This year Life Church has been involved in building Sheds of Hope and presenting them to people whose homes burned down in the 2020 Holiday Farm fire. As many as 400 people lost everything they owned. The sheds, while only 8’ X 8’, were a sign of hope and understanding that someone else cared.
At Life Church, we started out building some sheds ourselves on a plan from Sheds of Hope International. There was a crew of 6 with a few others helping from time to time. We also had a shed built by each of the young adults, the middle school class and the women. We would build the floor and walls, put them and the rest of the material on a trailer and deliver them to a homesite 40-60 miles away. Often the shed would be the only thing on that homesite.
As time went on, we switched from building, to delivering sheds that other groups had built.
We became more proficient with each installation; until we could put a shed together in less than an hour. As of March 26, 2022 we have installed 52 sheds.
At each homesite, we would ask the owner what happened the night of the fire.
Answers were often the similar: the power went off about 8 pm, they eventually went to bed only to be awakened between 1:00 and 3:00 a.m. by someone pounding on their door yelling “get out now”. Often, they left with only what they were wearing, sometimes pjs and slippers. One story in particular I remember: the couple was awakened to find fire all around their home. As he went to the back of the house a large, on-fire cedar tree fell on the bedroom where he was getting the dog’s meds.
They grabbed the dog and ran. She drove the car; he drove the pick-up. When they got to the end of the driveway, they turned left with fire all around. But in a short distance a tree was across the road. As he turned around another tree fell on his pick-up. They both headed the other way barely able to see the road because of all the smoke. They got to McKenzie High School only to be told they had to continue to Thurston High School 40 miles away. They were in pj’s and slippers; blessed to have gotten out alive despite losing everything. They were very appreciative to receive the shed of hope.
Evangelism doesn’t always mean talking.
God gave each of us on the crew the ability and desire to build sheds
and help others. There was fellowship as we worked, sometimes
silently. When finished with the shed, we would pray for the owners.
“Sheds” was the “evangelism” God gave us to do this past year.
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