2013 Week 1, Day 2: POWER Week Begins in Earnest

Building. That's what everyone expects to do when they come on the annual POWER trip. 

Swinging hammers. Pounding nails. Chop saws and sawdust; there was plenty of that today. Walls were framed and roof trusses built with amazing speed.

In Ciudad Acuña, across the Rio Grande from Del Rio, TX, two homes were started -- along with Sunday school classrooms, church pews and tables. But that's not the only building going on during POWER week.

Relationships are built. Relationships between the men, between POWER Ministry and the missions it supports and with the people of Mexico in the cities that POWER touches.

Dave Barnes started Tuesday morning talking about how he loves it when people ask him what church POWER represents, expecting there is a denomination behind all this; there isn't. It's God working in the lives of men from all over the country. 

This year, that means 44 different churches. 11 different states. 59 cities around the USA. 

Craig Gilbert of Shiloh Ranch in Florissant, CO kicked off this morning's devotion by asking "What's the number one question men ask other men when they meet for the first time?" The answer: "What do you do?"

Craig added, "Not once have I ever heard the question asked, what kind of man are you?" He went on to explain that God cares more about the kind of person we are, then about what we do. "When you ARE a man of God, you DO great things," said Craig.

"You are difference makers," he said. We have an opportunity to make a difference in our homes, in our communities and in our neighborhoods. "When Jesus makes a difference in your life," said Craig, "He makes a difference in your families."

David McClellan of Riverside is a master builder and Construction Director for the annual POWER trips. In speaking about today's building projects, he echoed Craig. "It's a sacrifice for me to be here, and I'm sure for a lot of you it's a sacrifice to be here -- and that's what it's about."

At day's end, several men shared about their experiences today. In addition to the start of building projects, one team had the opportunity to make a visit to a local men's prison. Today was a cold, windy day in Acuña. Overnight low was 30 degrees. A number of men in the prison walked around in shorts and flip flops, because it was all they had. The POWER team delivered hygiene kits, shoes and denim jeans, prayed with the inmates, and more than 20 men received Christ.

That is the kind of real building POWER is here for.