Our Stories
Change of Heart...for service
By Dillon Brunson | posted 04/17/2008
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" (Matthew 25:40)
On Saturday, April 5, I crawled out of bed at 4:30 AM to get to SeaTac and catch the plane that would take me and 26 other Bellevue Christian High School students, (and ten adults), to Mendenhall, Mississippi for a week long mission trip. We stayed at a volunteer center in Mendenhall and were scheduled to work at the Genesis One Christian School, the farm that supports it, and in the Mendenhall community. All are connected to the John Perkins Foundation located in Jackson.
Our role changed when we arrived late Saturday and found out that a little over a week before a tornado had ripped through parts of Jackson and the poorest sections of Mendenhall, literally across the tracks from the white population. It's like two different worlds. Nice houses, roads stores, schools...and then you cross the railroad tracks to the part of Mendenhall where we served, the totally segregated and poverty engulfed African American community. It shocked me!
On Sunday morning, (and afternoon!) we attended Mendenhall Bible Church. That's when I met Pastor Fletcher, who in 5 days would change my heart and my perception of service. When I was in foster care I worshipped at an African American church in downtown Seattle, so I was comfortable with, and ready for the worship at Pastor Fletcher's church. Most of my classmates were not! I kept the program of their service. In it is the list of prayer requests that had come in that week. Single spaced on both sides of and 8-1/2 x 11 sheet are the names and needs of 95 people and families. This is not a big church but they are in close relationship with one another. More people participate in the weekly Bible Study than attend Sunday Worship and almost all are involved in a volunteer service ministry.
On Monday several of us were outfitted with chain saws, and we attacked a huge tree that had been uprooted and had taken out the back half of a house. I had no idea how hard that work is! Or how bad my body would ache. Starting Tuesday morning a team of four of us chose to work on re-roofing a house that the tornado had unroofed. We committed to get up every day at 5:00 AM, eat breakfast, roof from about 6:00 AM to Noon, eat lunch and work again until 6:00 PM. Chopping that tree now seemed easy, but we chose this job because we had a good chance of seeing it completed. We also had a fifth member; Pastor Fletcher. He was there before us every morning, didn't take the lunch break, and often worked until 8:30 or 9:00 PM. When he wasn't on the roof he was on his cell phone checking with the other teams from the church who were out going after other problems and serving, serving, serving. He would work on the other sites when needed. During our work days I had the privilege of watching this man's commitment to God and service. The people whose house we were repairing, (a grandfather, his daughter, and her two kids), didn't go to his church or any church. A team of volunteers from Illinois, about 20 people, was working inside to repair the damage there, and because they had nowhere to go, the family was living there in the chaos.
Last year I worked a lot, about every other Saturday, on the Habitat house for the Berrios, but I have never seen so many people putting in 10 to15 hour days to simply serve their neighbors. Pastor Fletcher was there pounding nails, talking to volunteers, encouraging and sweating in the 90 degree temperatures every day. By the end of the first day he knew all of us, the workers inside and the roofers, by name and treated us each as valued servants of God. I was "Mr. Dillon".
I got to use a chainsaw, chop saw, skill saw and a nail gun! (Good thing G-Ma Char wasn't around!) I also used muscles I had never met and yet tapped energy enough to stay up until 11:00 PM. plus at night playing "Capture the Flag" in the dark with my BCS friends.
I'm home and back at school (yawn) but I remember the pledge the four of us made to get up at 5:00 AM and get that roof done before we left. I've thought a lot about Bill Wolff and his "One Home" project in New Orleans. I appreciate that more.
I have a new idea - a change of heart- about what serving others means to me.
Thanks to:
BCS for the opportunity to go and serve
Creekside for giving $125.00 toward my expenses
The Team of fellow super roofers
Mendenhall Bible Church for your example to me
Pastor Fletcher for who you are, and
God for continuing to work with me and change my heart.
I'm 17, where will He take me by 70?
Dillon Brunson
To respond to this message, email Dillon at dbrunson@comcast.net.
