Brett Durbin
By Ashley Andrews, 700 Club Interactive
CBN.com –"I have always searched for the true meaning of discipleship...and I found it on a mountain of trash."
- Brett Durbin
TREASURES IN THE ROUGH
In 2008, Brett Durbin and his wife Jaelle made their way to Honduras in hopes of finding a "worthy cause" to bring back to his church in Lakeland, Fl. And what they found on that trip gave new meaning to the word "worthy." Brett and Jaelle had been on mission trips before. In fact, their lives were all about the mission field - from being college pastors to founding church ministries. But on their journey into Honduras, they stumbled upon a family that ultimately changed the course of their lives.
As Brett described, "On our first trip to Honduras, we had the opportunity to meet with a family that lived on the side of the trash dump just outside Tegucigalpa. They lived in a shack of wood scraps and 'treasures' found among the garbage. The smell that surrounded their home was worse than anything we'd ever experienced." It was the smell of soiled diapers and wild dog feces that skirted the dirt floor of their home.
But despite their surroundings, "The family," he shared, "was beautiful." There was a grandmother, a father, a mother and three young children - all of whom were "developmentally and physically delayed due to malnutrition." The couple had already lost one child the previous year and were preparing for another. "The mother," Brett explained, "embraced her one-year-old child, still unable to support his own head. She attempted to nurse him, although it was evident that she was not producing enough milk for him to thrive. Her husband, a man that appeared to be in his early thirties, had not forsaken his family for selfish gain. He remained with them, covered in soil and trash remnants from difficult days working in the dump."
As Brett sat talking with this family, he couldn't help but notice all of the crosses hung on the walls of their home. Despite their living conditions, the family chose to trust in God. They couldn't write let alone read, but still they chose to believe in God. "They understood the power of God's written word and had a tattered copy of the Bible lying open within their one-room home," he said. "They had collected and hung broken religious icons from among the trash, aware of the power of the Lord they illustrated. Together, forgetting their horrific circumstances and the lack of tangible proof that their situation would ever improve, they were a light among the darkness. Their faith was a shining message of Christ's never ending hope and promise to all who believe."
For Brett and Jaelle, that beautiful family was all the confirmation that they needed. They "absolutely stole our hearts," Durbin said. And "After a lot of prayer, Jaelle and I both knew this was the direction we were supposed to go."
TRASH MOUNTAIN PROJECT
"Upon returning home to our plush American existence," Brett shared, "we began to fully realize the great significance of the Lord's ultimate sacrifice. Jesus left His heavenly kingdom and became proof of the Lord's amazing love. He joined us in our earthly sufferings, day after day for over thirty years, teaching us how to overcome them. In thanks, we brutally attacked and murdered him. Jesus was sacrificed because we failed to respond with our hearts to the Father's original commands. He walked with and traded places with us. If we are to be modeled in His image, shouldn't be willing to do the same for others? It is in our own surrender to Jesus for the sake of others that He is glorified, so could there be a better way to illustrate the gospel message than by living it?" And with that, Brett and Jaelle found their worthy cause.
In 2009, just six months after that initial trip to Honduras, the Trash Mountain Project was born. Today, it serves as "an organization not only dedicated to spreading the message of the affliction of children and families within trash dumps around the world, but also for the purpose of encouraging believers to walk along side of those suffering." It may be difficult to fatham the extent of garbage dumps. But Brett assures that they do exist. "Many of the poorest residents of Third World countries live, work and die in and around these dumps" - most of which contain 60 years of trash and are as large as 50 city blocks.
The ultimate goal of Trash Mountain, Brett explained, "is to show people Christ's love, and to offer them the hope of a better life." It's much more than handing out cups of water, plates of food and a pile of clothes. "We believe in action," he said. "That's all there is to it. Over time, hopefully, we can build a strong enough relationship with people that they'll wonder why we're there and why we're doing this." It's this kind of relationship that, Brett believes, will "help pave the way for those who serve to share their faith in Christ with people at the dumps."
"Jesus taught us to live his commands and not just talk about them," Brett shared. "We share the Gospel with others through actions and words." And "I thank God every day that He has given me and my family the opportunity to be a part of this incredible organization."