With just a few days of experience on a mission trip to Macon, and a challenge by their church's associate pastor, a Canton minister and his youth group were inspired.

They came home and began planning a mission project that would improve the lives of local residents in need, and bring together youth from different churches. They called it the Nehemiah Project.

"Nehemiah in the Bible had a dream to rebuild his city, and even though we are not rebuilding, just mostly repainting, it is a dream and a burden given by God," said Daniel Roberts. "Nehemiah was burdened as we are for Canton and Cherokee County."

The four-day event in June brought together youth from a half-dozen Cherokee congregations. Roberts recently answered questions about the project and what he hopes to see in the future.

Q: How did the Nehemiah Project begin?

A: The project was birthed from our experiences at River of Life in Macon. We had attended the past two years, and our associate pastor at that time, John Holloway, challenged our youth to bring back this project to our community. The major difference between Nehemiah and River of Life is that we have tried to involve local church groups as opposed to groups all around the state. We want to involve our students in our community.

Q: How many churches, youth and adult volunteers were involved?

A: There were approximately 70 students and 30 adult volunteers. The churches represented included Liberty Hill, Canton First Methodist, Ball Ground United Methodist, Sutallee Baptist and Day Spring Baptist. Others have already requested information for next year.

Q: What kinds of projects did the youth tackle?

A: We worked on about 15 different homes doing painting, light construction, major yardwork and pressure washing.

Q: Is there one experience that stands out above the others?

A: We had worship every night at Reinhardt College, and our Friday night worship was an amazing experience. It was a blessing to see these young people praising God with tireless emotion after they had worked for two days straight.

Q: What does the future hold for the Nehemiah Project?

A: We hope to allow more groups and people to get involved in the planning stages of next year's event so we can have more resources from the beginning. Our desire is to make this less of a Liberty Hill thing and more of a Christian community thing. We did some really good things this first year and learned a lot. Reinhardt was great, and Canton City Hall was helpful to us. It would be nice to have more churches, and we did not even attempt to get corporate sponsors, although Sherwin-Williams helped us with paint.

MINISTRY: THE NEHEMIAH PROJECT

> Sponsored by: Liberty Hill United Methodist Church

> Web site: www.libertyhillumc.org

> Phone: 678-493-8920

> Leaders: Daniel Roberts, spiritual director, and Patrick Hartigan, project coordinator.

> How to get involved: Call Roberts at 678-493-8920 for the proper forms and promotional DVD.