Journey Church Spreads The Gospel With Act Of Love
By Gale Rupert
July 2008
It’s not just the Post Office that uses the phrase, “Neither rain, nor snow, nor heat…” it’s Journey Church of Topeka!
On June 8th, members of the Journey family met after church at the home of Maria Galvan, a Topeka resident who has been unable to live in her home since October of 2007 when fire burned a hole in her roof. Even though the rain was imminent, the group was determined to do some roofing!
In early fall, Maria began having problems with her heater and another community group helped her fix the problem. However, when she started the heater, a fire traveled up the flue and burned a large portion of her roof.
The house became uninhabitable and Maria and her children moved in with family members. She was unable to afford the cost of repairs and placed a tarp over the hole.
Members at Journey Church became aware of the problem and decided to band together to see what could be done. Mark Leenerts, bi-vocational pastor of Journey Church also owns a roofing company, so the fit seemed natural.
A dumpster was delivered, materials were donated, and work began! Approximately 25 people mowed the lawn, trimmed weeds, hauled away wet sheetrock, painted interior walls with primer, rebuilt trusses in the attic, and fixed a 10’x10’ hole in the roof.
Eight men harnessed up and worked on the roof while others picked up discarded shingles on the ground and hauled them to the dumpster. Maria and her family also pitched in to help – and relationships were built. About 4:00 PM, the rain came – and along with it – HAIL! The project was not yet complete, but workers managed to cover the hole and crews went back on Monday to finish the roofing project.
According to Fire Department officials, more interior work needs to be completed before Maria and her family can move back into their home, so the project is continuing.
Journey Church is a new church plant in Topeka which began meeting in November of 2007. Members have a genuine desire to use their gifts to serve all people, and the vision of Journey Church is to establish genuine biblical communities of acceptance, relevance, innovation and simplicity where all people can flourish spiritually.
They currently meet at Manor Conference Center, just north of the Kansas Expo Center off 17th St., west of Topeka Blvd. Sunday morning services are held at 9:30 AM. For more information on how you can help or be a part of Journey, please call 785-271-5483 or visit journeylive.org.
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