It's not About the House

If there is one thing I know about the world of television, it is that big and brash usually sells more. And thus many television shows push the envelope. If it’s loud, violent, racy, bigger than life you can count on most television shows making that a focus of what you see on the television each week. For most TV shows, that perception is reality. From what I experienced last week at Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, that perception is far from reality.

Now, yes, EMHE is a television show. So the economics of producing a TV show do play a role in how things are done. Just as economics play a role in our ministries here at CLA. But what I saw last week was a group of people that love what they do and why they are doing it. I witnessed that the purpose of the show was not to demolish a small house and build a big house in a week. The purpose was to change the life of a family and change the lives of a community.

The Drumm family live in South Mountain, PA. A community of a couple hundred people seven miles up a mountain from Mont Alto, PA. A very unassuming community, with a volunteer firehouse and a bar/restaurant/hotel. There are several new homes (built in the last 30 years), built next to older homes (built longer than 30 years ago), and many homes that you wondered how anyone could live there. But it didn’t matter, because everyone was part of the community.

I did not know this family before I volunteered for EMHE. Neither did many of the volunteers. But what I witnessed in the two days I participated was inspiring. Young and old, rich and poor, black and white, Christian and non-Christian alike all working together to change the life of the Drumm Family and in the long run the community. Volunteers working endless days in the cold and rain. Not because they had to, because they wanted to.

I witnessed the production crew tearing up as elements of the family’s story unfolded. The designers were visibly moved when Rob Stottlemyer walked up the street and began to cry. Who is Rob Stottlemyer? The husband of Brenda who nominated the Drumm family for EMHE and who went to be with the Lord two months ago. Then in what I know is a rarity in Hollywood, the entire production team and volunteers came together by the bus as over 5000 spectators stood around them. You could hear a pin drop. The producers and directors thanked everyone, then they bowed their heads. They reflected and then they celebrated that lives were changed.

I am not trying to say that EMHE is a spiritual program, because there are many aspects that are big, brash and sometimes gaudy. What I am trying to say is that there is only one reason when the hearts of so many are touched by one single event in such a compassionate fashion. God. A true living God, that was working in the lives of thousands who didn’t even know it.
Once again, God proved to me that, it’s not about the house.

(Due to waivers that all volunteers must sign, I am unable to share any photos, video or more information about this project until after the show airs the second week of January.)