On thursday a church sent down a 28 foot long semi  truck stuffed with furniture and appliances. It took quite the man power......and God power, to unload the half a dozen couches, living room and kitchen furniture,  household items, and major appliances. In two days we went through all of the inventory, and supplied needed families with stuff that has taken almost three years to replace.

For the first time since the storm families have couches, dressers, and beds to sleep on. It was quite an expense to ship all of this stuff down.   (around $2,600) to be exact) But you should have seen these people......the looks on their faces, heard the excitement in their voices.

I was able to profess the love of Jesus to so many people.

This shipment was not about the thrift store, but about those who stepped out in faith and fought the high deisel prices to bless those in need. It was about being the hands and feet of Christ serving the widows and orphans.......Gods kids helping out Gods kids.

I wonder sometimes if that one used couch opened up the door, and another person accepted Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.  What a joy it would be for any of us to hear Jesus say to us one day......."See that person over there....he/she is her because of what you said and what you did." "Because you radically and unapologetically stepped out in faith for me." 

Yesterday I had opened a box that was donated to the store.  Inside was a life sized porcelin doll in a long flowing baptismal dress. I really do not know how much to price such things, so I lean on "Holy Spirit" pricing. Some people have suggested that when things come in I should look up possible prices online, but I just don't feel like that is the way to go.  I believe that this is Gods stuff anyway, and not about how much something is sold for. The message  I got told me that around $65.00 would be a good place to start.  

Not even 15 minutes after I set the doll out, a woman, probably in her late 40's or early 50's came in and saw the doll. She asked how much it was and I told her the asking price.  She asked if I could come down a bit more, and I said $50.00.  Her eyes lit up she had tears in her eyes, and she said she would take the doll.  That is only the beginning of the story.

She held on to that doll really tight. And the real story begins. She used to be a doll collector.  She told me that Hurricane Katrina came and took all 200 of her dolls away.....and broke her heart.  She could not afford another porcelin doll since.  She asked me if she could give me a hug, then gave me the wettest kiss on the cheek I ever had.

Then the tears came to my eyes. After speaking with other people about this doll, and the identification on the tag, this originally was a $500.00 doll. I have the opportunity to experience stories like this every single day.  People who lost absolutely everything come in to this store that God has blessed me to manage, and helps put their lives back together one spoon, one towel, one book, one toaster, one couch, one chair........one doll at a time.

You can share in these stories by donating anything you have laying around to the Waveland Thrift Store.  Yes, sometimes it is expensive to ship or drive stuff down.  And gas is really expensive.....but... There is  nothing that compares to changing peoples lives who have been struggling for such a long time. 

That is one of the many reasons that God has me on missions in Waveland Mississippi. Thank you so much for you  prayers and support.

Greetings from Waveland Mississippi.

God has been blessing Christian Life Center in more ways than I can report to you. We are expanding every day with ministry opportunities. The thrft store which God has put me in charge of is also growing by leaps and bounds. We have recently erected another quonset hut to store furniture and houshold goods. To think that when I had gotten here, we were just out of one half of a quonset hut. Now one is for receiving and sorting, and two more are the thrift store. We are anticipating a grand opening soon, but with that comes added costs.

The third one which will house furniture still needs electrical and air conditioning. The costs to move this project forward is approximately $2,000.00. If anyone is interested in donating to that fund, please contact me at my email address at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , or by calling me directly at 262-689-9285.

This thrift store ministry is just incredible.  I get to feel the pulse of the community, and some are immediately drawn into our plant church and other ministries.  It is a central hub for Waveland. If you cannot contribute at this time, please join us in prayer that those funds come soon so we can complete this project and have our grand opening.

In His service

David Bartelt 

For quite some time a man has been coming into the thrift store looking for shorts or pants that would fit him. He is a large man, and being able to afford larger sizes is a hardship for him. But every week he comes in asking, hoping, and praying that someday, someone would donate clothes in his size.

This past week a family from FACG mailed a package to me for the thrift store. Inside was a pair of 50 waist shorts, and 6xl sweat pants. Upon opening the package and finding these clothes, I put them aside for the next time he came in.  I really was not sure of his exact size.

He came in the day after the package arrived. When he was told what came in, and that we put them aside for him, he had tears in his eyes. He said, "no one has ever done anything like this for me!" He is a size 50 and they fit him perfect. The pants he had been wearing were very old and tattered and had been patched too many times.  He had only two pair of pants/shorts to wear. These were new shorts that were donated with the price tags on them that were such a blessing.

I never realized how expensive extended sizes could be. But now he has a brand new pair of $65.00 size 50 shorts that fit, look good, and put renewed faith in this mans heart.

Sometimes it is so much more than  the clothes, it is about  love, sharing, restoring, and  renewal. In this case too it supplied a need that brought a large man to tears.

Keep those donations coming.

God Bless

David