WHY WE ARE HERE

World Changers asks that each participant ask him or herself an important question -- "Why am I here?" As part of youth group devotions Monday night, groups will be discussing evangelism and the importance of sharing Jesus Christ with the people of Chattanooga this week. Youth group leaders will receive Why We're Here cards in their registration packs on Monday to share with students and adults, as well as to discuss with them. There will also be further information for group leaders in their folders when they arrive, and it will be discussed at the adult meeting. Please be praying for the many people in Chattanooga who need Jesus Christ in their lives. World Changers may be the only Jesus they ever see, so pray for many opportunities to share.

WEEK ONE HYDRATION WOES

As many of you know, Week One of the Chattanooga project is going on right now, and it is HOT here. Over the last two days, several adults and students have struggled with the heat, especially with dehydration. With temps in the 90's and very high humidity, we need to HYDRATE, HYDRATE, HYDRATE! Everyone needs to drink, drink, drink whether you are thirsty or not. Each site will have a cooler with ice. and there will be a water source. We don't want anyone to miss a moment of World Changers!

ENCOURAGRAMS!

When packing for this World Changers trip, don't forget to include some colored pens, stickers, and markers for your Encouragrams! A very vital part of your World Changers week is your visit to your Encouragram envelope where friends and crew mates can place encouraging notes for you and where you may do the same. Encouragrams are a great way to give others a kind and encouraging word to make their day! You may also recieve E-Encouragrams. Tell your friends and parents to go to www.world-changer.net to find out how to get you a message. Remember, however, that E-Encouragrams only can be sent beginning the Tuesday of our project.

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD

This year World Changers wants to help minister to children all over the world through Samaritan's Purse's Operation Christmas Child. World Changers hopes to collect 100,000 boxes this summer, and Chattanooga WC wants to be part of it! Most of you will be familiar with the program, but please visit the website for details at www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/index/. It would be awesome if EACH participant could come to World Changers with a box filled and wrapped!!!

OUR FABULOUS SUMMER STAFF!

When Bobby Boutwell, our Associational Coordinator, took his church group to Indianapolis a few weeks ago for World Changers, the summer staff there told him that Chattanooga's summer staff was the SUPER STARS of World Changers this year, and I believe it! We are soooo fortunate to have Stephanie Baker, Andrew Marshall, Neal Samudre, and Carlee Ammons coming to Chattanooga to work with us. Here are five facts about each:

Stephanie -- Team Leader and Office Manager

• She is from Salida, Colorado
• She just graduated from Oklahoma Baptist university with a degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education
• She will be moving to Moscow, Russia, to teach/do mission work in August
• Her favorite place to be is either in the mountains, on a boat, or around any body of water
• During middle school she raced in downhill skiing and went to the Junior Olympics

Andrew -- Music Leader

• He has long hair
• His pants size is 32 X 34
• All he does is bruth his hair and play his guitar
• He is Man (hear him roar)
• He drives a 1996 Red Saturn SL1

Neal -- Audiovisuals

• He washes his hands before and after each meal and apparently that's a wierd thing to do
• He is 100% East Indian and ironically can't sit indian-style
• He used to sing professionally with a famous acapello group in Virginia until he quit this year to pursue another calling for himself
• He is a junior at James Madison University in Harrisburg, VA, and he studies film and religion with a desire to be a pastor after getting his masters in divinity at a theological seminary
• This is his second year on WC staff, and he likes his action cams to be an interactive experience with the students. In other words, they'll definitely be a fun time!

Carlee -- Mission Communication Specialist

• She is a student at Howard Payne University in the heart of Texas
• She plays volleyball at HPU
• She loves almonds and cashews, and she is a total nut :)
• "The Classic Crime" is her favorite band
• She is a morning person and always has excessive amounts of energy when she wakes up!

THE LADIES WHO KEEP US GOING!

