SPEAKER_08 0:00

There's lots and lots of minors in the 40s. Now there's less than 800 people there in the town. So you can imagine what the empty storefronts look like. It's an area of persistent poverty. And things like addictions, entitlements, and all kinds of issues follow uh this this culture here. But we're really thankful to be able to serve the Lord in the midst of central Appalachian, one of these almighty palettes.

David Nakhla 0:28

Welcome to the Reform Deacon, a casual conversation with topics specifically designed to help local Reform Deacons. There are nearly a thousand deacons in the OPC alone. So let's take this opportunity to learn from and encourage one another. We're so glad you could join us. Let's jump into our next episode.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

Hey Deacon Brothers, this is Tim Hopper, Deacon at Shiloh OPC in Raleigh, North Carolina. Have you heard about what's going on in Neon, Kentucky? Catastrophic flooding at the end of July destroyed most of the town of Neon, including Neon Reformed OPC's building. The local church, Presbytery of the Southeast, and the OPC Disaster Response have been serving there for about eight weeks now and have made a lot of progress in the church building to restore worship in NEON. The following recording is an information session held for OPC Disaster Response to Registrants on Monday, September 19, 2022, at the invitation of the NEON Disaster Oversight Committee. The voices you'll hear are that of David Knackla, Administrator for the OPC Disaster Response, Pastor Jay Bennett and Elder Seth Long, both from NEON OPC, Elder and Member of the Presbytery of the Southeast The Aconal Committee, Mike Cloy, Professional Contractor and a Deacon from my own congregation, Art Allen, who's serving as the Effort Site Coordinator, as well as the Administrator for Reformed Mission Services, Rob Brinks, with whom the OPC has a fraternal relationship. If you're not a disaster response registrant or simply weren't able to hear the information session, please take a listen. We all should be aware of the opportunities to serve the larger connected church, and I thought sharing this session would be a great way for everyone listening to find out more about the effort in NEO. Remember to pray for the town of NEON and the continuing effort there. During the recording, you'll hear us reference photos in the form of a slideshow. You can find that slideshow link in the program notes and the video version of the entire information session, as well as more information on opcdisasterresponse.org. And now I hope you enjoy this episode of the Reformed Deacon.

David Nakhla 2:34

First of all, um my name's David Knockla. I want to thank you for taking the time to join us this evening for a special update on the work in NEON. And there's a team on the ground who's focused on this effort day in and day out. We have an oversight committee that meets weekly to discuss the project, to make plans, and keep tabs on what's going on on a regular basis. There are photos, videos, and reports being shared via newsletter and social media. Hopefully you're seeing those. But we really wanted to take the opportunity for you to hear directly from those on the ground and those who are who are serving in leadership roles, hear from them their thoughts, experience, thanks, and even prayers for the future. So we wanted to take a few minutes to talk about where the Lord has brought us in this response effort and the plans that are being laid for next steps, uh, even as uh some of you consider your participation. So thank you for registering as a disaster response volunteer. And thank you for your interest and concern for what's occurred and now being done in eastern Kentucky. And thanks for considering what your role and the role of your church might be in the weeks and months ahead in Neon, Kentucky. And so with that, I'd like to open our time with prayer and then I'll hand the mic to Jay. Let's pray. Uh dear Heavenly Father, uh, as I was reminded yesterday in Psalm 17, uh, we ask that you continue to keep us as the apple of your eye, and that you would continue to hide us in the shadow of your wings. And you've done that for the saints in Neon, Kentucky. They truly are the apple of your eye. And you've done that again even yesterday in Puerto Rico. They were lashed by Hurricane Fiona. You, Lord, are the master of the winds and the waves, and we rest in your protective shelter. So thank you for this occasion to talk about uh what you have done and are doing in Neon, uh, and even what we hope you will do in Neon. So bless these interactions and may you be glorified in this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Jay.

