Now you don't see it, now you do.
The new Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses appeared
this weekend in Gregoire, during a "quick build," otherwise known as an
old-fashioned church raising.
Hundreds of volunteer church members gathered in Fort
McMurray from across northern Alberta to erect the 4,100-square-foot building
across from McDonald's.
"There's a need. Our other facilities were very cramped
for the size of our congregation," explained John Braconnier, chairman
of the local building committee.
The congregation is 150 strong and growing, especially
due to the region's population increase recently.
The former location on Gordon Avenue has been sold to
a business, said Braconnier.
The new property was purchased in 1995 and the concrete
pad went down in June to give it time to cure, along with the asphalt parking
lot and utilities to the site.
On Saturday morning the main push started at 6 a.m.
"We opened with prayer and a safety talk and breakfast,"
said Marty Thody, presiding overseer of the congregation.
At 7 a.m., church members started laying out the walls,
with the first one going up 1 1/2 hours later. By 9:30, the wall sheathing
and brick facade work had started.
"It'll look very smart and sharp. We've taken great pains
to ensure it's esthetically pleasing," said Braconnier, who works for a
Syncrude Canada contractor.
The brick and stucco exterior will complement the surrounding
area, he said.
At 11:30 a.m., the crew was ahead of schedule, putting
sheathing on the roof trusses before the crane lifted them to top off the
structure.
"If we included labour costs in this hall, we'd have
a project worth at least $800,000," said Braconnier.
Many of the volunteer construction workers were tradesmen,
like Wally Campbell, who drove up from Edmonton in the wee Saturday morning
hours.
"I like to do this," said the electrician plainly.
Mark Broadhurst, a McMurray window cleaner, was putting
trusses together for the roof on Saturday.
"We're contributing to a building to help us in our worship
and also as a centre for the community," he said.
Syncrude electrician and Witness Jason St. Martin has
been to several church raisings.
"It's usually done in one weekend, but occasionally it's
two weekends depending on the availability of the materials," he explained.
By yesterday, the roof was shingled and the fixed seating
was installed. The inside work on this hall will be finished next weekend.
Braconnier's daughter Stephanie, 13, also donned a hard-hat
to help out. For part of Saturday afternoon she and others helped the bricklayers
trim mortar.
"You have to be careful or you move the bricks and it's
hard to put them back," she said.
Kaile Schjodt was a gopher: "we got here at like 7 a.m.
and I helped out in the kitchen for two hours. If somebody wants something,
we get it for them."
The Witnesses have built about 400 such halls across
Canada using this method, including nearly 40 in northern Alberta.
To feed the hungry workers, Evansburg minister Ralph
Chorney towed his self-designed mobile kitchen up Highway 63.
For breakfast on Saturday morning, the volunteers went
through, "22 dozen eggs, two 10-kilogram bags of flour for pancakes, 25
pounds of bacon and 10 pounds of sausage," he said.
At coffee break, the crews devoured another 25 pounds
of hamburgers, before digging in to lunch which included 80 pounds of roast
beef, 15 pounds of ground beef, 200 pounds of potatoes, 100 pounds of carrots,
25 pies and all the trimmings. Afternoon coffee break and supper are also
prepared.
"This is the 156th Kingdom Hall I've been on," said Chorney.
"I'm out about four or five times a year. I couldn't feed this kind of
crew without volunteer labor."
Much of the food is donated too, or it would tally around
$2,000, he said
Religion based on Jesus' teachings
Jehovah's Witnesses are the folks who come knocking
at your door, but there's more to the religion than that, explained several
members.
"Jehovah's Witnesses try to live by the principles that
were laid out by Jesus and the pattern of life followed by first century
Christians," said John Braconnier.
"We are an organization of preachers but part of that
entails a very strong family culture. We try to live our lives in harmony
with the Biblical principles and that's sometimes difficult in the face
of the eroding moral climate of today."
He said Witnesses try to give their youth a sense of
purpose and a positive future.
"Mankind in general has said 'we don't need a God, we'll
make our own standards," said Braconnier.
JWs believe in the Bible's promise the earth will be
restored to paradise, its original condition.
"We weren't meant to live under all this stress and greed,"
he said.
"Many people believe when they die, they go to heaven,
but they don't have a concept of what that's all about. We believe mankind
was created to live on Earth ... we have all the senses to enjoy it."
The church is called a Kingdom Hall, where members learn
about God's kingdom. Jehovah is another name for God.
Witnesses are only baptized when they are able to make
the decision themselves, so although there are six million Witnesses worldwide,
there are another six million associates.
"How many religions are strong enough to go knock on
doors and have strong enough faith to practice what they preach?" asked
Braconnier.
Witness Mark Broadhurst said he's had a few doors slammed
in his face.
"That doesn't happen much. We realize in the big picture
of things, we're here to help people and most people are nice," he said.
"It's par for the course. We try to focus on the people
who'll listen."
There's no better way to learn something and build up
faith within yourself than by helping others learn, said Broadhurst.