Sovereign Grace Homeland Missions

Since Katrina we have seen a strengthening of community. As a result of the devastation, people who had previously never met were now working side by side in a common cause - the recovery of our homes, schools, businesses, and places of worship.

We want to celebrate this renewal and recovery by meeting up with old friends and making new ones as we focus on how life has changed for the better in the three years since the hurricane.  We will be joined by local community leaders and their organizations, churches, and civic groups including citizens and laborers. Events will be held Labor Day Weekend.

One of the great things that we have experienced through God’s provision is learning that He accomplishes far more than we can ever imagine through the work of His people. This is the case with our physical building and property, and our community three parishes wide.  Sovereign Grace Homeland Missions took a look back on all of the projects it has organized in the last few years and realized it is time for a celebration.

We are cordially inviting you and all of your loved ones to join us. Not only will we spend time with friends, but we will also take moments to reflect on what we have all experienced as well as talk about the worthy projects ahead for all of us.

We have arranged special speakers, musicians, visual presentations of our last three years together, and lots of fun activities for the family.

Scheduled speakers include:
Slidell Mayor Ben Morris
NDRI - Northshore Disaster Recovery, Inc. Exec. Director Dale Kimbal
Medicaid / LA Chip - Children’s Health Insurance State Rep
VOA / LA Spirit East St. Tammany Representative
GNODRP - Greater New Orleans Disaster Recovery Partnership - Kim Durow, Exec Director
WEROC - Washington Parish Recovery Organization Pastor Stan Stathan
CCC- Community Christian Concern Jerry Ashker
St. Bernard Community Center
Camp Restore - Lutheran Disaster Relief - Kurtis Smith, Director

Hotel Accommodations can be booked at - Sleep Inn, Slidell LA

From the great state of Mississippi came our friends from Audubon Drive Bible Church in Laurel.  Led by Jason Jones this youth team was a big help to us as we prepare for our K3 event coming up at the end of August.

Our good friend Clark Lowery was along for the work week as well as his daughter Sarah.  A good time of fellowship was had by all as the members of the work crew participated in a wide variety of projects including some community phone calling and local home clearing.

Pastor Jerry Marcelino stayed a few days with his team and even enjoyed a bit of time in the local swamps as we showed him what life in the wooded southeast of Slidell is all about.

We thank the Lord for providing us with such good workers.  We hope to see them again soon.

Every now and again we get phone calls from other organizations asking if we can place work teams for them. This past week we had just such a group from Fresno, California.

These young workers were every energetic and helpful and focused on working for the glory of the Lord.  John Kirkpatrick led them to various worksites including our current workshed project and a house gutting in New Orleans.  We appreciate the collaborative efforts that being a part of the Northshore Disaster Recovery organization affords us.  It is great to meet new friends from around the country who desire to be a part of our long term efforts.  God continues to bless. Have you planned your trip?

Mostly we receive entire churches here at Sovereign Grace Fellowship, but on June 14th we received a special family. Mark Kass and three of his children Gina, Priya and John Mark came to spend a few days with us as guests of Pastor Eddie.

Mark has been a friend of his for several years and decided to show his children firsthand what our recovery work and church life looked like so he took some vacation time before the children went back to school and made the trip from Houston to Slidell.

Although several of the work jobs were rained out the Kass family provided much needed encouragement and fellowship.

Mark said, “Before I arrived, I expected to see a small church making a small dent. What I found instead was a funnel where great need was collected in the mouth, collided with divine intervention in the middle and was transformed into focused kingdom building by God’s unmitigated provision.  I saw a conduit for the mercy of God. And their vision for urban missions and ministry resonated loudly.”

It is the love of the brethren like this that continues to fuel our progress. Soli Deo Gloria!

Pastor Glen Dunn of Cornerstone Bible Fellowship in Westlake, Ohio organized a team of volunteers led by Mathias Hauck to assist us in our continued work here in the deep South.  The group of mostly youth were extremely helpful and accomplished many tasks from preparing our Alabo St. home project in New Orleans to working with us on our church grounds.

As always the Lord was good to us through the benevolence, fellowship, and encouragement of the saints and by having a sister church serving us and our community for a week of mutual edification.

A special treat on this crew was having skilled upholstery and sewing helpers. We were able to redo a chair that we use in our sanctuary area as well get our window treatments and speaker covers done.

It is hard to explain the feeling that we get when colaboring with our brothers and sisters in the faith. There is wonderful senses of the universality of the Body of Christ that permeates all that we see happening as the work weeks progress.  We are thankful that He has seen fit to give us these glimpses of glory.