There will be two very special ladies taking care of us at Chattanooga World Changers -- our two First Aid Coordinators! Gail Peistrup and Krystal Smith will be working with us to make sure everyone is well taken care of all week. Gail will be posted at Brainerd Baptist during the day and will make calls to the work sites, while Krystal is working on a crew and will be on call at BBC during the evenings.

Gail is a nurse from St. Louis, Missouri, who is no newby to missions and to World Changers. She began her WC role as first Aid Coordinator in 2001, and since has traved with World Changers to five states and two countries. Gail "...considers it a wonderful opportunity to minister to all anywhere and everywhere God calls." She is very excited about what God is going to do in Chattanooga "for His glory alone!"

Krystal is a newlywed from Fredericksburg, Virginia, who went to World Changers when she was a youth, and now she is thrilled to be able to come again as a participant and a first aid coordinator. She is a full-time paramedic fire-fighter who is going to school to become a registered nurse. Krystal said, "I can't wait to serve God and find out what He has in store for me in Tennessee!"

Don't you feel great about having these two awesome ladies taking care of us!!

Where We Will Work and What Do We Bring?

Since our project is almost here, many of you are asking about where we will work and what you need to bring. Our worksites are mostly in downtown Chattanooga, and these pics are samples of some of the sites. Most of our work will be painting, with some handicap ramps and porch/decks thrown in. So, every participant needs to bring a paint brush, a scraper, a hammer, safety glasses, and work gloves. Chattanooga is well known for its humidity and misquitoes, so insect repellant and sunscreen are essential. Clothing for work should be jeans or carpenter pants, close-toed shoes (tennis shoes or boots are great), socks, tee shirts (with sleeves!), a visor or hat.

For worship and free time, modest shorts, teeshirts (with sleeves again -- absolutely no tank tops or spaghetti straps!), and sandals. The weather in Chattanooga is hot, but the church is very air-conditioned, so a hoodie is a good idea. Check out this list for all the other things to bring!

WELCOME CHURCH GROUPS!

Chattanooga World Changers will be the home of eighteen church groups from eleven different states during the week of July 25 through 30. Wow! Here is a list of the churches and group leaders, so you can look them up and also begin praying for each group.

• Agape Baptist Church of Trussville, Alabama -- 2 participants -- Kevin Small, group leader
• Antioch Baptist Church of Tallapoosa, Georgia -- 15 participants -- Jennifer King, group leader
• Baptist Chapel of Godwin, North Carolina -- 8 participants -- Erika Wrench, group leader
• Boone Trail Baptist Church of Johnson City, Tennessee -- 40 participants -- Ryan Epps, group leader
• Chiquola Baptist Church of Honea Path, South Carolina -- 9 participants -- Nick Smith, group leader
• Comer First Baptist Church of Comer, Georgia -- 11 participants -- Marty Jacobs, group leader
• Crossroads Baptist Church of Spartanburg, South Carolina -- 25 participants -- Michael Evans, group leader
• Denmark First Baptist Church of Bamberg, South Carolina -- 15 participants -- Beth Pruett, group leader
• First Baptist Church of Matthews, North Carolina -- 45 participants -- Kasey Carter, group leader
• First Baptist Church of Ruston, Louisiana -- 40 participants -- Josh Sanderson, group leader
• First Baptist Church of Highland Heights, Alexandria, Kentucky -- 19 participants -- Nick Heiss, group leader
• First Baptist Church of St. John, St. Louis, Missouri -- 13 participants -- Gail Peistrup, group leader
• Franklin Baptist Church of Franklin, Illinois -- 4 participants -- Darin Peterson, group leader
• Mineral Springs Baptist Church of Vinion, Virginia -- 30 participants -- Micah Young, group leader
• Oakhurst Baptist Church of Asheboro, North Carolina -- 9 participants -- Duncan Hunter, group leader
• Stanley First Baptist Church of Stanley, North Carolina -- 7 participants -- Billy Shaw, group leader
• United Baptist Church of Winston-Salem, North Carolina -- 13 participants -- Hope Clapp, acting group leader
• Vandola Baptist Church of Danville, Virginia -- 14 participants -- Cindy Bortz, group leader

OUR HOME AWAY FROM HOME!

