West End Baptist Church

The Work Goes On...

After the rains cleared out of Marksville, LA, the local church members working under the leadership of the Louisiana Baptist Mission project manager, continued to set the trusses and apply the plywood sheeting to get their new church building under roof.  Below is a picture of the work after the weekend.

An additional roof section, an A-gable, will face forward over the large front doors and entrance-way.

It is very gratifying to see how the local members have taken ownership and moved this project along.  Cooperation is the name of the game.  The next group of volunteers will do the rough plumbing and electrical work and then the roofers and masons will move the job along. 

As we were working on the building last week, local residents stopped by and asked what was happening.  They could hardly believe that Baptists from Virginia had come all the way to Marksville to help the new congregation build their house of worship.

Thanks again to the West End Baptist Church fellowship for their support of this mission effort.  We learned a lot from the Culpepper team and are now better positioned to undertake other projects in the future.

If you would like to read more about this missions adventure, all of the related articles are available under the "Ministries" item on the Main Menu.

Our Deacon body is leading devotions at the Dinwiddie Rehabilitation Center on US 1 every third Sunday of the month.  This time consists of a short devotion using the Open Windows or a short passage, singing hymns, and prayer.  The residents of the center are so grateful to have people come and visit with them.  If you would like to join in this ministry with our deacon body please contact Terry Allen, our chair of Deacons.

The Petersburg Home for Ladies is another ministry site WEBC participates monthly on the first Tuesday of each month Carol McCann leads worship.  There are 15 or more ladies who gather to sing hymns, share prayer concerns and enjoy Bible Study.

This has been a delightful experience watching the circle of seniors continue to strengthen their faith through worship.  These women have been an inspiration.  If you would like to join Carol in this ministry opportunity please call 733-9331 and express your desire.

Mission Team Is Safely Home

The West End Baptist Church bus arrived back at the church about 8:30 PM on Friday night.  After two days of moving along with the huge storm that brought rain and snow to much of the eastern half of the country, the team was weary and glad to be home.  Team members report having had a wonderful experience in spite of the bad weather that cut the mission short.

The team wants to express a tremendous 'thank-you' to the church for the support that made the mission possible.  Team members will find a time in the near future to share a report with the church.  We are extremely grateful to those members who faithfully prayed for the church throughout the mission.

Building the Church at Marksville proved to be more difficult than any of the volunteers could have imagined.  About forty volunteers drove from Virginia to Louisiana to do the initial framing of the new church.  Local church members and members from the Hessmer Baptist church welcomed the team with great excitement in spite of departure snow, local rain, mud, and more mud.  The construction team slid out of Virginia and drove into Louisiana believing that they had dealt with the greatest obstacles.  However, the rain on Monday proved them wrong. 

After a day of working under the tent and building walls, the rains subsided and by the end of the second day the walls were going up, but the mud made work very difficult.

Team members slipped and slid through the Louisana mud and erected most of the exterior walls by the end of Tuesday.

Wednesday proved to be another welcomed day of sunshine and some of the mud dried up as the day went on.  All of the interior walls were completed and hauled to the building from the tent where they had been made.