Our project is full. With a capacity of 300, we were flirting with 290 participants until the past week, when someone among our group changed their registration number, added two or three people, and filled the project. Here’s how that figures into our planning.
1. Crew Chief needs.
With a full project, we are planning on 27-28 crews, which means we will need 27-28 crew chiefs. Our construction coordinator Craig Pope needs to match each crew chief with the skills that will be required on each job site and in order to do that, he needs to have your crew chiefs submit their applications as soon as possible. We need everyone you will bring with you, painters, electricians, expert general home repair guys (or gals if you’ve got those, too), roofers, everyone. You can fax or mail their applications to Craig Pope.
2. Registration updates.
With a full registration, there may be others waiting for extra places at the project. If you get to a point where you realize you are not going to use all of the spaces you have reserved, contact Ruth Burkhead, the registration specialist at World Changers (rburkhead@namb.net) and have her make adjustments in your number.
3. Crew Encouragers.
With 27-28 crews, we will also need 27-28 crew encouragers. Please ask the adults who are coming with you if they would like to serve in this capacity. Have them complete a non-construction volunteer application and return that to me, Lee Saunders, at FAX 713-864-5243.
Thank you for the work you do in organizing and bringing your group to World Changers. You are going to be a real blessing to the Parkland/Iron Belt.
Craig Pope, our construction coordinator, has asked that groups coming to World Changers return their Crew Chief Applications to him as soon as possible.
We are antitipating at least 27 crews, perhaps more with a registration that now sits at capacity for the project, at 300 participants. That means we will need at least 27 crew chiefs, and 5 supervisors. If you are planning to bring crew chiefs with you, please forward their applications to Craig as soon as you can get them filled out. It takes a while to sort through those applications and match the skills of each crew chief to the job at the work site and work sites are currently being approved for the project.
You can send your application to Craig at c/o Sonrise Baptist Church, 454 Berry Rd., Bonne Terre, MO 63628 or fax to him at
573-358-5921
The Pre-Project visit for the Bonne Terre, MO World Changers project will be April 24-25, 2009. This is a Friday and Saturday. We will gather on Friday afternoon, beginning at 2:30, tour the lodging facility at North County Middle School, enjoy a time of fellowship together over dinner, review possibilities for Wednesday afternoon off, adjourn for the evening and on Saturday morning around 9:00 a.m. we will go on a tour of work sites for the project. If you want to join us for lunch you can, or we can turn you loose to head back home.
We have made arrangements for a special room rate at the Super 8 Motel in Bonne Terre. This is a very nice Super 8, and happens to be Bonne Terre’s finest hotel. You can get a room rate of $48.35 by calling the hotel at 573-358-5888 and telling them you are with World Changers/Lee Saunders. That’s the rate for a standard room. If you want something fancier, such as a microwave and refrigerator, or a hot tub room, you’ll have to pay extra. Remember that either you or your church is responsible for your expenses for the pre-project visit.
Please email or call Lee Saunders, lsaunders@gobc.org or 281-702-1647 and RSVP your attendance at the pre-project visit. We hope to see you there!
After being hacked last summer, the website connected to our project and operated by our associational coordinator, http://www.wcbonneterre.com is back up and running again. There are over 200 pictures from last year’s project so you can get some kind of an idea of the kind of work that we did, and what this year will look like. It seems like the photographer arrived at many worksites during break time, or lunch time. But the crews did work hard, and changed the world of 18 homeowners in St. Francois County, Missouri.
We are looking forward to doing it again this summer. We have 200 participants now registered, but we have a large lodging facility and room for more. Join us.
Church groups registered so far:
First Korean Baptist Church, Lewisville, Texas
Garden Oaks Baptist Church, Houston, Texas
First Baptist Church, Casey, Illinois
Goshen Trails Baptist Association, Norris City, Illinois
Immanuel Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Wilsonville Baptist Church, Wilsonville, Alabama
Central Baptist Church, Florence, Alabama
Crestview Baptist Church, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Ratcliffe Cove Baptist Church, Waynesville, North Carolina
Corticelli Baptist Church, Russellville, Missouri
First Baptist Church, Raymore, Missouri
First Baptist Church, Wharton, Texas
First Baptist Church, Marshall, Texas
Revolution Church, Benton, Arkansas
Last year’s project in Bonne Terre, Missouri broke ground for World Changers in the St. Francois/Parkland area of Eastern Missouri. A number of homeowners in the area got the word that we would be back in 2009, and they are beginning to line up for the approval process. The project has a capacity of 300, and would like to be able to serve about 25 homeowners in the Parkland area this summer. So our registration needs to increase in the next few months.
