Extreme Ministries uses construction as tool to reach people in St. Clair County

Build. Evangelize. Disciple.

Those are the facets of a construction ministry, according to Jeff Huey, president and founder of Extreme Ministries.

Construction first addresses an immediate need for a person whose home has been damaged or destroyed. It also provides an opportunity for that person to hear about and receive the saving grace of Jesus Christ. Finally, construction is an avenue for discipling the volunteers.

“We use construction as a tool to reach the person and to disciple the people there,” Huey said. “We do a lot of construction.”

After tornadoes ripped through St. Clair County’s Shoal Creek Valley in April 2011, Huey said “the Lord just laid it on my heart” to assist in rebuilding.

He worked with St. Clair Baptist Association and 150 to 200 volunteers a week to repair or rebuild homes.

Volunteers came from Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida and numerous other places week after week, Huey said.

Many churches in St. Clair Association were involved as well, said Director of Missions Ben Chandler. He named one church after the other, finally saying, “I could go on and on. I’m not sure there isn’t a church that didn’t get involved in some way.”

The volume of callers offering assistance grew to be so great that Huey’s church — First Baptist Church, Pell City, in St. Clair Baptist Association — assumed the task of scheduling helpers.

A feeding unit from the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions served meals to volunteers for three weeks and Ragland High School housed the workers, Huey said.

“I was in the valley every day from April 27 to October,” he said.

In all, Huey’s ministry and volunteers were involved in 28 projects to repair or rebuild in Moody, Ragland and Shoal Creek Valley.

Huey said four people who were affected by the storms came to ask Jesus Christ to be their Savior, as did 10 individuals who came to volunteer.

“All the glory” for everything that was accomplished “goes to God” and God alone, he said. While many homes in those areas and in the state have been rebuilt or repaired, Huey said he knows that there continue to be needs in those respects. “I still have people calling me,” he said.