7.29.09  |   Day Seven  ( WED )

Paul Fought started the morning meeting with a devotion reminding us that today we are on the mountain top. However, along with the mountain top soon comes the valley. Satan can't be happy with what has happened in Ligonier this week. Three young people accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, hearts were touched, seeds were planted and lives were changed forever. We are not naive enough to think that the spiritual battle taking place as we speak, does not involve us. We know that valley will come and we will be attacked by the enemy. Jesus spoke 3 "It is..." statements; "It is written" tells us that His Word is all we need to chase away the devil. "It is I" reminds us that Jesus is all we need to calm our fears and "It is finished" tells us that no more needs to be done to redeem us from our sins. Thank-you Jesus! The devotion ended with us circling around, laying hands on and praying for Dave Hilbish and Chris Fought. Matt Kreager was absent (something about the snooze button being too convenient...never mind that he had worked until 3:00am...), but we prayed for him anyways. These three guys are the heart and soul of Operation Foundation and if they were to be cut, they would certainly bleed green!! We love you guys, THANKS for caring.

The final day was spent wrapping up projects, closing down work sites, organizing tools for pick-up and closing down the command center. The last day is always a bit melancholy for those who have worked so hard through out the week. Everyone is tired and ready for rest. As I mentioned before though, it is a good tired, if you know what I mean. The memories and fulfillment that the week has provided will be with us the rest of our lives. New friends were made as well.

Summer Splash started promptly at 6:00pm, but the kids were lined up at 5:00!! Over 250 school kits were handed out to those who otherwise couldn't afford them. Games and free food were also provided by the OF crew.

The closing ceremony was again ably emcee'd by Danny Flores. I love your spirit Danny! Allegience provided the music with Rob Stahly presenting the keynote address. Several moving testimonies were also shared by some volunteers.

Thanks to each of you who helped, either by volunteering your time, talents, money, prayers or tools. May God bless and keep you until next time we meet. It is our prayer that the spirit of "Lovin on Ligonier" will not stop with the closing of the command center, but continue on throughout the coming year.

As the song says..."He's the God of our city...greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city"

Pictures to follow soon...

 

7.28.09  |  Day Six ( TUES )

The day started out rather "iffy" as far as the weather was concerned.Our first rain delay came at 9:20 a.m. Although paint projects were put on hold for a brief period, the rest of the volunteers seemed to get pleasure out of working in the rain. One of the painters reported that she felt sprinkles and she stopped to pray, she said it seemed as though the clouds split and the storm went north and south. Thank you God, for letting us keep doing your work!

Nate Lowe gave our devotion on the vine and the branches. He gave us a lesson on tomato plants, he had two branches. One branch was big and healthy, the other was small but had three blossoms. What we should do is take off the branches that don't produce fruit so that they aren't taking nutrients from the fruit bearer. God uses the same principal as He deals with believers, it's not enough to just be a believer and do nothing. We must bear fruit through everything we do!

Today it felt like time was running out for us to be able to accomplish all we wanted to, but again God gave everyone that extra drive to get things done.



Not sure what Molly has in her hand, but she doesn't look too happy to be holding it.


Some of the kids loved getting wet. The rain didn't slow them down at all!


Many hands make light work...about 20 kids and adults are moving a huge pole down to Indian Lake in order to make a bridge over the creek. Larry Green, Nate Lowe and Wes Weimer are leading the way.

 .
Finishing up. Caleb and Nate taking in some of God's handiwork.


One of the many painting projects


The Girl Scouts came to help


Mrs.Long gets a new step

Our meal for the evening was chicken noodles. mashed potatoes, green beans, and applesauce. Thank you Beta Sigma Phi Sorority for providing it.

 

7.27.09  |  Day Five ( MON )

Today was again a day filled with laughter, excitement and seriousness when needed. Everyone seems to have a loving, caring spirit, and a determination to do the best job possible. We had devotions led by Deb Schermerhorn. She spoke on how outside forces are going to discourage us. We had a very special time of praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ. We did a modified version of feet washing, we actually had a hand washing and it was very moving. Danny Flores is still leading his very large crew and painting a house on Main street. The house went from gray and burgundy to green and brown. Very nice job paint crew!! A large amount of mowing, raking, weed pulling and painting went on today. We had approximately 230 volunteers...PTL!

Tami Golden and her summer splash volunteers packed 261 school kits from 9:00am to 2:30pm. The most ever received since Operation Foundation began...another blessing from our awesome God. Spread the word, this is a great opportunity to save a little money on your back to school needs. A great big THANK-YOU to all that contributed to this cause.
 

Inside the Command Center.


Neal Parks finishing up the roofing project.


Get back to work Bill!!!


Looks good Cindy!


Danny Flores and his paint crew working on the Locke home.


A great big thank-you to Trinity Lutheran Church for supplying a great meal of sloppy joes, chips, potato salad and various desserts! It was yummy!
 

7.26.09  |  Day of rest  ( SUN )

WOW! Just returned home from a great concert! The opening band was from right here in Ligonier, God has truly blessed the band Alliegence with a lot of talent. Thank you so much for your passion. Joe Vargas wasn't feeling well, but God gave him what he needed to get through the evening and they were awesome! The headliner band was a group called Bread Of Stone. Many of us were blessed to hear the group twice. They were at Stone's Hill Community Church for morning worship. We are so thankful and honored that would come to Ligonier to show us how to really praise God! I don't know if anyone counted heads, but it looked like there were at least a couple hundred people there. There was a great show of support for the bands and Operation Foundation. God is so good and it is so evident He is putting His blessing on this whole endeavor. I will post pictures when I recieve them, check back tomorrow.....

