Southern Hope Trip

LODD Robert McAtee 01/20/2008

Friday morning we headed to the Huttonsville-Mill Creek Volunteer Fire Department. In 2008 one of their members, firefighter McAtee, drove apparatus to the scene of a chimney fire. He was reported to be having discomfort in his chest and later that day after returning home from the call became unresponsive. He was transported to the hospital were he died.

We headed out Friday morning towards our destination. A few miles down the road we saw the Tygart Valley fire station. We stopped in to leave some cd's not sure if anyone was there. We made contact with a guy named Eric who was the Chief of the department. I shared with him about who we were and what we were doing. He asked if we needed a phone number for the Chief of Huttonsville-Mill Creek. (of course he did) He gave me the Chiefs phone number and told me that if we couldn't get hold of him he worked at the post office in town. He also told me that the LODD was the Chief's father. While we were talking he also mentioned that it was lucky that we caught him there because he works out of town 4 days a week and had just stopped in to check some e-mails. It wasn't luck, God had been there before us and made it so we would meet him there.

When we arrived in Huttonsville we located the post office and went into to find Chief McAtee. We immediately hit it off and started talking with him like we had known each other for years. We found that he and his wife were in charge of the youth group in their church. We showed him the plaque that we had in memory of his father and shared with him about our ministry. After talking for a while he told us that he had planned to take 1/2 a vacation day and invited us to his house. At his home we met his wife and younger brother who are all members in the department. We spent about 1.5 hrs with the family as they shared memories of their father, department, and ministry. As we prepared to leave they gathered some local apple butter, preserves, and sauces for us to take with us. They gave us all hats and we exchanged patches.

Once again we were amazed how God was working. We travel to these locations unannounced and God always provides a way for us to contact who we need. God planned out all the details for us to minister to this family and community. Writing about it doesn't do it justice. Please continue to pray for our trip and the McAtee family.

Getting Ready!!

Well, Its been a while since I've posted anything. Things have been crazy! We are heading out on another Journey tonight. We will be southbound and down this time. Stopping in West Virginia tonight, Tennessee tomorrow and Saturday, then North Carolina Sunday, and back home on Monday. Our reasons for going is sad knowing that a fellow brother lost their lives while serving but there is also a sense of excitement because of the Hope we will be sharing. Please follow along with us on our journey and be praying for us as we travel.

10 year anniversary of Worcester 6

Tomorrow is the 10 year anniversary of the Worcester fire that took the life of 6 of America's bravest. Read the article about how Chief McNamee turned tragedy into training. Please keep all the family of the Worcester 6 and all their brothers in your prayers as I'm sure they continue to relive that night.

http://www.firehouse.com/topics/careers/tragedy-spurred-worcester-chief-action

Making Plans

Well, the team got together last night to discuss how to keep the ministry moving forward. Lot's of great ideas flying around but life is so busy for everyone it will be difficult to get them all down the runway and in the air. Most exciting is establishing affiliates(other churches, Chaplin's, firefighters, etc.) that want to join in the spreading of the Gospel through distributing the awesome resources that MARKINC has worked to produce. We have folks from North Carolina and Ohio who have already expressed interest in joining with us, just need to work out the details and make it happen. God, thank you for your goodness, thank you for moving in the lives of these men and women, thank you for placing a desire in their hearts to want to serve you, God please continue to bless this ministry, please continue to place people in our paths as we travel and God please use us to whatever means necessary to further your Kingdom. Amen

Still have lots of new stuff happening on the website, www.defrm.com. Check it out and let us know what you think!

Website's a hit!

Well, it looks like the website was a great addition to the ministry. We have already received a couple e-mails generated from the last trip. I apologize for the late and out of order posts. I'm still pretty new at this. I have almost all the stops from the last trip on the blog. I have a couple days off from the day job coming up so I hope to get finished. Please keep an eye on the website as we generated a ton of ideas on the trip. There should be quite a few changes coming up. We are meeting together again as a group on the Monday after Thanksgiving to follow up on some of the plans to take this ministry to the next level. It is my goal to keep this blog updated as to the progress we are making. We will post when we receive any word from those who we have visited and of course you can follow any future trips here( I promise to update quicker). To God be the glory!

Macanaqua Volunteer Fire Co. No. 1, Shichchinny, PA William McDaniels LODD 09.15.07

Friday 11.13.09
Ocassionally as Dave plans out a trip for us he will come across an LODD that has occured awhile ago. If it is going to be on our way we make every effort to go there. This was the case with Bill McDaniels. Bill died in the Line of Duty after responding to an alarm at a local high-rise. We arrived in town in the afternoon and the fire house was empty. There was a small store next to the firehouse so Dave went inside to see if we could get some info. After returning he expalined that the owner of the store was related to Bill. We obtained the adress of his widow and set off to see her. We knocked on the door of the house and Bill's wife Debbie answered. We started to explain who we were and as soon as she heard the word firefighter she invited us into her home. Wow! that truly speaks for the immense bond of the brotherhood of first responders. Four big and ugly men show up at the door of this womens house and as soon as she finds out we are fifrefighters she opens the door and invites us in. We are extended this type of welcome almost everywhere we go. It just reiterates part of our message that we share with people. We want them to know that other firefighters and people care about what happend to them; no matter how far away they are or how long ago it happend. The bond between this group is unbelivably strong. As we presented her with the memorial plaque she became extremely emotional. It was obvious that although Bill died more than two years ago she was still hurting. This is when we have an oportunity to share with more of the awesome resources that MARKINC has. It is such a blessing that we have these tools available to minister to these hurting souls. We are thankful that we could visit Debbie in her home and hope that we were able to comfort her in her grief and offer her some hope with the resources we left.