April 16, 2001
THE HOUSE LOVE BUILT:
Ministry unites neighbors, churches
___By George Henson
___Staff Writer
___BRYAN--The Greens and the Gastons lived on the same stretch of road more than 27 years before they met.
___But the tragedy that brought them together has created a new friendship and united inministry members of two Baptist churches that don't see eye-to-eye politically.
LOUIS GASTON sits with Irma and Oris Green on the back porch of their home, which Gaston and other volunteers are helping rebuild after a fire. Though the families had lived on the same road for 27 years, they had never met until the Greens' home burned.
___Louis and Kay Gaston drove by the home of Oris and Irma Green every day but never knew who lived there. That changed, however, on a February day when Gaston noticed the Greens' home had burned to the ground.
___The Gastons learned more about the fire by watching the local news that night, and that's when their life began to change.
___"I told Kay, 'We've got to find a way to do something for those people,'" Gaston recalled. "Preachers are always saying, 'Listen, and God will speak to you.' Well, I'm not sure God had ever spoken to me, but I know he spoke to me about this."
___Gaston went to the Greens' burned-out home and found a note on the door. It said the Red Cross had put them up in a hotel and gave the room number. The note ended with the words "We're OK."
___Gaston called the hotel and spoke to Mrs. Green as she rested from a day's work as a door checker at Wal-Mart in Bryan.
___Mrs. Green picks up the story from there: "The phone rang, and this man said, 'I'm Louis Gaston, and I want to build you a house.' I didn't know what to say."
___"I thought she'd hung up," Gaston joked.
___The two neighbors who never had met agreed to get together and discuss the proposal. But even before they met, the phone call brought a sense of hope to Mrs. Green.
___"I felt like I was that man on the wayside who had been beaten up and left for dead on the side of the road," she explained. "Then this Good Samaritan, Mr. Gaston, came and picked me up and took me and said, 'You're going to be taken care of, and I'll take care of the bill.'"
___The Greens are no strangers to life's ditches. Their 16-year-old son was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver as he walked to school a few years ago. Green stepped on a nail and contracted gangrene. His leg had to be amputated just above the knee. His kidneys have deteriorated to the point he must undergo dialysis three days a week. And after their house burned, the couple combed the smoldering remains and pulled what they could salvage into the front yard. When they returned the next day, it all had been stolen.
___When Mrs. Green met her Good Samaritan, he told her he wasn't sure what had motivated his calling her.
___"He said, 'I don't know why I'm doing this,' but I thought, 'I do--because he was inspired by
___God,'" she said. "He may not have known it, but he was inspired by God."
___Many people don't believe it could possibly work this way, said Mrs. Green, a member of New Liberty Baptist Church in Bryan. "People will just walk up to me and ask, 'How much is he really charging you?' People just can't believe it; they can't believe anybody could be so nice."
___Gaston is quick to point out that this isn't a one-man show, however. More than two dozen men have donated their time and talents to constructing the house they hope to have completed by Mother's Day.
___Most of those volunteers have come from two Baptist churches in Bryan--Central Baptist, where the Gastons are members, and First Baptist.
___Both are large, well-known churches in the area. But the two churches have taken opposite paths in the recent years of Baptist controversy. Central Baptist Church left the Baptist General Convention of Texas to uniquely align with the new Southern Baptists of Texas Convention. First Baptist Church is strongly supportive of the BGCT.
___Those differences haven't even been discussed among the volunteer builders, however.
___"These are just people who want to do the things Jesus would have us to do," Gaston said. "Nothing else really enters in to it."
___Labor has been donated by electricians, plumbers, framers and bricklayers--as well as by other individuals who just want to help.
___So far, $40,000 has been donated to purchase building materials, but Gaston believes even more will be needed.
___"I mentioned to Don Rice, one of the other men who has had a really big part in this, that I was afraid we might not have enough money," Gaston explained. "Don said, 'If we start running out of money, we'll just start praying again, or have a fundraiser or whatever it takes.'"
___The group begins each workday in prayer, and Gaston believes God's hand has been obvious every day.
___One day after a period of rain, trucks bringing concrete had made the path to the job site such a quagmire that the truck carrying lumber couldn't get close.
___"Just then this guy said, 'I'm building a swimming pool a couple of miles from here, and I was wondering if you guys could use some dirt.' He brought us 12 dump truck loads of dirt, and then the lumber truck could get to where we needed it. That made our day," Gaston said.
___Another day the air compressor quit working, halting progress on the framing of the home.
___"Don Rice said, 'We forgot to pray this morning before we started; maybe we ought to do that now.' Well, we started praying and before we could finish it just started running again all on its own," Gaston said. "Every day we can just see that God's a part of this."
___The experience has been so rewarding that the men involved already are looking for another project.
___"This has kind of been a wakeup call to this community, and when you see these men out here working, they're just so happy to be doing it," he said.
___And no one is happier than the Greens and the Gastons.
___"We lived on this same stretch of road for 27 years and never knew one another, and now we're going to be friends for life," Gaston said. "Oris tells me all the time, 'When you get this finished, you're going to come over and we're going to have dinner and sit on that back porch.' And we're going to do it too," Gaston said.
___
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