Green River Bible Church dedicates new building

By Alice Wadley Staff writer

After years of building the Green River Bible Church recently opened their new facility in Green River. Pastor Kirk Dunham said they did not want to go into debt for the building and constructed it as funds permitted.
Pastor Dunham said, I wanted to just make a few comments about the history of this project and to say thank you to some of the people were involved. It’s difficult because there are so many people and by mentioning anyone I obviously will leave some out. If you were left out I want to say thank you and remind you God knows and appreciates all you’ve done on this project. First I’d like to say thank you to the people of Green River Bible Church. We are not very big and we are not very rich but you have been very supportive, and everyone has helped. Some have collected empty cans, some have collected stuff for the garage sales. Everyone showed up for different workdays. The ladies have cooked food for lots of different workers and everybody has been very supportive emotionally and everyone has given sacrificially. Thanks to all of you.
I’m not sure the exact time that we started. In 2005, we sold the parsonage and the idea of selling was to use the money for something that would be more beneficial to the ministry of the church. In the 2006 annual meeting we talked about building a building. On the negative side we didn’t have enough money and our faith was small. I kept hoping for more money and more people before we started. We kicked the idea around for several years and in 2010 annual meeting we decided to go for it. Our one guiding principle was we would not borrow money and we would only spend what we had on hand.
We had already purchased the five lots next door when they came up for sale some years before. Dean Jewkes, one of the church elders, had said, “let’s buy them, the Lord isn’t making no more.” Mesa Hills Bible Church helped with some money so we were able to purchase the lots. Later when we were talking about building, our church elder, Bill Adams, drew up a sketch of what we wanted for a building then we sent this to Chuck Anderson and he changed it to an architectural drawing. We took this drawing and went to the building and zoning people in Castle Dale. They brought up several things that had to be changed but were overall encouraging.
Later we talked to contractor, Don Meadows Jr. He said he would work with us. Sometime after that a fellow showed up and introduced himself as Joel Korver, the man who built the buildings for 777 Ranch. When he said the Lord was leading him to help us, I was amazed. We agreed to get back together after we had the building permit.
We sent Chuck Anderson’s drawings to the company called Bison Steel for a quote to build a building according to the plans. They came back with a quote we thought was reasonable, and we talked to the County again. They gave us the design criteria which we sent to Bison Steel. This raised their price another $10,000, In 2011, we ordered the building after getting the county’s approval. (I had told them we would not order the building until they gave their approval). We ordered the building and applied for a building permit at the same time. The building permit turned out to be much more of an ordeal than expected: the people in Salt Lake who were approving the plans were not familiar with Emery County. After Chuck made the first 31 requested corrections and sent the drawings back to the County, we received another list of 72 required corrections.
One of the most expensive of these was that each page of drawings needed to be stamped by a licensed architect or engineer. This turned out to be very expensive. We want to say thanks to a couple of parties: Pat Morgan of Pat Morgan Architecture, who took Chuck’s drawings, modified them, and stamped them. Wilding Engineering did the environmental study pro bono and Bruno Engineering from Price greatly discounted the charge for their electrical work. We want to say special thanks to all of them.
2011 came and went into the summer of 2012. Jeff Horrocks, a County Commissioner called and said he would help us get a building permit. He requested us to send him a set of plans and he would oversee getting the permit. True to his word when the plans came back with all the stamps, we gave them to Jeff and within 48 hours we had a building permit. We thank God for him; we would probably still be jumping through hoops if it hadn’t been for his help.
We received the permit at the end of October 2012. We sent the plans to Don Meadows for his quote to pour the foundation. We found out we were $12,000 short of having enough to pour a foundation. We prayed, held a garage sale and the $12,000 came. Chris Dunham used his trucks to haul gravel and fill dirt, most of it was donated by the Silliman family. Mark Williams did the dirt work. In reality he and JoAnn did so much more. I talked to Joel Korver and we set a date in March 2013 to put up the steel frame. Don Meadows said the foundation would be ready. When the day came Joel showed up with a group from Westside Baptist Church out of Eugene, Oregon. The team included a fellow named Lou Hilligass from Las Vegas and Sam Wilbanks from Castle Dale. By the end of the week the steel skeleton was all up. Then Lou came and said, “I don’t want to leave it like this. My wife’s going to Europe for the month of June. If you have a place for my horse, I will come back and finish this.” As we got to watch Lou work, it became apparent this man was a professional. He looked at our steel, spread out like a tornado hit it and told us what pieces we were missing. Somebody has a picture of him walking across the top of one of the first steel beams that went up.
