NEW PORTLAND — Calling themselves “ol’ time barn raisers,” a group of volunteers from all over the United States spent a week in Maine not to raise a barn but a church.

Mobile Baptist Builders, a ministry based in Mobile, Ala., spent the past week in the Kingfield area helping the Western Mountains Baptist Church on their new church off Route 27, near the Kingfield town line in New Portland.

Less than two weeks ago, the concrete floor was poured. This week the walls and roof were added with the help of 71 volunteers from 13 states, Burben Sullins, the group coordinator, said.

Sullins, an insurance man from Alabama, followed the Lord’s leading and 29 years ago started this group to help build churches, he said. Giving just one week a year, they have helped with 40 churches. This is their fourth time in Maine, he said. A group came to work on construction of Farmington Baptist on the Whittier Road a few years ago.

Over the years, more than 400 individuals have been involved in the ministry, he said. Many join and travel to help another church after benefiting from the volunteer work on their own church.

Western Mountains members Bryan and Crystal Fitch of Strong intend to do just that. Both have worked along with most of Western Mountain’s nearly 100-member congregation to build a permanent place to worship. For most of the past eight years, they’ve gathered Sundays at the Kingfield Elementary School.

The couple have worked this week with the Mobile Builders and plan to “pay back” by volunteering to go to some other state with them next year, Bryan Fitch said.

Some good carpenters and contractors are enlisted to oversee the group’s work. Members vary in age and experience when it comes to construction work, Sullins said.

This is the third trip with the Mobile Builders for 10-year-old Matthew Brundage of Missouri. While holding a ladder for another, he remembered trips to Illinois, Michigan and now Maine, he said.

Teenage girls from Georgia and New York pound nails Tuesday while senior members, “the saw crew,” make wood cuts as needed.

The group stayed with church members around the Kingfield area. Some women from the group spent the week preparing meals for them at the First Baptist Church in Kingfield.

They spend evenings sharing testimonies and growing in their faith, Fitch said.

The group will leave Kingfield on Friday morning, Sullins said.

Another group from Maryland is expected in two weeks to help the congregation continue its work with a goal to occupy the church in July.

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