Newpaper Article about Servants & Faith Beyond the Pews

In case you missed it (York Dispatch) here is an article on Servants & Faith Beyond the Pews

Churches help residents with home repairs

Local congregations are going beyond their churches' four walls to help residents at home.
For the 15th year, Faith Beyond the Pews Work Camp volunteers will help with home projects for Red Lion and Eastern York School District residents who cannot do the work because of age, physical limitations or financial restrictions.
The work camp is scheduled to run Monday, June 9, through Friday, June 13.
Camp participants will perform minor construction and repairs, yard work, painting and cleaning, said Trent Davis, founder and executive director of Servants Inc., a nonprofit mission organization that is running the work camp.
"We hope that everybody has an opportunity to build relationships with people that we serve," said Davis, of Windsor Township. "We hope (volunteers) build relationships with other team members and, most importantly, we hope they build a relationship with God."
Founded in 2000, Servants -- based in Hallam Borough -- recruits volunteers to help homeowners who need help with minor construction and maintenance.
"We're connecting people (who have) the desire to serve with people who need to be served," said Davis, a member of Red Lion-based Chapel Community Church, which will serve as headquarters for Faith Beyond the Pews work camp.
Other projects: Servants Inc. also conducts mission trips to Guatemala and India, helping build and repair children's homes in both places, as well as to Mississippi to help Hurricane Katrina victims rebuild homes, Davis said.
This is Servants' first year running Faith Beyond the Pews Work Camp, started 15 years ago by a group of Red Lion residents who attend United Methodist churches and traveled to Florida to help clean up in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew.
While returning home, someone suggested they didn't need to travel hundreds of miles to volunteer their time.
Since then, dozens of volunteers -- mainly from Methodist churches in the Red Lion and Wrightsville areas -- have repaired roofs, painted walls, built wheelchair ramps, installed bathrooms and done yard work and other home projects for people in need.
Last year, 62 volunteers from 20 churches completed 21 projects.
Ken Poet, who was among the Red Lion residents who traveled to Florida, helped start the work camp and served as its chairman. He said that he and fellow work camp organizations decided to let Davis handle this year's efforts because they are getting older and want younger people to help keep it going.
"We thought that Trent is sort of the new guy on the block, why not give it to him and give him some guidance," said Poet, a 76-year-old member of Zion UMC in Red Lion. "He's worked with us last year, so we're sort of giving him full rein. Hopefully, it will become a full-blown Servants project."
Poet said that over the years, he has met some hard-working residents who don't mind taking time out of their lives to work for somebody else.
"I just hope (the homeowners) feel the kindness and the warmth of Christ when these people are out there working for them," he said.

Coincidence... i don't think so.

When you run a small non profit organization like Servants, every day when you check the mail is a time for great anxiety and great hope. This morning as I went to get the Saturday mail was no different. I was thinking of the credit card bill that is due in the 1st and thinking to myself wouldn't it be great if there was a check in there for $400! That is how much I need to deposit by Wednesday to cover the auto draft for the credit card bill on Thursday. Now you have to understand that was a pretty outrageous thing to think since it is rare to receive a donation larger than $50 and we rarely receive general donations of more than $200 in a given month.

Well like I said I don't believe in coincidences only miracles so when I opened the envelop that was in the mail and said, "thank you Jesus!" it was because a miracle had happened. One generous donor had sent us a check for exactly $400. There was no note, no reason for the amount, no explanation for what prompted them to send it, just a check for $400.

Every day I am humbled to be called to this ministry God has chosen me for but days like today bring me to my knees to say "Thank you Jesus!"

Just weedin!

When I was young I had the opportunity to visit my Grandparents on their farm. Sometimes it was on the weekends and sometimes it would be for a whole week by myself. Well I have to tell you, it is a lot of work to run a farm. Sometimes the work was a lot of fun and sometimes it was not as much fun. If you were fortunate enough to be there in the Spring, you might get to ride on the tractor to plow the fields and plant the seeds. If you were there in the Fall, you would get to harvest the hay or the corn. And let me tell you... It is a lot of fun to sit back in the wagon as a child and watch the automatic bailer bail the hay and then like a catapult throw it into the wagon for you to stack! However, if you were there in the summer, (usually when my week long visit occurred) you got to weed! Weeding is tedious, monotonous, back breaking work. You start at one end of a row and if you worked hard enough (which I never did) you might get to the end of the row by dinner time.