Putting up walls required a five man crew each day. I was amazed each day five men came, some from the church some from other places. This is when Jeff Smith and Eran came to town. When the end of June came the walls were up. And Lou said, “let’s get somebody else to put the roof on.” We were all spooked about working so high up. I talked to a roofing company; they wanted $17,000 to put the 52 pieces of metal roofing on. Rico and Luis agreed to do it for the left over metal and $3,000. Thanks for your work guys. A couple of other big thanks: Banasky’s let us use their snorkel lift and their hi-lift forklift. Rozman’s let us use their crane truck to lift up the beams. Caleb came for the first couple of days to run it. Without this equipment it would have been impossible, so thanks to you all. In August, Joel put in the doors and windows got the building dried in and left. As it turned out, this was the last building he built. Now he’s building in heaven; I believe he’s rejoicing with us today. Thanks Joel.
While this was going on I received a couple calls. One from a church in Cotopaxi, Colorado, saying they wanted to help. They later came and laid the sidewalks. Another call was from Ty Fields, a contractor from Tahoe, California, and he said his church would send a team out to frame out the kitchen and bathroom area when we were ready for them. During the summer of 2013, one of the problems was an electrical connection: Rocky Mountain power wanted $11,600 to connect us, which we had not expected and did not have. We prayed, the money came in, and we paid them. Sam Wilbanks and the Castle Dale Baptist Church put in the meter base; thank you. That summer we were able to get the water, sewer and gas lines put in.
It took a bit of time to get everything ready for Ty’s crew to come. One of the most difficult jobs was putting the insulation on the ceiling: this involved 300 pound rolls that had to be put up 25 feet overhead. Doug Mason, Andrew Gee and Josh Ambrose did this. When Ty’s crew showed up in February 2014, Ty had recruited a plumber and electrician as well as several carpenters to be part of this team. They worked like Banshees. I would go in at six in the morning to make coffee and they would already be working. When I would go to turn the lights off at 11 p.m. they were still working. By Thursday the rooms were framed up, wired and plumbed, and the building inspector had cleared us to put up sheetrock. Ty added a couple really cool ideas: the guy who delivered the beams, (LEI’s), brought 30 feet lengths instead of the 20 feet lengths that we had ordered. Ty modified the plans to have the cantilevered out part that you now see. The barn wood and the corrugated roof metal was also Ty’s idea. Thanks Ty and thanks to all of you from Sierra Bible Church.
When Ty’s crew left we had a bill at Ace Hardware that was bigger than the money in GRBC checking account. Duane Riches was very patient with us for which we are thankful. Each work team that came donated their time to come and work, but they needed to eat. Our church ladies cooked at least a million meals for different workers, thanks so much.
That spring and summer we hung sheetrock, the Vacation Bible School teams from Mesa Hills Bible Church and Flatirons Baptist Church also helped put up sheetrock. It became apparent before we could finish the sheetrock we needed to have the heat ducts put in. Johnson heat wanted $1,500 for this, and as usual, we were broke. So we prayed. Let me back up. A year before this a lady had brought her wedding rings and said she was giving them to Jesus since her since husband left her. Her one stipulation was she never wanted to see them again. How do you get money out of gold jewelry? The gold people offered about 10 percent of what the rings were appraised for so we took them to the pawnshop who offered to sell them for us. The rings sat a year at the pawnshop; then the very week we needed the money for the heat ducts, the pawnshop gave us a check for $1,500.
