Mission Houston News

Successful Houston Schools Project Encourages Continuing Cooperative Ministries

By Karen Campbell

Houston's open arms and caring hearts aren't limited to hurricane recovery. A year after Katrina, churches are once again working together to make a difference.

Nearly 2,500 volunteers representing 88 congregations spent the month of August 2006 "loving their neighbors" as they responded to needs at 26 different schools in the Houston metro area. More than $450,000 in labor and financial contributions added to the success of this cooperative citywide effort called the Houston Schools Project. Launched as a part of CityFest Houston with Luis Palau, the Project provided evidence once again that Houston churches are on mission together.

Usually when Luis Palau brings his weekend festival featuring Christian musicians, extreme sports, children's activities and soul-stirring presentations of the gospel to a city, a singular compassion project is selected in which area churches can invest time and money. According to Ministries vice-president Kevin Palau, never before have the Palau festivals experienced a city in which the churches had so much experience at relating and working with each other.

Mission Houston's long investment in uniting the church in the city helped lay a foundation both for raising funds for the October 7-8 CityFest as well as organizing communities to minister to schools through the school projects. In fact, Mission Houston's contribution to the early success at helping to raise one third of the budget needed for the $3.7 million festival in only two months helped convince CityFest officials to veer from their usual strategy of working in a city, explained Jim Herrington, chairman of the board and founder of Mission Houston.

Mission Houston leaders first utilized the model of segmenting the city into Community Service Areas (CSAs) for connecting pastors in relationships and prayer for one another, and for mobilizing intercessors to unite in prayer for their community. Later CSAs were asked to complete people group research.. Currently, 42 CSAs are operating. Eighteen formed Houston Schools Project ministry teams. The communities served stretched from LaPorte to Katy to Clear Lake to the Woodlands.

"I don't think anything of this scope has ever happened," said Herrington.

"The efforts of these many volunteers will go a long way in improving the learning environment at the schools. We've been praying for the success of these projects and that God will open a door within these schools for us to be agents of change on a long-term basis."

The Luis Palau Festivals are known for offering two full days of free Christian music, extreme sports demonstrations and children's activities along with gospel presentations by a variety of people. While on-site expressions of care such as food drives have been included in previous events in Orlando, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and other locales, Houston is the first site to employ multiple venues for compassionate outreach.

Planning for the Houston Schools Project began before schools closed last spring. Preliminary interviews with school officials had CSA team members collecting information such as what administrators thought the best aspects of the neighborhood and school were as well as problem areas for both.

Several CSAs heard assessments similar to those of Dr. Bonny Cain of E.A. Lawhon Elementary, "When a school district has high socio-economic students and the school doesn't do its job well, parents have resources to get it done anyway. However, when a school district has low socio-economic students and the school doesn't do its job, the kids have no way out of the poverty. So when you help one of these schools get the job done, you are directly helping these kids."

Comments such as these helped shape the four August weekends of sweat-filled activities that ranged from landscaping playgrounds, to library refurbishment, to improving teachers lounges and even installing outdoor ponds and AC units. One group of churches in the Galena Park Independent School District served 3,299 meals to children over a two week period when it was discovered that the lunch program had depleted its funds with days left in the school's summer program.

Resources and training for the compassion projects were designed by Mission Houston ministry associate Michael Aceves-Lewis who has devoted most of 2006 to working with CityFest. During the October 7-8 event, he will focus primarily on the on site Community Care Area sponsored by Texas Children's Hospital which will offer health and wellness screenings

While two days filled with addressing individual and family health management issues will prove helpful to many, Aceves-Lewis is excited about the long-term implications of the Houston Schools Projects.

"With CityFest we're really just casting the net. We've trained and provided resources but at the end of the day you can't make people do it. . . . I was really amazed at the scale of the projects. What pleasantly surprised me is that a lot of these churches could do something on their own. They don't have to collaborate and yet they did," noted Aceves-Lewis of the teams which at times included five to ten churches working alongside one another.

"We pitched this as a ëserve-and-stay' and they are already taking steps to see what they can do next," he explained. "Once you know you can't pretend you don't know, it's hard to walk away and not be involved. You want to stay engaged so these children can be all they can be in the school."

At least 64% of the 20,000 students affected by the projects are considered to be from low income families. According to school officials that fact translates into children who don't always have the proper uniforms and school supplies as well as family situations that place hardships on learning.

