Thank You!!!

Thank you to all of the wonderful volunteers this past year! You worked hard and you were awesome!!!

2005 Report: Here's what we've done!!

Vision Builders Ministry
2005 Summer Vision Builders Ministry Projects

Vision Builders Ministry was involved in a variety of projects, rather than a single, new church build. All work involved rehab and renovations. We worked at Urban Spirit in Louisville, Ky.; Disciples Divinity House at Vanderbilt, Nashville, Tenn.; General Assembly, Portland, Ore.; and First Christian Church of Smiths Grove, Smiths Grove, Ky.

All told, more than 300 people from 25 congregations gave of their time and gifts, "Getting Dirty for Jesus" in these projects.

The people at all of the project sites were overwhelmed by the work that was accomplished by our volunteers!!!

TO ALL OF YOU WHO WORKED, THANK YOU!!! YOU ARE THE BEST!!!

Miraculous Mission Work at Assembly

The Plan: 100 percent participation
Loaves and fishes, Oats and rice, Knots and Needles, Gardens and Schools!
More than 5,100 volunteers said YES!

The "Facts":

• 252 knitters took kits and made over 200 shawls
• 256 people gave 186 pints of blood to help 558 people
• 402 people went in to the Portland community to work at:
• 3 public schools
• 2 rebuilding warehouses
• 1 emergency food ministry
• 1 Disciples congregation
• Some traveled with HIV/Aids patients to the beach
• At the Oregon Food Bank, more than 47,000 pounds of rice and oats were bagged to supply over 67,000 meals!
• And more than 4,200 people helped prepare quilts or tie knots in 124 quilts of hope to be delivered across the country to almost every region to keep people in need warm! And 1 in 5 of them will be given to homeless agencies in the Portland area.
  
• Total number of volunteers: approximately 5,110!!!!

Plus 7,000 Disciples "Business Cards" were handed out to assembly participants who hopefully passed them on to everyone they met in the Portland community!

It was a miracle. It was Disciples through and through. Our history, our present and our future all came together in eight days of service. Indeed, Jesus calls us into service. And we take that call seriously! The business cards we handed out said, "Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)" and the Church you've been looking for! In Portland, we showed them what that means and that we ARE a church whose time has come!

F.A.S.T. 2005 finishes with a Bang!

Faithful Advocates Serving Together hosted over 280 volunteers in Appalachia for a week of rehabbing houses, social justice training, and worship. Through Buchanan Neighbors United in southwest Virginia, 64 Disciples of Christ and United Church of Christ volunteers participated in three weeks and 82 hours of service together. Alderson Ministerial Association in West Virginia hosted 99 volunteers to work 88 hours together. And Sunset Gap Community Center in Cosby, Tennessee involved 127 volunteers to rehab houses and work in the area for the last three weeks of the summer. Many lives were changed both volunteers and recipients of the aid.

"I wondered about the economic justice sessions at first because I was tired after the first day of work. Five minutes into the first discussion, I was energized. I ended up looking forward to them each day. The sessions caused me to think more critically and focus on more than just issues that directly affect me. In addition, it did our kids in the group a world of good because it opened their eyes to the problem of poverty in our society."

F.A.S.T. Volunteer Ron Lubke; First Christian Church Knoxville, Tenn.

"It has been a great relationship [with F.A.S.T. groups]. We appreciate what your

Interns and volunteers are doing for the families in this area."

Director of Sunset Gap Community Center Jonathan Pflug

Dates and details are available on our Web site for F.A.S.T. 2006: www.discipleshomemissions.org/Volunteer/office.htm.

2005 Home Mission Interns conclude a hot summer of volunteers, work, and sweat!

Seven Home Mission interns wrapped up their summers of mission with Vision Builders Ministry, Faithful Advocates Serving Together (F.A.S.T.), Inman Christian Center, Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries, and Yakama Christian Mission. Crystal Downs, Sharlissa Moore, Timothy Murphy, Andrew Packman, Sarah Sullivan-Davis, Alicia Wills, and Kathleen Wolf assisted volunteers in helping to build showers and bathrooms, aiding in childrens programs at mission sites, rehabbing the Disciples Divinity House in Nashville as well as homes in Appalachia, and leading economic justice training sessions.

Intern Alicia Wills, who interacted with 367 volunteers at Inman Christian Center, commented, WOW!!! What a summer! From having "a-ha"moments to unexpected visitors due to a hurricane, it was a great summer and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat!

Southwest Good Samaritan Intern Sarah Sullivan-Davis said her favorite part of the summer was playing with the children.

F.A.S.T. Intern Sharlissa Moore (United Church of Christ) reported, "Working as a F.A.S.T. intern was a unique experience breaking down stereotypes about the Appalachian region, learning about effects of poverty, and helping people in need."
If you are interested in serving as a Home Mission intern with Vision Builders Ministry, Faithful Advocates Serving Together (F.A.S.T.), Inman Christian Center, Yakama Christian Mission, Southwest Good Samaritan Ministries, or All Peoples Christian Center in 2006, sign up today:
www.discipleshomemissions.org/VIM/InternForm.htm or contact Brenda Tyler, (317) 713-2642

Webmasters
We need you to respond to the call!

We need someone who can donate time in the next two months to update our Respond to the Call Web page. Please contact Jayna if you can do this or know someone who might.

ODV Fleet Expands & RV Needed

Due to the continually expanding ministry of Disciples Volunteering, just prior to General Assembly, a new 5'x8' Hospitality Trailer was purchased. This trailer will be used to haul Robin's hospitality equipment (all the items needed to make those "yummy" meals), from project to project. This new trailer joins the fleet of two tool trailers and two pickup trucks, currently in use by Disciples Volunteering.

In addition, we have recently been given the opportunity to purchase a 31' motorized RV at a greatly discounted price. This RV will allow us to expand our ministry even more!

If you would like to make a donation to help us fund the RV, and/or help pay for our newest Trailer, please send a check made payable to Disciples Home Missions to:
ODV Vehicle Fund, DHM, P.O. Box1986, Indianapolis, Ind. 46206

Do You have an E-mail Address that we don't have?

We will be working to update our database soon so you'll have a chance to update addresses and e-mail, etc. But for now, if you have an e-mail address that has recently changed and you haven't been getting these, please send a note to Brenda so we can update our files. Send your e-mail address to: btyler@dhm.disciples.org

Also, if you know of others who might want to be added to our list, by all means, pass this on to them and invite them to send us their address and we'll add them to the list. We believe that this ministry is powerful and life changing and we don't want to keep it a secret from anyone! Help spread the news!