By Baptist Message staff
ALEXANDRIA, La. (LBM) – Mike Shumock has issued an urgent call for volunteers to help remodel several Louisiana Baptist churches for 2022.
Shumock, the Mission Builder strategist for Louisiana Baptists, said all of the projects scheduled for 2022 originally were to take place in 2020 and 2021, but multiple hurricanes, the COVID-19 pandemic and rising construction costs delayed the work. Now, he said, they are playing “catch up” and need Kingdom-minded people for the task.
“I need churches and associations who will step up and commission skilled workers to come and help these churches with their facilities,” Shumock told the Baptist Message. “Everyone has something to offer, whether they are skilled or have just very basic knowledge of construction. We need people in churches that are willing to say we have skills, and these are God’s gifts to be able to utilize His glory for Kingdom work.”
Work at First Baptist Church, Avondale, and Ban Suk Korean Baptist Church, Bossier City, is scheduled to begin in early January.
First, Avondale sustained heavy damage from Hurricane Ida in August and needs to reroof its 10,000-sq.-ft. facility. Ban Suk Korean Baptist needs help to demolish its old worship center and fellowship hall and help build a new 8,000-sq.-ft. multi-purpose center.
Two months later, projects at Marlow Baptist Church, Leesville, and Immanuel Community Church, New Orleans, is scheduled to begin.
The worship center at Marlow Baptist was destroyed by a tornado in 2019 and work has begun rebuilding it. A team from Virginia is framing the walls of the structure but other volunteers will be needed to complete electrical work and install insulation and dry wall.
Immanuel Community Church is constructing a 10,000-sq.-ft. multi-purpose facility. Teams will be needed to frame the building, complete the roof, and work in other phases of construction as the project moves forward.
Volunteers are needed immediately to frame the second floor and to compete electrical work at Pine Ridge Baptist Church in Melder. Additional volunteers will be needed in mid-June to install insulation, sheetrock and flooring inside the 27,000-sq.-ft. multi-purpose facility at Pine Ridge.
Groups interested in bringing a team to work on any of these projects should contact Mike Shumock at 225 975-0848.
