Hearts and Hammers volunteers reach out in Charlotte
- May 4, 2008 - 1
CHARLOTTE, N.C.—When Tony Redden finally responded to the call to help others that woke him eight nights in a row at precisely 3 a.m., he thought it would involve three or four of his construction buddies.
He wasn’t ready for the 150 volunteers who wanted to join him in doing special handyman projects in Charlotte for those who had no other resource.
Redden, a remodeling contractor by trade, was a new deacon at Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte in November 2000. His wife and two young children provided him “all the usual excuses” to avoid taking on something so large.
But he had seen too many people taken advantage of when they could not really afford the work they needed. Redden worked at the time for a Christian man who would sometimes do work for needy people and not send a bill.
Redden, now running his own business, Enduring Exteriors, felt compelled to formalize that generosity with volunteers from his church. When he took his idea to the ministerial staff, they jumped on it, and deacon chair Elmer Dryden talked to every young adult Sunday school class and scared up 150 volunteers in three weeks.
“The Lord sort of stopped me in my tracks,” said Redden, 41. “I said this is not what I had in mind, but if that’s what You want, I’ll do it. But I’m going to give it back to You. You’re going to have to help me.”
God has been faithful and the ministry, dubbed “Hearts and Hammers,” has been “a blessing from day one,” Redden said.
He organized teams; made his work known at senior adult luncheons and urged the elderly, widows, single moms and people with handicapped children to let volunteers help them.
Volunteer groups are often whole Sunday School classes, which works effectively because the volunteers know each other and working together “provides an opportunity to fellowship outside of church, with a purpose.”
He has teams of anywhere from three to 20 people. Requests come from the community through the web site www.hgbcfamily.org/heartsandhammers, or he will mail a request form to someone who calls the church office. Team skills cover the spectrum from extremely talented construction workers to leaf rakers.
Redden’s volunteers now total more than 200 from both church campuses. Most commonly, volunteers build ramps for handicapped persons – some 230 in seven years. They partner with an agency that deals with the poorest in Charlotte. Redden avoids being numbers conscious so he doesn’t lose focus on the purpose of the ministry.
But he put some numbers together for a volunteer banquet last year and realized they had done more than 1,200 projects in seven years in Charlotte, on a $15,000 annual ministry budget.
While leaky commodes are a common fix-it project, they also partnered with a home builder in Concord for an “extreme makeover,” doing two such houses in two years.
Holes in the floor were letting rats into one woman’s house. Volunteers ripped out part of the floor, jacked it up and replaced the floor so rats would stay outside.
“The Lord has given us all these abilities, and we’re just trying to use them for Him,” Redden said. “I can’t sing or preach but I can use my hands.”
Their work has elevated awareness of the church in the community, although the church is already North Carolina Baptists’ largest.
“People appreciate what we do,” Redden said. “It’s taking scripture and putting action behind it. If we proclaim to be Christians and have love, scripture clearly tells us to show that love to others. This is a very tangible way to do that. People appreciate the action more than just words.”
Redden, who enjoys being busy, takes his wife Pam and daughters Jordan and Paige with him when the project allows. He says, “They love it,” and can swing a hammer, paint and do yard work like other volunteers.
He is taking Jordan on her first mission trip to Romania this summer, where they will help with Hearts and Hammers projects for adults and sports camps for kids. He would like to plant a Hearts and Hammers group in that country.
His mission involvement has carried him to Cuba, Brazil and Romania. Hickory Grove members will be on 15 trips to eight different countries this year.
He calls the church an “amazing place,” where many opportunities are available for ministry. While the large size creates some “hassles at times,” he feels his church has “some of the best preaching in the nation” and its Christian school “totally reinforces everything we try to teach them (children) as Christians.”
Like many who minister, Redden says the larger blessing comes to the volunteer. He recalls one project several years ago when an elderly widow had an electrical problem. She had not had lights in her kitchen for 14 months. She cooked her dinner early and ate breakfast late so she would have natural light by which to work.
“We went over and looked at it and her light bulb was burned out,” Redden said. “She had adjusted her life and worked around that because of no light bulb.”
“If the church isn’t going to help people like this, who is?” asked Redden, who said 60 percent of people served are non-members, “which gives us a lot more evangelistic opportunities.”
“We’re looking to share our faith,” he said. “We always have that opportunity somewhere during the course of the project. Someone goes to interact with the homeowner and natural opportunities are created. That’s what we work towards.”
This article is reprinted from the April 26, 2008, issue of the Biblical Recorder, the newsjournal of the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina.
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1 On May 7th, 2008, at 8:11am, Janet Epperson wrote:
It’s so exciting to hear of another community that has a Hearts & Hammers group. We have had one in our communtiy now for going on 12 years now. Our Hearts & Hammers actually got it’s start from Whidbey Island, Washington, where my boss, Gary West, did the project there and brought it back to Miami, OK. What a great day spent helping others and seeing the rewards of your labor. Keep up the good work. Janet Epperson, Miami OK