Little Brown Church Roof Repair--Part 2

I received this additional information and pictures from Pastor Mike Iverson from the Yellowstone Church in Billings, MT:

"After many email discussions and pleas for help we had the following people participate in the Little Brown Church re-roofing project:

Doyle, John, Rock, Aaron, Marty, Laura, Zach, Mark, Rock's Grandson - Belgrade Community Church
Red, Travis, Marcus - Roundup Emmanuel Baptist Church
Ross and Paul - Billings FBC
Mike, Leonard, Michael, Bill, Zach - Billings Yellowstone Church
Doug - Hardin FBC
Wayne - Crow Agency Community Church
Larry - Little Brown Church
Nancy, Newton, Olivia, Kenny and several ladies from Lodge Grass provided wonderful hospitality and food while we were there.

I think that this was a tremendous example of what we can do if we choose to work together. When we think of missions work - or projects, we often tend to think of traveling long distances or maybe even overseas, but I think it is important for us to remember that there are people right in our own back yard that need our help.

A couple of things that I thought were noteworthy: As we were wrapping up the project, some neighborhood ladies walking down the street stopped to talk with me about what was going on at the church - people in the town of Lodge Grass took note of the activity that was taking place and were very impressed that people would come from all over the state to help the church in Lodge Grass. I was also very impressed with the camaraderie that took place between people of different churches, but also amongst people of the same church. I noticed people from BCC and Yellowstone Church who previously hadn't known each other very well begin making new friendships.

I think it is significant that in a time of need we were able to come together and meet a need that the people of Little Brown Church had almost given up hope on. They had $3000 in a fund to replace the roof, but had received quotes that were significantly higher than this from various roofing companies. After excess materials were returned - the final cost of materials for this project was $3087.64 (plus some miscellaneous supplies brought from the Belgrade team).

The people of Little Brown Church often feel as if they are forgotten or abandoned and felt very blessed and encouraged to have our churches come together to help meet this need. Thank you to everyone who participated and to everyone who encouraged members of their various churches to participate."

--Pastor Mike Iverson, Yellowstone Church

Little Brown Church and LLC-led Mission Project

I just received this wonderful report from Pastor Ross Lieuallen (Billings FBC), the Region's mentor pastor for central and eastern Montana. I hope to add pictures from this story when they're sent to me. Again, this is another excellent example of connection and missions working hand in hand together:

"In our May LLC, I asked Rusty Strickler to lead the 'dreaming' portion of our meeting. He asked if he could try 'something' different....and he let me know he wanted us to dream about something we could together as pastors/churches. He did a fantastic job of leading us in this 'dream.'

As our discussion took many directions, we knew that Little Brown Church in Lodge Grass, MT needed a partial, or total roof repair, and probably did not have the people resources to tackle a huge project. Though it is not a huge building, nonetheless a roof project is no easy matter. Rusty and Mike took the lead of contacting a contractor--Mike had one in his church. They surveyed what needed to be done. At our June LLC we committed to a potential date for August 22nd. It's a busy month with last minute vacations, getting back to school....and it didn't feel like it was going to happen. Mike surmised we needed at least 15 workers to make it happen in one day.

But it came together. Sadly, Rusty was called out of town on that weekend with a family death. He was the one who really moved us toward this project. Mike Iverson, with his contractor leader/church member, coordinated all the details of materials, finances, and leadership of the day. Mike did a great job of leading with this and all the details. Little Brown did have the necessary funds for the project, and with a few donations from others, I think most of the costs were handled at completion.

Churches represented were: FBC Billings, Hardin, Roundup, Crow Agency, and Belgrade, and of course a few folks from Little Brown Church. I would also say that Belgrade had the most volunteers bringing a considerable amount of the equipment we needed. And in talking with some of them, many have only been a part of the Belgrade church for a few months!

I know some pastors wanted to be there but had work crews coming to their churches that day from other ABC churches; some had last minute emergencies or vacations already planned. Mike Iverson, Wayne Gentry, and I spent the day there. And all total there were 12 to 15 men ( I can't remember exactly how many) and several women.

I believe the folks of Little Brown Church were blessed that other ABC churches and people care and wanted to bless them. This project really built a bridge to a church and the Reservation that sometimes we forget about. Mike said it well at lunch, "we often think of missions as overseas or disaster relief elsewhere in our country. But this was a project in our own backyard that we could do to really help our brothers and sisters."

And last but not least, this came out of our LLC group under the Holy Spirit's prompting and Rusty's faith to try something different!"

--written by Ross Lieuallen

Connecting Through Mission-Focus

I happened to speak with Pastor Gary Gilman (FBC Filer, ID and Mentor Pastor for ABCNW in south, central Idaho) this morning. As we talked he filled me in on some mission support activities he has been involved with over the last two weeks. Very recently he participated in a training event in Spokane, WA for the Missionary Partnership Team (MPT) for ABC missionary Walt White. But that's not all.

Previous to this, from July 31 through August 4, he escorted Daniel Chetti, our ABC missionary in Beirut, Lebanon, around to churches in the Intermountain Area. Daniel preached at the 9:30 AM service in Filer, and then the 11:00 AM service at FBC Twin. After that Gary transported him to FBC Elko, FBC Jerome, FBC Emmett, and FBC Nampa. Also, he planned to take Daniel to Cambridge and Midvale, but Daniel had to shorten his trip and was not able to visit our churches in those locations. That is a lot of time on the road!

I appreciate that Gary not only does an outstanding job leading an alive and vibrant church in Filer, but he has a heart for our ABC missionaries. In this way, and in numerous others, he is helping his church be healthy and mission-focused. Additionally, he is in an early adopter in the new approach to mission support that is unfolding at International Ministries.

The bonus in what Gary has been doing is the connection he is making from ABCNW church to ABCNW church, and to our ABC missionaries.

As a Region we value four Landmarks: Leadership, Church Planting, Church Transformation and Connection. To be effective in attaining these Landmarks, the ownershp of each must extend beyond Region full-time staff (three of us!). That's exactly what Gary is doing. What Gary did could be done by any other pastor and lay leader in the ABCNW. I hope others will follow his example. And, knowing Gary he would be happy to tell others how to do the same.

For information about International Ministries MPT approach to suport click here.

Great Quote

I saw this original quote by Worth Wilson on his Facebook profile page. Plus, I haven't posted anything in a while, and this well help me jump start some new posts.

“Lack of worship puts our circumstances between us and God, but faith filled worship puts God between us and our circumstance.” C. Worth Wilson

Worth is the pastor of Cle Elum Community Church in Cle Elum, WA. He also pastors the Presbyterian Church in Roslyn, WA. He wears many hats for the Region including serving as a Mentor Pastor.