–Several of us joined in to move about 14 tons of sand away from Barbara’s lot; 5&6-Jerry and Josh helped the guys do three tear out jobs; 7–Some of the guys also insulated the crawl space of the Collins home. 

We knew with the Alliance team coming it would be a good week.  Yes being young they did goof around some BUT they also worked hard, learned about what they were doing, went to visit home owners of previous trips and took time to share GOD’s word with others.

Over the past 2 years volunteers of most all ages have came to New Jersey to help The North Carolina Baptist share the gospel and rebuild the shore area of Ocean County. It has been a very meaningful experience for them as well as us.  We want to thank each one who has come as well as the ones who could not come but prayed or supported the operation.  As we start into what will most likely be our last year rebuilding after Sandy we are concerned about the low number of volunteers signed up for 2015.  As you enjoy your Christmas holiday with family and friends in “YOUR HOME” remember there are still many families in New Jersey and New York who are still not back into their home.  Please come and help us share GOD’s WORD as we help people once again believe there is a GOD and he does send help when needed.

Volunteers Still Needed

     Paul helped Ed and Josh finish hanging the sheet rock at the Gross house on Monday. 1-Tim and Chris have been busy this week mudding the sheet rock with hopes of painting by end of next week.  3 & 4-Josh and Ed worked on finishing the porch rails and vinyl on the front of the house.  6-The mason contractor poured the slab floor for Barbara’s house before Thanksgiving.  5-This week they have been busy finishing the walls.  7-Josh and Ed also went to Ed’s for a day and did siding on two sides of his home.

With the Christmas season upon us we need to remember the reason, The CHRIST CHILD.  Two of the many teachings he brought to this world was to love your neighbor and to go to all nations and make disciples. We are very happy that GOD called us to serve in New Jersey.  With the help of many volunteers, we have seen people touched by the love total strangers have brought to this area.  Please pray with us that we reach many people and complete every task GOD has laid before us over the next year.  This task means we need help so also please pray and consider coming to New Jersey to serve GOD. 

Depending on inspections of Barbara’s foundation we hope to be ready to start framing when we return from CHRISTMAS in North Carolina with our family. It would be a blessing to hear from a framing team who wants to do this project.

Sheetrocking and Block Laying

     1-Region 3 Feeding Team; 2-Cool Springs Baptist Church, Sanford, NC with two Lutheran friends from Pennsylvania; 3-Leadership team Billy, Ann, Vicki and Tim with a great helper for the last three weeks, Josh our son; 4-Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, Fayetteville, NC; 5-Jim Ellis “The Toymaker” presented Pastor Todd with a box of his handmade toys for needy children in the area; 6-Earl patiently waits for the peach cobbler to finish cooking; 7-Josh and the feeding team enjoying the good seats during Wednesday night bible study with Pastor Todd.     The volunteer teams this week did many tasks.  The Mt. Pisgah team finished hanging the sheet rock at the Gross house and painted and cleaned at Michelle’s.  The Cool Springs group helped Josh hang OSB under the Gross house.  They also helped him start the siding at Ed’s. It was too cold for vinyl on Tuesday so they went across the road to hang and finish sheet rock at the Lindsey home.  Cool Springs installed appliances and replaced the final window for June.

Randy has been laying block at Barbara’s as mush as possible with the cold.  Hoping to pour the floor next week and then finish block work. Once foundation is inspected we need a framing team.  I am thinking the middle of 2nd week or 3rd week of December.  However I will take help whenever possible. Several jobs to work on now but only a handful of volunteers.

We have really enjoyed having Josh here for the past three weeks. He really worked hard and has been a big help.

Florence Baptist and Starting Barbara’s House

     Our team this week was eight guys from Florence Baptist, Forest City, NC.  They split up into two groups. Josh joined four of the guys to do roofing.  They removed four layers of old shingles and then installed new roofs on two homes – Ed & Teddy – Ed was able to also help the guys with both roofs.  Both roofs had the challenge of not being able to get the trailer along side so most of the old shingles fell on the tarps and then had to be picked up.  The other four guys finished a tear out for Vinnie and then moved to the Gross house to continue with sheet rock hanging.  Tim, Paul and Chris worked on the ceiling rock.

