Newbury Park church dedicates new facilities built by volunteers

By Sophia Fischer sfischer@theacorn.com

CHURCH VOLUNTEERS- Volunteer retirees from around the country lived in their RVs at Christ the King Lutheran Church for the last three years while helping to build a new preschool and playground and remodeling the sanctuary. From left to right are Marlys Dowell from Seely Lake, Mont.; Mac Durgeloh from Wasilla, Alaska; Ed Kintzinger from Kimberly City, Mo., and Ron Dowell from Seely Lake. BILL SPARKES Acorn Newspapers

Thanks to the efforts of a group of volunteers from around the country, Christ the King Lutheran Church in Newbury Park has a new preschool building and playground, a newly remodeled sanctuary, and fresh landscaping.

Retirees from Laborers for Christ, a Missouri-based Lutheran Church service organization, spent three years working on the project. Many were couples in their 60s and 70s who drove RVs from as far as Alaska and as close at Hemet, Calif.

"These people are very impressive. For people in their 70s to be up on scaffolding is amazing," said Christ the King Pastor Tim Eaton.

The church now has a new 3,400-square-foot preschool addition containing two classrooms and two offices, a kitchen, and a large room for church youth groups to meet in, complete with a donated pool table. The school also now has a modern playground. The capacity of the preschool, which has always had a waiting list, will now double from a 30 students to 60, according to Eaton.

In addition, the church sanctuary building has been completely restructured and updated from a boxy shape to an A-frame, painted in Navajo white and adobe shades.

"Someone drove up who hadn’t been here in awhile and said it looked totally different," Eaton said.

He estimates the volunteers saved the church countless dollars in construction costs. The church spent about $1.6 million on construction materials, flooring and electrical and plumbing contractors.

"I’m sure it would have been dramatically more without the volunteers," Eaton said.

The financial savings were only one benefit of the project, adds Eaton. The laborers became part of the church, attending services and Bible study sessions, volunteering for some of the service projects organized by the 220-member congregation and participating in fellowship events.

Ed Kintzinger, 66, served as project manager for the past 22 months. A former IBM service representative, he’s always enjoyed remodeling as a hobby. Now that construction is complete, Kintzinger and his wife, Ruby, will leave the church next week, driving their RV back home near Branson, Mo.

"We really got to know the congregation well and will be friends for a long time," Kintzinger said.

He enjoyed his stay in Newbury Park but found traffic to be "horrendous" and the cost of housing unaffordable. He was impressed by how well-cared-for local streets are, citing the landscaping in medians and on the sides of roads.

"You don’t see that in a lot of areas," Kintzinger said.

Over the three-year period, Eaton estimates, there were about 19 couples who worked on the project, each staying for various lengths of time. They set up a campsite on the church grounds, living in their RVs.

The work schedule ran from Tuesday through Saturday, so that congregants could assist the volunteers on the weekend. Now that they’re finished, the volunteers will move on to another project in a different area.

"It’s a great lifestyle," Eaton said. "They keep active and they get a feel for whatever area they’re in. Here, they learned about all of the things this part of the world has to offer."