07/02/2025
THE STORY OF OUR BUILDING
By R.J. Evans
In Sunday’s bulletin, we had an article concerning the 20th anniversary of our building. With that in mind, for the benefit of our new members, I have decided to give the background of how events unfolded to this point.
After being away for 25 years (2 years in Florida & 23 years in Alabama), we returned home. Coming back home some day was the fulfillment of a dream we had for a number of years. My first sermon was preached on April 12, 1998. The church here believed they could fully support me for a year, and afterwards, I might need to get outside support. But that never happened! The church in Birmingham paid for our move and fully supported us for the full year of 1998. By the end of that year, we were growing in membership and in contribution. Within a few years we were able to appoint elders: Richard Davis, Dennis Stutzman, and myself. We badly needed a new building. Thus, the elders decided to start a building fund. By the middle of 2004, we had reached $50,000 in our building fund. It was time to start building.
We began getting a few estimates and found that it was going to be very expensive to build, even if we built a metal building, which we did not want. A very dear friend of mine from Alabama, Doug Matlock (now deceased), reminded me of something in one of our regular phone conversations. I had told him of our plans to build a building, and he said to me: “You need to call Jackie Richardson, he will build it for you all.” I had never thought of Jackie (now deceased) until that conversation.
We had met Jackie Richardson years ago, shortly after we married, when visiting my Jackie’s grandmother in Parrish, AL. When we moved to Birmingham, Jackie was preaching in that area for a number of years before he moved to Russellville, AL. Before he moved out of Birmingham, I knew about how he and a group of men had been building meeting houses for small churches, free of charge. Jackie was an amazing man! He started a camp called “Rustic Youth Camp” in Russellville for young people. It has done a world of good and still operates, although Jackie has passed on.
When I called Jackie (right after speaking with Doug), he immediately agreed to come do the work. In October of 2004, he came down with approximately 30 men (mostly from Alabama; a few from other states; and 3 from Mexico). They were here for five days.
It was truly amazing what they were able to accomplish in such a short time. We will ever be grateful for what these brethren did for us. Our building was Jackie’s 49th building. He built one more for a total of 50. An outstanding blessing to so many brethren!!!
But before all this could happen, we had to have the slab poured, all the materials on hand and ordered---many, many details had to come together. The families of this congregation opened up their homes for these men to have a place to stay while here. All the women of the congregation prepared meals for the men during that week. That, too, was such a great occasion filled with so much excitement, involvement, and enthusiasm on the part of this congregation.
After Jackie’s crew left, it was up to us to finish the building. Some of the work had to be contracted out---plumbing, brick, roofing, carpet, pews, etc. But the bulk of the work was done by the men of the congregation. Thus, after seven months of hard work, most every Saturday, and many days during the week, we were able to have our first worship service on the first Sunday of July of 2005. Katrina hit that August, but it did not affect our building, thankfully.
After a few years, the debt ($175,000) on the building was fully paid off. We have so much for which to be thankful and praise and glorify God. We have had (and still do) some wonderful members in this congregation. Over the years, three congregations merged with us---Lake Villa, Metairie; Myrtle Street, Denham Springs; Park Forest, Baton Rouge. All of these Christians became an integral part of this congregation. As a result of these three churches merging with us, it allowed us to do so much more for the Lord’s Cause. For example, it enabled us to pay off the building early; to support preachers in other places; to start and maintain a fund for future work and expansion of our present building. It provided more elders, more teachers, more song leaders, and more faithful families who attend all our services.
I hope the story of our building is uplifting and encouraging to all of us. We are so thankful for all who make up this congregation. May God continue to bless us as we seek to faithfully do His will in this place.
ADDENDUM: Prior to applying for our loan, a number of our families personally donated around $40,000 for the construction of the building. Several families of the congregation donated the following: in the foyer---the armoire, mirror, foyer table, chair, light fixtures, and a different shade of paint; several items in the ladies restroom; the columns and floral arrangement in the pulpit; the stained glass over the baptistry; the central vacuum system; the shrubs around the building; the lawn mower (the church has never bought a mower since we have been in it). Family members and friends of our members donated their expertise, discounts, etc. For example: a certified engineer and his stamp free of charge; a church building contractor got us his contractor discount on the pews, auditorium lights, all the doors, baptistry, steeple; he also provided us the basic floor plan and gave us counsel and advice almost on a weekly basis, working us through each step, concerning codes, rules, etc. A local building supplier became our official contractor for free (we couldn’t have obtained the loan and done the work without him)----he also gave us a discount on all the lumber and supplies; A plumbing contractor, electrical contractor, HVAC contractor all gave us discounted work with their contractor’s discount on all supplies; another local building supplier gave us a discount on the carpet, paint and other supplies.
I strongly believe in the providence of God. All of the above was truly amazing! The same was true of the 2016 flood. The response from the brotherhood was so overwhelming that we ended up returning well over a half million dollars of what we had received---because all our needs had been met. Both the Post Office and the Bank said they had never seen anything like it. When it came time for me to retire after 58 years of preaching (27 years here, plus 5 years, years ago), in a situation where it is hard to find a good preacher, we were blessed to be able to secure an outstanding preacher and his wife---Ron & Yolanda Stringer. We give God the glory for all of this!!! “To whom be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Galatians 1:5)