That fall Sam Wilson started scrounging in Salt Lake for the necessary materials to finish the inside. He got a furnace from Mid Valley Bible Church and many other of the things you see inside. That fall I got a call from a fellow Colorado Springs, Jim Allen, who said he was an electrical engineer and had a couple weeks between jobs and he would like to help. He came out, hooked up a lot of electric lights, and many other electrical things actually connecting the wires that Ty’s crew had put in the walls. Again I was amazed at the skill level of the people God sent us. Jim had been designing cell phones for Samsung. One night, as we talked, he told about designing a security system for the White House while Bill Clinton was president. Now here he was working on our little project – isn’t God good. That fall Rico, who is foreman for a construction company up north, was laid off until the weather warmed up. So he came and put up the barn wood and a million other things. He said he didn’t know how to do the drywall mud and recommended we find someone else to do that.
In February of 2015, Hardhats for Christ sent us a fellow by the name of Duane Atkinson, who was a master at mudding drywall. He hid all of our mistakes; the walls you see here now are his work. Thanks Duane. Sam Wilson was still looking for the materials we needed to finish, but he never could find any kitchen cabinets he approved of, so one day I asked the guy at Home Depot to send us a quote. It just happened that week we were having a garage sale, and Saturday night the ladies tallied the income from the garage sale, $1400. That same day the guy from Home Depot called back with his quote saying the cabinets we wanted were on sale until the next day; the price he gave was $1,400. Ricky Doten and Mark and JoAnn did the countertops. Most of the interior painting Mark and JoAnn did as well.
As we looked to our getting an occupancy permit before Vacation Bible School in June, a couple of big things were pending: a water fountain (Grainger wanted $800) and paving the handicap parking area. The first week of June, Paula went to an EMT meeting in Las Vegas and I went with her for a couple of days. There at a thrift store I found a water fountain, isn’t God good. The other thing we needed was the handicap parking lot paved, and Dan Harrison did this pro bono. Thanks Dan and Bo Harrison.
As I read through this there are so many things that could be added, so many people are left out, and thanks to all of you. I would like to say a special thanks to five men that are rejoicing with us today in heaven but are not here physically. They each had a special part in this building. The first four of them were a part of the leadership team of GRBC. Bill Adams had the original vision, he drew the original drawings. Next to him would be Dean Jewkes, he had the foresight to make sure we bought the property so we had it when the time was right. Next Rodney Silliman, he had the vision and was always an encouragement to me. Next Randy (Bear,) he saw the need, prayed with me, went to Castle Dale with me to talk to the county officials. He graduated to heaven before the concrete was poured. Lastly, Joel Korver who helped bring the vision to reality along with so many others. I believe all five of these men are rejoicing with us today; special thanks all of them.
Pastor Dunham concluded with saying we have so many things to be thankful for, but most of all thanks to God.
Jeff Horrocks was the next to speak. He said, I met with Pastor Dunham in Green River and Castle Dale. We communicated back and forth and he had a hard time getting a building permit. I spoke to Senator Hinkins, unbeknownst to Pastor Dunham and they received their building permit. I grew to know Pastor Dunham as a kind person and I am a better person because of it. After hearing all of the stories of how this came together I know you will be blessed. God bless you and thank all of you for your hard work.
Pastor Chuck Anderson said It is a great day of rejoicing. It is a great day for Green River. I know many of you worked on this project. When the project started I looked at a pile of bolts and steel and wondered how it would all come together. I see how the Lord has met the needs of the Green River Bible Church. He has been so faithful to provide. It goes to show you, when God calls you to do something he shows up. God has a special way of revealing himself. In Psalm 18: 1, it shows David had an intimate relationship with God. In Isaiah 40: 28-41 and Isaiah 41: 10 it shows God has revealed himself as the source of our strength. In Philippians 4: 13, it says “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I have learned through church building this isn’t just a project it’s a spiritual battle. God is Jehovah Nissi, which means the Lord is our banner. God is also Jehovah Jireh, the God who provides. Pastor Anderson concluded with saying, today is a day of rejoicing because we have been blessed.
A slideshow presentation was shown to highlight the building over the years. After the slideshow everyone gathered outside for prayer and for the cornerstone to be revealed. The cornerstone was inscribed “For the Children of Jesus”. Jim Hodges, Pastor Tom Stevens and Pastor Sam Wilbanks prayed. After the service a meal was served for everyone to enjoy. Pastor Dunham contributed to this article.