Campers share faith through volunteer work

HARTFORD — The construction crew working on the inside of Shiloh Baptist Church’s new sanctuary is not your typical work crew.

The average age is 70. There’s no charge for their labor. And they’ll live on site in campers and motor homes until they’re work is finished.

“We travel to wherever the Lord leads us,” said Pete McKnight, president of the Alabama chapter of Campers on Mission.

Nearly 40 recreational vehicles fill the church’s grassy parking area on Shiloh Road in Hartford. Volunteers with Campers on Mission are in their second week of work at Shiloh, and they’ll stay through next week before moving on to their next project in Quincy, Fla. The Shiloh sanctuary won’t be completed when they leave, but they will leave behind three weeks of volunteerism and lifetime friends.

Campers on Mission is a national organization that started in 1971 under the North American Mission Board. It’s open to Christian campers from any denomination with chapters serving almost every state. It’s open to any adult whether single or married. Most members are retirees looking for a way to share their faith with others. Many travel 10 months out of the year, and some have sold their “stick” homes to stay on the road full-time. Some volunteers are skilled at carpentry or electrical work. Others have learned along the way.

“It’s a real joy to work,” McKnight said. “To know you’re serving the Lord in different capacities, and that you’re trying to help people.”

Volunteers work on churches, youth camps, homes for at-risk boys and girls, and facilities that help people overcome addictions. They’ve gone in after natural disasters to help with recovery efforts. Campers on Mission members have even worked the gates at the National Peanut Festival and set up stations at the Talladega Superspeedway.

Word has spread about the Alabama chapter’s volunteer work. They have projects lined up through 2012.

“We had to book them eight months ago,” said Bryan Wagner, pastor of Shiloh Baptist.

Wagner said having the volunteers at Shiloh — where three Campers on Mission members regularly worship — has been a blessing for the entire congregation. The church feeds the volunteers supper each night; the campers are responsible for their own breakfast and lunch. But Wagner said church members have grown so fond of volunteers, they’ve also been bringing the group breakfast.

“The benefit has been to see people still willing to serve the Lord even into retirement,” Wagner said.

While volunteers work inside the new Shiloh sanctuary, a group of women have turned a church classroom into a sewing room. They’re sewing girls’ reversible dresses and little boys’ pants. The clothes will go to Nicaragua for underprivileged children through a ministry called Hemmed in Prayer — a ministry started by the daughter of Camper on Mission member Jeanette Whiddon of Dothan.

Whiddon and fellow campers Brenda Mims of Alabaster and Breezy Miller of Enterprise sat at a table working on decorative ornaments to use in their outreach. Judy Ingalls of Verbena knitted a hat for a hospice patient. They can’t imagine spending their retirement any other way.

“We’re really blessed,” Mims said. “We all feel like we were called to do this.”