SPEAKER_06 4:47

So I I've been tasked to just uh speak about um what life's been like on the ground. So I thought I would I would just talk about um you know what it's been like for me personally, uh and then also my sense of what it's been like for the church, uh, and then also for the community. Um, although Seth's probably got a better read on the pulse of the community than I do. So personally, you know, it was really shocking to be awakened on the night of the flood. It was uh about 2:30, 3 in the morning, you know, just to realize what was happening down below, because we're in an upstairs apartment on Main Street, a storefront apartment, to realize uh that what was happening below was unlike anything I'd ever seen, uh, not not only just in my time here in Neon, but just ever in my life, you know, uh to see something like that uh was pretty shocking. And then when the water finally receded the next day uh to see the aftermath of the flood, it was the way I described it uh on the ground uh as I talked with people, you know, in the in the following days while we were still mucking out, was it was like it was almost like being in a war zone. And I I I thought this is probably as close as I'll ever get, at least I pray. I hope and pray it's as close as I'll ever get to being uh in a war zone. Now, of course, there are a lot of differences. No one was shooting at me or trying, you know, no one was trying to kill me. Um uh but nonetheless, it was just a complete disaster, you know, and uh and that's been uh that was pretty shocking. Um, you know, um, but but but we didn't really lose anything that couldn't be replaced. Um there were a lot of people that lost their lives. Uh we lost some property, uh, but but those things were insured, and um, and we were able to replace uh replace uh those. Um there were a lot of people in the area that that lost everything. They lost their homes um and um you know uh heirlooms, old family heirlooms, and just down the list, and so and have no means to to to replace it. Um but thankfully, thankfully, no one in the church lost any property or anything like that. Um uh there was a little bit of damage to some yards and this sort of thing and driveways. Uh Seth sustained some of that, and uh uh another one of our members sustained some of that kind of damage, but uh none of that made uh none of that really affected the congregation. So that was uh that was certainly a blessing as a pastor to know you know, I wasn't gonna need to go and and pray with someone about having lost their home, you know, um, and that that sort of thing. But my wife and daughter were away when it happened. I'm thankful for that. So we were we were separated for quite a while, uh longer than we were supposed to be. They were just down visiting family, and but they've since come back up. And um, so I was here just me and my son and trying to take care of people from the community, having folks overfeeding them, that sort of thing, and and all so let me just uh I'll speak uh really briefly on um one thing that I've been really impressed with. So other than just the shock of what happened here in the community, uh and um and all and what happened to us personally is just the the experience of the connectional church and having the church immediately uh being in touch. Uh so the day after the flood, I was in touch with with David Knockla. He called, uh I talked with him or the day of the flood. Um I talked uh with Mike Cloy. Um uh and both men were were very reassuring. You know, we we know what's happened, we're we we've seen it, uh, we're on it, and uh we're gonna we're gonna we're gonna be uh there to help soon. And um, and it's been amazing to me to watch that happen. Um part of what I've been trying to do uh as a as a minister, having never gone through anything like this, is just to watch the way these gifted men are taking care of business and and um uh just to try to to glean as much wisdom uh in just watching that procedure as possible. Uh and that's been a been a good thing to see. Well, well, there's been a lot of uh sorrow involved in in the flood event. Um, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't rewind the tape and play it back the way it happened if you know if it were up to me. Thankfully it's not up to me though, and it's up to the Lord. And and there's actually been a lot of blessing that I've experienced um from the flood. And um part of that is just getting to meet all these different people from the OPC from from beyond, you know, neon and beyond our presbytery, even uh, and even beyond the OPC, like the PCA men and others. Um, that's been a wonderful blessing to me to be able to meet all of you and and just different folks that have come to help. Uh, and it's been a joy really to work with uh with everyone, David and Mike, and and um of course Seth's uh always, as always, Seth's worth is weight in gold, and then part Allen coming up to to uh be the site coordinator and being able to spend time with Art and uh get to know him. Um that's just uh been a huge blessing to me, uh more than anything. And Jim, that's been my experience.

David Nakhla 10:08

Thank you, Jay.

