Published: June 02, 2008 09:05 pm      

Retiree Builders bring helping hand to Baptist church in Dodge

For a select group of people, retirement was the beginning of the most important job of their lives.

That group, a non-profit, volunteer organization called the Retiree Builders, spent two weeks building an addition to the First Baptist Church in Dodge from the ground up, and finished this past Saturday.

The Retiree Builders are volunteers under the umbrella of Texas Baptist Men, BGCT. Huntsville resident Alex Gillaspie is the project’s building coordinator, and has been a member for the last four years.

“Any changes that are to be made are suppose to go through me to the Men,” Gillaspie said. “I haven’t been corrected yet, so I guess I’m doing all right!”

Wayne Simpkins retired to Bryan after 34 years of teaching in Beeville, and has been a member of the Texas Baptist Men for 18 years; he now runs the group for all of Texas. “My job is to make sure everything runs good,” Simpkins said. “I visit the churches around the state and I get their jobs for them and we try to do two jobs each month at the same time.

“Now we’re doing the inside of a big two-story metal building in Bridge City at the same time we’re doing this church here in Dodge. I go to all the jobs and I assign five people to each job, then I send out a newsletter, and when they get that then they go where they need to go. “

Though it seems overwhelming at times, Simpkins never loses faith.

“It always works,” he said. “The Lord takes care of us; he sends us everything we need.”

This specific group is a product of a cohesive community effort.

“Olan Miles started the group in the mid-70s,” Simpkins said. “He retired from the Baptist Encampment; it was a little church that was about ready to close up.

“So, 12 people went over there and wanted to help redo it, and people kept wanting to help and work with them and so it just grew and grew and grew.

“Now we have the church builders and about five or six other groups like brick layers and furniture builders, and each one has its own coordinator like I am.”

The various groups who take part are bricklayers, church builders, camp builders, out-of-state builders, furniture builders and disaster group.

In order to make each job run smoothly, the men operate in a way that allows them to devote every moment possible to the project at hand.

“It’s really neat the way it does work,” Simpkins said. “We live in RVs right here on the property and our wives come with us. While we’re working, they have bible study, they sing at nursing homes, they visit shut-ins that he church has, yeah, they stay pretty busy.

“The wives don’t mind a bit. Now if it rains, and the mud gets knee-deep, they all still come.”

Wayne Simpkins’ wife Rena is in charge of the ladies group.

Crafts are a large part of their afternoons; they crochet necklaces, cross-stitch cross bookmarks and pen holders, and much more.

The women give their crafts away as gifts and tokens of love to anyone they meet.

“With all our crafts, they’re all different; all of us ladies make up our own designs,” Rena Simpkins said.

With a schedule that would keep even the most youthful of builders busy, there is little time for members to spend relaxing at home.

That time is instead given up to further serve the Lord, Simpkins said.

“We work two weeks out of each month,” Simpkins said. “So, we go home, go to the doctor, pay the bills, mow the yard, and then get right out and do it again. That’s about our routine!

“I get satisfaction from knowing that we’re doing the Lord’s work. You see, we’re doing missionary work, and people so often think that you have to go out of the state or across the ocean to do mission work.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Simpkins said. “You can do mission work right in your own home town. So, we’re developed this home missionary.

“We feel like we’re called to do this and that it’s our way of serving. We don’t get anything monetary out of it, they feed us, but that’s it — well, they give us a place to park our RVs, too. This work is the only reason 90 percent of us even have RVs.”

“We’re always in need of new workers,” Simpkins said. “And you can’t be shy now; I think our average age here it 74, and our man on the filter is 86.”

To contact the Texas Baptist Men with questions or concerning booking, visit their Web site at www.baptistmen.org.