Extreme Home Impact
First UMC Lee’s Summit, aka The Summit, recently extended it’s mission arm to one of its members in a radical way.
Rhonda Vansickle is a faithful and beloved member of Lee’s Summit UMC. She’s a physical education teacher at the local elementary school, and a single mother of three boys, ages 15, 17 and 20. For the past two years she has been battling breast and bone cancer, and her home has fallen into disrepair.
The Jack & Jill Foundation sent the Vansickles to see the Tampa Buccaneer’s Training Camp and spend some time at a water park during the first week of August. The Summit took advantage of that week-long absence to go to work, Extreme Home Makeover style.
About 800 volunteer hours later the home had a repaired roof, flooring, walls, lots of new paint, siding, windows appliances, land- scaping and a new deck, to name a few things. The family came home to a big reveal, just like on the television show, Extreme Home Makeover.
Associate Pastor David Hutchison wrote on the church website that as amazing as the results of the project was, it was never really about one project or one person, but rather about what the church is capable of through extravagant generosity.
“Two by two, the Christian movement has always managed to find a way to make the kind of grand impact on the world that Christ calls us to, and I firmly believe we are still capable, and called, to make that impact today,” he stated.
The Summit is very active in community mission. From elementary schools and thrift stores to care centers, neighborhoods and the homes and yards of individuals, three Saturdays a year the church proclaim the gospel through love in action. For more on this, including photos, videos and local media coverage, go to www.impactbeyondwalls.com.