unknown 10:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 10:10

So um my name is Seth Long. I'm the I'm a ruling elder at uh Neon OPC. My wife and I uh came to this part of the country from Pennsylvania in 1991. We came for a summer um and just never left. We've been here over these years and we came to help people with housing needs. There's always been substandard uh housing in in the region and lots lots of lack and need to do that type of work. So that that has been my vocation. I divide time now anymore by um flood, pre-flood, and flood. It seems like life was so different uh for so many people in our community uh before the flood. Um, so many things are different today. Uh, with the flooding event that happened on July 28th, we've lost more than 1,400 homes in the county. And when I say that, I mean homes that cannot be moved into or back into them today. Some of them people will be able to move into the future, but many, many of these homes will never be lived in again. The county population is around 22,000. And you think about a home maybe averages three or four people per home. Mass devastation when it comes to the housing here. There's never been a housing market. Um, in fact, to demonstrate that the work that we do uh in my day job is uh is housing, and we are the only developer of housing in our county. Um, so it kind of tells you a little bit about that market. So the experience has been great for the community of Neon uh from the situation there. Um, total devastation in the town. Neon was one of the harder hit towns in the middle of town. Some places we had 10, 11, 12 feet of water. In our church building, we had six and a half feet of water in that building carrying debris, muck, and ugliness into it. And um, I've gone to help a lot of disasters in my lifetime, help people out, um, but I've never been lived through the middle of one. And it is an overwhelming, tiring experience. And imagine the sight of not being able to get out and catching enough signal to see Jay walking through our church building with all the muck and debris and the water. How disheartening! After the folks here have labored for 20 years on the ground uh at this labor heart, giving the giving of themselves these many years and seeing it all washed down the creek, so to speak. Now, the the um I think one of the encouraging things was even this flood happened on a Thursday, many of us could not even get out of our hollers uh for days after that. But on the Saturday after the flood, a bunch of us met at the church uh from from from the church to start assessing and cleaning up. And Saturday around noontime, we started doing that. Later in the afternoon, a group of uh first responders from the denomination-led effort of the PDC came to to help us, and we got a lot of work done quick. Um, and we're so thankful for the extra work uh that was the extra manpower, the the muscle that was put into the effort quickly when there was so much overwhelmingness that we were working through and struggling with, the mud and the muck, the smell and everything else, the sense of hopelessness. But then to see after that, week after week, team after team after team, of people coming to assist us with mock-outs, not only the muckouts, but the power washing. Not only the power washing, but applying the enzymes and sterilizing, and then the drying out phases, and then thinking about how we can help our community and reaching out to the community to um start mucking out other uh buildings in and around town and everything. So uh just want to say, after you know, living through this experience, we really appreciate everyone who has prayed. Uh, the response has been phenomenal and prayers, notes, gifts to the church and to the denomination through the CDM. Um, it's really an encouragement uh to the people on the ground, and I think to the community too, because you know, really Neon uh it was way ahead of the curb when it came to cleaning up buildings, property, putting things back into order. In fact, we're Presbyterians, so even our debris pile outside the church had a sense of order to it. So, you know, it's a good opportunity to witness to the community. I took a group of folks visiting today through the church, and they were amazed by how it is looking, the progress that's being made. It's an encouragement. These people have no connection with the church, um, but they're just really amazed by how far we've come. So uh I guess I'd just take this time to thank everyone who has thought and prayed and given to the um and who have come and gotten dirty and mucked and trimmed and drywalled, everything else. So we really appreciate being a part of a connection church.

