James tells us not to be "hearers only" of the word, but to do what it says.  After praying about our involvement in Center Township we felt that God had equipped us and prepared us to undertake our first project – meeting the housing needs of a local family.

As we prayed and discussed how to select a family, we became aware of a family connected with Jireh Sports that was in need of housing.  A single parent with 5 children was working up to 3 jobs to make ends meet.  This particular woman and her family have been involved with Jireh for several years.  The family is well known by Jireh, and is part of a local “house church” that meets in the neighborhood.

When living paycheck to paycheck finding affordable rental housing is difficult enough, and buying a home is nearly impossible.  The Initiative took a unique approach to solving this particular need.  Churches actively participating in the initiative provided no-interest loans to fund the construction of a new home.  Having invested substantial “sweat equity”, the home will be large enough for the entire family, and will cost significantly less than buying a home in good condition.  At closing the churches will be reimbursed the amount they provided up-front for construction.  Everyone wins… Another intentional aspect to this project is that the house is being constructed directly across the street from Jireh Sports.  The majority of the people in this family’s house church lives on the same street, within a block or two.  This is only going to spur them on to fostering more intentional biblical community.

Meanwhile, churches are continuing to partner and volunteer time & talent to build the home.  We anticipate it will be complete in January 2004. The Pilot Project took a little longer than expected, but was completed in April 2004, and the family moved into the home in early May.