Monday, October 17, 2011

McMurtey's Saw Mill Ministry Turns Fallen Trees into Valuable Lumber for Camp


We are each called to use our gifts and resources to serve the Kingdom of God, and John and Emma Lee McMurtey do ministry with one incredible piece of machinery: a hydraulic sawmill.
 
John and Emma Lee hail from Columbia, Missouri, and they have been bringing their portable sawmill to LCCC for several years.   Their heart for ministry takes them on the road  to various Christian camps and churches across the country, enabling organizations to use their equipment at no cost.  What a tremendous gift!


When the saw mill comes, we spend several days milling logs from our property into planks. Most logs are from tress that fell during a windstorm, so their usage is efficient and good forest management.  We've milled everything from poplar to pine from trees on property. 
 
 

 
 
The process is involved, so we get lots of help from staff family members, volunteers and year round staff.  Everyone pitches in rolling logs, raking sawdust and seeing that the wood that isn't sawn into planks is split and stacked for fire wood.
 
Planks cut in the saw mill were used to finish the dining hall and the downstairs of the lodge, and the conference center side of the dining hall was finished using cherry wood from our property. We would never be able to afford the cherry otherwise, so the McMurtey's gift is a true and luxurious blessing as we improve our property.
 

 
 
This year, we'll use white oak and cherry from the saw mill to finish the hallways upstairs in the lodge as well as for part of the restoration of the old summer dining hall porch.

Thank you to John and Emma Lee for your generosity and service and to all who lent hands on the mill projects last week!

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