First Presbyterian has a long history of hands-on outreach. One of the ways our church members reach out
in love to others is through annual mission trips. The Senior High Youth, accompanied by many faithful adults
go each summer to serve in Christ's name. They have traveled to Alaska, Jamaica and Denver. In June 2000, an intergenerational group went to Guatemala to learn about
the complicated issues facing Christians in Central America. In 2001, a youth group went to Birmingham, Alabama
to work in a homeless shelter.
The youth visited Northern Ireland in the summer of 2002.
In 2004 the youth visited Aqua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico where they worked with Frontera de Cristo, a border ministry organized through the
Presbyterian Church USA.
A group of nine youth and adult advisors spent a week at Ripley, Tennessee in July, 2005 working through
Group Work Camps.
MISSION Alaska June 16-25, 2006
Wow! What a trip! We had 25 people go to Wasilla Alaska (30 miles north of Anchorage) to participate
in a project to help people of the Knick Tribe with Group Workcamp. We improved their living conditions
as we built wheelchair ramps, painted and hung dry-wall to buffer against the cold winters. We worked on
teams with people from other groups around the country. We worshipped together everyday and discovered how
to have a Christ-like attitude of service, sacrifice and humility. Every night we had a personal devotion
time with only our group. We also went on some excursions on our free afternoons, including hiking to the
Matanuska Glacier and floating down the Kenai River. God painted a beautiful canvas for us to take in
everywhere we looked. We developed some new friendships within our group as we worked as God's hands and
feet to help His people.
Participants were Lea Drake, Mason Dunlap, Anna Bryce Flowe, Brittany Flowe, Ethan Flowe, John Erwin,
Robert Erwin, Becky Mayo, Lindsay Mayo, Annie Meyer, Mary Rose Pritchard, Brad Sieckman, Louis Sligh,
William Sligh, Katherine Steifle, Kellar Steifle, Robert Woolston, Meredith Oliver and Adrienne Oliver.
Chaperones were Charles Drake, Sadie Erwin, Dave Mayo, Loretta Mayo, Pam McAlhany and Ann Woolston.
2006 New Orleans Mission
Labor Day, 2006 saw 10 members of First Presbyterian leaving in the church bus for the 12 hour trip to
New Orleans, where they would work with RHINO (Rebuilding Hope in New Orleans), an outreach ministry of
St. Charles Avenue Presbyterian Church. Located in the Garden District of New Orleans, St. Charles Avenue
Presbyterian Church was relatively undamaged by Hurricane Katrina, but a number of their members suffered
severe damage. In response for the need to help their members, a group from the church began cleaning out,
or "gutting" houses. This grew into RHINO, in which St. Charles Ave. Church coordinates and hosts outside
work groups to assist families in the Greater New Orleans area. Since November 2005, RHINO has gutted over
200 homes and counting!
Our group, along with a group from Mt. Pleasant, S.C. Presbyterian Church, assisted in gutting four homes,
which consists of removing all furniture, clothing and personal effects from the house, then removing all
paneling or drywall down to the bare studs. It was hot, dirty and often nasty work, but there was a real
feeling of accomplishment upon completing each house, knowing that this service could save each homeowner
as much as $15,000 to $18,000 if the work were done commercially. All of the homes belonged to low income
families.
It was a week of hard but rewarding work. Ably led by Larry and Missy Richardson,
the rest of the crew included Charlie Blackwell, Betty Boucher, John Eichelberger, Robert Gooding,
Len Grimes, Jan Smoke, Craig Stuckey, and John Welborn.
Rhode Island Youth Mission Trip 2007
During the summer of 2007, the High School Youth Group went on a mission trip to Wood River Junction,
Rhode Island. We accompanied 400 students from all over the nation to join Group Workcamps in assisting
this small community with various projects.
Renovate was our theme for the week. We studied Colossians 3:9-17 and lived it out each day. We focused on
compassion kindness, humility, gentleness and patience in the practical ways of choices, peace, love,
forgiveness and living. We shared with each other how we had shown one of these traits the previous day,
or seen it demonstrated by someone else. The process of doing that helped us to live intentionally for
God and to look for God in others.
We stayed in the local high school and slept on the floor in school rooms. Our work crews were composed of
5 students and 1 adult from various states who worked on one project for the week. Our resident homeowners
were encouraged to join us in lunch devotions and many of them established relationships with their groups.
Each person in the group had a job, such as leading devotions, fixing the lunch cooler, making sure tools
and supplies were on site, directing the project and reporting back to the leaders at the end of the day.
Our days began at 6:45 with breakfast, the morning program, and gathering our supplies and food for the day.
We worked on the sites from 8:00-4:00, and then returned to the school for showers and dinner. We had some
free time before the evening worship program and youth group devotions. We wrote care cards, which are notes
of encouragement, to all in our work crew and youth group. These were hard to write, but a highlight for the
trip home as we got to read our cards from others.
As we served, some of us were met with the challenge of not having our service appreciated. A valuable lesson
was learned there: we serve for the purpose of glorifying God, not merely to get a reaction from people.
Hopefully, all of us who went will continue to be renovated as we strive to do everything to the glory of God.
"...you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in
knowledge in the image of its Creator." Col 3:9b-10
2007 Mexico Mission
Nine members of Greenwood First Presbyterian shared their skills, gifts and talents with a team from
Myrtle Beach First Presbyterian Church in early June 2007 to construct an entire concrete block house in one
week in Piedras Negras, Mexico. This venture was part of Constructores Para Cristo, a project founded and
directed by Dianna Davis, a Presbyterian minister from Alabama. Gil Sampson was the construction assistant
who kept everything organized on the worksite. Bob Erwin, John Erwin, Charlie Blackwell, Tim Woolston
and Bill Wilson provided muscle to move concrete blocks and roof beams. Erwin Able, and John and
Katherine Eichelberger were members of a health team that provided much needed services to this incredibly
poor Mexican community. At the end of the week the house was finished, complete with a "memory tree" planted
in front. This was the 520th house completed by Constructores Para Cristo. What a blessing for our Mexican
brothers and sisters in Christ and for us. Team members have spoken of the bonding and Christian camaraderie
they felt while working together. This trip was made possible through funding from the church endowment.
Another trip to Mexico is being planned for June, 2008.