Ministry is a lot like farming. It is exciting to sow the seeds! You have that hope of what is to come. You can see those new sprouts of faith as the begin to emerge. Harvesting is awesome. There is nothing better than to watch someone enter into the fellowship of believers and put their trust in God. What lies between though is simply hard work. When you are between the two it is hard to see the fruit. It is hard to focus on the hope of what is to come. But just like weeding it is important. It may be the most important thing. If you don't spend the long hours caring for the ministry/crop the weeds will come in and choke out the whatever you may be growing. There will be no harvest! The sowing will be a waste of time! This step simply can't be skipped.

What is it your ministry that seems like weedin? Is it pouring into people who may not be as "full of the Lord" as you think they should be? Is it dealing with difficult people on ministry teams or in small groups? Maybe it is the time you spend with your family between weekends or vacations. For me it is the time between trips when the last one was a few weeks in the past and next one is a few weeks or months in the future. That is when bills need paid, money needs to be raised, and a lot of administrative tasks need to be handled. But we need to remember that these are just as important as the "fun" fruitful stuff!

So I encourage you today... start weedin with gusto! Remember to do all things as if you were doing them for the Lord! For the harvest is plentiful and it is coming, but the workers are few! If your looking for me today I will be weedin with enthusiasm!

Lions Roar!

Last night I had the opportunity to be the guest speaker at the Windsor Lion's Club meeting. It wasn't anything like Daniel in the lion's den. Actually they were very nice and we had a great dinner(crab cakes) and then I had the chance to talk to them about the ministry of Servants. We had a good time together and it looks like we might have the opportunity to work together on Home Helps in the future.

I always appreciate the opportunity to talk about the ministry of Servants and how God is using us to help make a difference in the world around us. A big thank you goes out to the Windsor Lion's Club for having me, and of course for feeding me so well.

Divided we fall!

Division is Satan's true goal. Ultimately he wants division between God and man. He doesn't start that way. Satan rarely puts on a full frontal attack. He starts in far more subtle ways. He looks to cause division in your family, between husband and wife and parents and children. Or he will cause division inside the Church, between this team and that committee or the Pastor and the congregation. Look at how the various denominations disagree. Look at the newspaper and see how much division there is in society at large. Neighbor hates neighbor, democrats versus republicans, this country opposed to that one.

When you have division in society, in your church or in your family, it causes division between us and God. It pulls our attention from serving Him to fighting and arguing. I what I'm talking about because recently I let division creep into my marriage. It almost destroyed my family and it caused us both to take our focus off God and serving Him! Fortunately, we had great Christian friends who prayed and fought for us and we now have a marriage far better than before with the hope of being far better still!

My point is that we have to be diligent! We have to fight for unity! Imagine what we could do if we focus on where we have unity and let everything else go. If we (Christians) are truly unified in Christ, then nothing can stand against us. Imagine the victories that could be accomplished we we worked together! Poverty, hunger, abuse, and neglect could be overcome if join with Christ in the battle!

I hope that you will join me. Don't give the devil a foothold. Reconcile with others and be unified with Christ!

"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."

Philippians 2:1-2

The Message of the Cross is Foolishness...

"For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God."

I Corintians 1:18

As I prepare myself for the day ahead, I can hear these words echo from a teacher, Denny Brillhart, as he taught us on this scripture. It is a haunting passage. It is a paradox in many ways. The first part of this verse is sad to think about. Because I know as I go about my day today I will pass by thousands of people to whom the message of the cross is foolishness. To them it has no meaning and this day has no meaning. But the second half of the verse gives hope and excitement, because for those of us who are being saved have the power of the risen and resurected Christ!

It falls on us, those who are being saved, to take that "power" and use it to bring the message of the cross to those who need it. We can not be discouraged by the magnitude of the task, for we are promised power. If we each do our part, the message of the cross will no longer be foolishness.

What gets you out of bed?

Sometimes when I wake up in the morning I feel like just rolling over and saying "Just forget it. What difference can I possibly make?". But then the Spirit nudges me and says, "Come on! We have much to do!" and I am reminded of this verse.

"I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb... He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

-Revelation 7:9;21:4

And then I get up!