INDEPENDENCE – Multi-Church Baptist Builders help modernize Beverly Hills Baptist Church facility, a nightmare of delayed maintenance and upkeep. Despite the physical work and the financial savings, the construction task proves itself For the church, God also used the group to facilitate another kind of restoration.
Physical repairs
In the eight years that Brian Grout served in Beverly Hills, the cost of upkeep and maintenance has gone through the roof – sometimes in the truest sense of the word. The church has spent more than $ 185,000 on maintenance and repairs, replacing nine stoves and air conditioners, each roof of the building, concrete, and more.
“It was spiraling,” said Grout.
Baptist Builders showed up. First Baptist volunteers in Bevier, near Sterling Acres and Baptist Country Meadows Baptist is currently in the process of remodeling the Beverly Hills lobby and bathrooms, which Grout describes as “straight out of the 1960s.” They also add showers so the Church can accommodate mission teams out of town so the Church can expand its ministry in new and different ways.
“I only realized a few years ago how useful Baptist builders are for churches,” said Grout. “If a church doesn’t need this work, maybe they have the people who have the passion and know-how in building and crafting to help another church.”
Spiritual healing
Remodeling wasn’t the only way Baptist Builders repaired Beverly Hills, and that need has been postponed for decades. Grout didn’t know when the project started, but there was a hidden legacy of the conflict between his congregation and one of the churches helping through Baptist Builders.
When the police need to be called to a church business meeting, something has gone terribly wrong. But that is exactly what happened in Beverly Hills one evening in the 1980s. Minds flared, relationships tore apart, and the local group of believers broke communion and split. Two employees and more than 100 people left the church and started Country Meadows four and a half miles away.
The heads have long since cooled – and the members and staff of both churches have largely turned around. But with the construction project, the two churches are working together again for the sake of the kingdom. The two current pastors – Ashley Olinger of Grout and Country Meadows – met and wondered how God is at work.
“We went out to lunch and talked about how neat it is that although the people who were here when the split happened (and there are still a handful on Country Meadows), a church that split is now comes back to work in a spirit of renewal and restoration, ”said Grout. For more information on Baptist Builders, visit mobaptist.org/dr/baptist-builders/ or contact volunteer coordinator Mike Hibbard at 660-815-3459.