hearts for the sudan

five years ago ginghamsburg church families conceded that christmas was not our birthday, but jesus’ birthday. men, women and children committed to giving as much towards the plight of the sudanese as we spend on our own christmases each year. while at first it seemed a tough pill to swallow, we now realize there is no other way to celebrate the season.

people being people, we also need visuals- artwork, photographs, yearly reminders of what we are about. last friday night we hosted a reception in our worship space for three of our staff from darfur. (meet them by watching mike’s message last weekend, good news to the poor.)

also last weekend the children of ginghamsburg demonstrated amazing talent and commitment through their sudan bazaar. the gifts they crafted (all proceeds go to the sudan project) were inspiring in creativity and quality. i smiled to see our guests from darfur visit the bazaar and experience the love that the kids had put into that day.

in the hallways at ginghamsburg we feature photos taken by mike’s son jonathan last year during their trip to darfur. the photos are incredible; their subjects are beautiful- and the children make you want to smile and cry at the same time. our makeover team took four days to prep a new wall background, carefully assembling, mounting, and arranging the photos that will remain up for the next year – a constant reminder to our church family of the people we seek to serve.

also in our hallways during advent is our heart for sudan, featured pieces crafted by ginghamsburg and dayton artists, on sale until christmas – with all sales monies also going towards the project.

i’m thankful when i realize the privilege and power of being part of such an important and heart-rending mission. how do you feel about it?

classy room

the first time I saw these basement classrooms at the Fort (a wall was removed between them) i got the creeps. It was a claustrophobic space, badly in need of an update. significant servant hours + paint in 3 colors + special wall and tile treatments + awesome furniture and carpet finds + a little mud ‘n spit = 1 classy room. now i would love to take a class in this space designed for 60 persons. it was in fact used immediately for a marriage class tonight!

new wall treatments

we used a couple wall treatments on the fort basement project that produced great results. both are simple and cost-effective so i thought i'd describe them.

the first is what we call "dry-brushing." i don't think we made it up- but i don't know exactly where we got the idea either. basically you start with a wood-grain surface - nasty old brown paneling, for instance, or an old piece of furniture that you want to update - and brush black paint onto it, brushing in the direction of the grain. be careful not to put too much paint on. the desired effect is for a little of the brown wood grain to show through, creating a black-brown color with a hint of wood grain. This is a popular finish at IKEA and so we tried to emulate it to match our old, used furniture with new pieces we'd purchased for the same room. we used the same treatment on a dresser and mirror for my brother's coffee house redesign project -as well as shelving for daughter heidi's pottery at the same shop. the results are generally stunning - and for pennies!

meanwhile

meanwhile, back at the fort, our next mission assignment from headquarters was to makeover the basement classroom at the fort mckinley church. this was new territory for me – i generally hate basements but embraced the opportunity to stretch my design muscles and see what might transpire. i researched basement makeovers online and identified a color scheme that felt fresh and fun. several friends helped me prep the room this past week and today 10 gingha-servants (who i also count as friends) worked hard to make this underground vision a reality. first order of business was to transport the world’s largest and heaviest table (400+ lbs.) out of the basement and up to the fellowship hall where it could be repurposed as a serving table for the wildly successful “breakfast @ the fort” currently served-up every sunday morning (250 guests at last count.) soooo… on the coldest, wettest day of the season so far 8 guys (and i) carried the table down the hall, up the steps, out the back door, around the building, up the ramp, in one of the front doors, down the lobby and steps, up steps and around the corner into the f.h.. amazing – but it’s done. back to the basement, we had three kinds of wall treatments to create which kept things interesting. i’ll blog about those in the next few days – after i get some rest. it’s a good kind of tired, you know? there’s nothing quite like the feeling of working hard for 7 hours with truly great people – only because we all believe that soon hearts will be turned towards jesus in this classroom. even if it is in a basement.