One Nation, Under God

Burlington Assembly of God Church flock to Malta to remodel DeBoer home

Work that would take most construction crews months and months of work is only going to take members of North Carolina's Assembly of God Church three days to complete as nearly 50 members of the congregation flocked to Malta on Sunday to help their friends, Pastor Hal DeBoer and his wife, Henrietta, realize a dream they have envisioned for over three years.

For the last 27 years, the Assembly of God Church from Burlington, North Carolina, has set out on missions each summer to locations around the United States – and sometimes into Canada and Mexico -- to remodel churches and other structures. This year, the team has brought their construction prowess to Malta to help out their friends, the DeBoers.

"I've known Pastor Hal for several years because his son (Jason) is a member of the congregation that I have pastored for, for over forty years," said Pastor Howard Thompson of the Burlington's Assembly of God. . "And getting to know him and the job that he is doing, the sacrifices that he has made, and the fact that he did not have a home, I just believed that God wanted us to put our team together and come out and provide this for him and his family. So about three years ago we began thinking about that, praying about that, working toward that and now it has finally come to the time that we are doing it."

The DeBoers are known around Phillips County for traveling to three different churches on Sundays. They set out early Sunday morning for Landusky, near Zortman, with services starting at 9 a.m. From there the travel to Cleveland, 25 miles south of Chinook, where services start at noon. From there they travel back to Malta, to the First Creek Hall, where services start at 4 p.m. All told, the DeBoers drive 252 miles, for a 12-hour day, each Sunday. . Pastor Hal leads the Prairie Churches of Montana Territory and has done so since May of 2008.

"We really felt that he and his wife, who are in their sixties, that God wanted them to have a home as they are approaching this time in their life," Pastor Thompson said. "Eventually they will be retiring so we wanted to provide them a home, debt free for when that time comes."

The group of Assembly of God members – and their friends -- who filed into Malta on Sunday are the biggest group they have ever taken on one of their missions. Usually the church will dispatch about 25-to-30 members in order to complete the restoration work. On Sunday in Malta, nearly 50 members and friends showed up to be housed in the Malta High School gym before starting work on the DeBoers home.

"Pastor Thompson is the gentleman who has brought us all together," said Jason DeBoer, member of the Assembly of God and Pastor Hal and Henrietta's son. "For so many years the Lord has laid it on his heart to do this. We have just worked together to make this work out."

The Church and concerned friends of the church help finance the missions to remodel, according to Pastor Thompson.

"In this case, the church has funded a good bit of it," said Pastor Thompson. "But also, family members and friends of Pastor Hal have done a great bit of it too and have been a great help."

The work that the church members are doing, and the reason so many people showed up to help, isn't your everyday kitchen remodel or bathroom refurbishment. This job is a complete home remodel which includes three floors of the main home, the construction of a two car garage and an overhaul of all the home's landscaping ...to name just a handful of the work that will be done.

"We are tackling a lot of different areas," Jason said. "Everything from landscaping to a new garage and roof, electrical, plumbing, heating and air conditioning, sheetrock, insulation, painting and trim, flooring.

We are tackling it all,"

Work on the home began on Monday morning at 7 a.m. with the church members plowing through the day until calling it quits when the sun goes down. All told, when the work is finally complete and the house is ready to be moved into, about 50 hours of work will have been crammed into 84 hours.

Three and a half days and all the work will be done.

"I can't imagine what it is really going to look like," Pastor Hal said. "It is going to be so exciting to see what it is actually going to look like."

As Henrietta walks through the skeleton of the old house, she points out what color walls will be, what the hickory floors which will go in and where she will put her furniture. Her excitement is infectious.

"It is going to be so great," she beams.

The DeBoers bought the home \hich was previously owned by Keith Nelson and his family for 30-years, in October of last year. The Nelsons did some remodeling of the home prior to the sale to the DeBoers and just last week, Pastor Hal and a few friends tore down the ceiling of the home.

While deconstruction of the ceiling took place, a small treasure trove of items were discovered in the old home's bones. Henrietta said that they turned up two postcards from 1907 – each with 1-cent stamps adorned, a baby boot, two marbles and a few old catalogs from W.W. Kellogg's.

The house is three stories including the basement. When it is completed, it will have rooms upstairs for grandchildren and other visitors, the main floor will have the kitchen, living room, crafts room and a bathroom and the basement will be the main bedroom, bathroom and a canning room. The house is roughly 1,800 square feet

"My life will be on the main floor," Henrietta said. "The kitchen and the craft room. I got the best end of the deal."

The DeBoers have been waiting for the right house to turn up for them for nearly three years. Now that the home is purchased, and the renovation is under way, Henrietta has a hard time believing it.

"In some ways it is not real and I think is this really happening," she said. "But people are starting to show up and it is very exciting."

The church members and their friends drove for nearly three days straight from North Carolina to get to Montana. They are being housed in the gym at Malta High School while they stay in town. Pastor Thompson led the Assembly of God Church for 43 years and retired last November. Pastor Brian Rainbow has since taken his place and also made the trip to Malta.

 

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