Central Alabama builders aid churches across state, nation

It’s usually pretty easy to find a church in the South.  Most of the time, even the smallest communities will have at least a couple from which to choose.  But that’s not the case in all parts of the United States.
   
In 1986, the Central Alabama Christian Builders (CACB) made its first trip from Bibb County to Casper, Wyo., to help build a church in an area where none existed.  At the time, Alabama Baptists had partnered with Baptists in Wyoming in an effort to build more churches in that state.
   
“We made a commitment to go that first year,” remembered Johnye Horton, a bivocational pastor at Bay Springs Baptist Church and a teacher at Calera High School.  “We agreed to coordinate a trip for the next year, and it just blossomed from there.”
   
The group, which includes members from many different churches throughout Alabama and the Southeast, has since traveled on summer missions trips all around the country, helping with building projects in states like Michigan, Montana, Illinois, West Virginia and Kentucky. 
   
“There are so many places that don’t have churches, and there’s not always a strong network of support like here in the South,” Horton said.  “When you have a small group of people starting a church, they can’t always afford to build without volunteer labor.  It helps the money go further.”
   
Often, for out-of-state projects, the CACB partners with a group from Florida that specializes in building foundations.
   
CACB comes in afterward to do the framing of a church.  Most of the time, churches will purchase the materials. 
Those going on the missions trips, Horton said, pay their own expenses and usually take vacation time from work to go. Throughout the years, volunteers have donated funds to purchase about $8,000 worth of tools, as well as a trailer that Horton pulls to each work site.
   
“We get our projects by networking with other Southern Baptists, as well as by word of mouth,” Horton said, adding that the volunteers he works with are always eager to go and help where they are needed.
   
“I’ll say we have a job in South Dakota, and they say, ‘When do we leave?’”
   
Most of the time, Horton said, the group only takes on one out-of-state project each year.  However, this past summer, more than 100 people went to Michigan to help build a church, and a few weeks later, 30 people helped on a building project in Montana. “When we hear a need, we will go anywhere,” Horton said, “wherever God opens the door for us.”
   
Throughout the year, CACB workers help build new churches or make repairs to existing churches all around Alabama.
   
Horton said there is a nucleus of workers — some with previous construction experience and others without — who help with almost all projects.
   
“And, we pick up new people who work when they can,” he added.
   
In 1992, Glenn and Ginger Blake got involved with the CACB, and the couple has gone on trips every year since. Ginger Blake said that at the time, she and her husband were looking for ways to serve the Lord by doing something other than just going to church.
   
“Through an acquaintance, we heard about the missions trip and decided to go,” said Blake, whose husband runs a Sheetrock business.  “It is just so rewarding.  We leave from one trip and can’t wait until the next one.”
   
Between now and next summer, Horton said, the group will be working on at least three or four building projects here in the state, including working with a church in Montevallo that needs to move into a larger facility, but doesn’t have the funds necessary for a major building project.
   
“God has blessed us with many opportunities to serve,” he said.
   
For the out-of-town trips, Horton said entire families go, and everyone has work to do.  Some men and women work on raising the walls, while others prepare meals for the group.  Women and youth may organize Vacation Bible School or backyard Bible club activities for children in the area, and the younger children help as well.
   
“We encourage people to take their children,” Horton said.  “When children grow up doing missions, they have a heart for missions.”
   
In fact, Horton believes going on the missions trips is at least part of the reason both his sons are now in the ministry.
  
“We have seen the Lord do a lot of wonderful things through this group,” he said.