Beaumont All-Women Blitz Build

January 23, 2008

Sharon Watkins shares her experiences during the Habitat All-Women Blitz Build in Beaumont, Texas.

Sharon Watkins (center) and participants of the All-Women Blitz Build listen as last minute instructions are given.

I'm on a plane on my way home from Beaumont, TX, nursing some pretty sore muscles. Beaumont is a hub city in Southeast Texas, where one of the first great oil wells in the world was discovered. It was target of Hurricane Rita in 2005. Driving into town, you can still see the telltale piles of brush and branches next to misshapen trees - a common sight after major storms. Memory and emotion about Rita's devastation are still near the surface of the citizens there.

But as Uliana Trylowsky, Executive Director of the Beaumont Habitat for Humanity told me, "Sometimes the most horrific happenings unexpectedly bring you into contact with people you would never want to miss knowing. Rita brought us into contact with the Disciples of Christ. We love the Disciples."

I was in Beaumont for the town's first-ever Habitat All-Women Blitz Build - a project of the Office of Disciples Women supported by Disciples Volunteering of Disciples Home Missions, Week of Compassion and Habitat for Humanity. The project for the first day was to frame the house. Uliana and I worked side-by-side taking turns hammering nails and holding 2x4's in place. We also chatted.

"Disciples have been wonderful," she said - several times. "You've come again and again. Look at these houses." She gestured at the whole street stretching back from the cul-de-sac where we stood. "Disciples on mission trips have had a role in building many of these. And others besides."

It made me proud of us.

Uliana was also delighted that Disciples were involved in Beaumont's first ever all women's build. (Most of the 51 women of all ages who showed up to construct the shell of a house in four days had a considerable amount of trepidation mixed with our delight!) And yet at the end of the day, we had the walls framed, most of them raised, and you could see the outline of a house!

Actually, no one should be surprised that Disciples, Habitat and "first" would go together.

Sharon Watkins helps with the framing during the build.

When Habitat for Humanity was just a budding idea in the mind of Millard Fuller, he and his wife, Linda were Disciples/United Church of Christ missionaries in Mbandaka, Congo (then Zaire). They had this idea about building houses with donated labor and sweat equity on the part of the owner, with interest-free loans based on donated funds that would become available for new home-owners as the first loans were paid off. They piloted the project right there in Mbandaka, home of the Disciples of Christ of Congo. Built on the former no-man's land between the colonial/white part of town and the African/black section, this first Habitat project became a symbol of unity - how appropriate for Disciples! This partnership among American and Congolese Disciples and United Church of Christ became the prototype of a movement to bring affordable housing to the world's low-income hard-working people.

No one should be surprised either to see Disciples women and hands-on mission linked. The Beaumont All Woman Blitz Build follows in a tradition dating back to the late 1800's, when a global missionary movement was budding worldwide. Disciples kept talking about becoming part of the growing world-wide missionary movement by sending a missionary somewhere overseas, but it was just too complicated - until the women decided to do it. And within months, they did.

We do our mission - hands-on and otherwise - together now. As one church committed to being and sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ from our doorsteps to the ends of the earth. And Habitat has long since grown from a great idea in the head of a Disciples missionary into a movement of its own.

But being on the Beaumont build, and talking to Uliana, reminded me yet again: I love our church! I love our pragmatic "get it done!" spirit that bonds with our passion for the oneness of God's whole created world - and leads us to work in partnership with whoever will bring healing and wholeness to the communities we touch.

At our best we are a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world. I felt that at Beaumont.

