Churches work together to help rural Louisiana community

LAKE PROVIDENCE, La.—Volunteers arrived energized and ready to roof, to paint, to replace siding and to fix foundations. They were ready for hard work in sweltering heat, and they looked forward to the camaraderie and the sense of making a difference.

These 50 youth and adults from three Baptist churches expected to travel to Louisiana’s East Carroll Parish for a week and do all the work themselves, but that’s just not the way things work in Lake Providence community.

Jim Dwight was working at a house where unexpected help came from a neighbor, who saw all the hustle and bustle of the construction crew and asked if he could help. The retired roofer provided a re-roofing demonstration for some youth and adults, and the house had a new roof faster than anyone expected.

“He was just a neighbor who saw what we were doing and offered to help,” said Dwight, a member of First Baptist Church in Orange. “The community was getting behind the initiative. I think (the projects) really opened some doors in the community.”

Lake Providence is one of the focal areas of Together for Hope, the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative in 20 of the poorest counties in the United States. This mission project, held June 29 through July 5, included construction repairs on four houses.

“Every mission trip is very meaningful and special, and this one was no less,” said Kat Nichols, youth minister at Pineville Park Baptist Church in Pineville, La. “When you are able to help (people) and then to see what an impact your help has on their lives, it’s a humbling and inspiring experience.”

Dwight agreed, noting it was a learning experience for the young people on his team.

“All of us found out that we can help other people and really make a difference in their lives,” Dwight said. “I think some of the youth perhaps would have never undertaken something like this. They found out that they can really accomplish some things for other people.”

But the teams didn’t just work for others; they worked with them.  One man drove 75 miles from Monroe, La., to help the team work on the house where his sister lives. With the team’s help on major repairs, he is now able to help maintain the house.

“It was neat to see how the community got involved, seeing what we were doing and then some of them joining on board with it,” said Jason Fuller, youth minister at First Baptist in Orange. “You could tell they were people in need, but you could tell they were people trying to improve their lives.”

For local resident Glenn Dixon, who has lived in Lake Providence most of his life, a project like this brings hope to the community by demonstrating that good things happen when people work together for the greater good.

“I’m hoping the work that was done can be an example (to the community) of how we can help others and also a catalyst for helping the community do some things locally that it could be doing and should be doing,” Dixon said. “It will both motivate and challenge local churches to get involved in the physical needs of people in addition to the spiritual needs.”

A similar missions project is planned for next July in Lake Providence, where CBF of Louisiana has been ministering over the past several years. One of their major annual efforts is called Bags of Hope, an annual backpack and school supplies collection project. This year’s goal is to collect and distribute 1,000 backpacks filled with school supplies for school-aged students in East Carroll Parrish, which includes Lake Providence, and Tensas Parrish.

For more information on Together for Hope, visit www.ruralpoverty.net . To participate in next year’s mission project July 12-18, visit www.servemg.com for more information or contact Chris Boltin at [email protected] or (800) 352-8741.