Housing Meets A Higher Purpose

CSM Housing Ministry involves building houses from the ground up, as well as repairing and restoring existing houses. Some CSM projects are in partnership with the City of Birmingham’s housing assistance program, which provides us the necessary construction materials for repairs. CSM provides skill and manpower with staff and volunteer labor. An elderly man in the Smithfield area, who has been recovering from a recent surgery, needed to have the leaks in his roof repaired. So for this city project, CSM not only replaced his entire roof, but also scraped and repainted the full exterior of his home. Now he will be able to return home to safe and restored house, painted crimson red in respect for his favorite football team (much to the chagrin of Volunteer Coordinator and Auburn graduate, Michael Bowen). Each of these volunteer projects create an opportunity to not only minister to the recipient of the labor (the homeowner), but also sends a message of love and reconciliation to our city leaders, and at the same time connect with our volunteers on a deeper level.

             This particular housing project fell in the middle of February, when we had the pleasure of hosting a group from Belmont, Massachusetts called the Belmont Religious Council. This group consisted of 35 high school students and adult leaders from all different beliefs and faith backgrounds. That being said, their purpose for visiting Birmingham was to promote the welfare of our city for the sake of “doing good.” As you know, when a group that desires to “do good” gets paired up with the Christian Service Mission, God's plan always takes precedence over their plans and our plans. During their stay with us, the Belmont Religious Council not only painted, roofed and repaired this house, but also helped us to sort about 5,000 lbs. of canned goods and build a community garden! Even for CSM, that was a lot to accomplish in just five days of service. However, the main reason for their visit was clearer to the CSM staff than the “good” that was done throughout Birmingham. This group of all different faith systems was shown and taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ each and every day they were here. 

            Yes, a lot of good was done in the communities that we serve, but three of the Council members (and two of their parents) have connected with CSM since their arrival back in Belmont to discuss how their lives were changed and impacted by our staff at Christian Service Mission. Two of the members thanked us several times for “including God in everything that we do” and “encouraging (me) in my faith at such a difficult time to be a Christian.” Those are the stories that we live and work for here at CSM everyday. While often times we, along with our volunteers, focus on “doing good” in the city of Birmingham, this group from Massachusetts was a beautiful reminder that God meets us, our volunteers and those that we serve each and every day we show up to work. “Faithful is He who calls you, He will do it.”