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Published Thursday, June 25, 2009 in Local

Photo by Winston Skinner

Volunteers from Clinton, S.C., work busily on various tasks to build an addition to the fellowship hall at First Baptist Church of Moreland.

Carolina team helping build church addition in Moreland

By JESSIE REESE

jreese@newnan.com

First Baptist Church of Moreland was overcrowded.

Church members already knew it. Allen Folsom from the Georgia Baptist Convention did a space analysis and confirmed it -- noting the church was in need of more room.

The problem was -- who was going to help make this possible, and how was the church going to be able to build a much-needed addition?

Their answer came in the form of a team from First Baptist Church of Clinton, S.C. The team brought around 20 men and their families to help build the new addition for the south Coweta congregation.

The South Carolinians came with the promise of free labor, as long as the church provided the materials needed.

The team is building a 2,200-square-foot building, which will be used as an overflow dining hall and will house four much needed Sunday School rooms. Pastor Daniel Ausbun said that at the church's most recent big event, Vacation Bible School, classrooms were used in shifts. Classes had to trade out. While one class would go to snack time, another would hear a Bible story in the same room.

The addition will remedy that problem by creating more space for events and classes.

First Baptist Moreland had a $40,000 building fund that should, with the free labor and help of donations, be enough to cover the expenses for the addition. The crew from Clinton arrived on Monday, and will leave today.

They will construct the exterior of the addition. When the team leaves, the only thing that the church congregation will have left to do is interior work -- electrical, heating and air, carpet and other quick interior fixes. Ausbun said the church hopes to have the entire structure finished by the next school year.

Speaking of the South Carolina volunteers, Ausbun said, "They are an answer to our prayers. Without their help, we wouldn't have been able to build this."

The Clinton church has been doing construction missions for about 22 years, according to their leader, Joel Evans. He said that the first construction mission they did was in Puerto Rico, building a church.

Evans also said his team usually does additions, like the one they are working on in Moreland, but sometimes they will work to build whole church buildings. They also do some local work in their community to help out those in need, and they have helped rebuild homes after disasters like floods.

When the team goes on a mission, they will bring their workers, and the workers bring entire families. Most travel in campers, while some stay in hotels.

Mostly men, a few women and young boys work on the site, and the rest of the families stay on the campsite.

The church they are from is a very mission-oriented church, and members from First Baptist Clinton go on many different types on missions. They only do one non-local construction mission per summer. The workers normally stay for four days of work, and leave one day to travel back. None of the team members make a living out of construction, yet they pull together their knowledge to create a structure anyway.

Allen Rooks, a member at First Baptist Moreland, is overseeing the addition project. He said the only thing the church had to do to prepare for the mission team's arrival was to work on the grading and foundation, to have a plan sketched and have materials ready. The workers would do the rest. Five men from the Moreland congregation are helping, but there have been many donations from the church itself and the community to help finish this building.

While the Clinton team will leave later today, work will still be done on the building for about two or three months before it is ready to be used. The team's donation of time and work is "a blessing" and the Moreland church will certainly appreciate the new addition, Ausbun said.

(Editor's note: Jessie Reese is an intern with The Times-Herald news staff.)

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