SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA (ANS) -- Steve Poppert has been in the construction field since 1976 primarily building homes, shopping centers and office complexes. But 10 years ago, God called Poppert to turn his building talents to other projects.

"In 1990 I was asked to supervise and build Meadowlark Community Church in San Marcos, California," said Poppert.

"I was out of work prior to this and while driving by the property I decided to stop and pray. I asked the Lord if it would be possible to work on the church somehow," Poppert said.

Poppert contacted the general contractor and asked if he had anyone working yet. "He mentioned he was in the process of looking for a superintendent/carpenter to build the church. After talking with him a couple of days and praying, I was hired to build the church."

While building the church, Poppert was moved to stop residential construction and use the gifts the Lord had given him for his kingdom.

"My background was at that time rough and finish carpentry, concrete, drywall, painting. Since then I have added cabinet building, tile, and light electrical work," he said.

The move to working at the church has been the best move since I gave my life to the Lord," said Poppert. "Starting the construction ministry has been the next."

The motivation behind Poppert's Cornerstone Construction Ministry is seeing people's lives be changed by coming to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Savior, and accepting Him, he said.

Poppert's ministry invites Christians to take part in construction projects around the world. Poppert's co-worker in the ministry is Mike Phillips.

"The other thing that is happening is that people are taking steps of faith in coming on these outreaches seeing the Lord in each other and experiencing Him alongside of them. Many are not experienced in construction at all. The only requirement is having a willing heart to serve," Poppert said.

The ministry has been blessed to go to Tonga, Juarez (Mexico), Austria, Grenada, and recently Japan. 

In 1998-1999 Poppert's ministry was asked to help build a church with the Horizon School of Evangelism. During this outreach, the vision of the ministry started to take shape.

"I was asked to supervise and build with 35 students from the School of Evangelism a church in Juarez, Mexico. The pastor and his wife had been praying for nine years for a building to hold church in," said Poppert.

"This touched the students in the School of Evangelism and prompted them to share the vision with the rest of the class and then with myself. The school raised the funds and in May, 1998 I went to Juarez with the students to build the church," he said.

"The construction took a while as we had a hard time getting materials across the border. During our time there the Lord helped us form and pour the slab along with sidewalks and planters. However, God had a bigger plan!

"We eventually purchased the materials in Juarez and later took down four teams, which were in excess of 100 people, the following months and completed the church."

A few months later the ministry was approached to go to the Calvary Chapel Bible College in Austria. George Clerie, a missionary from Horizon, was on staff there at the time and had asked if they would be interested in bringing a team over to remodel the villa there that students and staff were staying in.

"We agreed, and six months later the Lord supplied and put together six men and six women, along with a construction team from Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg, Florida, to go. The work consisted of adding two bathrooms, insulating the entire third floor roof, removing the existing wallpaper, and texturing and painting the two floors.

In April 2000, the ministry went along with a group from Horizon Christian Fellowship in San Diego to Grenada. The group was ministering through skits, clowns, face painting, and games to two missionaries and their school there. They had been asked to replace the galvanized roof on the main building, build kitchen cabinets, and paint the exterior of Hosanna Christian Academy in Grenada.

In September 2000, the team was asked to go back to Hosanna Christian Academy in Grenada, along with several men from the Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg team to repair another roof that had been completely blown off their computer room from a tropical storm. During this trip they also added a 25ft x40ft block building, complete with roof tile and lighting.

The team's most recent outreach was for Grace Christian Fellowship, in Ome, Japan.

"Our pastor, Mike MacIntosh from Horizon Christian Fellowship, was contacted by Jonathan Wilson, a pastor from Tokyo Horizon Christian Fellowship, regarding a new church being planted in Ome, Japan.  He was asked if there was anyone interested in helping build the church. Pastor Mike gave this to us to look at and see if we were interested. We prayed and agreed to meet with Jonathan a few weeks later and designed the church," said Poppert.

"From there we proceeded to call our friends at Calvary Chapel St. Petersburg, Florida, Gateway Christian Church in Walnut, California, and Jacksonville Presbyterian Church in Oregon. After much prayer the Lord put together the team of 35 men and women from these churches. We arrived May 28, and after church on the 29th we started work on the church," Poppert said.

