Matthew 20:25-28

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. It will not be so among you; but whoever wishes to be first among you must be your slave; just as the Sone of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

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This scripture is embodied in much of what BBM does, but especially in the workcamping program. The BBM workcamping program began in 1969 as a response to the devastation of Hurricane Camille. Youth and adults from around the country came to help restore housing damaged by Camille. Workcampers scraped, primed, and painted houses belonging to elderly, low-income, or otherwise disadvantaged persons. When possible, they did minor carpentry repairs. 

But, the program was never just about doing work. It was a combination of Social Service and Education. That is best illustrated by telling a story…

When groups arrived, I always asked them, “How much is your group spending to come on this trip?” Depending on the mode of transportation…the cost ranged from $4,000 to $10, 000.

I then said, “If you’ve spent $10,000 to come paint a house, you are guilty of poor stewardship. You could have send us $2,000; we could have bought the paint, hired a local painter who needs the work, and had enough money left over to take the homeowner to dinner.”

However, if this week you learn something about hard work, about how to scrape, prime, and paint, about how to clean a paint brush so we can use it again instead of throwing it away;

If this week you learn something about poverty in Mississippi, about what there is a place like Back Bay Mission here, and about why your church supports it;

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If this week you learn something about living as a family of 12, 14, 18, or 22 people who live together and share cooking, cleaning and a crowded, not-very-private living space, and also paint a house that needs painting, that’s worth $10,000!

Workcamping is Social Service and Education. 

Finally, Hurricane Katrina is 2005 brought another dramatic change to the Back Bay Mission workcamp program. Instead of just scraping, priming, and painting houses, Back Bay Mission’s workcamping program now can build a house from the ground up – still using volunteers from around the country, and still educating workcampers about poverty, mission, living together as extended Christian families, and giving them the opportunity to serve as Christ commanded us to do.   

In hope,