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Carpenters (and others) needed to build church

PORT HARDY—Pastor Kevin Martineau is looking for a few good men and women to help build a church.
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Pastor Kevin Martineau stands on the poured and cured concrete that will soon be home to the new Port Hardy Baptist Church. But before that happens

PORT HARDY—Pastor Kevin Martineau is looking for a few good men and women to help build a church.

“We’re looking for volunteers who are willing to come and give us a hand with the project,” said the spiritual leader of the Port Hardy Baptist church.

“We’re building an entirely new church, and we’re at the point where it starts going up and that’s exciting” said Martineau.

“We cleared the property in June, the concrete foundation is down and we’re at the stage where we’re starting to erect the steel structure — that will start happening next week.”

A real church will be quite a change for parishioners who’ve attended service in a portable building brought to the 6950 Highland Dr. site more than 30 years ago.

That was after Jan. 16, 1980, when a meeting was held by people interested in starting a church in Port Hardy.

A Bible study group was formed as a result of that meeting and met weekly on Thursdays.

On October 30, 1980, Pastor Gordon & Lorene Cook moved to Port Hardy to serve the Port Hardy Fellowship Baptist Church.

The first Sunday morning service took place on January 18, 1981 at Eagle View School.

By the fall of 1981 the portable building was brought to Port Hardy and was ready for its first Sunday morning church service on June 6, 1982.

The new structure will be more than a church; Martineau said he and his flock are hoping to erect a 100-ft by 70-ft steel building that will contain two floors of offices, washrooms, classrooms, a kitchen, library and storage, as well as a huge multipurpose room.

The church had some money in reserve for the project, and the church had to borrow a little more, but Martineau said donations have also been coming in to help.

“We’ve had donations from other churches — actually Port Hardy Christian Fellowship gave us a very generous donation — and we’ve had a couple other churches that have given us donations,” he said.

“Now it’s all coming together with the work of amazing volunteers.”

That’s one area where where Martineau said assistance was still needed.

“We are in need of help, we need more volunteers,” he said.

“We’re looking for anything and everything: we’re going to need plumbers, electricians, carpenters and labourers.”

The plan is to erect the building this month, and then spend May doing things like flooring, drywalling, painting and “all that kind of fun stuff,” said Martineau, who added he hopes to have first service in the new church in July or August.

If you’d like to help out, call Martineau at  250-949-6844.