The Master's Builders at Brookeland

By Rose Bittner, Reporter

After a few weeks’ rest, The Master’s Builders loaded up and headed to Brookeland, Texas to work with Pastor Jerry Gilbert at Brookeland Baptist Church. Work began on Oct. 9, with seven men and five women from the Master’s Builders. This was job #185 for the Master’s Builders.

Brookeland is a small community between Sam Rayburn Reservoir and Black Bayou in Louisiana. The Builders were called to help build rooms in a 5,000-square-foot, metal-sided, multipurpose building on the church grounds. Six campers were set up on the church grounds, with one builder, Bobby Samuels, opting to tent camp at the site. With the beautiful fall weather, he certainly enjoyed his time outdoors!

Since the early 1980s, the Brookeland Baptist Church family has been praying about the construction of this building and the vision to help reach the Brookeland community for Christ from within its walls. They came together to raise the needed funds, and God answered many prayers along the way.

The building has a 25x30 room upstairs designated for meetings for all ages. Included upstairs is a small apartment for visiting evangelists, church speakers or even displaced families. Downstairs, they have space for student and children’s ministries, a small kitchen, storage and restrooms. The main area of the building is large enough for sports activities and larger gatherings of all kinds.

The Master’s Builders enjoyed getting to know Pastor Gilbert and his wife, Tammy, along with many of the Brookeland church families. Several meals and a few of the gatherings were held in the parsonage for some added blessings! What a wonderful opportunity to fellowship with many of the church families! Each day, the ladies met for Bible study and prayer with some of the women from the church. What a blessing it is to be able to pray with, and for, each other.

While the The Master’s Builders began building the walls in the new building, Bro. Jerry, many of the church members and folks in the community were finishing a total remodel of the fellowship hall and sanctuary in the church building. This work began two years ago and is in the final stages. They are praying to have it completed by Christmas. This was a much-needed update to the building, and most of the work was done with labor from within the church family.

The church body also recently completed an update to the parsonage. As we all labored in this work, we were each reminded of the words from I Cor. 3:6-7 (NKJV): “I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.” We are all praising God for the promise of increase!

The Builders would like to thank the Brookeland Church family for all the good food, sweet fellowship, help with the building needs and the opportunity to serve them. We send a special thank you to each of the church members who helped with the construction on the building, as well as the community members who came to lend a hand or just to check out what we were doing. Throughout the community, folks were interested in hearing about this work! Special thanks to all the church members who made sure we ate well, had plenty of ice and shared some of the “labor of their hands” from their small community farms.

Please pray for this church family, and all churches, as they endeavor to make disciples and spread the gospel. We also ask you to pray for God to send workers for our Master’s Builders group to come alongside us as we continue to work for His glory! I encourage you to “Follow” and “Like” us on Facebook so you can see what we do each day and pray for us. Just type in “The Master’s Builders” on Facebook (the one with the arbor logo) and follow us.

If you have questions about this ministry, please contact Mike Green at (972) 935-3877, David Axe at (903) 918-0729 or Eddie Sikes at (479) 462-1675.