SPEAKER_04 15:27

I'm Mike Boy. I'm uh I'm on the uh Presbyterian Diaconal Committee. I'm a ruling elder in a uh actually a ruling elder in a couple of provisional sessions, um, two other churches, one of which I'm a member of. Military background, 27 years in the army, and a lot of planning experience, a lot of combat experience. The church was primarily the property that was damaged when you looked at the congregation. There was minor damage. I mean, they was they were wet, but there wasn't a lot of flooding to their properties. Now, some of the friends of the church, good friends of the church, were flooded, but the members of the church, we didn't have a lot of that. But so we had the church to deal with right away. Normally we'd probably try to get into those homes as fast as we could, but our focus was the church for several reasons. One, we we want to restore worship as fast as possible in the facility that the folks in their community um have been worshiping in. Um one of the things Jay and Seth were able to do early on was to uh partner with a brother um in a Baptist church, a minister in the Baptist church. And that's and it's what 30 minutes away, I think. So worship was restored uh in that regard, but you know, have their own church space again in the middle of town to be that light on the city in the city on that hill. Um so we went to work there. We have a disaster advanced response team in the presbytery. They deployed up out of Atlanta where the uh this high-speed trailer full of gear is and stored, and and then the um skid loader was rented, and we got up there and we didn't use any of it. We it was what Seth said, we got in the upped our hips in mud uh as fast as possible, joined many of the members of the church. It was a beautiful thing to see seven or eight people in the church, members of the church, um, as Jay has mentioned, and those that were outside the church uh in terms of the the local church, but connected to them from other OPC churches, going to work. So that phase has been ongoing of restoring the property, the church property itself. It's if we were to sustain the volunteer effort, which is been great, uh we'll probably by the end of October be ready to worship in the facility again. That's about 13 weeks after the flood event. There's some neatness, there's some neat things that have occurred within the presbytery of the southeast alone. We've had 30 churches in the presbytery, and I think we're up to 19, maybe 20 churches that have sent volunteers. So you're looking over 60, 65 percent of the of the presbytery churches that have sent volunteers. We've had our brothers from the PCA and MA in particular, um loan equipment that is just remarkable, the equipment that they have. And that's been helpful. Um, power wash trailers with all types of capabilities. Um and then we had the stand-up uh Bobcat Dogger type device with a grappling hook, and and there's like a bunch of bunch of boys playing with toys, you know, they were out there making things happen, getting wet and grabbing stuff and throwing it away. So um so that phase is is we're transitioning uh probably in a couple of weeks to a what we call a ministry of mercy, where now don't don't get me wrong, we've been into a couple of homes already. We've already helped got dehumidifiers in there. We're we're working it thanks to Jim Flanagan and his expertise, years of expertise in his business of mitigating all types of environmental hazards. In his wisdom, we've been able to get in there already, but we're gonna transition into um a ministry of mercy specifically to the community. One of the things that Seth made us aware of is there has been no one else in the community. I mean, you don't see the surge of folks coming to help folks like you may have seen in a Houston, right? Uh or or Florence. A lot of people with trailers ready to help. You don't see a lot of that. So we we need to feel that hurting in that regard. And so we're looking for a mercy coordinator, coordinator of mercy. Uh, one of the things that uh President the PCA MA is willing to do to come alongside us is to give us these things called sheds of hope, eight by eight um sheds, sturdy sheds. Um, and the mercy coordinator can determine where they land in somebody's property. Then we build them. Um they've been known to be slept in, but they're right, they're primarily used to get wet uh stuff that's not wet uh into something dry or something that's wet to get it dry. Um and we're looking at also getting into these homes and maybe gutting them out. And uh, some of them have been mucked out and gutted already. And when you get dehumidifiers in there, maybe even start looking at rebuilding some with the funds we have. Uh we're gonna leave that up to the mercy coordinator. He's gonna he's gonna assess and figure that out to walk the ground with Seth, who's familiar with the community. Jay is familiar with the community, kind of get a sense of what's going on. Learn from Jim. That mercy coordinator is gonna learn from Jim about some of the nuances of water and what it does to uh all types of material, how you have to look for uh the damages. So that's kind of where we're at. There's no end state to it yet. Uh the Lord's blessed with material, uh, volunteers, over 102 volunteers um have come to us, and he's blessed with um with people like y'all that are here with us tonight that have been praying on us, and we we thank you.

David Nakhla 21:45

So maybe we can shift to the slideshow to give you a sense of what's going on here. Seth, why don't you talk us through these slides and you'll see them as they come? And we'll get to a point in the slides where it's you know.

SPEAKER_08 22:00

Sense a lot of the same, but um so this is in Heyman, Kentucky, and this is a raging river where there is no river. What went down this road was just a stream that dries up in the summer, and the live video of this feed just I still watch it and puts chills on my back. You can see the housing is pretty typical for what's in the area in the background. These are coal camp houses uh where coal miners lived, walked to work back in the day, and now people live. And most of these houses are probably about 90 years old in this picture. Go ahead, David. This is what the first scene when we showed up on the church Saturday. This is what we saw. This is debris, all these chairs from the sanctuary washed out into this room. Stuff was washed into the church, broke out the windows. Next, you can see the debris on the floor, the mud, and just the water line in these. See the mud on the stove and the countertops there, all that mud. It was six to eight inches deep all over the floor. Next, see the water line that's six and a half feet above uh the floor of the building, and all the debris, and there's a lot of nasty, nasty stuff in that mud right there. It's really, it's not just all mud, I'll just put it that way. And you can you can see we're wearing it there, cleaning out. Uh here's a here's volunteers, some of the first responders, some people from our church in this picture. And that's the sanctuary. You can see that dark line around the top, about two-thirds of the way up, is the water line in the church. Yep, right there.

unknown 23:41

My goodness.