"The work that was done the following 15 days was entirely the work of the Holy Spirit empowering us and uniting us to build two churches. One within our hearts that will last for eternity, and then the physical church that He will use to change lives for eternity," he said.

"We have been involved in this ministry for close to three years and have seen many people used, and come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior."

The basis of Cornerstone Construction Ministry is to provide construction service as a ministry. This is the tool that God has given the team to impact the lives of those involved, as well as those lives that they provide a service for.

"The reality of this ministry is that relationships are built spiritually and physically while modeling servant leadership through construction as modeled by Jesus Christ," Poppert said.

Poppert said the motivation of these projects is that those they serve with and for will grow and come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior by allowing Him to establish a lasting relationship with them by the study of His Word, prayer, and being involved in a church.

"Our goal is also to encourage all in the importance of 'availability' not 'ability,' and to allow the Lord to use them to share the Gospel," he said.

"Everyone has been given a purpose in this life, Jesus knows the plans he has for us and they do give us a hope and a future!"

At present, Cornerstone is completing its application for non-profit status, since all who are a part of the ministry are volunteers, Poppert said.

"The type of people the Lord has brought to serve in this ministry are truly examples of humble servants in the greatest sense. They range from a 55-year-old grandmother, to architects, flight attendants, physical therapists, bank presidents, pastors, computer technicians, video store employees, accountants, mechanics, lawyers, secretaries, students, and an occasional group of construction workers to make it interesting.

"As you can see it is not about ability, it is about being available to allow the Holy Spirit to work through us that gets the work accomplished, not only in the physical, but the spiritual as well," Poppert said.

The ministry is supported on an individual basis. Those who serve are sponsored by the Lord, and their friends. On several occasions Horizon Christian Fellowship has provided the necessary funds to acquire building materials and send some of the volunteers on these outreaches. The costs of these trips range from airfare, lodging, food, and materials, shipping of the materials, transportation, and time off from work.

"We are open to almost any type of construction as the Lord leads. These have included wood-framed churches, concrete block houses, churches and schools and orphanages," said Poppert.

"Those we hope to bless may not have a dry and secure home or place of study or worship. It is our prayer that they will see the Lord's provision in all things as we work together. During the trips all are benefited by service, fellowship, the study of God's Word, and worship."

Poppert has been on staff at Horizon since 1992 in the maintenance department, and currently teaches a home Bible study. Some of the people that are involved in the ministry attend the study as well, which strengthens their friendships.

"Horizon has been an awesome place to grow in the knowledge of the Lord and respond to His call to serve the body of Christ," said Poppert, adding: "We are preparing to go to the Festival of Life in Queretaro, Mexico this Oct.3-9, 2001. We will be involved with the set-up of the stadium events and any construction needs as well. We are praying about the opportunity to build dormitories for an orphanage there in Queretaro, as it is approved."

"We were incredibly blessed by the team that came out to Japan to build our church," said Pastor Jonathan Wilson of Tokyo Horizon Christian Fellowship.

"It is great to see unity that is more than just words.  For three weeks over 30 volunteers from four different churches in the U.S. worked side by side to build a new church in Tokyo, Japan, Grace Christian Fellowship. When the teams arrived there was nothing but an empty shell of a warehouse stuffed with two containers full of building materials. After three weeks the inside was completely transformed into a sanctuary, kitchen, offices and classrooms. The professional contractors were as amazed as the newbies at how fast and how smooth everything came together," said Wilson.

"Along with the professional builders came many from other fields whom the seasoned workers then trained how to frame and install drywall and paint. One newcomer, a bank manager from Florida, confessed that this was the first time he had ever used a power tool. Many Japanese were amazed to see a team of four women out in the driveway with hammers doing most of the framing. A man from the Jacksonville team was able to contact a former exchange student who then stuck around to help paint the church. The physical result of Cornerstone Construction Ministries work was truly impressive, but the spiritual results were even more far reaching," Wilson said.

Written by Michael Ireland.  Michael is the Chief Correspondent for ASSIST NEWS SERVICE of Garden Grove, CA.  Used by permission.   Content distributed by WorkLife.org > used for non-profit teaching purposes only.