The lodging facility for Chattanooga World Changers is Brainerd Baptist Church. It is located at 300 Brookfield Drive, Chattanooga 37411.  Brainerd has hosted WC crews for years, and they are masters at it. The church is not new is a very nice, well-maintained facility. You will register at the front porch of the church, then you will unload at the sliding glass door entrance on the side.

Boys will be rooming on the first floor in preschool classrooms, and girls will be rooming on the third floor in classrooms. The second floor houses the church offices, so it is off-limits.   Here is a sample classroom where the boys will be staying, but of course, the furniture will all be pushed into a corner or into the hall.  There will be two restrooms on the both floors for your use, and all showers will be taken outside in Disaster Relief shower trailers -- two for boys and two for girls.

We will gather for our delicious meals in the fellowship hall, located under the sanctuary, just steps away from the rooming quarters. Our meals will be provided by the church's disaster relief team who are masters at preparing and serving delicious meals quickly and efficiently!

Our worship services will be held in the large church sanctuary. 

You will find Brainerd Baptist Church to be a fabulous facility for your week in Chattanooga! The space is roomy, the people are helpful, and the location is central. Just wait!

THE WORLD CHANGERS SCHEDULE

OUR WEEK'S SCHEDULE

You will hit the ground running when you arrive in Chattanooga on Monday, July 25th! We have an action-packed schedule, so it is important that all leaders, chaperones, and participants are VERY familiar with it -- with what happens each day, each afternoon, each evening. Please call Pam if you have any questions!

MEET YOUR LEADERSHIP TEAM!

In just a few weeks, you will be meeting your leadership team in person, but here are some pics and info about us that hopefully will help you know our lifes and our hearts now!

Our Speaker, Joey Bentley

Joey is the youth pastor at First Baptist Church Satuma (outside of Mobile, AL). He LOVES youth ministry and World Changers! He has been involved in ten WC projects, and last year served as speaker at the Chicago project (he has some stories about that one!). Joey has a beautiful wife and 18-month-old daughter, and he is an avid sports fan -- Red Sox, Sooners, and Cowboys (he's from Oklahoma, but we like him anyway!). He is VERY excited about coming to Chattanooga and meeting you guys.

Our National Missionaries, Bill and Modena Kagay

We are truly blessed to have Bill and Modena as the national missionaries assigned to our project. They actually live in Chattanooga most of the year, and they have been committed to World Changers since its very beginning. They are the hardest workers Ricky and I have ever known! Before Bill and Modena "officially" worked with NAMB, they were WC volunteers just like you! They will be flying from the Philadelphia project to visit our project on July 28 and 29.

Our Associational Coordinator, Bobby Boutwell

Bobby Boutwell is our associational coordinator extraordinaire! He is the guy who provides delicious lunches for the work sites and who coordinates our Wednesday night block party. Bobby took his first group to World Changers in 1994 and has since taken groups to nine others all over the U.S. and Canada. He has been involved in Chattanooga projects since 2003 and is the project coordinator for the first week of the Chattanooga project. Bobby is married and has three incredible children (all of whom help him work on WC!). In his time away from World Changers, Bobby is Worship Minister of First Baptist Church Soddy Daisy, a suburb of Chattanooga.

Our Project Coordinator and Construction Coordinators, Pam and Ricky Rector

Pam and Ricky have been involved in World Changers in several capacities for twelve years from group leaders to crew chief/encourager to coordinators. Teaming up for the first time, both have experience in their roles, Pam as PC in Buffalo and Ricky as CC three years in Chattanooga. They have two married children who were both World Changers and a new week-old granddaughter whom they feel sure will become a World Changer one day! They are both retired, Pam from teaching and Ricky from the Tennessee Valley Authority, and they LOVE working with World Changers. Ricky and Pam cannot WAIT to meet you all!

