Campers On Mission Builds New Home
by Byron Spires - The Gadsden Herald Editor
A few miles north of Quincy on the "Old Bainbridge Road," a new church is rising in the St. John Community.
The St. John Church of God in Christ has begun to take shape as workers from Campers on Mission have spent several months helping with construction of the new 27,000-square-foot facility. 
According to their website, Campers on Mission (COM) is a national fellowship of Christian Campers working in cooperation with the Adult Volunteer Mobilization Unit of the North American Mission Board and with the Southern Baptist Convention.
COM includes Christians of all denominations who want to share their faith and the love of Jesus Christ while camping or participating in missions activities.
Christians today have unprecedented opportunities to witness beyond the walls of their churches.
This group of COM has been at the St. John location since April with plans to leave in mid-June.
Wilton Whigham from Huntsville, Alabama is the job coordinator for this particular building. He said that the organization chose to come to Gadsden County to help with the St. John church construction.
Although many of the group are Southern Baptist, helping churches that believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God is the major requirement by COM to help with construction or remodeling projects, said Whigham.
Most of the COM at the St. John project, he said, were from the state of Alabama. And many of them are retired, but not necessarily from the construction industry.
"We have pharmacists, engineers and teachers that give of their time," Whigham said.
Most of the campers come in two-week intervals and there are usually between 12-15 campers on the project at any given time, he said.
The churches that they work at provide the necessities such as sewer and water for the campers and also provide one meal.
Most of the campers are husband and wife teams. While the men work on the buildings, the women visit in the community, especially nursing homes, and sew clothing for the mission fields.
In the summer the group helps with Bible schools.
Their purpose, Whigham said, is to come to a community and not be a burden, but help in as many ways as they can. Often members of the COM donate money to the churches they are working on, he said.
Each day the campers take time during the lunch break to have a Bible study and devotional.
They make no promises as to the amount of work they will accomplish, instead they work blocks of time and finish what they can, he added.
In addition, he stated, there had been several local people and church members who had helped them.
This group of unpaid volunteers will complete their time in Gadsden County on June 12th, Whigham said. From here they will move to their next project.
For more information on the COM, go to their website: www.campersonmission.com.