Melissa Baxter added, “It brought the young and the old together on a project, working together as a church body for a family who was there working alongside us.”
“The first family in particular was so engaged and so appreciative. I still maintain contact with the homeowner and drive by the home often when in San Antonio,” said Newton.
BT raised some of the funds, but the money came primarily from a grant from Wells Fargo Bank, where church member, Carol Gray, worked. Church members provided the labor.
Shad Purcell, youth Minister at the time, remembers that the experience shaped his understanding of ministry. Working side-by-side with church members, sharing physical labor and common purpose, embodied the kind of communal faith he valued.
Prior to the laborers’ arrival, the site would have a slab poured, utilities connected, and a pile of prefabricated walls ready to be assembled. For several weeks a work crew would be on the site hammering, roofing, drywalling, painting; lunch would be prepared in the church kitchen and brought to the site. Robert Persky said that a group of retirees were there every day. “I remember Aurelia Newton on the roof nailing in shingles,” said Robert’s wife, Muriel, who was also at the work site daily.
“I will never forget standing in the yard and glancing at the home on that final Saturday afternoon... children were hauling grass, women who had been on the roof and hanging Sheetrock were now inside cleaning. Eighty plus year old men were finishing up the wooden fence and I'm almost certain I heard God proclaim, ‘Well done my good and faithful servants!’” said Newton.
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