Liquid Church in New Brunswick deploys hundreds of volunteers and $20,000 to refurbish homes and bring hope to community devastated by Hurricane Irene

Contact: Rich Birch, 908-312-0003, rich@liquidchurch.com; Kenny Jahng, 973-500-8536, kenny@liquidchurch.com; both with Liquid Church

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., Oct. 19, 2001 /Christian Newswire/ -- Bethany and Matthew Sytsema's newborn baby has yet to understand the meaning of "home sweet home."  That is because the Sytsema family along with hundreds of other Manville, NJ households still do not have homes to live in since the carnage brought by the recent Hurricane Irene.  The entire Lost Valley section of the 2.5 square mile township in Somerset County was completely flooded by the recent natural weather disaster. 

But Liquid Church is taking action on Saturday, October 22 to bring hope into the community.  While hundreds patiently occupy Wall Street and residents wait through the FEMA process, Lead Pastor Tim Lucas declared, "Our people are eager to put their faith into action.  We want to be the answer to our hurting neighbors' prayers."

Lucas recently conducted a Reverse Offering, where the church handed out over $30,000 to people at its three locations -- Morristown, Nutley & New Brunswick.  He challenged church members to creatively invest the cash in building people up around them.  The New Brunswick community responded with an orchestrated "pay it forward" campaign and multiplied what they received in the offering plate to come to the aid of their neighbors in Manville.

On Saturday, October 22, 125 people will participate in a 1-mile Fun Run Fundraiser which has already raised over $3,000 in personal sponsorship donations.  Over 200 volunteers are being deployed for demolition, restoration and painting as groups of church members will adopt individual Manville homes to support.

A final all-city block party will end the day where all town residents are invited to gather as a community.  Lucas said, "Our church doesn't exist to serve people in the seats -- but to serve people in the streets.  My prayer is that as the floodwaters recede, God's love becomes visible to our neighbors."

SATURDAY OCTOBER 22 EVENT DETAILS:
Members of the press are invited to visit the site to cover the three different programs running that day.  Please RSVP to Kenny Jahng (973-500-8536) to arrange details.

Introductory video clips, photos and complete details are available at
www.liquidchurch.com/manville#media

8:30am-9:30am // Manville Fun Run Fundraiser
125+ participants have raised $3,000 in sponsorship donations for the 1 mile course

7:00am-1:00pm  // Adopt & Restore Manville Homes
200+ volunteers will be deployed to refurbish 15 homes with a week's worth of manpower in a single day

12:00pm-2:00pm // All-city Manville Block Party
Liquid Church is hosting a block party where all residents are invited to come together in a gesture of hope for the community

ABOUT LIQUID CHURCH
Liquid Church is one of NJ's fastest growing churches.  Founded in 2001 by Lead Pastor Tim Lucas, the church's vision is to "take church to the people" with campuses in Morristown, New Brunswick, and Nutley.  Over 2,000 people experience Liquid's worship services each weekend in New Jersey and around the globe through its Church Online.  As a part of its global outreach Liquid provides clean drinking water to the poorest of the poor with dozens of completed projects in Ethiopia, Central African Republic, Haiti and El Salvador. For Sunday Service times & directions, visit www.LiquidChurch.com.