SPEAKER_08 23:42

Yep, unreal. And and you cannot see the creek from the church. I mean, it's just so far away and it's so small. It's just unbelievable how much water came in uh to Neon. This is the uh Presbyterian organized debris pile. I see everything stacked and orderly, but you know, it was such a sad sight to see, you know, those chairs that that we sat on to worship, those solid wood doors that, you know, people in the congregation, um, especially Doug Brink, spent so much time uh working on that trim work. It was custom stuff. I mean, we milled it all, and there it is on the sidewalk. Very disheartening to see. Here we are during uh it's been mucked out and the power washing has gone on. You Jim Flanagan to the right uh in the red shirt and everybody else in the Tyvek there, just scrubbing, scrubbing, scrubbing. We went over it, I don't know how many times with the power washer. Uh, there's Jay thinking about a sermon illustration right there, looking into the muck and the mess. Um, but this you can see the sheet rock's been ripped out at this point. It's still uh nasty on the ground, but a lot of debris is out of there. Um, that was the sanctuary, the wood ceiling we were able to save. That was a custom wood ceiling that was milled and put up at the first build. And we're able to keep that. We're thankful for that. So you can see this is uh shooting down through the pastor's office. One of the things, uh, one of these rooms here was Pastor Jay's uh office uh where he lost his collection worth of books that were in there. That was a sad thing uh to throw a lot of these books away. An interesting story, we threw a bunch of books away, and there was uh some folks uh walking through town and they saw reformed literature laying on the ground, and they made sure they came back the next day to talk because they were Reformed Baptist folk coming to help people, and it caught their eye, and they were just so thrilled to find another reformed presence in town. So uh I don't know what that picture is busting out She-Rock, taking it out, uh the demolition work that you gotta do to get out so you can get all the nasty up. It's hot work. It was, you know, in the middle of summer, nasty, mocky, sweaty. Yeah, I think actually, go back to that other picture, David. Yeah. So that picture that with the guy sitting down is across the street. Some of the work that we did uh at the Addiction Recovery Center, uh, which my housing organization has uh works with them with an apprenticeship program, putting guys in recovery to work. And and the church has a ministry to these guys reaching out. Jay has a Bible study with them, and two of these men that come through the program have joined Neon Reformed Presbyterian Church and work for the housing ministry that I work for right now. But this is in the Addiction Recovery Care Center across the street, same building. Yeah, you can see the mold starting to grow on the back side of the sheetrock. It doesn't take long in the middle of summer with all the nasties in the water to start mold problems. Here we are, we're getting more clean here. You can see the Tyvek suits, the respirators, um, the squeegee in lots of squeegee. We wore squeegee out during this lots of spraying. And we're using the MA uh trailer, uh, the spray muckout trailer. It was phenomenal. It gave us two pressure washers, tanks of water, and the ability to run them simultaneously. Or is Jim Flanagan?

David Nakhla 27:22

We're all wondering where his Tyvex suit is.

SPEAKER_08 27:24

Yeah, that we won't bring that up. We don't see that right now.

David Nakhla 27:29

It's invisible. It's an invisible that's right. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_08 27:34

This is uh between the fellowship room uh and North X, where you enter into the church, the sanctuary would be in that other room to the right. Um, the it was two buildings that we purchased together and joined joined them together, and that big seal header you can see uh spanning uh the opening there. This is a view back the other way. Uh, this is the outside looking down the street of up the street of Neon. Interesting, Neon used to have 17,000 people living in the town of Neon. Back when coal was king and it took labor to get the coal out of the ground, there was lots and lots of miners in the 40s. Now there's less than 800 people there in the town. So you can imagine what the empty storefronts look like. Uh, it's an area of persistent poverty, and things like addictions, entitlements, and all kinds of issues follow uh this culture here. But we're really thankful to be able to serve the Lord in the midst of central Appalachia in one of these coal mining towns.

David Nakhla 28:42

Seth, can you talk a little bit about the uh the plate, the plate windows and and maybe some of the plans for the future?

SPEAKER_08 28:49

Yeah, so um we actually the plywood looking straight at you behind the chair there, we had two different two different car crashes through the front of the building. And we're anticipating uh remodeling the whole front of the building before the flood because it's cars, two different incidences crashed into the front of the building. And uh the flood did the rest of the demolition work for us. We we really uh the front, uh all the front glass has been removed. Um, and we're really hoping that the front of the building uh can look a lot better in the future, that it can look more like a place of worship uh and yet provide natural light. Um, and we have a big remodel project to do on the front, but the the the flood interrupted those plans, but it'll also provide the um the basis by which we go ahead and and take care of that. That awning up above us there, David, if you want to put that ugly awning there, it's terrible. I never did like the awning. It's now off the building. We had volunteers pull it off, and we're hoping to put a nicer look to the front of the building so aesthetically it can be pleasing. This building is on the corner of a street, and it's really a cornerstone building in the town of Neon. So we're hoping that after the flood, uh it's a uh springboard moving forward, this flood, the springboard moving forward to reset the mission work there and give us renewed focus on on the ministry in Neon.

