When Burkes Chapel United Methodist Church, Wedowee, dedicated its new chapel Jan. 30, it also celebrated a partnership with Trinity Baptist, Roanoke, that led to the construction of the new building.
Burkes Chapel broke ground for a new sanctuary in August 1999. Although the church already had a small sanctuary, Pastor Betty Brady said there was no room for Sunday School classes.
Brady said the church began a building fund and worked out a payment plan with a local building materials store to purchase material for the building. About this time, Barry Cosper, pastor of Trinity, heard about the project.
Cosper and Brady had met earlier in the year, and a comradery developed between the ministers. The pastors began praying for one another, and Brady served as an intercessor for Cosper during a spring revival.
When Cosper heard Burkes Chapel was adding to their church, he recruited volunteers from his church to help.
Cosper first talked to Tommy Mitchum, a deacon at Trinity who has been involved in Carpenters for Christ building projects for about 18 years.
“I asked Tommy to pray about this need,” Cosper said. “My question was, ‘If we can go outside our state to work on these projects, why can’t we do it in our own area?’ ”
Cosper said the partnership took off from that conversation. Offering their time and equipment, Mitchum and other volunteers from Trinity began working with members of Burkes Chapel to construct the new sanctuary. According to the two pastors, the results were amazing.
The building teams worked on Saturdays for five months. Most Saturdays, the men worked, and the women cooked. Later in the project, the men taught the women how to put up vinyl siding.
“We almost worked the men down,” Brady said. “They couldn’t keep up with us.”
The sanctuary was completed at the end of December. Cosper preached the consecration service, which saw members of Burkes Chapel, Trinity and the community come together in celebration.
“It was just a miracle in the community,” Cosper said. “Any time you mention Randolph County, it’s usually a reference to the burning of the high school in Wedowee. But this time instead of burning bridges, we were building bridges.”
Even though the building project has been completed, Brady and Cosper anticipate more involvement between the two churches.
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