JUNCTION, IL (WSIL) - Members with a Gallatin County church that was destroyed by fire last year is preparing to rebuild. More than 100 volunteers with "Carpenters for Christ" got to town Friday night, and they'll start construction first thing Saturday morning. Members of Junction General Baptist Church have been preparing for this June weekend for nearly a year.
Reverend Roy Biggerstaff said he's easily put in more than 100 hours of moving dirt with his tractor.
"We've spent a lot of hours getting the site ready and pouring the concrete and everything like that," Biggerstaff said.
Lighting struck the church in June of last year, which started a fire that destroyed the 134-year-old structure.
The congregation was in for a pleasant surprise when a few months later, a group of men called "Carpenters for Christ" volunteered to help build them a new church.
"The neat thing is, the volunteers that have stepped forward and given their time and their talents and don't want anything in return, they just want to praise the lord," Biggerstaff explained with sincere gratitude.
Sunday school teacher, Phyllis Bradley, said the church will be nearly complete in just ten days.
"We'll be under roof, and we'll have the walls up and a lot of things will be done," Bradley said, "but there's going to be more work to be done in the future weeks and so we hope by the end of August we will actually be in this building."
The Church moved from its previous location in town to a donated tract of land on Sawmill Road.
"We're on higher ground from the water," Bradley explained. "That's a good thing for us it's just beautiful for the people that have planned all this and so yes, we're going to worship god and be right out in his presence, right here on this spot."
Carpenters for Christ will put up walls, a roof and more in the next ten days. Biggerstaff said, he doesn't know what they would do without them.
"Their theme is, as iron sharpens iron, so does one man sharpen another, and they'll spend this week of building one another as well as building the church."
