Building for Christ
William Cornwell uses an automatic nailer to nail down sub-flooring overheard.
Mt. Zion Baptist lands miracle to finish new church
Two months ago Mt. Zion Baptist Church had a hull of a new church building—four walls, a concrete floor and a roof—but didn’t have the money to hire a contractor to complete the work. That’s when the power of prayer took over and a miracle was born.
Builders for Christ, a body of Christian volunteers specializing in church construction,
committed to furnish the labor to finish the interior of the 13,500 square foot building six weeks ago.
“We were looking for work after plans to help build churches in South Carolina and South Georgia fell through,” said Bobby Lunceford, group leader for the Master Builders framing team. “The day after the second church cancelled I got a call from Ricky Tapscott .
“He told me Mt. Zion Baptist needed help to complete its new church. We agreed to take on the job after I made a visit and checked out the scope of work involved.”
In return for the volunteer labor, the church had to agree to have everything ready for construction crewmembers when they arrived to go to work. The needs list included sleeping accommodations for 120 people, showers and portable toilets, a fully-equipped kitchen, utility hookups for 12 motor homes and a complete stock of building supplies.
“Our whole church responded with a great sense of urgency and anticipation and we had others help, too,” Pastor Wayne Penn said. “The Morgan County Disaster Relief Team loaned us their kitchen equipment, Joe Wheeler EMC employees helped out with the installation of temporary electric service and Quail Creek Resort gave us a great deal on motel rooms.”
Within hours after start-up on June 7, the Master Builders had partitions in place for offices, classrooms, kitchen, fellowship hall and sanctuary. Workers and church members gathered in the sanctuary for a mid-week prayer service on Wednesday evening and their work were finished the next day.
Three other Builders for Christ teams are scheduled to come in and work on the project in coming weeks including the Mechanical Team this week; Drywall Team, July 5; and Finishing Team, July 26.
“When Builders for Christ are finished the church will have a lock and key job at a savings in labor alone of about $150,000,” Lunceford said.
“The men, women and children you see working here live in Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, West Virginia and North Carolina,” Lunceford said. “Most of them do not do construction work for a living. They come from a wide variety of career backgrounds. We have on this crew a retired teacher, a banker, a department store manager, a restaurant owner, a couple of pastors and even a rocket scientist. “
“They are committed to use their gifts of service, going where God wants them to go and doing what he want them to do. This is a week of spiritual revival for them, getting closer to Christ and their families. They’re just doing what all Christians should do: help their brother.”
Builders for Christ pay their own way while working on a mission project and the cost for each adult averages about $250.
“It’s amazing how well they work together,” said Johnny Ferguson, a member of the church. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Even the young children work and they know what they’re doing.”
“We had to have this (new building) to grow as a body of Christ,” Bro. Penn said. “It’s a miracle that we got them to come here and help us. They’re going to save us a lot of money and we’ll be able to move in sooner than when we anticipated.”
(L-R) Dorsey Long, Jimmy Wells and Wesley Hartley build a piece of stair.
