Sunday June 14, after church we drove to Randy and Debra’s home in South Carolina. It was great to be with them again after 72 days traveling the western US in BB. Debra had a wonderful homemade pizza waiting on us when we arrived. We had a busy but great four days with them before we were en route to Bowling Green, KY and the Constructors for Christ summer 2026 build. Randy and Debra joined us a day later, so we actually enjoyed twelve days together, but we had to share them with the other CFC volunteers.
The CFC project this year was building a 9,000 ft2 ministry center for Hope House that will assist the homeless and those in the recovery program. Their mission is “alleviating physical and spiritual poverty through gospel restoration.” There will be office space, classrooms, counseling rooms, etc. The programs they run to assist people getting back on their feet are impressive.
It was terribly hot for those working out on the job site and for those working to prepare the meals for everyone as well. Here is a day by day breakdown of the week:
Saturday:
The slab when we arrived
It’s always great to arrive a a project and see all the materials already on site …
… except maybe the 500 pounds of hand driven framing nails.
The Saturday crew
Our fine Saturday saw crew turned out …
… a bunch of corner and t-posts.
Installing exterior wall baseplates
Unloading the kitchen trailer
Sunday:
Sunday evening meeting
Monday:
Most days we got to enjoy sunrise on the way to work and sunset on the way back.
Each morning starts with prayer and instructions from Ray.
Moving materials
Installing interior baseplates
Building the first wall
Installing corner post for first wall
First part of the first wall
Rest of the first wall going up
Build site a the end of Monday
Another view on Monday evening
Tuesday:
Three more walls were erected before breakfast on Tuesday.
Build site at the end of Tuesday
Wednesday:
Our crew of lumber toters…
… sure saved us a lot of time – and steps.
One of our favorite things about Constructors for Christ is watching young people learn to be Christ’s hands and feet early …
… and learn new skills.
Part of our saw crew building headers
Build site at the end of Wednesday
Thursday:
First floor truss going up
Fastening trusses from the top and bottom
Getting a few more trusses up
This floorplan had lots of rooms, which means lots of doors and windows …
… which means lots of headers to install.
End of day Thursday
Friday:
We spent Friday morning putting the final touches on framing
The Constructors who have been attending the projects for many years are always willing to teach the newer volunteers.
When not otherwise working sometimes the younger mission volunteers practice building things out of scrap wood. (Hint: it’s a chair.)
End of week front view
End of week side view
The team on the job site got all the walls up for the first floor and all the floor trusses for the second floor leaving the project in good shape for week two to continue. The week 1 team this year consisted of 52 mission volunteers from 21 churches and 7 states. Please join us in praying for the next teams who will be completing as much as possible over the next four weeks.