     After months of waiting we were finally able to start on Barbara’s house this week. The first two pictures are Barbara’s damaged home before and after it was torn down last fall.  Picture three is Barbara helping level sand and digging where footers were going.  Billy, Tim and Paul helped Randy dig Barbara’s footings on Wednesday.  It passed inspection on Friday morning and on Saturday morning we met again and poured the footing.  Randy likes to set his first course of blocks into the footing cement so that was done by mid-day.  Randy starts laying block on Tuesday.

Along with starting Barbara’s new build we have received four additional request for help this week.  Yes it has been two years but there is still a lot of primary homes which have not been rebuilt yet.  Please come and join us as we continue to help rebuild the area and share GOD’s love.

Biltmore Baptist Makes 8th NJ Rebuild Trip

     1-Biltmore Baptist, Asheville, NC; 2-Homeowner David Gross and boys; 3-Lion’s Club delivering another check; 4-Region 2 Feeding Team-Carl, Dorothy, Linda & Kay; 5-Josh Andrews (our son).        This week the the volunteers worked on three homes.  Some of the ladies sanded sheet rock at Gary’s and then painted the room.  Several spent two days at Michelle’s installing trim, flooring and painting.  The rest of the group (later joined by the others) worked on The Gross home.  They built front and back entry landings and steps, installed insulation and fire caulk, cleaned up and started hanging sheet rock. Our son Josh has joined us for a few weeks.  He fit right in with the Biltmore group who enjoys doing a little bit of everything.

We wrote up requests for help rebuilding two more homes this week. At present that gives us five homes to rebuild and 1 total new build (we start digging Barbara Hastings foundation on Monday).  With this many work requests we need an average of 12 to 15 skilled rebuild volunteers for the next 20 to 25 weeks.  At present we have four teams between now and the end of the year, then teams for only six weeks in 2015.   This means we are way short on volunteers.  Please pray and consider coming to Seaside Heights to help us rebuild homes for people who’s homes were damaged by Super Storm Sandy.  It does get cold here but nothing matches the warmth of returning home which is what we are helping with along with sharing with the people why we are here, “ TO SHARE GOD’s LOVE.”

Pennsylvania Presbyterians Helping NCBM in New Jersey

     A group from Neshaminy-Warwick Presbyterian Church, Warminster, PA joined us this week as we continued to rebuild homes and share the gospel in New Jersey.  They helped with a tear out in Seaside, installed flooring for Brian and Amy, installed doors, trim and painted at Michelle’s,  pulled wire, installed insulation and bath fans, and floor decking at the Gross house.  Some of the ladies also repainted the doors and casing at the church.  The Region 1 feeding team led by Billy & Hollis Williams did an awesome job as usual. During their spare time the guys changed out the shower unit doors.

In the next few days we will start digging the foundation for Barbara Hastings’ (Pastor Todd’s secretary) home. We need volunteers to help build this home over the next several months.  Please contact us with the dates your group can come to help.

We Have Volunteers in New Jersey Again

  1-Region 8 Feeding Team and Rebuild Team; 2-Lakeview Baptist, Albemarle, NC; 3-Momeyer Baptist Church, Nashville, NC (our home team).  With volunteers back at work we were able to accomplish a lot. Tim and Chris finished the cabinets at Paul's.  The Momeyer group painted the walls, doors and trim and installed most of the cabinets at Michelle's.   The Region 8 team split up and worked several jobs. They did final paint and clean up at Jayne's, did touch up paint and final clean up at June's, did trim work and painting at Paul's and installed 2 sets of cabinets on Dupont Street.  The Lakeview Baptist team did insulation, tear out and clean up.  They insulated Paul and June's crawl space, tore down a foundation and floor system, did a complete tear out and started two more.  I believe they would have finished all three but the dumpsters were full.  They also cleared the sand off Barbara's lot so we could see what we had to start working with.

It sure is great to have volunteer coming to help again.  Without volunteers the work effort is very slow.  For the ones of you who have been asking about when are we starting Barbara's house - She now has permits and we are hoping to get the foundation started next week.  So if you can frame we would like to hear from you about helping out.  Hoping to get foundation done and floor system in by Thanksgiving.  If that happens then we want to start framing when we return to Jersey on December 2nd.

