Kingdom Hall Comes Right Along : Jehovah’s Witnesses Raise Own Building

John Lewis has been working up to 12 hours a day carrying lumber, hammering nails into studs and sweeping the grounds for a new Kingdom Hall in San Clemente. It didn’t seem to matter that he is blind.

Lewis, 23, is one of about 300 Jehovah’s Witnesses from Orange and Los Angeles counties who have devoted the past week of their lives to a common goal--building a 6,700-square-foot Kingdom Hall in just 4 days. The project is under way in a residential neighborhood on Calle Naranja near Interstate 5, on the site where, until Sunday, there was a much smaller Kingdom Hall. The new building will have two wings connected by a foyer and will accommodate about 500 Jehovah’s Witnesses from four south Orange County congregations.

Being blind “hasn’t been a problem at all,” said Lewis, a musician who lives in San Clemente. “The only thing I can’t do is read print, so I won’t be looking up any numbers for them in the phone book. And I don’t touch any power saws either.”

Until the worship hall is completed Sunday, just about everything except the members’ door-to-door ministrations has been placed on hold, said Manly Flores, a member of the San Clemente congregation. Many have taken time off from their regular jobs in order to make sure that the hall is completed by then.

The volunteers are a diverse group. Many have no experience is construction work, and some are Latinos who do not speak English. Housewives, lawyers and businessmen work side by side from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and sometimes through the night, painting, hammering and cleaning.

“The reason we use these ‘quick-builts’ is because our main job is to preach and take care of our families. We don’t want to take people away from that too long,” said Flores, who is a professional photographer.

“To us, the individual is unimportant. We are all unified. Language, creed, culture means nothing to us. We are all family, and we work together.”

Flores said the new hall was needed to accommodate the increasing number of members in south Orange County.

The project is run in strict assembly-line fashion. The volunteers stop only to pray--in English and Spanish--just before consuming one of the three hot meals prepared in a large tent by other church members.

Even the rain Thanksgiving Day failed to take the volunteers off schedule. They stuck to their plan to have the old building torn down by Sunday. The new frame was to be up by Thursday night. The metal roofing and electrical wiring are to completed by today, the stucco on the exterior walls by Saturday, and the painting and carpeting for the inside by Sunday.

“It won’t be gaudy or breathtaking. It’s to be simple, functional and neat. The money is put to good use,” Flores said.

Money Was Donated

Members estimate that the project will cost $170,000, about half what it would have if professionals had built it. Members donated the money, but the construction materials are purchased from local vendors.

“The cost saving is not what motivates us; it’s the need for rapid expansion. We couldn’t find a construction firm that would do it fast enough,” said Mark Lahfdany of Glendale.

Lahfdany, a contractor, is a member of a volunteer construction committee--a group of plumbers, electricians and other construction professionals who organize and supervise such projects to make sure that they meet building standards.

“A hall like this 15 years ago--from the time it started to the time we moved in--would have taken 10 to 14 months to complete on a volunteer basis. This way, we are able to do it faster and get back to the work Jehovah’s Witnesses are most known for,” Lahfdany said.

Volunteer Shuts Business

David Rivera, a member of a Kingdom Hall in Los Angeles County, has joined a similar volunteer group that travels throughout the state doing whatever is needed on such projects. This is his second one. His assignment in San Clemente is to set up portable electrical outlets for power tools.

On Thanksgiving Day, he shut down his tree-trimming business in Altadena, left his family at home and headed for San Clemente, where he will live with a family from the local congregation for 2 weeks.

“I just let it slide until I get back,” he said of his business. “We know this work has to be done, and we’re helping save money by volunteering our time. This is our contribution,” Rivera said.

“It’s an emotional experience for me. You look and you can’t believe your eyes. There’s so much cooperation. But the biggest emotion ever is when it’s all done and you have your first meeting. It’s such a joy.”

Terri Gentile, a Dana Point housewife, said the project has been a learning experience for her. She described her job as “anything they want me to do.”

“I unload lumber, pick up trash, clean up after the carpenters, put up sheet rock and run errands,” she said. “But it’s a very rewarding experience because this is very unique. It’s a lot of fun being around everybody and getting a project done.”