Nearly 200 volunteers lend helping hand building church
By Bev Davis/Register-Herald Senior Editor
Workers take part in the creation of the new Nehemiah Baptist Church on Cool Ridge. (Rick Barbero/The Register-Herald)
Nearly 200 volunteers from Georgia, South Carolina and Louisiana are spending their nights sleeping at Shady Spring Elementary School and their days doing construction projects in Cool Ridge and Beckley.
The Rev. Brian Harmon, pastor of the Nehemiah Baptist Church at Cool Ridge can't hide his enthusiasm about a long-held vision of a new home for his flock of about 30 members.
"We've been praying and looking for the right location for this new church plant - a term Southern Baptists use for the establishment of a new church," Harmon said. "We have been searching since 2001, and this property opened up."
The congregation formerly met in a brick building near Captain D's on Eisenhower Drive. More recently, they have been meeting in a shelter erected on the site of the new church building, which will be under roof by Friday.
"We hope to begin having services in there by the end of August," Harmon said.
The volunteers come from churches throughout the south organized by the First Baptist Church Construction Ministry in Barnwell, S.C.
Passersby often ask Harmon, "Why are you building another church in this area?"
"Our statistics show us that eight out of 10 people in Raleigh County do not go to church. The need to reach the unchurched in Raleigh County is tremendous. This is a growing part of the county, and we want to be here to meet the need," Harmon said.
The same group is devoting much of its time this week to giving a facelift to the Beckley Health Right Clinic.
Workers will cut down trees in front of the entrance, do some landscaping and painting, according to clinic director Jeff Graham.
"They will be stripping away the old paint and repainting and giving the clinic a fresh, new look," Graham said.
The sprucing up comes at a good time, Graham added.
"June was a record month for us. Usually health care needs slow down in the summer because people are outdoors and are a little healthier. We wrote over 1,000 prescriptions that translates to more than $70,000 worth of medications we provided free to patients," he said.
The clinic operates 22 hours a week and continues to enroll 50 to 60 new patients each month.
"We are having some growing pains. We need additional volunteers and we need to get more providers to keep up with our growing needs," Graham said. "Having this church group come in and help us improve the outside appearance of the clinic has been a true God-send."
