Easter Sunrise Service on April 24th, Fort Travis, 6:00 AM

Easter Sunday Morning is one of the most special times on the beach all year. This year, a large group of us will be meeting at the West End of historic Fort Travis for this service in an honest attempt to make an organized, planned, thought out meeting available for those who have trouble getting to the wet sand of the beach. We're starting at 6:00 AM (groan, ugh, oh) to be able to see the actual sunrise from such a great vantage point.

First Baptist Church of Port Bolivar, Dennis Allen, Pastor, has planned special music, with lots of congregational singing, a short message, prayer, and a picnic style light breakfast at the fort following the service. All are welcome.

The Catholic community, along with the Methodists of Port Bolivar are participating. Tell your friends and be here for this historic first event of its kind at Fort Travis - Easter Sunday Morning, April 24. Thanks to Ted Henley for the beautiful bright blue and white advertising signs all along the busy peninsula.

Fitly joined together in the community

When Nehemiah's Vision's Executive Director James Hall was visiting an employee in the hospital on Galveston Island, he met the man's pastor and a close personal friend while waiting to get physician's reports. James related this wonderful story to me and I was pleased to meet both First Baptist Church of High Island's new pastor, Richard Sallee, and my long-time friend, Bucky Faggard, who is pastor emeritus of the church. Bucky said how happy the entire congregation was to have Pastor Sallee and, he, in turn, said how happy he is that the Lord chose to bring him to High Island.

Turns out that Nehemiah's Vision played a big role in this wonderful joining together of good people who want to serve the Lord. According to Ephesians 4:15 and 16, we see a Bible principle in place here. "But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body into the edifying (building up) of itself in love.

Bucky is a life-long resident of High Island and Gilchrist communities on the Bolivar Peninsula in Southeast Texas and has pastored the church in High Island for more than five years, as well as serving as pastor of First Baptist in Crystal Beach for more than a dozen years. Many folks do not realize the First Baptist in Crystal Beach was started as a mission work by the people of First Baptist of Port Bolivar and that the original building and land was given to the fledgling ministry. Bucky also serves as president of Bucky Faggard Ministries and travels yearly on extended mission trips. When home, he is heavily involved in music and evangelism.

High Island was without a pastor and the congregation had been praying for God to send the exact right person to lead this ministry. Bucky was on the pulpit committee and really wanted to see God bless this work again under a new leader. In the meantime, the church sanctuary and other parts of the building had been damaged in a succession of storms, with Rita, Humberto, and then Hurricane Ike doing major damage. Many of the regular members had to move for a time to other locations and the church attendance was down until the folks could get back home again. Many ministries here on Bolivar were suffering that same fate and many had no building in which to worship. The Church of Christ, led by faithful Jerry Valentine, met in a bar, a white tent, and now in a business structure. Other congregations shared churches and pastors. Marty Boddie pastors three different Methodist churches on the peninsula each Sunday going from one to the other. We have termed Marty our beloved circuit riding preacher.

First Baptist Church was associated with Nehemiah's Vision Ministries and were thrilled to have the help and material supplies provided to do some of the rebuilding, sheetrocking, painting and other repairs needed. Various groups from different parts of the country were staying in both the church and the adjacent parsonage while working on Bolivar. Two young ladies came from their home church in Fulshear to work and loved the area and the church. They went home and told their dad, whose wife, Faye, had died of cancer about a year before that they had found the church he should be pastoring. Richard listened, but felt at the time, that God was using him where he was and that he was not quite ready to assume the senior pastor role again so soon after the changes in the family. He is father to Brian, 20, Valerie, 16, and Natalie, 15.

However, he tucked the thought in the back of his mind and began to pray about God's perfect will for his life. Richard is an engineer by profession, having earned a bachelor of science degree and a master's degree in engineering from Kansas State University before relocating to Texas. He had pastored both in Kansas and Texas as a bi-vocational pastor, meaning he worked a full time job and did the work of the ministry. Now, add to that, parenting three children shortly after their remarkable Christian mom died, and running the home. "I was on overload," said Richard. "But we were doing fine and my family was as happy as one could expect after losing my wife." Richard began to pray in earnest and one morning at 5:45 AM, he told the Lord that he needed definite direction about what to do. At 3:00 PM on the exact same day, he got his answer.

To cut to the chase, Richard contacted the church his daughters had stayed in while in High Island, talked to the pulpit committee members and agreed to come for a meeting. He preached morning and evening and ate gumbo from the Methodist church sale and fell quietly in love with what would become his new home. He assumed the pulpit as pastor on May 9, 2010 and the family moved into the parsonage on June 20, 2010. Brian attends Dallas Baptist University and both girls are happy students in High Island High School. I asked Richard what he had found to be the single greatest challenge of a single father rearing teenage daughters expecting to get a profound answer. He looked me straight in the eye and said, "Boyfriends."


Bucky and the pastor took me on a tour of their beautifully renovated sanctuary and I was amazed at the transformation since I had last seen it. The church family chose pleasing hues of blue and new pews, communion table, and baptistry. "Had it not been for Nehemiah's' Vision, our church would not have been ready for worship and we would not have our new pastor. I thank God for the work and pray for it daily," Bucky said with tears in his eyes.

When churches and ministries work together in harmony, God is there to bless and prosper. We at Nehemiah's Vision thank God for our partners and friends in the Kingdom work and are grateful to be used to help this church and its pastor. We pray God's richest blessings on their work.

