Volunteers flock to Yuma to build church

At the far south end of Fortuna Road, where the edge of the city turns into sand, the constant sound of hammers pounding away and saws buzzing can be heard in the wide open expanse of the desert.

Over 70 volunteers with Maranatha Volunteers International, who are on average about 73 years old, have gathered to build a new church in the style of the barn raisings of old.

The volunteers are helping the Gila Mountain 7th Day Adventist Church congregation build a new church, and after only a few days on the job, the walls are already standing.

When finished sometime next year, the building will greatly increase the capacity at which the church can serve the surrounding community.

“It will seat about 230 people,” said pastor Mel Phillips. “We are just bursting at the seams with winter visitors. We have a little over 70 members here, but when the winter visitors come down, we just can't hold everybody.”

The current church building on the site is made up of three 60-foot trailers which were combined together about 15 years ago.

Phillips said the Maranatha volunteers are a huge asset and will help them get the church mostly completed during their three weeks in town.

Maranatha Volunteers International began in 1969 when John Freeman, of Berrien Springs, Mich., took 28 volunteers to Freeport, Grand Bahamas, to complete the Eight Mile Rock Church.

Today, Maranatha receives requests from all over the world to construct various buildings. The volunteers primarily construct churches and schools, but they also build clinics, orphanages, homes and hospitals. Once they accept a request, they embark on an extensive plan to coordinate construction and volunteers for each of the projects.

When a project is confirmed and scheduled, Maranatha announces the opportunity to volunteers. Each year, an average of 3,000 people sign up for a Maranatha project.

Don Bais, the project coordinator for logistics with the Maranatha volunteers in Yuma, has been working on new buildings since 1991.

“It is a church-related program and is a group of volunteers,” he said.

“We pay our own way to get here and come together, and it is a fellowship time, a spiritual time and an accomplishment time. We came together and will spend about three weeks here. On this particular project, after three weeks, we will put the roof and siding on, and the framing will be all finished. It gives the congregation here a real boost in terms of the time frame.”

The volunteers mostly live on site in a group of about 25 RVs, and they eat meals prepared by church volunteers. The ranks of volunteers include retired dentists, construction workers, and preachers.

“We have people from all walks of life,” Bais said.

He believes the volunteers are called to build for others.

“Everyone here has been touched by God's hand in some way, and have turned their hearts to this volunteer program,” he said.

Each volunteer, regardless of experience with construction, has a purpose.

“It works out really well, and by the end of the second day everybody has kind of found their niche as to where they are comfortable doing their work and off they go,” Bais said.

Phillips is greatly impressed by the volunteers.

“Basically it is all retired people who love the Lord and love the church,” he said. “They want to see it prosper. They are amazing people.”

By Dec. 20, the basic skeleton of the church will be completed.

“It should be up with the roof on and will basically be a shell,” Phillips said. “Then we will put in the air conditioning and the baptistery is on its way today. It will arrive the first part of next week and be installed at the stage.”

The baptistry is used for baptisms and is a full-sized water tank designed to be able to completely immerse a person during his or her baptism.

“We are hoping to have the church finished in late spring, but realistically at this point, we know we don't have quite enough money yet to totally finish it,” Bais said.

“We have faith the rest of the money will come in by that time.”

The new building will allow the church to better connect with the community, Phillips said.

“We are really community-oriented, and we want to help the public. Our hearts go out to people who are hurting. We want to make the community stronger morally, and this will help. We'll have meetings here the public can come to and feel comfortable.”

The church is located at 12284 S. Fortuna Road. For more information call 305-9275.

Chris McDaniel can be reached at cmcdaniel@yumasun.com or 539-6849.