Church Group Builds Hall as an Act of Faith

The word spread quickly through the teams of workers hammering nails and mixing drywall at the sun-drenched Camarillo construction site.

“It’s almost time for the Watchtower reading,” said a young man in a hard hat as he strode with a group of workers to a brief prayer service.

For the last four weekends, Jehovah’s Witnesses from across Southern California and beyond have lugged tools, drywall and paint--along with stacks of Watchtower booklets--to Camarillo for what they say is their latest contribution to God’s grand plan.

Working from sunup to sundown, they have nearly transformed a dusty patch of weeds and dirt along the Ventura Freeway into the 53rd Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in the Ventura County-Los Angeles area.

“This is just part of our worship,” said Camarillo resident Kim Arther, a soft-spoken church elder and a building inspector for the city of Los Angeles. “Those that worship God always build.”

And they’re not done, Arther said.

Next weekend, church members will be back on the construction site nailing down carpet and cleaning up the area that became a de facto weekend home to hundreds of volunteers beginning in early February.

While some workers are putting the finishing touches on the building’s stucco walls, others will begin hauling away refrigerators and serving tables that were part of a makeshift kitchen set up to feed the crews.

Church members expect to hold their first services at the hall March 28, Arther said.

As soon as they finish work in Camarillo, the more than 700 volunteers will head to Lancaster to build the church’s 54th hall. The network of volunteers--all church members--includes dozens of licensed electricians, plumbers, pipe fitters and masons, Arther said.

Think of it as a 21st century version of a 19th century barn raising, said Jeff Jackman, a Camarillo resident who serves as one of the new hall’s 14 elders.

More importantly, Jackman and other congregation members said, the new hall could go a long way toward casting aside stereotypes of Jehovah’s Witnesses as front-porch proselytizers who refuse blood transfusions, ignore most holidays and refuse to vote or fight in wars.

“Most people view us from the doorstep, and the standard response is, ‘We’re not interested,”’ Jackman said. “But we’re there to share our life and hope for the future of this planet. If people understood the function of our ministry, they would be more willing to listen.”

The 5,800-square-foot site was not the first choice for the congregation, Arther said.

In 1997, church officials applied to build a hall on Mission Drive near Nancy Street in a heavily residential section. But residents of the neighborhood surrounding the proposed church site aired their concerns about traffic, and the Camarillo Planning Commission rejected the proposal.

Church members sold that property and purchased the current site in 1999 for about $83,000. The total cost of the project is estimated at $700,000, Arther said.

The property, tucked between the freeway, a mobile home park and a strawberry field just north of Pleasant Valley Road, was unwanted until the Jehovah’s Witnesses came along, said Steve Mitchell, an associate planner for the Camarillo.

Over the years, the land has been used as a community garden and nursery but mostly sat vacant as a buffer zone between the mobile home park and the freeway, said Bob Burrow, Camarillo’s director of community development.

“It’s not the most desirable location,” Mitchell said. “People would ask about it and we would tell them what they could do with it and we would never see them again. It was nice to see people carry through with a project we can be proud of.”

The hall will include a 200-seat auditorium for the 114-member congregation as well as adjoining meeting rooms and a one-bedroom apartment for church members who travel among congregations.

In compliance with the city’s Heritage Zone requirements set up for developments along the freeway, the hall will have a Spanish tile roof to go along with an early California theme, Burrow said.

Inside the main worship area of the hall, Reseda plumbing contractor Randall Press said that building a church for fellow Jehovah’s Witnesses--for free--brings him a satisfaction he can’t get from a paycheck.

“On every project, I have come away with some really good friends for a lifetime,” Press said. “Every once in a while it kicks in that this is an unusual arrangement, that we are doing it [as volunteers]. It creates a sense of community.”