Two Weeks With No Volunteers

  It’s been mighty quiet around here for the past couple of weeks with no volunteers.  We have continued to work and visit.  1-Ann went to the boardwalk to enjoy the rides before the cold sets in.  2-Ann and I took a trip to Ohio to see Kim and the guys.  After revival Sunday evening we went by Dairy Queen. Tim and Vicki went home for a few days also. 3-Billy installed an exhaust vent at June’s house while Ann, Tim and Vickie finished the painting.  As soon as her appliances arrive she home will be complete. 4&5-Tim and Chris installed the bamboo flooring at Paul’s.  6-Saturday ended up being busy.  We were asked to attend the North Jersey Net (a Southern Baptist association of churches in the northern half of New Jersey) meeting to speak about disaster relief and rebuild on Saturday morning. We enjoyed worship with a great Hispanic praise band from one of the associational churches. Then we returned to Seaside and attended a Lions Club Beafsteak dinner where we were thanked for our work in the area.

PRAISE-Barbara Hastings finally got her building permits this week so please call and make reservations to come and help build her home. 

We are now waiting on three volunteer teams to arrive.  Sure will be nice to again have some help.  Got to remember GOD has control of all and all must be in His timing.

Region 5 Rocks!!!

  I’ve lost count of the number of time that Region 5 volunteers have come to NJ with a feeding and rebuild team combined. They were small in numbers but came with a heart to serve GOD. The ladies cooked some great meals and did some fall cleaning.  With so many volunteers coming through it is nice to have a group every now and then to do a good deep cleaning.  The guys started out the week moving belongings at a home that is going to be raised.  The rest of the week they spent at the Gross home adding a layer of floor decking and bridge blocking the studs for sheet rock and trim work later.  Tim and Billy worked on finishing up the new vinyl siding.  Ann, Vickie, Tim and Billy also did trim work, caulking, painting and final plumbing hook ups at June’s home. We celebrated Frances’ birthday on Wednesday.

We don’t have any volunteers for two weeks so think we will just go fishing.  Just kidding, but seriously we could use some help.

Good to Have Returning Volunteers

  Our volunteers this week:  1-Biltmore Baptist, Asheville, NC (A team from this church comes every other month.); 2-Grace Haven Baptist Fellowship, Wake Forest, NC (Their second trip); 3-Robin from Biltmore helping Ann make fall decorations to brighten our dining tables; 4-Region 6 Feeding Team-Marlene, Tom and Sharon (Sunni)-They came up on short notice and were great to work with; 5-Matthews Baptist Church-Matthews, NC (This group of men have made several trips here.)  The Grace Haven group took on several different task this week.  They finished up a set of stairs for Bob who can now enter the upper part of his home without the need for an extension ladder.  They went to Rick’s to do final touch ups and clean up.  Then they went to Michelle’s to finish hanging the sheet rock.  Their final job was also hanging sheet rock at Richard’s.  The Matthews group went to June’s and decided to stay there all week.  They replaced 2 windows, laid flooring, installed cabinets, laid tile in bathroom and then installed fixtures, laid carpet, installed doors and trim work.    The Biltmore team as normal is large so they split up.  The ladies helped the Mathews group by painting Junes house and trim.  Most of the guys spent the week at David and Moe’s house.  Most of the week was spent on removing what was left of the old torn up siding and replacing it with new siding.  They also installed two new doors, built steps, repaired walls, built knee walls and reframed 3 ceiling areas.  The ladies did join the men a couple of days.  They removed screws and nails left in the walls and ceilings during tear out and then did a great job cleaning up the site.

It was great to have three teams return for yet another called mission trip to New Jersey.  They all worked hard and made a big difference in the homes we are working.  The best part of the week was the time that was spent sharing why we are here with the home owners, neighbors and others.  One thing I heard several times this week and will never grow tired of hearing is “FOR THE GLORY OF GOD “

Our volunteer numbers are very low at this time and GOD is providing us with great weather.  So I ask you to think about what for now is my favorite saying – “What are you doing for GOD?”  Hoping and praying to see each of you and many more soon.