If you are anywhere in the middle of the country, Bonne Terre is probably within a days drive of where you are coming from. We had groups from Illinois, Texas, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri join us last year. We’d love to have you this year. We have a large, comfortable lodging facility with our worship area, dining, sleeping and shower areas all under one roof, and close together. For your Wednesday afternoon off, there’s lots to do, from float trips on cold, spring-fed rivers to being less than an hour from St. Louis. We are even planning an evening with a great July 4th fireworks display.
Join us. For more information you can email the project coordinator, Lee Saunders, at lsaunders@gobc.org.
Last summer, World Changers came to the Parkland area for the first time. Based in Bonne Terre, more than 200 participants “changed the world” of 18 homeowners in Bonne Terre, Desloge, Park Hills, Leadwood, Farmington and Knob Lick. Some of the funding for the project came from the East Missouri Action Agency, which helps low income families in the area with all kinds of needs. EMAA has asked for increased funding for World Changers projects in 2009.
The need for this kind of project in this area is great. There are many families in the area who suffer the effects of a depressed economy and there is a high rate of unemployment. Lead mining and agriculture, once the main sources of jobs in the area, are going through difficult times. In addition, many of the people in the area are retired and living on fixed incomes. The response to World Changers in 2008 was overwhelming, and the gratitide of the people was heartwarming.
As a result of more funds being made available in 2009, it would be great if the project registration exceeded 2008 levels. The school which serves as a lodging facility can easily accomodate 300 participants comfortably. The support facilities, including rest rooms, showers and cafeteria, are easily able to support that many people. The response from individuals with needs in this area far exceeded our ability to serve them during the first summer, and we would like to be able to utilize all of the funding that is available.
Bonne Terre is easily accessible within a day’s drive of a large part of the central United States. Groups from Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Nashville, Chicago and Peoria joined with several Missouri churches and one from the Illinois side of the St. Louis area to participate in this project. We hope you will find your way to Bonne Terre July 4-11, 2009!
Go to http://wcbonneterre.blogspot.com
Site maintained and authored by Aaron Radford, youth pastor of First Baptist Church, Bismarck, Missouri
The first World Changers project in Bonne Terre, MO was a great success. More than 220 participants from five different states, and thirteen churches, worked to help 18 families in St. Francois County have their world changed. New roofs, windows, new paint, new doors, a couple of new porches and lots of siding helped homeowners in places like Knob Lick, Bismarck, Leadwood, Park Hills, Desloge, Farmington and Bonne Terre have their lives made a bit easier.
So why should you consider bringing your youth group to Bonne Terre for World Changers in 2009? Here are some good reasons:
1. The project begins on July 4th, and Bonne Terre has one of the largest fireworks displays in Eastern Missouri.
2. Located in an area of the state known as the Parkland, and less than an hour south of St. Louis, youth groups have all kinds of things to consider for Wednesday afternoon off, from float trips and outdoor activities to a mine tour, to malls, theaters, even professional baseball if the Cardinals are in town, to the world reknowned St. Louis Zoo, and other activities in St. Louis’ Forest Park, once the site of the World’s Fair.
3. The lodging facility at North County High School has lots of room, a large auditorium and gym, big dining area, the food is good and with 52 showers available, almost no waiting!
4. Bonne Terre is within a day’s drive of major metropolitan areas from Chicago to Houston, Omaha to Indianapolis, Nashville to Kansas City.
5. Work sites are within 15-20 minutes or less of the lodging facility.
6. The weather is nice, not too humid, not too hot in the afternoon and the mornings are nice and cool.
7. The local people in the community are very welcoming and very appreciative of the work done by World Changers.
8. There are many opportunities for ministry in the neighborhoods around the work sites.
9. The communities where work sites are located are very secure and safe areas.
10. Did we mention that the food in the dining hall is great?
So, get on line at http://worldchangers.studentz.com and register your group to participate in Bonne Terre, Missouri July 4-11, 2009.
Registration is open for the 2009 Bonne Terre, Missouri World Changers project. This is an all-youth project which means that youth who have completed grades 6-12 can participate. We have a capacity of 300 participants, a great lodging facility that includes 52 showers, and good food, plenty of room, and is close to the work sites.
Bonne Terre is located less than an hour’s drive south of St Louis, right in the middle of the country, easy driving distance from Chicago, Nashville, Memphis, Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Dallas-Ft. Worth, Houston, Louisville, Indianapolis, or New Orleans.
