Changed Forever

Jamie with homeowner

 

Jamie’s life was thrown into turmoil with her mom’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis.  Her mom was her best friend, and they often hung out together.  They lived in Illinois, but her dad lived in Arizona. With newfound free time, Jamie started attending Campus Life at her high school in January 2009.  Her heart ached with questions.  “Why would God do this to her mom?  What did I do?  Why is this happening now?”  Campus Life welcomed her in as family.  They organized a trip to serve in New Orleans with ReachGlobal Crisis Response starting the end of March through the beginning of April. The group invited Jamie to help clear her head by getting away and spending time serving others in another community.  This trip changed her life forever, because on the last day, Jamie accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior.

Her heart had been captured by the community in New Orleans and how she had witnessed the love of Christ in action.  She knew she would return, but she had to wait.  She headed to Spokane, Washington to attend Moody and kept a fully loaded schedule of classes to accelerate her time in college.  Then, in June, she became Katie Manning’s surprise intern.  Katie and Jamie were not even sure whether they had ever met, but Jamie had longingly been following the intern opportunities online awaiting the day she could come.  At Moody, she had learned a lot about God and His love and had grown in her faith.  Now, she wanted to learn the practical side of doing ministry in a Christ-like way.  She wanted to come and do what she had done 5 years earlier.

Katie with interns

This time, Jamie had something to share to change lives.  She said, “It was a great blessing just to see how my knowledge of the Lord and His Word has really impacted New Orleans as well as myself.  I’m able to minister because His Word and love are in my heart.  At Moody, you learn, but you never really learn how to be in community with each other.  You don’t learn how to not judge others for who they are or where they come from.  Here, you learn that very quickly.  Just because this person is different or has a different past than I do doesn’t mean I have a right to judge them for who they are, where they are going with the Lord, or where they are at with the Lord.  Everyone is in different places here.”

Interns see French Quarter with Katie

 

Jamie is pursuing a degree in counseling and used her training to help homeowners and staff in New Orleans.  She starts graduate school in September.  In spring 2016, she will be back in New Orleans to intern with Crisis Response for graduate school.  Her special verses she committed to memory for the summer were I John 4:7-21.  Some of her benefits from her internship were learning to persevere and move forward in ministry, better time management skills, learning to be available to follow God’s leading, and taking a Sabbath day with God.  She feels better prepared as a counselor.

Interns at work site

 

Jamie says, “If you want a hands-on way of learning what God’s love is like, then come down with Crisis Response.  There’s no other way to learn the power of God’s love and the power of prayer than working with something like Crisis Response.”  She added that you need to come with flexibility and a servant’s heart.  Check out http://go.efca.org/opportunities/internship/crisis-response-internships for more information on internships with ReachGlobal Crisis Response.

 

Interns

 

A Burning Passion

Sarah and Matt Bruzzi

 

Driving home after leading a T.I.U. missions team to New Orleans with ReachGlobal Crisis Response, Sarah and Matt Bruzzi both individually felt a burning passion to return to New Orleans to live.  They attended an EFCA retreat the following week.  Here they met Dale Fritz, Executive Director of ReachNational, and they shared their call to New Orleans.  He suggested they contact Glen Schrieber, EFCA Southeast District Superintendent, who just happened to be at T.I.U. that week for EFCA Week.  Glen met them for breakfast and helped them make more important contacts.  God gave them a vision for church planting.  They called Pastor John Gerhardt at Castle Rock Community Church in New Orleans.  Matt went first to find housing and a job while Sarah finished up college.  A place vacated as he came for $200 a month, and Starbucks transferred him from his current work location to NOLA.  God then provided teaching positions for both Matt and Sarah at the same school in New Orleans.

Sarah's First Trip to NOLA

The EFCA’s church planting vision includes “no church planter would be left alone.”  This is true in the New Orleans area.  Matt and Sarah Bruzzi are part of the church planter internship program.  Pastor Gerhardt and Castle Rock Community Church provide support and training for the Bruzzis, and the Bruzzis are an active part of the church. “They are a part of our family, and we are a part of their family,” expressed Pastor Gerhardt. Pastor Gerhardt is pleased that they “jumped in and started making relationships.”  He said, “They folded into the neighborhood.”

As Glen Schrieber, pointed out, “We don’t just lay a mantle on them and tell them to go do it.”  Matt and Sarah will experience 2 years on the ground to get a feel for the city and find out what area fits their vision, personality, and makeup.  Matt said he is learning what it means to plant a church in NOLA.  They are researching the target area, immersing themselves in the community, and building relationships.  Matt emphasized the importance of being faithful and ministering in their current position and neighborhood.  As Christians, we are to be a witness and disciple others wherever God places us.  They are praying and listening to discover their next step and specific location.  Matt requested prayer so they serve in God’s power and not their own.

Pastor Gerhardt explained that urban church planting is more like an onion than a banana.  Onions peel in layers, and there are times you put it down and cry.  Onions add flavor.  Emphasis is on dependency on Christ.  Monthly and yearly planning with prayer helps them live intentionally.  Church plants are encouraged to emphasize radically loving Jesus and others while also keeping a balance of evangelism and leadership training.  They want to form missional churches that will reproduce and multiply.

To become a church planter, you need a calling, chemistry to fit the area and culture, competency, and character to fight spiritual battles and persevere through the challenges that will come.  It is not just for a certain personality.  God can use anybody.

