Groups We Served in

DECEMBER/JANUARY

• Nashville Korean United Methodist Church
• Griffin Chapel Church of the Nazarene Banquet
• FUGE
• MidSouth District Board of Ministries
• Restoration Staff
• Living Hope Couples

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Looks Like We Made It!

Sorry to go all Barry Manilow on you, but February 9th was a momentous day. We mailed our final loan paperwork to the SBA! Now we wait. Again.

From Rusty's Kitchen

Philly Cheesesteak Soup

1 large onion diced

1 ½ cups sliced mushrooms

1 green pepper diced

½ tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

4 cups beef broth

2 cups heavy cream or half & half

6 oz cheddar cheese

1 lb of Philly steak or top round steak

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1. Cook and set aside the Philly steak. (If you use top round steak, cut into small strips then sauté and set aside.)
2. Cook onions, mushrooms, and peppers in butter until soft then add flour and cook 1 -2 minutes.
3. Stir in the beef broth and mix until smooth. Add Worcestershire sauce and simmer about 10 minutes until veggies are soft.
4. Add meat and cream. Cook 10 more minutes.
5. Remove from heat. Add cheese and stir until combined.

To make it gluten-free don’t use flour. Instead mix a cornstarch slurry and thicken at the very end. For thinner soup, don’t thicken.

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Click HERE to go to the online application.

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LET'S PRAY TOGETHER

• The log jam is over at the SBA. We are "closer" to receiving funding for the new dining hall complex. This low-interest loan is a huge answer to prayer.

• Please pray for CGC's Chaplain, Rev. Bob McKenzie. Bob continues to learn about heart-related issues. Pray for healing and peace. We appreciate and love Pastor Bob.

• Bobcat/Skid-steer – We purchased a Kubota skid-steer recently. We thank God for the opportunity afforded us. Pictures to come!

As I look over our prayer list below, it's easy to see how each item relates to a lack of funding. Please don't tire of continuing to pray about these necessities. We are praying and waiting. God's timing will suit us just fine.

PRAY FOR:

• CGC is recruiting summer staff to work with our camps this year. Pray for the team that God will assemble. And help us spread the word at your church and in your network of friends. College students who have participated in the past tell us the summer in ministry is a difference maker.

CONTINUE TO PRAY:

• Pray that the TEN BUCKS A MONTH Club will continue to catch on. TBAM is a very important part of our plan to repay the SBA loan once we begin making payments. You say," $10 won't really make a dent." I say, "Tell that to the $2,004 already coming in each month!"

• Access (not ownership) to an excavator with a grapple. This goes a long way to help us deal with the lifecycle of our mature trees and wooded areas. It also is a necessary part of maintaining our creek. We can do A LOT in a few hours. (6-12 days/year)

• Still need 2 well-maintained golf carts. A side by side would also work.

The floods have always taken out golf carts, and something else always takes priority when it comes to replacing them.

• Still praying about funds to get the Youth Chapel back on line.

Since our most recent flood in August 2021, the Westmoreland Youth Chapel has been dormant. CGC struggles to accommodate guests without that space. We need around $25,000 to get it ready for use.

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PRAYER

changes  what we SEE

and what we SEEK.

Each month CGC Chaplain Bob McKenzie sends a prayer letter to subscribers.

Would you like to subscribe?

Sign up for Prayer email

Reserve your room for Family Camp. Click HERE..

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When Would You Like to Bring Your Group to CGC?

9 Dates Available in 2023

April 14-16                      Sept. 22-24

May 5-7                          Nov. 17-19

May 12-14                       Dec. 1-3

May 19-21                       Dec. 8-10

Sept. 1-3 (dorm only)

Contact Lori Knowles to inquire about a date for your group.



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FEMA: Failure

How the FEMA Dream Came to an End

by Finley Knowles

     In mid-January my dwindling hope for CGC to receive funds from FEMA ended. It had been seventeen months of jumping through FEMA hoops. Seventeen long months. I don't even know the moral of the story yet.

     I reported to our supporters with optimism after the August 2021 federally-declared disaster what FEMA might do for us. So, though the story has a horrible ending from my human perspective, I want to transparently report how it came to an end.

     I received a phone call mid-January from the supervisor of the FEMA team that worked with me.  Our CGC team had submitted details, serial numbers of equipment, hundreds of photos of our damage, and spreadsheets full of meticulous data. The FEMA team had arranged a dozen site visits for FEMA personnel to come from as far as Alaska. These personnel were to put boots on the ground to determine the amount of funding we would be given based on our damages.

     Back to my mid-January phone call. The FEMA supervisor explained to me that CGC was never qualified to receive funds. From the very beginning. All the work. CGC never qualified for any of the categories that determine which organizations could offer emergency reimbursement and grants.

     He asked me one simple question that he said clarified our eligibility. "If you don't have a group on campus on a particular weekend, do you have worship services anyway?"

     "No. We meet only when we have groups." I honestly fessed up.

     "Then you are not eligible based on the narrow definition FEMA set up for "Houses of Worship," he explained. "Period."

     He was not mean or discourteous. He was just telling me matter-of-factly one of the tests that had to be met for FEMA assistance.

    "So you mean that from the day we first filed our application back in August of 2021, we were never eligible?" I asked, the astonishment growing as I processed what I was hearing.

    "Sadly, that is true," I was told.

    "Why didn't someone tell me that before my staff and I spent so much time meeting the requirements relating to the process?" was the very next question out of my mouth. We'd spent hundreds of hours.

     The response from the FEMA supervisor doesn't make sense even as I write.

     "FEMA trains it's employees not to tell applicants if they're not eligible. It's important in the process that every applicant feels it is fully considered. We don't want to flatly dismiss an application before it has its due process."

     I asked him if there was any way to change that practice based on the huge amount of time many people spent jumping through the FEMA hoops. Time totally wasted. I told him I would have welcomed it if someone had posed that one simple question at the very beginning of the process.

     So I turn the page. We are done with FEMA. And unless the FEMA guidelines change to include a broader interpretation of what qualifies as a house of worship, we will not be making application if we experience another national disaster.

     At the very least, I am glad to know this.

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GOD provides

   for His purposes in a

        variety of ways.

  It is not possible

     to pin GOD down and say,

"This is how it's done."

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Plenty of dormitory space available. Add your name to the waiting list for a lodge room. Family Camp. Click HERE..

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