Two perspectives on volunteerism...

Raising Big Beams

by Bill and Brenda Evans

Brenda

Sometimes, I walk right into the middle of things, but this time I stayed on the edge. I was by the door, an observer who didn’t raise a finger to help. That was mainly because I’m a woman and man-strength, genuine man-strength, was needed in the middle. Not only that, several men were high up on a scaffold, and I’m afraid of heights. So there you have it: men and heights—two good reasons for me to just stand aside and watch.

One more thing I must say is that all the men were volunteers: six on the scaffold, four or five on the floor, and one giving instructions. It would take all of them to get the job done.

Bill

The project was to raise and install three 230-pound beams that would be pancaked to make one 690-pound one. Someone had to direct the process, and Boyd was doing that. Some would lift the beams up to the scaffold. From there, we scaffold men would hoist the beams above our heads and hold them in place. Then, another man with a gas-charged nail gun would shoot 16-penny nails into the beams to secure them together and finally into place above our heads. Definitely a collaborative process, with each doing his part!

In simplest terms, that’s volunteerism. Working with others to achieve a common goal. It means taking directions, doing grunt work if needed, technical or creative work if that is needed. Volunteerism is doing whatever needs to be done to help someone else. All for free.

Brenda

Keith Coughran is that kind of volunteer, a doer. “I’d as soon make repairs as eat—and you can tell I like to eat. I’ve always torn things apart to see how they are made; then I fix them. I’m a doer.”

His yen to “fix” things goes back to his youngest days. His father owned a Model T touring car that was battered by a hailstorm. It was a wreck, with leather top shredded, windows smashed in and thin bits of mica scattered everywhere. A mess inside and out! Though only seven, Keith traded a heifer calf for another old Model T with a blown head gasket so he could use the parts to fix his father’s car. That was the beginning of what would eventually become a way of life—doing good work with his hands.

Later, he married Pearl and during World War II was drafted into military service. By the late 1940s, Keith was working in a hardware store, a dream world for a born creator, mender, and fixer. Eventually, he bought his own hardware business.

Bill

Keith, like other volunteers, has learned that sometimes he is asked to serve, and other times he asks if he may serve, like Caleb and David. Caleb asked to take on a task. David was enlisted.

“Give me this mountain,” Caleb said to Joshua because he wanted Hebron, and in order to get it he volunteered to raise warriors to conquer it. David, on the other hand, was called on to play King Saul’s harp. Later, he volunteered to face Goliath without being asked.

Either way, each was qualified, proven, and willing. Caleb had been a God-fearing, God-trusting spy ready to do the job 40 years earlier. Remember that he and Joshua were the only spies to say, “Let’s go. God will give us the land.” Everybody else refused. Caleb was still all these things except spy—a proven, motivated, and willing volunteer.

David’s story is just as straightforward. Saul’s servants labeled him as a man of skill, pluck, and guts; a man of war yet prudent; a handsome man whom the Lord was with. Saul said, “Go get him. I need him.” So David came to soothe the tormented king with his shepherd poetry and music. We know the rest of the story.

Like these two, Keith saw the need and was ready to serve. When California Christian College president Wendell Walley appealed for help, both Keith and Pearl volunteered—Keith for building repair and Pearl, a teacher and librarian, for cataloguing and organizing the library.

Brenda

Volunteers notice. They listen. They discern needs. At the college, Keith saw beautiful old buildings that cried out for renovation and repair standing beside newer but poorly functioning ones. “I’m a doer, like I said, and I knew I could do something about what I saw. I didn’t want our buildings to go to rack and ruin, so I fixed them. Pearl had a master’s degree in library science. She did what she could do—library work.”

Volunteers are also motivated to help. Keith came to the aid of the California Christian College president and board, but more directly the students themselves. Whatever he repaired for no charge meant students did not have to pay increased tuition. “College is expensive. Students are burdened enough already. I could help keep costs down and give them moral support at the same time,” he said.

Bill

The word volunteer is not a biblical term, although the concept is threaded in and out of both Testaments. Of course, the word serve and the idea of choosing to serve is everywhere as well.
Nehemiah, for example, felt compelled to volunteer. In front of King Artaxerxes, his captor, he pled for temporary release to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. Amazingly, Artaxerxes agreed. His first night in Jerusalem, Nehemiah rose in the darkness and walked through the city, around broken walls, through burned gates, skirting rubble, mourning the ruined state of this once grand Holy City.

The next day Nehemiah told his people that the hand of God had been good upon him, and he called for help: “Come let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” And so the people agreed and set their hands to the work (Nehemiah 2:18).

Brenda

The New Testament is also full of examples. Disciples were called, and they went. Nicodemus volunteered to bury his friend Jesus. Aquila and Priscilla offered to teach, mentor, and otherwise aid Paul and the Early Church wherever needed. Stephen and other deacons served tables and cared for widows. And of course there is Jesus’ Good Samaritan, outcast of the outcasts, who voluntarily out-neighbors two men whom everyone assumes are good neighbors—a priest and a Levite. They were religious men with good genes, good robes, and good training but unwilling hearts.

Bill

Willingness to serve is the top quality of a volunteer. A volunteer yields to a larger picture, a larger program. The organization’s vision is primary, not the volunteer’s. His goal is to extend or enhance another’s vision. He is there to serve under an overseer. Humility and submission are twin traits of a volunteer: humility to serve, submission to a greater cause than his own. And he has the skill and the will to do what is needed.

Brenda

Paul’s words to slaves are good words for us volunteers: “Obey your master according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men....for you serve the Lord Christ” (Colossians 3:22-24).

Bill

It takes all of us to raise the biggest beams. Keith Coughran is doing his part. Let’s do ours—volunteer and get on with the task.

About the Writers: Bill Evans, former director of the Free Will Baptist Foundation, lives in Catlettsburg, Kentucky, with his wife Brenda, a retired English teacher. Visit www.fwbgifts.org for more information on planned giving that benefits your favorite ministry.