Camp Antioch getting building help
♦ Missionary group of contractors coming in to help with problems at Polk-Haralson Christian Life Center
Much needed upgrades like new paint, fixes to electrical and plumbing and much more are coming to one longtime organization’s facility thanks to a mission group out of Alabama this week coming to provide their services and purchasing materials as part of their way to give back.
Jerry Ferrell and his wife are being joined by a group of missionary contractors who travel across the country offering their services to churches and groups who need building support, but don’t have the funds to do it themselves.
The Polk Haralson Christian Life Center is the latest target for the group, which has for three decades been offering up a variety of services to Chrisitan communities. They’re latest project brings Ferrell and friends back to what is commonly known as Camp Antioch to provide help this week.
“We’ve been all over the country, from Alaska to South Dakota, Texas, Missouri, Oklahoma out to the reservations there, and Tennessee,” he said. “We’ve been a lot of different places.”
He and others pulled up in travel trailers over the weekend ahead of the start of work on Monday.
“We’re used to building churches over the summer, but it is getting harder to find a place to build because there are so many groups that are doing the same thing,” Ferrell said. “Our association’s missionary was talking to a missionary in Georgia. He (the association’s missionary) asked him if he could think of a place to go, and it was suggested we come here.”
He recalled a previous trip to Camp Antioch for a stay while they worked on another church in Georgia, and was glad to return.
“We really enjoy being able to help other people out over the years,”
Ferrell said after conversations with Janice Stewart, who runs Camp Antioch’s various programs of missionary and youth outreach throughout the year, welcomed them with open arms.
She already had a laundry list of items ready for the contractor missionaries to help fix.
“Where we need the help most is with electrical issues,” she said. “We need plumbing help, and a lot of structural things that we need the professional help with. We’re glad to have them here to help.”
Ferrell said 42 members have pledged to come take part in this week’s work, which should wrap up by Friday. The plan is to give a fresh makeover and fix problems in the former Antioch School, which was built in 1939.
“Some of the things are still here from the Roosevelt era,” Stewart said.
After its life ended as a school in the Antioch community, it took up a new life of shelter and education of Christian values.
Stewart said the facility and grounds have been known by many names over the year, but part of the building refresh this week will be cementing the name for years to come.
After all, it will always be known as Camp Antioch.