House Dedication!

They have dedicated the Knight house in McDonalds Chapel!

Read more about this amazing 90 year old woman and our churches who helped.

Building Opportunities

We have begun building at the Knight house (see below). We need workers! 

October 19                    Insulation for Walls

October 20-21               Sheetrock (Hang and Finish)

October 19-26               Exterior Siding 

October 22                    Install baseboard trim.

October24-26                Paint

October 25-26               Install Cabinets and Counter Tops

October 26-29               Install Laminate Flooring

October 28/29               Landscaping and Planting

October 31-Nov. 4         Furnishings for Rooms

Target:   Move-In Celebration...November 8...10:00 a.m.

If you can help, contact davidphenry@charter.net or mjohnson@shadescrest.org.

Groundbreaking!

On August 25th, Margie Knight received a very special 90th birthday present ... a new house!  Actually, it was the groundbreaking ceremony, but her new home should be finished in just a couple of months quickly followed by the home of her neighbor of many years who will, once again, be right next door. Except this time, their houses will be turned a little toward each other so that they can see each other from their front porches.

Ms. Knight's home will be the first new construction in McDonald Chapel since the devastating tornado of April 27th which flattened 37 houses in this small community.  "I feel so blessed," said Ms. Knight. "And I think God may just give me a few more years to enjoy this new house."

Houses are being rebuilt in the McDonald Chapel by the McDonald Chapel Revitalization Partnership, a coalition of churches and volunteer organizations who have joined together to help the people of the community.  Alabama CBF and VOA Southeast are lead partners in the project.

Margie Knight gets a little help breaking the ground from her sonsRick Ousley, VOA Southeast; Mark Johnson, Shades Crest Baptist Church; Jay Kieve, Crosscreek Baptist Church; and Don Ehrett, Vestavia Hills Baptist Church are part of the Steering Committee for the McDonald Chapel Revitalization Partnership

Thank You Letter

This group of seven from Kilmarnock Baptist Church, located in Kilmarnock, VA, were an intergenerational group - from youth to adults.  They arrived on June 27 and departed on July 1 to head home.  They came about 800 miles in over 13 hours to help in McDonald Chapel and Pratt City.  More about their church can be found at the church website at http://www.kilmarnockbaptist.org/. They were a pleasure to be around.  A lasting memory for me was after the Kilmarnock group listened to Eve Mitchell, a McDonald Chapel resident, tell how her faith in Jesus brought her through the tornado devastation, Bob Gray said the most precious prayer for Eve Mitchell and the others devastated by the tornados. ~ David Henry

August 3, 2011

To ALCBF Disaster Response and Shades Crest Baptist Church Disaster Relief Team,

Thank you for thinking of us and sending such an interesting book.  It gives all of us better insight into the destruction that occurred in your area. We all took pictures, but our pictures do not capture the intensity of the storms as well as this book.  I am still amazed how much destruction occurred and how seeing it first hand shows how much more the devastation was than what I saw in newspapers, magazines and national TV news.

After we got back home from Hoover, Amanda Moss shared with our congregation some of the events of our trip.  For the next three Sundays some of us shared with our Sunday School Class personal testimonies of our trip as well as showing pictures of the different areas.  We shared with our class our experiences with the Butler Brothers.  This was the group that we were assigned to work with, and the same boys that your church accepted at your Wednesday night events as well as the use of your facilities that same night.  We hope our Christian witness to them and their boys will some day lead them closer to our Lord.  We also shared the story of Lottie Green and how she was led to establish her facility that became a relief center for her neighbors.  And we shared the experience of sitting in a circle around Eve Mitchell and listening to her testimony of how she survived the storm while her home was demolished around her.  She lost all of her processions, yet still has faith and praise for our Lord.

We are still amazed at how Shades Crest Baptist Church has opened its facilities to so many to assist in the cleanup and helping tirelessly to assist neighbors in such needs.  Your members are to be praised for their willingness to personally become so involved.  Your statement of how this disaster has brought many churches closer together still gives me a warm feeling that during tough times we all can come closer when we work together.

And most of all, our group has been lifted up by seeing how our Lord can use a disaster such as this to bring us all together. Our prayers are with each of those with a loss that they soon will be able to restore somewhat some of their losses and soon will be able to have a roof over their heads and return to "normal".

Our plans were to go to Birmingham to try to make a little difference, but we left with more than we gave.

..... Thanks for the breakfasts, your warm acceptance, your friendship and the smile that you shared each day with us.  We arrived as strangers, but we left with a friendship that will always endure..

.... Thanks for pointing us in the right direction, for guiding us through this natural disaster and helping fix our flat tire.

Again we thank you all.

Yours in Christ,

Bob Gray
Kilmarnock Baptist Church
Kilmarnock, VA

Images from Pratt City

Because McDonald's Chapel is not ready for volunteer work just yet, we had a group working in Pratt City in Birmingham through our partner, M-Power.

Here are a few images of their work during the last week of June, 2011.

Obviously, there is still much, much work to be done!