Amy working on Stucco, Mexico House 2, March 2009

This first home will go to Beatriz Meneses and her 5 children and 2 grandchildren, who are presently living under a tarp between two adjacent walls. Things are still a little up in the air as to whether we will build a full double version of our typical house, or just complete a portion of what would eventually be their final house, just to get them in.  Regardless, it is not too late to participate financially to help make this dream a reality.  Please, make your contribution today and help us put a family in a home and off the street.

To learn more about UthBuild, how you can participate in one of our future builds, or to find out about bringing a group of your own to build a home in Mexico, visit our UthBuild page and then drop us a line!

(originally written for the Nov 2009 e-bulletin of Bethany Community Church in Tempe, AZ )

Birthed at Bethany – The UthBuild Story

If you were to visit the High School Ministries room at Bethany Community Church on one specific night just over a year ago, you would likely have not recognized that something new was being birthed.  You probably would have easily mistaken it for a teen event where the lights were flashing and the music was just a bit too loud.  Like most, you could have easily missed that God was, in the midst of the noise and the strobing lights, forming a new friendship and a new partnership that is today changing the lives of not only our teens, but also the lives and the futures of families across the border in Mexico as well.

It was on that night in November, during a Bethany HSM concert event, that HSM Pastor David Robinson met the Houck family and Share5.org.  Traveling with the concert tour, the Houck’s nonprofit provided the ministry support for the bands. Pastor Robinson took the time to share his heart for transforming and building youth with Chad Houck prior to the concert, and by the end of the night, the two had agreed to join forces in Mexico when HSM went on their annual missions building trip in March.

March arrived, and the Houck’s returned to Bethany in their 34’ motorhome, their home on wheels for their now fulltime mobile ministry work.  They served as the camp speakers for the two weeks of building in Mexico, and upon their return, sat down for another heart to heart with Pastor Dave.  This time, the offer was to help create a new opportunity that would expand the ministry that had begun at Bethany by making it available to youth nationwide.  With the blessing of Bethany’s Senior Pastor, UthBuild was born as a full-fledged ministry division of Share5’s parent 501c3 organization, World Wins International.

This past October, for the first time under the UthBuild banner, several youth from Bethany’s High School Ministry stood before the congregation.  They were sent out with blessings and prayer as they set their sites on Puerto Peñasco, MX for their 5 day Fall Break building project.  The goal:  to build a home for a homeless family in only 4 days, using nothing but hand tools and their own willing sacrifice.

By the end of the four building days those fortunate enough to be involved had the opportunity to witness the miraculous power and capacity of God manifest through their very hands.  A group of 18 non-professional, non-experienced high school  “builders” not only constructed a home for a family, but they went over 200% above and beyond.   By joining the new house to an existing structure already on the property, the team was able to create a home with 2.5 times the living space of the original plan.  Where the plans called for installing 250 square feet of roofing, they installed over 800 giving the entire structure a new sealed roof.  Though a typical build only involves 60 linear feet of stucco, they applied in excess of 100 feet making the full home water-tight.

They pushed themselves harder than they believed possible, and in the end, they pulled off nothing short of a miracle.  A group of people that shouldn’t have been able to do so gave a house that shouldn’t have been finished to a grateful family whose tears flowed as freely as their Spanish words of appreciation and praise to God.

Be sure to check out the photos below of the UthBuild October 2009 Build.  You can find this article and more on the Share5 Blog, where you can follow the Houck family and the rest of the things happening on the Share5 Tour until they return to Bethany for the next UthBuild trip in March of 2010!  Thank you for your continued support of Bethany High School Ministries, and watch for more here from UthBuild, the new national ministry making international impact, birthed right here at Bethany Community Church.

You can support UthBuild directly here, or contact Pastor Dave Robinson to find out more about how you can be part of our next trip to Mexico!

World Wins would like to thank Bethany Community Church for the opportunity to contribute the UthBuild story to their monthly newsletter!

The
race is on.  You can help us create a huge impact – build 40 homes for
homeless families in Mexico while exposing over 400 US youth to the eye
opening experience of serving, loving, and sacrificing for the less
fortunate.  We call it "UthBuild, building youth by building for the
poor." 

Please check out our website at
http://share5.org/uthbuild.aspx where you can see a slideshow of the
last home built during spring break.  We have literally seen families
living in a 7×7 box with a tarp roof move into these simple homes with
tears in their eyes.  It is humble, but it is real, it locks, its
watertight, and it is theirs.  Each home costs approximately $2500 to
build including windows, doors, and a toilet and shower upgrade. 
(basic house is only $1600 w no plumbing or wiring)   The house at
right was build by 16 kids in 4 days.  Amazing!

That means that
with $100,000 we can pay for 40 homes and offer the opportunity to over
400 American youth to be a part of building and creating a miracle in
the life of another human being.  It can be a powerful, revolutionary
thing.

 Here's how to help:

1.  Go to http://share5.org/uthbuild.aspx and read about the UthBuild concept.

2.  Create a twitter account at http://twitter.com or log in to your account

3. 
Send a reply (a tweet) to @realhughjackman (just put the word "@realhughjackman" without the quotes at the beginning of your tweet) before the 24th of April mentioning
why UthBuild is your charity of choice for his challenge.  You only get
123 characters after his name, and you'll need to include the domain
name http://uthbuild.com in your tweet

4.Visit us at our website
at http://share5.org and coming soon at http://www.UthBuild.com to find out more ways
that you can get involved with us.  Perhaps you would like to raise the
money to sponsor a home, or maybe join us to build!

