Enthusiastic support from Laborers For Christ, members of The Church at Creston-Lutheran, and two neighboring Lutheran congregations help a young mission congregation build its first church home.

Laborers For Christ Project Manager Jim Eberhart calls building the new child development center for Bethany Lutheran Church in Slidell, La., a special project because many Laborers are grandparents and they recognize the importance of good Christian education.

Inscribed above the arch at the entrance to Redeemer Lutheran Church in Lebanon, Conn., is “Glory to God in the Highest” in German. The congregation reiterates the message, but now in a much larger facility across the street from the original church.

Committed to the project, congregation members pledged money and time to construct the building, and were assisted by an LCEF loan, a fellow Lutheran who managed the project, and Laborers For Christ member Bernie Gueldner. Despite setbacks, the project was completed for nearly half the original budget thanks to this help and many prayers.

Laborers For Christ recently helped the Christ the King Lutheran Church, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, congregation solve its problem with leaks by raising its flat roof. In doing so, the team also helped raised community awareness.

“Every day for four or five months, our community, the vendors, and trades people saw thousands of hours put in by our church volunteers and the Laborers,” said Russ Schumacher, congregation building chairman. “It made them wonder what causes people to put in such a great amount of time [to the construction project]. It was a good witness to our community.”

Laborer For Christ have been assisting the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Carthage, Mo., congregation expand its church and fellowship hall. The congregation briefly considered putting the expansion on hold because of the economic downturn. “But we decided to go ahead..."