"In all school districts there are things you can spend tax dollars on and things you can't and school officials asked for the things you can't," noted Herrington of the numerous efforts to refurbish playgrounds, provide better lounges for teachers, landscape, and paint.

Funding the various projects came from churches and cash and in kind gifts from the business community. The aggregate value of the 20 completed projects to date exceeds $340,000.

For instance, in the Copperfield/CyFair CSA the Local Christian Business Owners were able to collect over $7,300 toward the donation of gift cards for the teachers of Bane Elementary School. Rick Ervin, a local Christian Business owner, presented gift certificates valued at $86 each from the Basic Office and Teacher Supply Store to all 85 teachers at Bane.

Suzy Seidel, prayer coordinator for Copperfield/CyFair CSA, reported, "This school believed us when we said they were not forgotten. They believed us when we said they mattered and what they did mattered. They believed us when we said the church community wanted to remain a part of their future. They believed us enough to allow the door of relationship to remain open to us. Now, we, as representatives of Christ and His Church must remain faithful to those ideals and those words. I look forward to our journey together in that!"

At Piney Point Elementary, more than 400 volunteers showed up to focus on a school facility designed to meet the needs of only half their current population. One project there included building picnic tables so that students would have places to sit during lunch breaks.

But good intentions are not always combined with good weather and these numerous volunteers faced at least one rainstorm that left the landscapers covered in mud but still "smiling from ear to ear," reported Peter Forbes, Director of Fundraising for CityFest Houston who was volunteering with Memorial Drive Presbyterian.

"What I saw was a lot of people sharing their blood, sweat and tears as well as their manual labor. I saw a lot of connections as new relationships were formed, often across racial lines. And I saw a lot of people having a wonderful time as they realized they could contribute to something much bigger and more significant than themselves. I think for many of us it may have been the first time we ever did anything quite like this. And we loved it!" he said.

At Piney Point, Memorial Drive Presbyterian, Tallowood Baptist, Abundant Harvest, and Clubcreek New Life Community Baptist provided the volunteers. Worship leaders from each church conducted a service held on the premises of Piney Point the Friday before the labor began on Saturday. Prayer warriors prayed through two single-spaced pages of requests compiled by teachers.

Repeatedly, the CSA project leaders voiced gratitude for how churches were able to overcome previous barriers to cooperation and worship, serve and pray alongside one another.

Eleven North Channel churches pulled together to provide 3299 meals for summer school children when Galena Park ISD funds were depleted, power washed sidewalks, planted shrubs, and assisted teachers in returning to their classrooms for the fall.

More than $9000 was collected by the churches to fund these efforts and provide school supplies for almost every secondary school in the district.

Recounting the impact of the August compassion projects, Melanie Ayers of Sterling Wood Baptist noted, "The churches in North Channel through the power of Christ have pulled together and boldly stated, ëWe are united, and we do see and care about the needs of our community.' We made this statement not with our words but with our tremendous generosity and acts of service."

CityFest Houston with Luis Palau is chaired and sponsored by major Houston business, civic and spiritual leaders such as David Weekley of David Weekley Homes, Bob McNair of the Houston Texans, Drayton McLane of the Astros, and over 500 other Houston area churches.

"From its inception, most of us who have been involved in CityFest have viewed it as a catalytic event in an ongoing process. It has truly turned out to be a catalytic event. The recent weekends of compassion projects are unprecedented in Houston and are the most recent evidence of ways that God is using CityFest," concluded Brian Gowan of Mission Houston and the Houston Prays network.

To build on that momentum 200 key leaders have been invited to a Mission Houston hosted September luncheon that will address how to carry the impact of the coordinated and cooperative compassion projects into 2007 and beyond.

"I became convinced a few years ago that if we could increase the number of people who experience the joy of working together and they saw the benefits to our neighbors then it will whet the appetite of people for more. I believe the Houston Schools Project may serve as that launch for even further cooperative ministry," said Mission Houston executive director Steve Capper.

Current compassion project leaders like Gerry Vander-Lyn of Bridgeway Charitable Foundation echo the need to continue rather than conclude the projects once CityFest concludes.

"I volunteered to be the facilitator for CSA-12 [East End/Gulfgate] because I knew that this section of the city needed help more than most and I believed that my church, in cooperation with other churches, non-profits, and businesses could make a big difference. I also knew how desperate the public schools are and I knew that even a small amount of help could make a huge difference," she said.

"In my mind, I had us doing a modest project this year and getting more ambitious next year. Well, we did a year two project in year one! We have made a great beginning."