Share5 will be joining with an operating partner to create a new initiative called UthBuild.  Our first objective:  to
build homes for the poor in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico in
October.  We have just returned from two consecutive week-long
building (and fact finding) trips with teams of teens in Rocky Point.  As a result of
those trips, we have chosen to partner with a local AZ church to share this
opportunity with HS teens nationwide for the first time this October
11-16, 2009. 

Participants will need to be in Phoenix, AZ by
the night of October 10th, and will return to Phoenix from Mexico by
6pm on Friday October 16th for return flights or drives home.  If you are
interested, please contact us.  Specific pricing and details will be
coming in May, but feel free to set the dates aside and start
fund raising now!  Each participant will need to raise approximately
$400-$425 plus their transportation costs to and from Phoenix.  The cost includes a share of the house costs, all food, the camp location, and transportation upon arrival in Phoenix. (discounts avail for groups with vans)
Sleeping bags, work clothes, and a tent are required!

Consider
joining us on this great opportunity.  It is a wonderful way to spend
your "5 day" challenge!  (I know its longer than 5 days, but hey, we
have to drive in and out!!!!)

Blessings, and hope you can join us. – Chad

What ensued was a modern day miracle.  19 people who were not professional builders in any aspect of the phrase put together their willingness to sacrifice a couple of days with their confidence that in God all things are possible, and when the "dust" cleared, not only did we provide a safe, locking, dry, and comforting home for a family of five, but we were actually able to go beyond and begin a second build, leaving a project at about 60% complete (habitable but not finished yet) for another team.  Imagine that.  God allowed us to go beyond what we had imagined.  He proved once again what it means to have more than enough;  more than enough time, labor, energy, enthusiasm, and love to go around.

So here we are.  6 days from our departure we have returned again to Tempe, AZ.  Our plans were to go on to the other corner of the valley for the week, but as you know, plans change.  We have decided to return to Mexico this week with the second team heading down this Sunday and finish what we started.  We will build another house for Anna and her 4 children, and we will finish the second house that team one started for Renaldo and his family of 9.  One and a half houses is the target.  It will be a new team of 20 or so, and a whole new dynamic.  Different but none the less capable.  Once again, I am expecting that God will work a miracle through the hands and feet of the young people and willing adults that will place themselves as available vessels through which He can be glorified.  We will go down to Mexico, we will offer ourselves as a gift, and we will come home humbled. 

How can I say that so confidantly?  I know the God I serve, and I have confidence in His miracle working power.  May the same be said of you today as you go about bringing forth the miracle he has called you to deliver.  May you be His hands and feet.

See our Flickr album of the Week 1 Mexico Build 2009 – Irma's House and for Week 1- Renaldo's Addition!

Sunday we depart with Bethany High School Ministries for build week 1 of 2 in Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point) MX.  We will be assisting with the build/completion of 3 homes over 2 weeks for a couple of homeless families.  The home design (originally created by Amor Ministries) is a very simple 20' x10' wood framed structure covered in stucco.  Our version has 3 windows and a locking door, offering these families a security they have never known before in their cardboard and pallet constructed home. The homes are constructed solely by hand, using no power tools or air tools.  Just hammers, hand saws, hand trowels, and sweat of a team of roughly 15 teens and adults.  (see photo courtesy of Amor of a prior group's build) The idea is that if the tools are left behind, you have given the family (who will work with us) the ability to replicate the home for others.  Its the classic adage of teaching a man to fish…

We'll take lots of photos and videos this week, so watch for the uploads after we return.  In the meantime, please be praying for these families and for our team that this experience will deepen not only our compassion for others that have needs we can scarcely imagine, but that it will strengthen our passion to make a difference with our lives.  (see the "Passion" challenge!)

We spent Thanksgiving in Mexico with Amy's parents, and had the opportunity to spend a day serving the children of the Esperanza Children's Home outside of Puerto Penasco (Rocky Point), Mexico.  They have about 30 kids and 4 full time staff, and we were able to help them with cooking, cleaning, and even some construction work.  Amy's mom Connie did laundry and ironed the girls' school uniforms, while her dad Dick and I applied texture to a new bathroom and kitchen in one of the new guest quarters.  Amy even got to do a number of hair cuts for the girls!  It was a great day, and we left blessed by the smiles and hearts of the children and staff. 

We will be returning in March when we go down to Rocky Point again for a construction project with Bethany Community Church of Tempe, AZ.  (If you are interested in possibly going on this or a similar trip, contact us for more information.)  You can see more photos of our Mexico trip on our Flikr photostream here!

We are now sitting in Phoenix at an RV park with Amy's parents (they came down in their 5th wheel) and are waiting for the kid's passports to come in by FedEx.  Destination:  Puerto Penasco, Mexico!

We hope to be able to connect with and serve with "Mission Jim" in Rocky Point, a gentleman that has worked with Bethany Community Church from Tempe on past building projects.  We hope to be able to rejoin them in March to do two more build jobs in Rocky Point, but are going to try to sneak down for this holiday to see if there is anything we can do to serve. 

We talk about the challenges of Share5, and if you remember the passion challenge, it is to spend 5 days engaging your passions.  This is ours.  To serve those less fortunate in nations that do not have as much as we do.

So… See you in a couple of days.  We're headed to Mexico to give…thanks!

Be blessed.
Chad