Needs in NOLA church planting include financial support for planters, a healthy relationship with existing churches, a good plan, continuing to build and recruit other churches, and finding a church building catalyst for the SE district to recruit, train, and equip.  There is a huge interest and a huge need in New Orleans for spiritual renewal.  Bruce Redmond, Director of Church Planting for the Southeast District, pointed out the many ways Hurricane Katrina changed New Orleans.  There has been an influx of young people, more professionals, and many undocumented workers from Central America and Mexico.  We need lots of partnerships, courage, and people who are called and equipped with the capacity to plant churches. 

 

Use this link to request more information on church starts or planting a church:  http://sed-efca.org/church-starts/church-starts-contact-page/ .

Matt on NOLA Missions Trip

Where God Wants Me to Be

Dorinda

 

Dorinda Bogran and her family returned after Hurricane Katrina to their home in Abita Springs to find the yard littered with trees.  They needed help, but they could not afford to hire someone to remove the mass of debris.  They feared the trees would remain until they rotted away.  Dorinda, a member of Trinity Church, heard from others at church that people were coming to help.  She called the church and spoke to Ralph Erickson, a pastor managing construction projects for Crisis Response, who added her name to the long list of people in need.

Life went on.  School started October 1, the church activities reopened, Dorinda continued working as an office manager in downtown Covington, and the church learned how to make things work while housing hundreds of volunteers each week.  To Dorinda’s amazement and delight, a team from ReachGlobal Crisis Response came and cleared the entire yard in one day!

Dorinda liked her job, but she started experiencing “a holy disconnect”.   She felt strongly this was not where she was meant to be.  She prayed, “God, I only want to be where you want me to be.”  She knew what it was like to be out of step with His will, and she wanted clear direction.  She asked God to open and shut opportunity doors.  It was time for change, so she prepared her resume.

Dorinda drove to Trinity Church to pick up her son Vaughan from youth group.  Three hundred volunteers were in the sanctuary for orientation.  She listened as she waited and heard the need for long-term staff.  Dorinda asked Mary DeMarco what was involved with joining staff.  Mary said, “We are all missionaries.”  She went on to explain that this meant you had to raise your own support.  Immediately, objections popped into Dorinda’s mind.  She needed to earn money and help support her family.  She dismissed the idea.

On Wednesday nights, the church family was welcome to join teams for dinner before the church’s evening programs.  Mark Lewis came up beside Dorinda and said, “So, I hear you are interested in joining Crisis Response.”  Dorinda informed him that it was impossible.  Mark replied, “You know our God is all about doing the impossible.”  Dorinda conceded, “You’re right about that.” 

Dorinda agreed to meet Mark at the picnic tables outside Trinity Church to talk.  Knowing nothing about Dorinda’s training, Mark asked, “Tell me about yourself.”   Dorinda explained her training and experience as an office manager.  Mark shook his head and chuckled softly.  As they continued to talk, Mark laughed.  He explained that he had been praying with his wife Denise for 6 months for God to send an office manager to join Crisis Response staff.  That coincided with when Dorinda had started feeling her holy discontent.  He suggested they start the process and allow God to open and shut doors.

In December 2008, Dorinda began her job as Crisis Response office manager.  She loved “knowing for sure that this is where the Lord wants me to be.  That is a really good thing.”  She can deal with any problems she faces, because she knows she is in the center of God’s will for her life.  Watching God in action providing and answering specific prayer requests has been a privilege.  The continued presence of a Christian volunteer organization in the city raises good questions.  Residents recognize the green shirts and know these people are here to help.  Her biggest joy though has been seeing her husband find Jesus as his lord and savior.  Through her being on staff, “he saw real guys who loved Jesus and loved him as he was.”   Dorinda feels blessed serving with the staff and volunteers.

Maybe this is where God wants you to be too.  Pray for God’s leading.  Come on a vision trip and check out Crisis Response.  There are many positions available requiring a variety of skills.  Dorinda would love to see a finance team in place.  Go to http://go.efca.org/opportunities/ways-serve and filter for North America.  You will see many current opportunities to serve with Crisis response.

 

Staff at February meetings

Challenge 2014

 ReachGlobal Crisis Response partnered with Hershey Free Church and friends from Berlin, Germany to recreate a street and café from Berlin.  The Love Moves Café represented Jesus in action.  “When Jesus was moved by love, what He left was so gripping He couldn’t ignore it.  He was moved to action.”   The recreated street included an urban walk and the invisible wall.  The walk and wall enabled students to see how choices they make impact cities like Berlin as well as their own community.  These choices are as small as what shirt and products you buy to websites you visit.  As the students exited the walk, they could purchase coffee at the Love Moves Café to help support ministries in Berlin.

At Challenge:

  •Dozens of teens committed their lives to Christ.

•48 children were sponsored through Global Fingerprints

•1500-2000 teens went out to 45 service projects each day

•3000 tires were removed from Kessler Park in Kansas City

•The Love Moves Cafe raised over $7,500 for 5 ministries in Berlin

•5500 people went through the Love Moves Berlin exhibit, learning about human trafficking and the church in Berlin

Someone Invited Him

Steve visited church as a teen for a while after his brother committed suicide.  He stopped attending church and moved on with his life with a career and marriage.  He felt empty inside, and his life gradually fell apart.  He became addicted to heroine, his wife left, and he was jobless.  After his third time going through drug treatment, he moved into a sober house.  A guy there invited him to come to church with him at Cornerstone Evangelical Free Church.  On his third visit to church, he noticed an announcement for a missions trip to Staten Island with ReachGlobal Crisis Response.  He checked into what a missions trip was, and he decided he would like the opportunity to help other people get back into their homes.

On the trip, he found true faith in Christ.  He came back to help for a couple of extra weeks.  Steve said, “This is amazing.  I would have never guessed any of this would happen.  I am very blessed.”