Church Raises Funds For Wells In Tanzania

Source: The Greeneville Sun

Jill Bible Working with A Missionary team On Project in a Remote Area

BY BILL JONES
STAFF WRITER

A car show, auction and yard sale held recently at Mosheim Elementary and Middle School raised about $5,300 to assist with Bible's Chapel Baptist Church's effort to provide clean drinking water to residents of the African nation of Tanzania.

Rick Bible, a church member, helped coordinate the "Wishing for a Well" event.

Jill Bible, his niece, has been living in Tanzania since January 2009.

She is working there as part of the Southern Baptist "Journeyman" program with a missionary team in a remote area.

Jill Bible is the daughter of the Rev. Donnie Bible, pastor of Bible's Chapel Baptist Church, and his wife, Judy.

Rick Bible said that Jill Bible is helping to coordinate the drilling of two wells to provide fresh drinking water for residents of a Tanzanian community who currently have no safe source of drinking water.

He said that the congregation of Bible's Chapel Church undertook fundraising efforts in January to pay for drilling of the two wells.

The church committed $7,800 in funds it had on deposit to the well-drilling project, Rick Bible said.

The church also sponsored chili and spaghetti suppers before holding the car show, yard sale and benefit auction.

FUNDS RAISED

Receipts of $5,301 from car show registrations, the auction, yard-sale receipts, donations and concession sales brought the overall fundraising total (combined with the $7,800 in church savings) for the well-drilling project to about $28,000, according to Rick Bible.

He said more than $21,000 of that amount has already to been spent on drilling the two wells in Tanzania.

That same weekend, Rick Bible said the Bible family had received a text message from Jill Bible telling them that drillers had struck water on the first of the two wells.

Rick Bible also noted that another group has promised to drill a third well and that his group also is working on another, smaller water project.

He said 14 people, including church members and other volunteers plan to travel to Tanzania in May to visit Jill Bible and see the results of the well-drilling efforts.

Bible said he doesn't feel the well-drilling project is about Bible's Chapel Baptist Church.

"It's all about the Lord and being able to tell people about Jesus," he said.

Rick Bible thanked the Volunteer State Auto Club, of Greeneville, for coordinating the auto show portion of the fundraising event.

The car show drew numerous classic and custom vehicles as well as fire trucks from the Town of Mosheim Fire Department.

A large American flag was suspended above the assembled cars from the raised aerial ladder of one of the fire trucks.