David Nakhla 30:22

And so maybe if you if there was a brick, somebody, a brick layer in the on this call, there might be some work for them. Is that what you're saying?

SPEAKER_08 30:28

Rob Briggs, there'll be lots and lots of uh brick work to do. Right now we're working on design. You know, a foolish builder goes out without a plan. We want a good plan and understand the way it'll look to design, but there will be brick work on two different stories here, hopefully, if we can get everything approved and moving forward. These are the uh these were God sent right here, so so so helpful to us. The commercial uh dehumidifiers that the diaconal response team has uh to help us, these these dehumidifiers and fans pull a lot of moisture uh out of out of the building, out of the wood, out of the concrete. Um, and without these, we could not have, we would not be where we're at today. There's probably about with that equipment there, there's probably about $30,000 worth of equipment sitting right in that picture. You can see the fans uh blowing air circulate around the exterior walls of the building, drying everything out. These fans were gone for weeks and weeks. I think they are gone for at least four, maybe five weeks to dry everything out. You can see that the dehumidifiers in action. If you if you build back too quickly and trap moisture, cover it up with sheetrock, you'll you'll create mold again in the future. Uh, so that was one of our chief concerns that we could get the building dried out well. I think we're just staging equipment. Uh, there's filters there, there's fans and different things. Um, there it's looking cleaner, brighter. The drywall came, getting ready for the drywall stage. The next, yeah. You see how the sheetrocks cut out in a straight line, ready to be married with new sheetrock when it's put up. And there it there it comes, uh 12-foot sheetrocks. I think Art said today 150 sheets of sheetrock went into the building and were put up. And they they basically uh installed and taped uh all that sheetrock in one week. And uh I we had some people walk through the building today and they commented on the quality job that the drywallers did in the building. They it was really a quality job, they did a great job, it was really nice.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

So Joe Fox online, he's with us, and his team, Ohio boys, came down and did that. It just remarkable. And the interesting thing is, Seth was on vacation during this period of time, went up to Pennsylvania, had a scheduled vacation. So you want to talk about we lost Seth and his wisdom, but he replaced the Lord replaced him for a week uh with with Joe and his team. It was just it was beautiful how the Lord brought all that together. So amen.

SPEAKER_08 33:12

Are you saying it took 14 guys to replace? It did, yeah, yeah. Is that right? Yeah, Joe, Joe, uh, I appreciate him so much. He poured himself into this project, not just the work, but thinking through the materials, the plan, very conscientious. Uh, I really appreciate everything he brought to the project. It wouldn't have gone as well with without all his planning and foresight.

SPEAKER_06 33:38

This is the this is a yeah, I was gonna say it was actually 24 men because uh art counts as 10.

SPEAKER_08 33:47

Very good. Fair enough. Um, this is the pulpit area up front. Uh we got that built. Uh, one of the things that the church had around the sanctuary was a chair railing uh with a wains coating in it. And um, you know, Joe and uh I and others talked there, it's gone, it's being put up. And it was like, you know, it'd really be a shame to lose that. It was such a nice feature in the building. So we were able to put that back and get that all trimmed out. It looks really nice. You can see there's such a chair rail going in uh out to the outside buildings. A group of hardworking volunteers. These guys look pretty hardworking. Um, that's the front of the sanctuary area. It's being trimmed out right now. I think we're pretty well close to being ready to paint next week. Um, a few odds and ends to do this week, I think, but it's coming along very nicely. A shot of the chair rail down the sanctuary. There's a lot of work that goes into getting things prepped for paint, a lot of nail holes to fill, caulking to do, and that kind of thing. And you can see the work in action there. So many hands make light work. There's uh great shots of trim work.

David Nakhla 35:07

Who's this young man, uh Seth?

SPEAKER_08 35:10

So from the Pilgrim's Progress, uh, there's a scene in there where you there's a muckraker. This is my son Ruben, who for the first month was able to uh he has a very gracious employer, and he was able to take off work and become Dion's chief mock raker. So he was the one in charge of mocking out the building, getting it cleaned up, and organizing the volunteers that came in for the first 30 days. That's my son Ruben. He's 19 years old and he did a really good job there on the project. Yeah, lots of measuring, cutting two or three times, making short fits. But yeah, so good pictures of the work that's been done in the eye.

