Welcome to the GCC India (Dec '08 - Jan '09) Team Blog!

Hi there! This blog will track the training and mission of people traveling from Granger Community Church to assist our brothers and sisters in Christ in Tamilnadu, Southern India, during our July - August '08 operational "window". In this window, three teams will be mobilized to aid church planters in a number of Southern Indian villages to do the following:

* Justice - Justice issues have become a pervasive issue in at least two of the villages where we will be working in '08. In one instance, there is a significant population of bonded child labor surrounding a brick factory, and in another, there is a prevalent "sex for work" scheme where young women are only able to acquire jobs to support their families if they are willing to sleep with the factory foremen. GCC teams mobilized in these fields will partner with International Justice Mission to provide "after care" for adults and children who have been liberated from the kinds of scenarios described above.

* Water - Clean water or issues related to water availability are major concerns. In these contexts, the teams will be able to follow up with contracted preparatory field work to significantly help the villages. Examples of this might include contracting to have a well drilled, but then building the taps and servers from the well when they get to the field, as well as train the people how to repair the taps themselves.

* Construction - In many villages, there is a complete lack of understanding for how to do basic home repair and maintenance (hey, i can relate... i can't even fix the handle on my kitchen drawer! I'm definitely NOT "Tool Time Tim"). This team will bundle with Indian families to both teach about ongoing repair and maintenance as well as partner with the families and church members to do the rehab as well.

* Technical - There are several “basic engineering” issues that have surfaced in many of the villages. For example, many people have gas stoves that are very simple in construction, but that when they break or malfunction, have no idea how to repair or maintain. They ran a “test” 2nd Saturday project for this issue and that people in the villages lined up in droves to have church members fix their stoves free of charge. It was a phenomenal opportunity to increase the church’s exposure as well as serve the community, and that they had a phenomenal opportunity to share the love of Jesus with people as they asked, “why are you doing this?” Similar kinds of issues could involve basic electrical work or plumbing. Most of these issues could be “learned on the field”, particularly with people who are already engineering or mechanically inclined, and would be hugely beneficial in a variety of contexts.

We hope that you will stick with us as we travel and engage the training process along the way!

All for One!
-"Samurai" Jack Magruder