First Baptist completes home missions week

By MARIDEE LAWSON

Another year of projects are in the book for the “You are the Light” mission outreach at First Baptist Church.

More than 75 families were helped with this year’s effort held last week. Many of the church members who work full-time were able to take off work or volunteer on their breaks. The only thing which didn’t go as planned was the weather.

“When you see people come in hot, sweaty and dirty, it’s such a blessing to see them talking, laughing and eating,” said Chuck Henson, leader of the Your Are The Light project.

This marked the third year for church members to take on the home missions project.

The group this year worked on yard work, minor home repairs, painting, installing ceiling fans, washing windows and cleaning gutters. One group worked on an overhang of a porch.

The group also picked up and hauled off three tons of lumber and scrap materials from yards, delivering the items to the landfill.

Henson explained that the church takes names and phone numbers in an effort to find potential projects a couple of months in advance. A week is chosen for the work to be completed, and church members arrange their schedules to help.

“I am in awe with the amount of people who showed up and took vacations to come work on this. We also have guys that volunteer who are so handy with things,” said Pastor Bill Miller.

Sunday night the congregation had their “Celebration Service” where the group got together and watched video and looked at pictures from this year’s project. Henson joked that it was nice to see everyone still talking after Sunday’s service.

Henson and others have worked to streamline the missions project as much as possible. There is a command center that helps organize where everyone needs to be. Volunteers also go out and check on work groups to make sure they have enough water. Another group documents the project with pictures and video footage.

“It’s so neat to see everyone back at the church for lunch talking and eating (and) having fellowship,” said Miller.

The outreach group also went through various neighborhoods handing out cost-saving light bulbs and packets with church information. They also checked and installed smoke detectors where needed.

The Farmington Fire Department and the church provided the smoke detectors.

“We don’t ask for payment. We just provide the labor to those who can’t afford it or need help,” said Henson.

The project began in 2007 when Henson saw an article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch about a group in Festus that did a similar project similar. He met with the youth leader there, and then changed and adapted the program to meet Farmington’s needs.

“Foreign missions are great, but we needed to help (here at home) also,” added Henson.

The project helps about 60 families each year with simple things around the house that some cannot do themselves. The church contacted East Missouri Action Agency, the Life Center, the Farmington Senior Center, and spoke at a Farmington City Council meeting to help get the word out.

The group met at 7:30 a.m. each morning of the mission at the church for a devotion. By 8 a.m. they are were working on projects, then arrived back at church around 11:30 a.m. for lunch, only to head back out about 12:30 p.m. until about 3:30 p.m. At the finish of each day the group met and shared stories from the day.

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