David Nakhla 35:55

Thank you, Seth. That was very, very helpful. Uh, maybe this would be a good time for some questions. Are there any questions uh on what you've seen? Progress. Thank you, all of you who on this call who've come and participated. Any questions?

SPEAKER_08 36:11

Um uh how if I might put Joe Joe Fault on the spot here. Joe, what was your experience like coming to Neon and leading a crew? And uh how did that go for you? And and what what's your takeaways uh after the the week that you spent here?

SPEAKER_00 36:28

The week was a real blessing. I think there was 12 of us, anywhere from 12 to 14 at any point through the week. We had some come early and had to leave early. And uh another one at came in Wednesday and then stayed the rest of the week. I feel like that we got a lot done. It was a great week with all the guys. I mean, I it was very enjoyable. I I've been, this is the third trip that I've been on. Went to Houston, then to Newburn, and then this one. And so this one was a lot more involved for me in in just helping to plan, I guess. The other two, we just basically showed up. And uh so that was enjoyable for me. This is what I do for a living. So, you know, to think through the different steps or or what's gonna be what's gonna be needed to order the material and and try to get the right, the right help in place, that was an enjoyable process. And then to see, to see it, it happened and and the Lord really blessed the efforts. I think that we got about as far as we were shooting for. So it was it was a great week.

SPEAKER_08 37:39

Yeah. In in this community, uh, we don't enjoy a lot of the services that a lot of other communities have, and even the availability of product, and one of the things that Joe helped do is actually put it together a pretty, pretty impressive load of trim doors, but a lot of things that were harder to get here in the area. Uh, Joe made arrangements from his area to a supplier that he works with to bring down uh to the building. That was so very helpful. That we would have really struggled with that if you wouldn't have helped out that would be.

David Nakhla 38:10

Art, you would you like to share a little bit about your experience there in the last few weeks and what you see coming up, the work that's coming up?

SPEAKER_01 38:19

I would say that it's it's been a very enjoyable experience. It's been a lot of hard work. Uh, but I've really enjoyed uh all of the volunteers that come, all with different abilities, but all chipping in and uh contributing to the whole. And uh I feel that it's been very important to have the local church up and running um so that the members can have a nice place to worship again, and also uh that it's a light in the community. Um and it can also be a base of operations for helping uh in the next phase of helping the community. I've learned a lot, and uh it's just always feels very good to serve and to have the opportunity to use your abilities.

David Nakhla 39:05

What are the next uh what are the remaining steps uh in kind of broad strokes?

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Yeah, I mean, I think we're only a few weeks away from the construction part being done. So the next week or so is going to be painting, there's a little bit of trim left, you have an electrician coming in, we have a plumber coming in, and a little bit of flooring, and then carpet, and then door hardware and that kind of stuff. So I I think in another three or four weeks, uh, I think it will be done. Won't be a hundred percent done, but enough that the building could be used for worship.

SPEAKER_04 39:41

There's another phase that Dart and I and Seth will probably have a conversation tomorrow on if you want to get a hold of Seth. And you know, we're gonna order all this the chairs, and Seth put together a group of ladies that uh picking colors out, and so we're gonna make sure that things match, and so those chairs are gonna match colors that they want, but they're gonna come in and they're gonna have to be put together. And then there's there's boxes of you know, pots and pans for the kitchens and just little things uh to fit the to finish out the the church itself. And so we're gonna be that's a phase that we haven't really described yet, and who to put in charge of that because art may step away as our coordinator, the construction side of things in the church. And so we're gonna need to shift that energy to to another person who's gonna take that lead to finish out. They're the final touches, and um you know, there might be somebody that's got an eye for the finite things as opposed to you know a hammer and a saw and moving big things, but um that's that's another thing we got to touch and uh before that we go to worship in.

