HELENA, Mont. – Seven mission team members from Twin Rivers Association spent the first week of June helping several churches in Montana.
“We were basically doing building repairs on two churches,” said Dr. Bob Feeler, Mission Team Strategist and Twin Rivers Director of Missions.
Helena Valley Baptist Church pastor Jason Rioux said their church building consists of several old military barracks from the 1960s, with a fellowship hall between them. The team of three pastors and four laymen helped replace water-rotted wall and drywall, removed some concrete and re-graded a sidewalk to direct water away from the building, and refurbished an event trailer called “The Water Trailer.”
In the trailer, the replaced dry rot and made sure the wiring was good. “It’s almost back to usable,” Rioux said.
They also served a meal for another visiting mission team and painted some backdrop dividers in Capstone Church also in Helena, and helped the pastor at Big Sky Fellowship in Helena to address some yard needs.
“It was a mixture of a work trip and vision trip,” Feeler said. One church that was to be helped by the mission team redirected the team to the home of Montana Church Strengthening Strategist Darren Hales.
“A pastor (Hales) at Big Sky has a multi-generational home. His wife has cancer and COVID. We did some yard work and small projects to be a blessing to another pastor. Then the wife comes out and prays for our team to have a gospel presentation. It was moving,” Feeler said.
Feeler plans to return to Montana at a later time this year.
“I hope to increase the partnership with pastors and maybe pastors and wives. They are not that far apart in miles, but their schedules keep them apart. This is my future hope, as well as maybe developing a youth camp with some of our youth pastors. It’s a vision and big dreams, but it starts by making relationships,” Feeler said.
Rioux said one of the team members asked if the work on the church would really make a difference.
“I told them we are a small church of about 20 people, many elderly. Them taking on the trailer too was beyond the projects I planned for them. They divided the team on the wall and the trailer. They did a fantastic job. We appreciate their spirit, their patience. It was a tremendous benefit, a tremendous blessing.”
Missouri Baptists have a multi-year partnership with the Montana Southern Baptist Convention. Feeler said another team will head to Montana in to do block parties, sports camps, and backyard Bible schools.