BaptistBuild: August 2016

Sunday, August 28, 2016

Organizational meeting for Baptist Build 2017 - Letter from Rick Beech

Hello Baptist Build Churches,

We had a very good debrief and planning meeting on August 31, 2016. Thank you to everyone who participated. The below is a summary of our meeting.

We celebrated a successful Baptist Build 2016 project. Highlights were the joy of working with the partner families and growing the community between the churches. We celebrated raising $59,912 and volunteers contributing 2,423 hours of work. We enjoyed the kick off worship, the youth and clergy/church staff work days.

We set the goal of fully underwriting the $65,000 cost of the materials on a home and increasing the amount of volunteers to work on the home each Thursday, Friday and Saturday during the build from January 14-March 17.

The next step is for each church to put Baptist Build 2017 in their 2017 budget. As suggested in the past, larger churches were asked to provide $6,500. Mid sized churches were asked to provide $3,000-$5,000. Smaller churches were asked to to set a goal of providing $100 or $200 per month ($1,200-$2,400 per year) toward the project. If churches can keep me updated on their plans, I will keep everyone posted on the general status of our fundraising efforts.

We also discussed the importance of each church designating a volunteer coordinator. Coordinators are responsible for notifying Christin Murphy at christin.murphy@habitatwake.org of their desired work dates and then encouraging their church's volunteers to register for those days via http://vhub.at/baptistbuild2017.

Churches were asked to add the following dates to the church's 2017 ministry calendar and promote these dates widely in the church:

Saturday, January 14: Wall-Building at 7:30 AM at Habitat Wake construction facility, 2615 Westinghouse Blvd., Raleigh
Saturday, January 14: Wall-Raising Ceremony at 11:45 AM, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh
Sunday, January 15 Baptist Build Kick-Off Worship & Mass Choir at 2:30 PM at The Fountain of Raleigh, 9621 Six Forks Road
Monday, January 16: Youth & College Work Day at 8:15 AM, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh
Saturday, February 18: Young Adult Work Day at at 8:15 AM, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh
Thursday, February 23: Clergy/Church Staff Work Morning from 8:15 AM- 12 noon, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh
Saturday, February 25: Women Build Day at 8:15 AM, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh
Saturday, March 11: Choir Work Day at 8:15 AM, 5548 Neuse View Drive, Raleigh

Everyone was encouraged to keep informed about the project through the Baptist Build Blog http://baptistbuild.blogspot.com/. Attached is the sponsor packet which was reviewed at the meeting.

With enormous gratitude,

Rick Beech

Working together with God

"Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, Matthew 25:34-35

Why are we doing this? We believe everyone in Wake County should have a decent place to live. Seeking to put God’s love into action, we are bringing Baptists together to build homes, hope and greater community in Jesus’ name.

How will the houses be funded and built? We are inviting churches from both Wake Missionary Baptist Association and the Raleigh Baptist Association to work together to provide the funding and volunteers to build two homes with Habitat Wake. The total cost to build the homes is $130,000, and it will be shared by participating churches. The houses will be built over 2-3 months on Thursdays - Saturdays. We are seeking churches to help financially according to their ability. Large churches are asked to be leaders. Smaller churches are asked to give as they are able.

Partner Family Information

2017 Family:
Mary and Billy Mc Keithan are from North Carolina and have worked hard all their lives. Mary was with Eaton Corp for many years, until the plant relocated, and she went on to work other jobs until she became disabled in 2007. Billy has worked for the Raleigh Flea Market for 20 years, but is experiencing health issues and is not as able to get out as much now. They have two children, and the youngest, Kelsey, just graduated from high school. Their oldest, Kevin, is married and has a 6-year-old son. Their family has been working diligently on their sweat equity hours and are looking forward to making new friends by building with the Baptist congregations.

Churches in the Mission Effort

The following churches are cooperating on this mission effort with Habitat: Baptist Grove, Bethlehem Baptist, Ephesus Baptist, First Philadelphia Baptist, Greystone Baptist, Juniper Level Missionary, Macedonia Baptist, Millbrook Baptist, New Hope Baptist, New Providence Missionary, Oak City Baptist, Oberlin Baptist, Springfield Baptist, St Augusta Missionary, St John's Baptist, St Matthew's Baptist, Tabernacle Baptist, The Fountain of Raleigh, Triangle Baptist, Trinity Baptist, Wake Baptist Grove, Wake Chapel Baptist, and Williams Grove Baptist churches,