Usually the large workroom at Sign Builders Inc. in Fairfield is filled with sounds of construction — electric saws, nail guns and welding tools — but on Wednesday mornings at 11:30, those sounds are muted by praise music, prayers and preaching. Sign Builders has a weekly workplace Bible study — called a devotion — and workers are invited to attend the 30-minute service but are not pressured to come.
“Lots of people here don’t go to church on Sundays, so this is all we get,” said Wanda Odle, who works in the human resources department of Sign Builders and has recently started attending the Bible study. “I like the preaching, because it’s honest and right to the point. We talk about things people need to be hearing.”
Although it is held in the workroom, the Bible study has established a distinct territory. Amid the tools and building supplies sit eight red-cushioned church pews and a wooden podium. According to Odle, there used to be plastic foam seating but one day, a Sign Builders employee found the pews outside a local church. The church was getting new pews, so the Sign Builders Bible study inherited the old ones.
Sign Builders is certainly not alone in its spiritual endeavors. Business Week magazine reported in 1999 that there were 10,000 workplace Bible and prayer groups meeting on a regular basis, and that number has continued to grow. Organizations such as the International Coalition of Workplace Ministries (www.icwm.net) exist solely to promote workplace Bible studies and equip people who are interested in starting one.
The idea of a weekly Bible study at Sign Builders began with Barry Cosper and Bill Cairns about four years ago. Cairns is the owner of Sign Builders, and at the time, he was attending Canaan Baptist Church, Bessemer, where Cosper was pastor. Cosper is now director of missions for Tallapoosa Baptist Association.
“Brother Barry and I talked about having a one-time Bible study at work, and so Barry came and led a devotion one week,” Cairns said. “It was a big success and about 40 people came so we decided to make it a weekly thing.”
Since then, Cairns has noticed a change in many of his employees who attend.
“They communicate better, problems between workers have decreased and they get along better,” he said.
“There’s not as much cussing around here anymore, and they are starting to show more respect. I can tell that this has changed a lot of peoples’ lives.”
Roland Walker, who serves as pastor of Greater Temple Full Gospel Church in Adamsville and currently leads the Sign Builders Bible study, hopes to change their habits outside of work, too.
“Faith comes by hearing so I try to get these people to a point where they can minister to themselves,” Walker said. “I encourage them to read the Bible on their own and encourage them to go to church. I can tell that many of them look forward to this each week.”
In addition to hearing a message and prayers, a collection is taken each week, and every month, one person is drawn to receive the money.
“[One] month, the girl who won really needed gas money, so it was such a blessing for her to get the money,” Odle said. “The donation encourages people to come, and it gives them the opportunity to help each other.”
Cairns hopes the Bible study will continue going strong and will keep impacting lives, because to him, the people at Sign Builders are much more than just employees.
“I know everyone’s name and they are like a big family to me,” he said. “The devotion is a way to help impact their lives, because I care about them. I just thank God for Him allowing me to do this. The love of God is very apparent here.”
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