When I dove into the blogosphere in January of last year, I had little anticipation of making much of a splash. Little did I know that in God’s providence my blog would serve as a tool to bring thousands to Lakeshore in the wake of the worst natural disaster to ever hit the continental United States.

For the past 15 months, I have used my blog to chronicle the relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts in Lakeshore. The overwhelming task has kept me from doing little more than offering brief snapshots into the ongoing miraculous outpouring of God’s mercy.

Shortly after the storm, our friends created a web site to aid in communication of ongoing needs. Hundreds of teams continue to flood Lakeshore with their generosity, yet so much remains left to do. God has given us a passion to see the work through to completion – a task that will take years. Knowing that information fuels interest and efficiency we have re-launched our Rebuild Lakeshore web site. We pray that the the newly designed site will benefit groups wanting to help with ongoing needs and projects, teams making mission trip plans, and individuals wanting to keep up to date with the progress in Lakeshore. Check the Rebuild Lakeshore blog often or subscribe to the rss feed. Keep us in your prayers as we strive to Rebuild Lakeshore to the glory of God and see the fame of His name spread through our community.

Lord willing, I plan to continue posting to both sites. My Locust and Wild Honey blog will probably revert to some of its pre-storm flavor with devotional thoughts, personal opinions, information of interest, book and web site recommendations, historical tidbits, and miscellaneous musings. The Rebuild Lakeshore blog will serve as a news outlet for the ongoing relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts.

If you have not been to the gulf coast, and even if you have, you can not imagine how much clean-up and rebuilding remains. Check out Jamie’s blog as she highlights some of the work accomplished in the past 31 days and asks, “Where did October go?”

I wish I had time to blog about every team and every project. God continues to flood us with His overwhelming mercy and grace through the sweat and tireless efforts of so many folks.

Over 30 different groups worked with us in October alone. I thank God for the great people last month who came from Immanuel Baptist Church – Louisville, Ky, Mt. Harmony – Riceville, TN, First Baptist Church – Tullahoma, TN, Midway Baptist Church – Meridian, MS, Highlands Fellowship – Abingdon, VA, Sixth Street Baptist – Alexander City, AL, Oleander United Methodist – Arab, AL, Tammy’s team from KY, Trinity Baptist Church – Baton Rouge LA, Kyle Jefferies and his group, AL, Hillsboro Baptist Church – Hillsboro, MS, Grace Bible – Southern NJ, Hagood Baptist – Barnwell, SC, Lineville Baptist Church – Lineville, AL, Heritage Hills Baptist Church – Douglasville, GA, Oakhurst Baptist Church – Clarksdale, MS, Providence Presbyterian Church – Hilton Head, SC, University of Mississippi – Oxford, MS, Sierra First Baptist Church – Alta, CA, Harvest Community Church – Charlotte, NC, Schriever Baptist Church – Schriever, LA, Northgate Baptist Church- Beckley, WV, New Beginning Family Worship Center – Northport, AL, Grace Bible Church – Canton, GA, New Life Church of Baton Rouge LA, Lima Baptist Temple – Lima, OH, Heritage Fellowship – TN, First Baptist of Natchitoches – Natchitoches, LA, First Baptist Church – Altamont, KS, Jeff Gardner, MI, First Baptist Benton – Benton, AR, Reunion Church – Chicago, IL, and I probably overlooked a few.

With most of these groups working on multiple projects, you can see why I have a hard time keeping up. Someone might feel the temptation to think that with all these folks that we have all the help we need. Nothing could be further from the truth. Come play your part in an overwhelming ministry of hope. Call us at (228) 469-0110 to plan your mission trip to Lakeshore.