April 24, 2024
PINEVILLE, Ky. – The pounding of hammers. The ear-piercing screeching of circular saws. The thwacking of lumber tossed upon lumber. It’s all music to the ears of volunteers working with Carpenters for Christ, a Georgia group that spent last week in Kentucky helping renovate housing at Clear Creek Baptist Bible College outside Pineville.
“It's just so very rewarding to know we’re doing our part in God’s kingdom,” said Mike Sheppard, a member of First Baptist Church in Sandersville, Ga., and a longtime volunteer with Carpenters for Christ who helped organize the Kentucky project.
Over the years, the Georgia group has traveled as far as Iowa, Michigan and New York to help with building projects.
Sheppard and 11 others from the Washington Baptist Association arrived at Clear Creek on Wednesday and worked three days helping in the remodeling of two campus houses.
“They are extremely helpful to us,” said Michael DeLand, director of college relations at Clear Creek. “They have become like family to us, really. We look forward to seeing them every year.”
Members of the group, DeLand said, are blessed with servant hearts.
“They come asking ‘what can we do for you?,’ instead of ‘this is what we’re going to do,’” he said.
The Carpenters for Christ group, with a median age between 65 and 70, has been making regular jaunts to Clear Creek over the past three decades to work on building projects.
“We fell in love with the school,” Sheppard said. “Once we got started helping them, we kept coming back and continue to come back.”
Affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention, Clear Creek Baptist Bible College prepares students for ministry in the Appalachians and beyond. Graduates are serving as pastors, evangelists, worship leaders, missionaries, and teachers all over the world.
“This is a God-anointed place,” Sheppard said. “We feel it when we come here. These people are wonderful, and we’re thankful to be helping to provide suitable housing for the students.”
