Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Church construction

His Eyes has a big project to accomplish in 2011. It does not scare me to say that it is way beyond what we can do by ourselves, since anything good done here in the mission applies to that category.

The long story is that the Church with which we have partnered for over 10 years here in Tegucigalpa...where our mission house and clinic are located, has been struggling for years to build a new sanctuary building.

The one they are using was built in 1999, a temporary pole barn type structure that was not meant to last this long. The Church outgrew it many years ago, after adding walls and a concrete floor. Even with the walls, made out of masonite, it is not a secure facility. Every speaker, stand, piece of equipment and folding chair must be removed after every service lest it be stolen. And with five or more services/meetings going on every week...that is a lot of wear and tear on the equipment...not to mention the volunteers.

Having a place to meet where there would be room to expand...both physically and in terms of spiritually expanding with space for more people to attend...would be an incredible opportunity. Right now...if you are late for Church, plan on finding a place to stand for thirty minutes or more, until the kids go to Sunday School....which is overcrowded and has its buildings falling apart as well.

Falling apart? Look at these posts, which are just some of the wood that is not doing so hot that supports the building.

In helping the Church with this new building, not only would it give them and us more opportunities to reach out and minister to the community immediately and otherwise around us...but this would also be an opportunity for us to help the mission as well.

You see, the property we are using for the clinic and mission house is not ours, not legally. It is "borrowed" from the Church, and has been an arrangement since before we arrived here over ten years ago.

In building the sanctuary for the Church, in addition to some other smaller projects that have already been completed, we will get legal title to that property we are using, giving us better long term security for the mission in the future to do even more construction and be safe...regardless of whether or not all of us are dead and gone and the leaders of the Church and mission at that time know about our arrangement or not.

His Eyes is committed to making this sanctuary construction its top priority for 2011. This does not mean that the rest of the work of the mission stops, but all fundraising goals are focused on this one project.

We need your help, desperately in order to finish this project before the end of 2011. The link at the top of this post will take you to PayPal where you can donate via your PayPal account or credit card to the effort.

We are looking to find people to donate 1 or more square feet of the 6,000 square feet we will be building. We are hoping to raise $26 per square foot to get the project fully funded ($1 is for the PayPal fees.) Every foot counts...if you can only donate one, that will still make a big difference. If you could also help us spread the word, letting your family, friends, enemies, acquaintances, and random strangers you run into on the street...so much the better! We need God's help...we also are praying He will use you to be part of that help.

Have questions? Want more information and pictures to help set up fundraisers? Just want to talk about all this? Please, let us know!