Texas Baptist Men Help Construct New Building at Salt Creek Church

A new church building is being constructed at Salt Creek Baptist Church and about 30 Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builders have been working on the framing, sheet rock and electric system over the last two weeks.  Their mission is “to go wherever we are invited to help Baptist churches and organizations build facilities they otherwise could not afford.”

According to church member Keith Marshall of the building committee, these men have saved the church at least $50,000, possibly up to $65,000 on the project.

“They’ve just saved us a tremendous amount of money on this job,” Marshall said.  “Just shooting from the hip, I would guess the framing and electrical work they have completed would cost around $60,000-$65,000 considering some of the electrical contractors’ bids I have seen.  It’s well over $50,000 at least.  They have completed more than half of the electrical work.”

Only a week and a half ago, the building was just the concrete slab, metal walls with blown insulation.  In a matter of days, the Texas Baptist Men Retiree Builders have transformed the empty building with framing of the walls, a cathedral style sanctuary, some sheet rock, electrical work and more.  The new church building is 12,100 square feet in size and will be over twice the size of their current facility.

“The job is further along than they thought they would get,” said Marshall. “It’s a bigger crew than they usually  have with usually 20 workers showing up each day and even about 4-5 local workers helping, this wasn’t including the women who did the cooking for 60-65 people each day.”

Although the average age of the men working in the church is about 74, they say the work with the Texas Baptist Men “keeps them young”.

“We enjoy it and are very blessed to be able to continue working at our age,” said 84-year-old Ray Lancaster from Cameron, Texas.  “We work about two weeks every month, with the exception of December.  When the economy went soft, we got down to about one job a month, but next month we have two jobs scheduled in Trenton and near Huntsville.”

Master electrician, Paul Bottoms of Jewett, Texas has drawn up the electrical system plans and stated that this was a big job for the group, but has been a great experience.

“This has been a big job for us.  The first week it was a big vacant building and I told the local church members to come back in about ten days and see what these old men can do,” said Bottoms.  “I find this work rewarding in three ways:  physically, because we need to stay active at our ages; mentally, because I have to think about things; and spiritually because you can’t help but grown stronger in your faith when you work with these guys, they are good people.  They are the cream of the crop.”

The men came from all over Texas to join the Baptist Men’s group at Salt Creek.  Some of the places they call home are Halletsville, Gatesville, Leander, Garland, Whitney, Pearland, Cameron, Gainsville,  Jewett and even Harrah in Oklahoma.  Their jobs before retirement and joining the group included law enforcement, teaching, elementary principal, working for the railroad, oil field work, construction, building jet engines, high school ag teacher, and design engineering at Lockheed-Martin to name a few.

Several members of the group stated that they really enjoy the experience of traveling and working with the Baptist Men and recommend the group to any retirees.

“In 2003, the group came to my church and I worked as a local and was very impressed, I thought to myself, this is something I’d like to do,” said Bottoms.  “The only drawback is that these people become my friends, we eat, have church together, and fellowship together and as people get older, they get where they can’t come out or they pass away.  It’s hard when you lose one.”

Anyone who hasn’t tried it (working with the Baptist Men) ought to jump on the bandwagon,” said Lee Scott.  “They’d really enjoy it.”

The men consider themselves missionaries, according to Bottoms, because they come to the community and interact with the people by leading church services on the weekend  and they interact with the local people when they go to the stores or when the people come to the church to see what all the RVs are doing there.  The field next to the church was filled with the men’s RVs which serve as living quarters during their visits.

Even the contractors that are working alongside the men such as three workers from Roberts & Petty who stated that they enjoyed working with the men.  Each day, the women of the church cook meals for the workers, even the outside contractors.  The Baptist Men only ask the church to provide materials, and one hot meal a day and snacks for breaks; they take care of their own breakfasts and dinners in their RVs.

“It’s been a good project working with them,” agreed Barry Modawell.  “and they’ve fed us well.”

“They want to jump in and help us, it’s been neat to watch them get after it,” said Troy Moreland.

The new sanctuary will seat between 250-300 people as compared to the approximately 150 capacity of the current church.  Another group from the Texas Baptist Men has been contacted to help with their specialty, cabinetry, and it is hoped that they will be able to schedule a visit at the beginning of next year.

For more information about the Texas Baptist Men’s Retiree Builders ministries, please