 

Bread of Stone doing sound check.


Bread of Stone


Tim was a favorite with all the girls.


Bread Of Stone with the Simmons family 

7.25.09  |  Day Three ( SAT )

Welcome to day three of Operation Foundation O9 blog. Many great things were accomplished today. Nate Reynolds opened the day with a devotion about the good Samaritan. We need to make that extra effort when we see a person in need. We should love God and love others as we love ourselves, our motto for this year has been,  " Lovin on Ligonier " He reminded us to keep the main thing, the main thing! Work continues to be done on several paint projects,we also had people cutting down trees and removing stumps. As you drive through Ligonier you can really begin to see some of the physical changes, but just as importantly you can see emotional and spiritual changes. I like to refer to it as a Christmas atmosphere, everyone just seems happier! It is neat to see smiling faces. Today was the day of our porkburger fundraiser. Many porkburgers were sold and stomachs were filled. We'd like to thank Noble Co. pork producers for the donation of the burgers.

 

Chris doing nothing while his dad works...hmmmmm


Paul & Andy Fought cooking porkburgers.


This crew of people went above and beyond the call of duty to retrieve items out of Indian Lake

 

The Millers hard at work.


Danny Flores and team.


Deb Schermerhorn took groups of kids out daily to serve.


Tad Groff and Neal Parks working on a roof

As day 3 was nearing a close, we were saddened to hear that our good friend Arnold Weimer passed away. Arnold has been a dependable volunteer for each of the last 2 years. A huge hole will be left from this day forward. His always present smile and obvious care for others won't be easy to replace. Workers will miss that little red pick-up truck coming around the corner with that ice cold water and a word of encouragement! We will miss you and will see you soon my friend! I'm thinking that Arnold has already heard those words..."Well done good and faithful servant".
 

Don't forget to attend the Bread Of Stone concert, Sunday,July 26th  8:00 p.m. in front of the fire station!  See you there!

7.24.09  |  Day Two ( FRI )

Day two of OF09 was again a day of blessings and miracles.Pastor Joey started off the day with devotions, focusing on being an "Ordinary Radical" in a nutshell he told us that we should each treat Ligonier as our own little island. We should make it a foretaste of what Heaven will be like. God gave us each gifts, talents, and abilities and we should use them to His glory. The next item of the day was river clean-up. Aprox. 25 people met at Woodlawn Park and were first given a tour of the sewage treatment plant, they were shown the process of what happens to the water. After the tour volunteers were loaded up and taken to the start point of the river clean-up. It was reported that three years ago the group brought out 60 tires, a refridgerator and an air conditioner along with a lot of trash. Three year later there was still some  trash, but only about 16 tires. It appears as though Operation Foundation is having an impact on people. We had many people who went out to work projects while the river clean-up was going on. I had mentioned the day 
held some miracles, one such miracle was a team who had gone to the home of a sr.citizen. The group was going to be cleaning windows inside and out. As the woman opened  the door to let the group in , there was an obvious odor of a gas leak. The fire department was called and it was confirmed she did indeed have a gas leak and the gas company was called to fix it. We are praising God that this situation had a happy ending. Please enjoy some pictures from our day...
 

Pastor Joey listening intently to his assignment for the day.


Looking good girls!


The Welcome Center receiving a facelift.


Just after the daily kid time at the firestation.


Chris Fought and Jeff Simmons in the manlift.


Some of the work crews were given assignments to build up, some were given opportunity to tear down!
 

* Please pray for the Weimer family, several of our committed volunteers are related to Arnold Weimer who is in the hospital fighting for his life. Arnold is a very special man who has really been a blessing to Operation Foundation in the past. He was our designated "water man"

 A big thank you to Rosemary Targgart and the crew at West End Cafe for a great lunch!

7.23.09  |  Day One ( THUR )

The first day of OF09 was a great success.  The day began with a leaders meeting at 7:00 a.m., with devotions led by Chris Fought, there were 42 people present. Following devotions Matt Kreager went over work projects for the day. As the day progressed more people showed up and by 4:00 p.m. the count was at 150. The rain held out and the temps were in the 70's. Some of the jobs accomplished by the group were....
                      power washing of buildings
                      interior demolition of a building   
                      landscaping and grass planting
                      bushes trimmed
                      general yard work and clean-up
                      many more misc. jobs
 

Chris and Matt preparing for the daily meeting.


Jeff and Chris going up, up and away!


Looks like a rough crew.


Tim and his clean-up crew

 

The day was topped off with a delicious meal provided by the Pena family. Thank you so  much!

7.22.09  |  Opening Ceremony
   

7.22.09  |  Operation Foundation 2009 is Here! 

The week we've all been waiting for is finally here! We will be updating this blog daily with a recap of the day's events, including projects completed, testimonies, pictures, and stories from throughout the week.

Please remember to check this blog daily, and of course, stop on by the Command Center downtown at the Old Village Market building 108 S. Cavin St.!

There are plenty of projects for everyone, old and young!

Don't forget about the Opening Celebration tonight at 8 PM on the Library Lawn.

Thanks,
Chris
 

 7.22.09 | New Blog Feature

Check this blog daily for news and updates throughout the week!

Thanks,
Chris