Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Mission Norman Ground Breaking

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A rose in The Joanie Baker Memorial Garden… not an official name, but I think it should be.  She spent lots of time and money planting this garden in front of the building.100_3415100_3456

What a beautiful morning for the ground breaking ceremony.100_3417

Dave Davis, pastor of the FBC of Cole in Blanchard, OK, was the M. of C. for the ceremony.100_3418

The invocation is given. 100_3421

We were thrilled to see so many folks attending.100_3425

Mission Norman Director, Gene Barnes, points to where new temporary housing will be built.100_3428

Cindy Rosenthal, mayor of Norman, spoke and cited three scriptures that apply to the work that Mission Norman is doing.  I was impressed.100_3435

Oklahoma representative, Wallace Collins presented a check from himself and his wife for $1000 and also a check from OU president, David Boren, for the same amount.100_3442

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn had a rep there, also… Steve Williams.100_3447

Another politician whose name tag is covered!100_3444

Don could not help but be emotional about this property that he planted a church on in 2002, to see that it is being used for the Kingdom of God to bring Him glory and help so many people. 100_3450-1

Don, happily, gets to break a little ground.100_3451-1

You know, election year is a great time to invite politicians to a faith-based ground breaking ceremony!  Gene Barnes could be saying, “Dig deep, boys, and put your money where your mouth is!”100_3454

Associate Pastor Jack Sappenfield, gives the closing prayer.100_3453

Mission Norman has been rapidly expanding. In just three years, the Mission has increased its food assistance by 5 times, increased it auto assistance over 7 times, doubled its rent assistance, and quadrupled its utility assistance. With this massive growth, Mission Norman is (read more here)….

We won’t get to see friends and fellow CRM chaplains for at least seven months, so after the Mission Norman ground breaking ceremony, we had lunch with them at Ted’s.100_3461100_3460

Mute the playlist in the sidebar and rejoice with us!

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