Pre-Project Is Fabulous!

Our pre-project on April 29th was a great experience! We enjoyed meeting some of you, as well as those people here for week one. We were fortunate to have Vanessa Jackson and Tony Sammons from the Chattanooga Neighborhood Services who will be funding our project. An extra special treat was our National World Changer Coordinators Bill and Modena Kagay, who were able to join us. Our agenda included touring our housing facility Brainerd Baptist Church, visiting some of the areas where our work sites will be located, and discussing the following information:

• Daily schedule
• Wednesday night block party
• Transportation
• Expectations and dress code
• Construction
• Crew chiefs and crew encouragers
• Group Leader's Manual
• Group Information Forms

We also had lots of great discussion, question/answer time, and bonding time! I will be posting more details about most of our agenda on this blog. Special thanks to all who made the trip to Chattanooga and their families!

Meeting with Our City Reps

On Tuesday, April 12, Ricky, Pam, and Bobby met with the Agency Representatives from the City of Chattanooga, Vanessa Jackson and Anthony Sammons. Vanessa and Tony are World Changers veterans, having worked with the Chattanooga project for years. They are very committed to the purpose of World Changers and work hard to make the project a success. Vanessa has gathered and organized a list of candidates for both our weeks in July. Tony is busy working out other details such as vendors, dumpsters, and many other important components. Soon Ricky will begin visiting homeowners and assessing houses in order to select the 2011 project sites. Both Vanessa and Tony will join us for the Pre-Project on the 29th, so many of you will be able to meet them at that time.

Pre-Project Is Coming! Pre-Project Is Coming!

We invite you to come to Chattanooga for our Pre-Project on Friday, April 29th. We hope to give you lots of information, answer many questions, and give you a little taste of the beauty of Spring in Chattanooga! Here is our tentative schedule for the day:

• 12:00 noon -- Meet at Brainerd Baptist Church for lunch and informational meeting
• 2:00 -- Tour our lodging facilities
• 3:00 -- Tour tentative worksites
• 4:30 -- Return to church for question/answer time
• 5:30 -- Dinner downtown
• 7:00 -- Head home or stay the night and enjoy Chattanooga!

Please make your plans to come join us for this awesome time together. Since we hope to provide your lunch, it is important to get a count of who will be attending. Please email me at pamrector@hotmail.com as soon as possible, telling me yay or nay. I will be posting the agenda next week, so please email me any areas you particularly want discussed.

You can spend as little or as much as you would like on the trip. There are inexpensive $50+ rooms available in the Hamilton Place area (Microtel, LaQuinta) and in East Ridge (Day's Inn), both of which are just a few minutes away from Brainerd Baptist Church. If you would like to stay downtown, prices will be higher but so will be the fun and atmosphere. Since we hope to provide lunch, your dinner will be your only meal expense.

I look forward to hearing from you soon! Have a blessed day!

Welcome World Changers!

Your Chattanooga World Changers leadership team welcomes you to our blog and to Chattanooga! The blog will be updated often, and posts will be added that will:

• Introduce you to all the leadership team
• Give you information about the upcoming pre-project scheduled for April 29th here in Chattanooga
• Provide you details about preparing your group for the upcoming project
• Share pictures of sample work sites, using last year's project pics, as well as pictures of our housing site
• Post packing lists, as well as information about what do expect and where to go in Chattanooga
• Give you the latest updates from World Changers and NAMB

Please save this blog as a favorite, and check it weekly. We hope to update it each Sunday or Monday. Also share it with students and parents, since much of what is posted will also be helpful and interesting to them.

We are THRILLED to welcome you to Chattanooga, and we hope most of you will be able to come in for the pre-project! We will meet for lunch, then tour Brainerd Baptist and work sites, have an organizational/informative meeting, and wrap up the day with dinner together. We think you will LOVE our city, our project, our people, and our ministry!

Please continue to pray for this project and for your students and chaperones, as well as for the people in Chattanooga whose lives you will change. May God bless you richly!