Our church, Hillcrest Baptist in Dalzell, burned to the ground on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 4:50 a.m. The members met in our house for worship that Lord’s Day and we all agreed the Lord wanted us to rebuild the church.
Participants in the July groundbreaking for the new Hillcrest Baptist Church included (l to r) Virgil Smith, Hillcrest pastor Wayne Hunter, Richard Harris, and Gene Franklin.The television stations, newspaper, and everyone else asked the same question, “Do you plan to rebuild, and when?” My answer was always the same, “Yes, we will rebuild, and as soon as we can.” Not knowing any better (since I’m not a builder), I thought it would take a month or two and we would see the church rising out of the ashes of the old one.
Now five months later, our prayers will be answered. Last month, we had our official groundbreaking ceremony and on Aug. 11, about 10-15 builders from Lakewood Baptist Church, Sumter, and Earl’s Grove Baptist Church, Seneca, will be on the site to frame the church.
God has answered our prayers, and we know he will continue to do so if we have faith in him to supply our needs.
First Baptist, Rock Hill, has said they will come in September either to drywall or paint. However, we still need volunteers.
On Aug. 25, we will need volunteers to put on shingles, vinyl siding and a roof; on Sept. 1-5, we will need volunteers to do dry walling; and on Sept. 8-12, we will need painters. Jill Schaeffer of Schaeffer Design Group will be the licensed contractor supervising the construction.
If you would like to come out to help build or see what needs to be done, please do so or contact me at (803) 499-9261 or (803) 464-3003. Please pray for God to send workers.
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