VOLUNTEERS COME TOGETHER IN SCOTT CITY

SCOTT CITY -- Jehovah's Witness volunteers from a 200-mile radius journeyed to Scott City to begin and end construction of a Kingdom Hall over the weekend.

Mike Croy, a Jehovah's Witness elder at a Kingdom Hall in St. Charles and one of the weekend volunteers, said they planned to be finished in time to have a service today despite the wet, rainy weather which has been a bit of a set-back.

Most Kingdom Halls are constructed under this "quick build" method, Croy said, and most are completed over weekends, when people have more time to donate.

Croy has volunteered 10 times to help build Kingdom Halls and he said they are all built with basically the same guidelines: crews construct the halls from the ground up and volunteers work in their area of expertise, pitching in wherever and whenever they can.

Those with construction experience do the building while others provide support for them. Some furnish and prepare food while others stand ready in the first aid area.

Croy said the buildings are well-built and no corners are cut despite the expediency of the construction.

"We do it as well, just faster because there are more people," Croy said. "It's just 40 to 50 people working in a confined area instead of fewer people if it were commercially done.

Jehovah's Witnesses believe in building the Kingdom Halls quickly so they have more time to focus on their most important task of preaching, which they don't do in the Kingdom Halls, Croy said.

Jehovah's Witnesses are required to preach door-to-door, Croy said, and that's what the religion in all about, not building structures, he said.

Kingdom Halls aren't considered sacred; they are simply to hold meetings, which the Jehovah's Witnesses do five times a week, he said.

Having said that, Croy added that the buildings are important: church meet to study the Bible, have talks that are open to the public and discuss Jesus' life.

Croy said seeing these Kingdom Halls go up brings him much satisfaction.

"It's personally gratifying when you see it start from the ground up and watch it until it's done," Croy said. "I walk away with a lot of satisfaction. There's a real inner peace knowing you can do the best you can by serving God."

There was a great need for a Kingdom Hall in Scott City, said Tom Kelsey, an elder who is one of about 60 Jehovah's Witnesses living in Scott City.

"We've had Witnesses living here for years," Kelsey said. "Having a base here in our own territory is certainly advantageous to us."

Kelsey said they had to drive to the nearest Kingdom Hall, which was in Cape Girardeau.

"We're very pleased with the whole project," Kelsey said. "We want people to know that we have a place of worship."