Every summer, hundreds of believers from churches scattered across the country pack their work boots, tool belts, and aprons for what looks, at first glance, like a week-long construction project. But ask anyone who has been to Builders for Christ, and they’ll tell you they’re returning for something much deeper. They come to help build a church—but somewhere between the shared meals, long workdays, worship, and prayer, God quietly builds something in them, too. That’s why so many return year after year. It feels less like a volunteer project and more like a family reunion centered on the Kingdom of Jesus.
This summer, our Builders For Christ mission team of 18, joined that reunion in Logan, Ohio, helping Ebenezer Baptist Church expand its growing ministry by serving alongside believers from across the nation.
Ebenezer Baptist Church is a growing congregation tucked away in the hills outside Logan, Ohio. The construction crew installed vinyl siding and sheetrock while the kitchen team prepared fourteen meals for approximately 170 volunteers working on the project. Together, they helped move the church one step closer to completing an expanded sanctuary that will provide much-needed space for a congregation that has outgrown its current facilities. Yet the work itself was only part of the story.
David Jones, who coordinated First Baptist’s team, said what struck him most wasn’t the progress on the building but the testimony of the church they were serving.
“It is hidden… it’s not like out on a main road, and yet they are bursting at the seams. These people must really be on fire for sharing the gospel… it’s exciting to see a church like that that’s really growing.”
Helping expand that ministry gave every driven nail and cracked egg a greater purpose.
Ask longtime kitchen volunteer Arleita Hufstetler what Builders for Christ feels like, and she doesn’t start by talking about cooking for 170 people. She starts by talking about family.
“When we go… I feel like it is like when you go to a family reunion. You see these people, and they’re like family… it’s so exciting to see them. Then you get to work with them, and we laugh so much.”
Although many of these volunteers only see one another during this single week each summer, the relationships run surprisingly deep. They celebrate together, pray through hardships together, and continue encouraging one another long after the tools have been packed away.
Hufstetler recalled how volunteers from other states faithfully prayed for her husband during his battle with cancer after hearing the news while she was away on a previous Builders For Christ trip.
“What a blessing,” she said. “That’s why I just feel like there’s such a tremendous bond… it just shows how close that family of Christ is.”
First-time participant Mark Creel experienced that sense of belonging almost immediately.
“Several people sought me out and identified me as being a newbie… they welcomed me and made me feel like I was part of the experience. They just wanted me to fit in.”
Despite having never hung sheetrock before, Creel quickly found himself working alongside experienced volunteers who patiently taught him the process.
“If you have a serving heart,” he said, “Builders for Christ is an ideal thing to do… there are people that are skilled at what you’re doing that can get you up to speed.”
For Creel, the greatest takeaway wasn’t learning a new construction skill.
“The reward really was the people,” he reflected. “There’s just an attraction to it… there’s an intangible there that you’ll never be able to experience unless you go.”
While the construction crew spent the week hanging vinyl siding and sheetrock, our kitchen volunteers were busy preparing meals. They prepared breakfast before sunrise, washed dishes, served lunch, and were the last to leave after dinner—all while laughing together through long, exhausting days. More than 170 volunteers depended on those meals each day, making the kitchen just as essential to the mission as the work taking place on the job site.
Between meals, the volunteers gathered under a large white tent for prayer, worship, and testimonies before returning to their assignments, a daily reminder that the ministry extended far beyond the construction itself.
For David Jones, those moments reflected the true unity within Builders for Christ.
“Before each meal… there’s always definitely a prayer. Usually they sing a song or two… and at lunch and dinner, somebody from that church or somebody within Builders for Christ shares a testimony.”
Those moments of worship and testimony became more than part of the schedule—they continually redirected everyone’s attention from the work of their hands to the work God was doing through His Church.
For one week, volunteers from across the country came together under the leadership of Builders For Christ to build walls, prepare meals, encourage one another, and serve side by side.
But the lasting work wasn’t measured in siding installed or meals served. It was found in believers united around a shared purpose—strengthening Christ’s Church so the gospel can continue reaching the next person who walks through its doors.
Believers from different churches, backgrounds, and generations became a living picture of the Body of Christ—working together, serving together, and reminding one another that God’s Kingdom has always been built by His people, together.