Your Comments On Sharon's Experience

	From: Rev. Valerie J. Melvin Date: Thursday, February 14, 2008 - 8:14 AM Comments: Participating in this build constituted my very first mission trip. In retrospect, I see it as was one of the many defining moments of my journey. I was proud that our General Minister and President was with us; I saw her work hard which was inspiring to me...an unskilled carpenter. My presence was due to the generosity of the wonderful Disciples of North Carolina (God's Country). I came away from this experience knowing that faith without works really is a dead faith. The gift of shelter, safety, home, and yes, family was pomised to us in God's divine word...but we were not given the blueprints for for exactly how they might come to be. We have been holy emissaries, providing shelter, safety, home, and finally a place where this family can experience God's definition of family. With our names embedded in one of the walls of this home, we are now part of this family....eternally. Blessings~
	From: Brenda Warren Date: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 - 9:07 AM Comments: Many thanks and God's great blessings to the Disciples women who gave of their treasured vacation time and used their hard-earned money to come from all over the U.S. & Canada to Beaumont for this Disciples Women's Blitz Build to build this home through the unity of Habitat for Humanity, Disciples Women, and Disciples Volunteering. It has been heart-warming to me, my congregation, and this community to see how Disciples have reached out continually to Beaumont and to all of Southeast Texas since Hurricane Rita in 2005. Disciples have truly been Christ's hands and heart at work in Southeast Texas and we will be eternally grateful. You have put an imprint of Christ's love and compassion on this area. Thank you Sharon for being part of this Build! Disciples women ROCK! Brenda Warren, Pastor First Christian Church Beaumont, Texas
	From: Loma Sullivan Date: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 - 2:18 PM Comments: I had a great time with everyone at the blitz. We were glad to be there, thrilled to work together, happy at what we accomplished (except for being rained out the last day and a half) and delighted at the prospect that Disciples women of the SW were going to finish the project. We're ready to go again! Blessings on everyone! Loma Sullivan, Reg. Assoc. Pastor, Region of Oklahoma
	From: Amber Dixson Date: Monday, February 11, 2008 - 6:14 PM Comments: Having over 50 women gathered together from all over the United States and Canada was truly a life changing experience. Many women were less than enthusiastic about tools and all, but by the time we left, we all had the sore muscles of worth-while work. Faith in the Church as the Body of Christ is always bolstered by events like this. We went, we saw, and we did!! I hope that this is just the first of many women’s building events.
	From: Steve Huston Date: Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 9:11 AM Comments: Looking at our history one must think, "Where would we be if not for Disciples Women?" Having worked on several Disciples Blitz Builds I know what it is like to work side by side with Disciples Women. Keep up the good work ladies and may God bless each and every one of you.
	From: Rev. Keith D. Strain Date: Thursday, February 07, 2008 - 7:32 AM Comments: As one who has been a part of two Disciple Blitz builds in Beaumont's recovery program, I rejoice at what Disciple Women were able to do. Perhaps this will encourage even more of our dedicated women to take part in construction mission trips.
	From: John Henry Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 5:46 PM Comments: Way to go, Sharon!! I liked your comments about HFH and its start in the Congo. I think those pink studs were appropriate for a women's group. Love, J. H.
	From: Rev. Mary Workman Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 5:15 PM Comments: I'm happy to receive info on Beaumont. I was Asso Minister there for 12 years. FCC is a doing church so I'm not surprised you felt this from all working and from all over.
	From: lora parker Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 4:46 PM Comments: It was wonderful to have all of the "Blitz Build" ladies visit our area, and particularly to get to meet them and share meals and visit, while they stayed at my home church, Northwood Christian Church, in Beaumont. I would really love to have a mailing list of all of the women who participated, so that I can stay in touch. Lora Parker
	From: Dani Loving Cartwright Date: Wednesday, February 06, 2008 - 4:36 PM Comments: We are SO glad that Sharon was able to be a part of this Disciples Women's Build in Beaumont!!! Our Regional Committee on Ministry was meeting the whole time - but we prayed daily for the women who were working in Beaumont! Thanks be to God for the vision of Disciples Women and the expertise of Disciples Volunteering and Habitat for Humanity to make this a reality! We continue to meet the needs of those left devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita by the generosity and care of Disciples! Thanks be to God!

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