Building Update and Random Thoughts

So many great things are happening. I am overwhelmed with thoughts and ideas for the First Indian community. First, I would like to share an update on our youth ministry building which has the working name "Youth Worship and Activity Center" which was thought of by one of our teens.

There is certainly a lot that is going to be needed to make this building functional and safe for housing children and youth ministry. A couple of weeks ago I had a meeting with Pastor Stark, John Wiley(youth sponsor) and Larry Jeffries who is in the construction field. These are some of the results from our meeting:
a.)We have discovered that the roof on the building needs quite a bit of work. Larry is going to be doing most of the work on the roof, but the church will need to purchase materials.
b.)Once the roof is finished we will need to replace some of the insulation in the ceiling which has become infested with mold due to the leaks in the roof.
c.)There is a wall in the building that we are going to knock out in order to combine two spaces into one large space for the teens.
d.) The floor in one of the rooms is uneven, we will need to rent a machine called a cement plainer to try to level out the floor in order to lay new flooring.
e.) The building was a meat market years ago and has a large receiving door that we will need to replace with a conventional door.
f.) We want to install a sliding partition in the children's ministry area but have heard that they are very expensive. A sliding partition will allow us to separate the room into smaller rooms for Sunday school and open them into one large area for children's church. Also, we could use a large open space for activities such as Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.
g.) Finally, we will need to paint the inside of the building and make bring in materials such as tables and chairs to make it functional for children and youth ministry.

Okay, so that is the update on the building. The following are some thoughts that have come to mind recently that I am beginning to work through. Please let me know if you have any thoughts or suggestions regarding any of this.

ideas….

• the poor also need a venue for serving others and looking beyond their own needs…need to find opportunities for them to do so
• the people in our community (specifically thinking of children and teens) are used to receiving hand-outs, whether it be from the church or from the government (food stamps, etc). We need to be training our people to earn that which they have an ability to earn. An initial attempt in this area is to find ways for the children and teens to make money to pay for summer camps. It is time for us to train the poor by developing good work ethic. As the proverb goes, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”
• the Church is responsible for encouraging the development of the whole person. We are beginning with the children and youth to focus on their development as people, not just as Christians. We are working toward a stronger tutoring program as a first step in this thought process, as well as working with the children on other life skills during our Thursday evening services.