A Few Words From Chris
Hey Everyone!
Rev. Chris Granberry
I hope all of you are off to a good start this new year. I
think we are. I wanted to use this update to focus on one of the new
families who have joined our team in recent months. The Yarbrough
family (pictured on the right) moved to the reservation in September. I
went to college with Bill and Tina (20+ years ago) and then we wound
up going to the same church (Oak Mountain PCA in Birmingham, AL) after
we were all married and had children. Our older girls all started
school together and we had some joint birthday parties, etc.
Bill and Tina were very interested in our calling to come to
the reservation from the beginning (in 2003) and came on the first
summer team we ever hosted! Over the next few years they began to
realize that the Lord was calling them to join our team full time. They
then "ran the gauntlet" of the application process with our board, a
week of on the field cross cultural life/evaluation, three weeks of
cross cultural ministry training at Mission Training International, and
raising support (which was very tough in the "current economic
climate"). The process from start to finish took about three years, but
the Yarbroughs persevered and made it out! They recently bought a
small home here in the community, moved in, and have gotten settled.
The whole family fits right in with the rest of the team and the
community is excited to have them.
Bill will be our "worksite
coordinator" which means he will organize, oversee, and direct the one
week teams (who come from all over the country) as they roof, paint,
repair, and clean up homes (and do a variety of other odd jobs) for
elderly folks, single moms, and low income families in the community.
Bill will purchase and organize tools and materials for up to 70
workers (about 50 from various churches, 5 summer interns, and up to 15
teenagers from the community) on up to 8 worksites (homes) per week!
Last summer we roofed four homes a week and did some painting as well!
Something we have seen consistently is that if you "love an Indian
person in this community as if they were family" (a concept which we
believe is very biblical) then they love you right back and want to
know why you love them in the first place! That is the perfect
opportunity to tell them about Jesus. We usually say something like,
"Yes, I want to do my best to treat you like family, but that's not the
real story! The real story is that Jesus wants to adopt you into His
family! He loved you so much that he left his home and did the work
that had to be done for all of us to be saved. We simply have to trust
him to save us now." As you can imagine, many wonderful conversations
and relationships have developed standing in various front yards and
driveways! Some of the 34 people who got baptized last summer were folks
we met while working on their homes.
Bill will also mentor and disciple
teenagers from our youth group (about 50 kids now!) by taking them with
him as he works with the spring and summer teams and throughout the
rest of the year too. Two or three times a month, in the fall and
winter, Bill will organize smaller projects, pick up two or three
youth, go buy supplies, gather tools, and do handyman type jobs on the
homes of elders, single moms, and low income families. I get so excited
when I imagine this! Most of the youth Bill will mentor and
disciple do not have fathers in their life. Bill will truly be
"equipping the saints for ministry" by spending quality time with these
future leaders of the church, Hope Fellowship, and actively serving
the needy in the community at the same time! You can imagine that in a
few years these same youth will be ready to go out on their own and use
the skills they learned from Bill to serve their own community in very
practical ways AND train younger believers to do the same!
Bill will also drive
the ministry bus, helping to transport 70+ children, youth, and adults
to Sunday Worship Service and other church activities. We provide
transportation for 75-80% of the folks that come to church because many
adults don't have reliable transportation. Bill will also
oversee and coordinate maintenance and upkeep of the ministry vehicles,
tools, and equipment.
Finally, Bill and his family
will be active members of our church here on the reservation. They
will sing, pray, learn, teach, play, comfort, eat, work, laugh, cry,
and celebrate with Hope Fellowship. They will listen to stories of the
elders, laugh and play with the youth, hold babies, love on children,
and pray for and serve all ages. What a blessing the Yarbroughs will be
in a community that so desperately needs to see healthy families,
healthy marriages, healthy relationships between parents and children,
and "father figures".
In the process of coming to the reservation the Yarbroughs
had a couple of unhappy surprises. First, when they were literally
loaded up and leaving Alabama they were informed that Tina's employer
(she works part time as an on-call nurse with Children's Hospital)
called and said they could not provide health insurance for the family
as they had previously committed to do! The second surprise came when
the Yarbroughs had to almost double the down payment on their home here
on the reservation. Now the situation is such that they need to raise
$2500 in monthly support over the next three months to get back on
track financially.
Will you please pray
regularly for this family. The ministry and this community need them
here very much and they want to be here too. Please pray that the Lord
would provide the resources they need to stay and do what they are
called to do. Please also pray about joining their financial support
team if you are not already supporting one of the Sacred Road team
members.
I fully expect the Lord to do amazing
things for this family and in this community over the next three
months. We'll keep you updated on what He does! Thank you for your
love, prayers, and generous gifts. We could not be here and do what we
do without you.
In Him and for His Kingdom!
Rev. Chris Granberry
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