David Nakhla 40:52

So please be in prayer about this next phase with regards to the mercy coordinator. A big part of the testimony of the church is not just building being put back together, but it really is showing love and concern for the neighbors and uh the neighborhood, the community around. This is the poorest of the poor, and uh the little they had has been in essence taken from them. And so this is really uh an opportunity to shrink that cup of cold water in the name of Christ. Uh anything, any little effort that'll be done will be very much appreciated. And so that's kind of the next phase. We do need leadership in that area, so you can pray that the Lord would raise a deacon to serve as the mercy coordinator. And uh, but if the Lord does raise that person, we're gonna that person's gonna be out and about looking for work to do, and that's where we're gonna need uh volunteers who are willing to come in with the sheds of hope and that type of work. So that's a big important next step. And uh we're kind of moving a little bit into a transition, but we're all very thankful for the work, incredible amount of work that's been done in such a short order, and uh no no small part that each of you have played to make this happen. So just wonderful to see the body of Christ uh coming together in this way using gifts and gifts and graces that you guys have in various different ways, um, whether it's uh coordinating the volunteers or coordinating hospitality or leading the teams or uh just doing muck out work. Um so that's uh which we're very thankful for for that. Is there any other questions before we close out our time?

SPEAKER_05 42:30

What is your biggest need?

David Nakhla 42:32

We you know it's interesting. I I would say one thing is that the biggest need we don't have is finances. The Lord's really blessed in that way, too. As of at the end of last week, we had $277,000 come in for this effort, and that's way more than enough to take care of the church building, and particularly with all the um volunteer work and the discounts we've received and stuff. Uh, but it probably would be more manpower as things move ahead, particularly if the mercy coordinator arises.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

Yeah, we're gonna get the mercy coordinator on the ground, they're gonna assess me. I'm gonna walk the ground with Seth and Jay, and that'll orient him on what's required. He'll determine some priorities based on vulnerabilities, and then we're gonna send up a red star cluster. That's the Army way of saying we need help, and that will probably be manpower as David just described. We're gonna be looking for that manpower to help put sheds of hope together. We're gonna probably have 18 or 19 of those things to put together, and they take about a day to put together. Um, and then we're looking at maybe getting in some of these homes and doing finishing things out in there. If they've been mucked out, maybe tear them out. If they've been torn out, maybe dry them out. If they've been dried out, maybe put them back together. I mean, it's those types of things. So we don't know what we don't know yet, but we're we're gonna go into that next phase. So, Rob, that's a great question for your organization because I know that's what you you deliver, you deliver. um manpower and and talent in that regard.

SPEAKER_05 44:03

Thanks. And we just uh we just brought our two trailers back from western Kentucky. Um so if you guys are looking for a tool cache that you can just you know park by the church or buy someplace that you know you guys can just tag into if you need them. Um just yeah let us know. We I can get you a a list of the the types of of the equipment that we have and if you see something that you think you need or even just to have a trailer there we have volunteers or you can uh make sure it gets down there to you somehow. I know Jeff Davis would love to take a road trip down there. I could see him smiling so he's still there uh and he knows and he knows where I live so um no we we want to be able to help you we have uh a small amount of funds in our and that's been given to us by our member churches so if there's anything that you know specific needs that we can pick up and bring down or or that type of stuff as well we found out in western Kentucky some of the things that we take for granted in these other areas um they're sold out of they don't have in that normal box stores or anything so we've been able to help supply some of the things in western Kentucky that they need. Yeah if you guys uh keep in touch with me I know David's got my email address and phone number and I think Mike might have it as well just you know keep you in the loop if you think you need something or you're looking for something um don't don't hesitate to to give us a shout our promotions coordinator is ready and and willing to uh um advertise needs so if you have any specific needs as well we'll we'll forward it on to Jim and he'll be able to put that out to our members as well. And I think uh what you just said now with having volunteers we'll make sure we keep uh keep that posting on our social media and our families as well.

David Nakhla 45:53

If there's no other comments we can close this out and I noticed uh cal Cummings is on here I'm gonna ask you to close this in prayer uh Father we thank you for your grace and mercy to us that we know you and in knowing you we we thank you for the way that you continue uh your work in us and we pray that you would continue to use us for the furthering and extending of your kingdom and we thank you for this opportunity that uh has brought many together uh to see the work there in Neon and Fleming that it would be that which would spread the good news that there is a greater hope than just uh renewed buildings because there is that hope of eternal life with Christ. So we pray that you'll just continue to bless uh the work that is going there and in the ongoing uh ministries the people in the communities uh keep us aware that the greatest need is for men and women to know uh the Savior Jesus so thank you for this opportunity to serve we do it in Christ's name and we just pray now that your your blessing will be upon the word as it goes forth in those communities where does this come from it comes from the good name of Jesus in his name we pray amen thank you all for joining thanks for joining us go to our website thereformdeacon.org there you will find all our episodes program notes and other helpful resources and please make plans to join us again next month for another episode of the Reformedacon podcast