About ten years ago, Kate and I were co-directors of Wesley Acres Camp, a United Methodist Camp and Retreat Center in rural North Dakota. The camp was a mix of old and new structures. Some years prior, the Army Corps of Engineers had raised the ground level of the camp due to an upgrade in a downstream dam, and as such, they built a new dining hall and state of the art septic lift systems for the camp.
Many of the sleeping cabins however, old army barrack style buildings, were well above water line and therefore not eligible for replacement. The previous directors had worked with a church about an hour away in Arthur, ND to arrange the process of replacing these cabins with new, comfortable, four season sleeping buildings complete with plumbing and a common room.
The people of Arthur UMC committed to building a new cabin, from the ground up, in their own church parking lot. For months, their members would come to their own church swing hammers and cut lumber, raising stud walls, insulating, sheetrocking, all while prayerfully preparing these sleeping places for future youth and guests of Wesley Acres. Upon the completion of the build, they paid a professional house-mover to lift the building and move it fifty miles west to the camp. The building is gorgeous. Tongue in groove knotty pine interior siding. Cedar plank exterior siding. Two sleeping rooms and adjoining bathrooms. Beautiful. Functional. And life giving for the camp. It was visionary. In fact, that's the cabin's name, Vision. And this build inspired others to build new cabins. The Jamestown Area ministry team built a new cabin. And upon our departure from the camp, a third new cabin was under construction, once again, in a church parking lot.
This model of building in the parking lot and moving to the place of need has stuck with me these past ten years, and some of you may have heard me say out loud, “My dream, is that St John, along with churches all across Anchorage could do their own parking lot builds, but instead of cabins, we would build tiny homes to help solve the issue of homelessness in Anchorage.”
The research has been clear, the number one cost-effective way to deal with the issues of homelessness is to engage in a housing-first model. When people have a warm safe place to keep their possessions and lay their heads down at night, there is a much higher rate of success in finding and keeping employment, in finishing school well, in avoiding the emergency room for health care, and in preventing acts of mischief and crime.
I have a dream, that together, communities of faith across Anchorage can work together, footing the cost of building materials, providing the volunteer construction labor, and moving the structures to the place where they can best serve our homeless neighbors.
Of course, this is only a piece of the solution. After all, a location must be determined and acquired. Issues of infrastructure, like water, sewer, electricity, and heat all need to be addressed and funds appropriated. Issues of land use and on going security for the occupants must be addressed. Churches can do our part, but without a partner who specializes in the areas of infrastructure and logistics, the tiny homes would just take up spots in our parking lots, unoccupied.
And so I want to invite you to join me in praying for a solution. I am confident that people of faith throughout the Anchorage Bowl can and will step up to the plate to build tiny homes en masse, but we need to pray for the right partner(s) to come forward, those who have the power, authority, and funding to purchase and designate land close to services, deal with infrastructure, and provide an ongoing framework of support to help those who are homeless transition to a new life of security and civic productivity.
I have a dream, a God-sized dream. And so I'm asking that you would pray with me that God might reveal to us how to bring this dream to reality as we seek to be a blessing to our neighbors, all of our neighbors, here in Anchorage. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. And Love your neighbor as yourself.