Oklahomans give Texas church a lift_63003

Posted: 6/27/03

Oklahomans give Texas church a lift

By George Henson

Staff Writer

CRESSON–A group of Christians on mission from Oklahoma sees Cresson as more than “just a stoplight on the way to Granbury.”

To them, it's a place to make an investment in the kingdom of God.

Thirty-five workers from Trinity Baptist Church in Ada, Okla., arrived June 9 to begin making First Baptist Church in Cresson more closely resemble the finely crafted structure it was when constructed in 1910.

Located just off Highway 377 between Benbrook and Granbury, the church had been deteriorating for some time, Pastor Clark Frailey said.

“We wanted to maintain the look of the outside–it's just such a unique building–but we wanted to protect it too,” Frailey said. “The paint was peeling all over it really bad. It had really become an eyesore.”

The church building had received so many coats of paint over the years that sanding it down to the wood would have been impossible. So the Oklahoma crew attached insulation to those exterior walls, then attached siding to that, giving the aging edifice a fresh new look.

The Oklahomans also placed ceramic tile throughout the church's fellowship hall and Sunday School rooms, which had been covered with an indoor/outdoor carpet of varying hues.

The Oklahoma handymen and women were led by Sid Green. “We do this each year as a mission project,” Green said. “We just do what we can to help.”

In addition to projects in their home state, the church also has come to the aid of churches in Louisiana and Colorado.

The Cresson congregation also plans to build a sand volleyball court, a pavilion and children's playground, as well as place cushions on the original hand-crafted, custom-made pews.

“We are a historic church, as are the pews we sit on. However, they also are sometimes a sore subject,” the pastor quipped.

Removable seat cushions and back cushions are being crafted to fit the pews. The pews currently sport seat cushions, but the cushions were added in the 1950s, and “they've lost their cush,” Frailey pointed out.

Upgrading the facilities to be more child-friendly is important in Cresson, the pastor said. “Even though we are a small church, we had 65 kids enrolled last year in VBS. There's not a whole lot else for kids to do around here except for church activities, so the kids really turn out.”

All this is possible for the congregation of about 40 only through the donated sweat, labor and skills of the Oklahoma church and a small-church loan from the Baptist General Convention of Texas, the pastor said.

Even though the older members of the Cresson church can't do all the manual labor required for the renovation, they have made important contributions.

“I told them … to bring extra food because so many were coming to help us with this project, and they really brought a lot,” Frailey said. “We might not be able to do construction, but we can cook.”

Martha Manuel, a member since 1961, said the food was just a token of the appreciation the Texans feel for their neighbors.

“There's no way we could repay them for all they've done, but we can pray for them and thank them,” she said. “We're trying to fatten them up before they go back to Oklahoma.”

Mildred Milburn has been a member of the Cresson church 58 years, and she, too, is grateful.

“When they get ready to leave, I'm going to line them all up and hug every last one of them,” she said. “They'll never know how grateful we are.”

Frailey said the women speak for his whole congregation.

“It's the first time anybody's really stepped up to help them in a big way in at least the last 50 years,” he noted. “I've been seeing a lot of smiles around here.”