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!