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Galveston County Site Director for Nehemiah's Vision

'Carpe diem' - Seize the day - Not just a military term

"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him." (Psalm 126:6)

Every good Christian wants to be a faithful witness wherever he is and whatever he is doing. That is why it behooves Christians to always walk in the ways of the Lord and look for opportunities to share His love and His grace wherever we find ourselves in our busy lives. Executive Director of Nehemiah's Vision, James Hall, shared this story with me recently and I asked if I might share it with our blog readers. The incident was encouraging to me personally, and I believe it will be to you as well.

The only problem with the above exhortation is that sometimes our flesh is weak and our brain is heavily laden, and we simply don't feel like being much of a witness. Jim candidly admitted that near the end of yet another long meeting with professionals connected to the rebuilding effort in Galveston County, he was feeling tired and a little bogged down with the endless details and paperwork.

The ministry of Nehemiah's Vision had been talked about during the presentation and the crowd gathered that day learned that faithful volunteers join our paid staff and work on homes and churches to get them ready for folks to live and worship in following a disaster. The county has good acclaim for the work that is being done by this ministry.

Near the end of the meeting, a fellow attendee, perhaps a county employee, whom Jim had seen before, but did not really know, walked over to the table and asked a question. "I know what the ministry of Nehemiah's Vision does, and I have seen their work, but what I don't know or understand is why volunteers agree to come to help folks they don't even know. It is hot in Southeast Texas and the weather is often humid. The work is laborious and tiring especially in this heat. How do you get people to pay their own way to come and do that?"

Jim honestly said that his mind was busy, his body was tired, and that he gave him a rather pat answer. "Well, these people are Christians and they want to serve the Lord by helping other people. It is a way of witnessing or sharing their faith." Jim said the man looked somewhat confused and he realized right away that his answer had not been the best he could have given the inquirer. Jim said he thought about it for a split second, and decided to take the plunge. He gave the man two or three scriptures and wrote the verses on the back of a business card. He did care about the man, but it just did not seem to be the best time and place to witness for the Lord and to give a complete and clear plan of salvation.

The man took the card with him and Jim said he prayed for him as he drove home, but really did not think that much more about it since work demanded to be completed.

Jim and his wife attended church at First Baptist in Vidor on Sunday morning. "I was surprised when a man I knew tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Someone is in the foyer to see you.'" Jim said that he immediately thought of our workers and our jobs. "Has something gone wrong on a job site? Why would they be calling for me on Sunday morning during church?" he wondered as he made his way to the foyer.

There stood the man who had asked questions of Jim at the county meeting. The man shook hands with Jim and said, "I just came by to find you to say thank you for sharing the Gospel message with me. I went home, looked up the verses, prayed and trusted Christ, and felt that I wanted to let you know." Jim said his heart was beating faster and faster and he told the man how happy he was that he had trusted Christ.

"But how did you know where to find me?" Jim asked quite stunned. Jim doesn't always attend the same church because he often has to present the ministry to various church groups. The newly saved man said, "Oh, I did not know where to find you, but since you work in Vidor, I figured you probably went to church near there." He had stopped in a small coffee shop and asked if anyone knew where James Hall who worked for Nehemiah's Vision went to church. One of the employees said, "Well, they've did a lot of work at First Baptist right after the storm. Try there, and I'm sure they can tell you."

And, so he did. He met the church member in the foyer who happened to know Jim and know that he was in service that morning.

All of our soul-winning experiences do not turn out like this one did. We are commanded by Christ to go forth and sow the seed. Someone else may do the watering and someone else may harvest the fruit. Our job is to sow wherever and whenever we can. Thank God for faithful witnesses in every line of work and in every profession. How blessed are those in which we can see our labor. It gives us the strength and the joy to keep pressing on toward reaching others for the Kingdom.

By Brenda Cannon Henley
Galveston County Site Director for Nehemiah's Vision

James Chambless, faithful volunteer, a/k/a "Mr. Hat," has made five trips to Bolivar to help rebuild homes, and he's always found with a big smile...

What a dramatic change was wrought in a Port Bolivar home when workers from Bullard Southern Baptist Church put new siding on the structure

Galveston County Housing Assistance Program Director James Wilson congratulates James Hall, Executive Director of Nehemiah's Vision

Executive Director James Hall of Nehemiah's Vision was happy to hear the news announced by James Wilson of the Galveston County Housing Assistance Program that this faith- based, non-profit ministry has been named as one of the five rehabilition and repair companies to begin work under the Community Development Block Grant funding program. "This is the first time, to my knowledge, a faith-based ministry has been named in this government program," said Hall. "We are so pleased that our work has been examined and that we have been found to be above par. What it means to others in the county is that we can continue in helping to rebuild and repair homes damaged by Hurricane Ike."

Nehemiah's Vision has personnel in place to execute the lengthy bidding process, purchase needed materials, and obtain permitting in order to repair homes for those who have now been waiting for almost two years to get back into a comfortable living position. During the spring and summer months, volunteers come from across the country to give valuable work hours and skill in building, repairing, and helping to provide hope for those disasters have affected. Local churches and civic group often partner with Nehemiah's Vision in providing a wonderful mission trip, providing valuable service, and in winning people to Christ.

For more information about Nehemiah's Vision, please call Mona at (409) 768-8100. If you are interested in inquiring about the housing assistance program, please contact the Galveston County Housing Assistance Program at (409) 770-5369.

Brenda Cannon Henley, Galveston County Site Director for Nehemiah's Vision, can be reached at (409) 684-8419, or at Brenda@nehemiahsvision.com.

Chris Brandsma of Nehemiah's Vision meets with volunteers from Bullard Southern Baptist Church on Crystal Beach