Rebuilding Houses and Touching Hearts

Volunteers came to work with CSM from Maryland

“It is about people, what we are doing is about people.” -Aaron Parsons

God works through people in amazing and unexpected ways. In 2012, CSM joined with volunteers from Redeemer, a Lutheran church group from Maryland, to work on repairing Carl Jackson’s house as part of the Community Development Block Grant (CDGB). Years ago, Redeemer was the first construction team Aaron Parsons led with CSM, and one he will never forget.

During this recent project, the Redeemer volunteer team not only repaired the Jackson’s home, but through their service they were able to touch the hearts of a community in need. Aaron shares his story of their recent time in Birmingham with us:

Aaron Parsons (R) leads and pours into the volunteer team

“Our team was focused on building a new roof and repairing the decking of the house, when we noticed that there were a lot of people watching us from across the street. All week long as we continued rebuilding the house, this crowd of people would stand on their porch and watch us as we worked.

It was tradition for our volunteer team to gather around each night and enjoy Bible study together. As we participated in our Bible studies, we felt the need to talk about this group of people across the street. They seemed isolated, and those passing by would keep their distance. However, even though these people were different from us, they still needed to hear about Christ.

We deliberated on the idea of inviting them over to the Jackson’s house, but we knew that we first wanted to pray about it. We needed to let the Spirit lead us. As days passed, one of our team members from Maryland, Dwayne, decided to walk over to their front porch. But as soon as he reached the sidewalk across the street, he stopped walking. He explained that he felt as if God was saying, “No, do not go, this is not the day.” The next night, Dwayne walked over again, but he stopped at the sidewalk. He felt in his heart that God was still saying it was not yet time.

The following day after lunch, Dwayne began to walk over to the community house yet again. However, this time Dwayne reached their front porch. He began to talk with the group of people gathered there, explaining to them the purpose of our roofing project we were working on across the street, and that they had traveled all the way from Maryland to volunteer their time and skills to help someone in need. As Dwayne talked, he handed out little crosses and asked the group of people if he could pray for them.

The crowd continued to get larger as more and more people gathered to hear why this stranger had approached them. Dwayne continued to share his message and pray for the darkness to be lifted from the house. Many of the people introduced themselves to Dwayne and asked him to pray for them individually. You could see joy growing within the group as they began hugging and loving on each other.

God moved in the heart of the one He needed to speak to that day. The right man went over there and ministered at just the right time. Dwayne was able to truly carry out our mission of rebuilding the community by sharing Christ’s love with a group in need. Those people will be in our minds and our hearts for a long time because we know there is a future for them. CSM continues to bring people together to transform the Birmingham community by restoring houses and touching hearts.”

Mrs. Jackson (L) looks on the work being done with joy and appreciation

What it feels like to bless others!