Jehovah's Witnesses show teamwork

Dust has settled and worshippers have moved in to a brand-new Kingdom Hall for Jehovah's Witnesses in Odessa, just one mile northwest of Ratliff Stadium.

The 10,000-square-foot brick building, equipped with two auditoriums and several classrooms, stands out from the surrounding brush at 87th Street and Dawn Avenue, on a 3-acre lot that was bare dirt just weeks ago.

It went up fast, real fast.

Like a scene from an old, communitywide barn raising, more than 600 unpaid volunteers from local congregations and the Jehovah's Witnesses Regional Building Committee teamed to construct the entire building in less than two weeks, sometimes working into the wee hours of the morning.

"It's really a testament of cooperation and hard work to build this Kingdom Hall this fast," Case Duggan, committee coordinator, said. "We had Jehovah's Witnesses from all over Texas come help out."

Ruben Ramirez, a Jehovah's Witnesses brother, said many of the volunteers didn't have any experience with construction, but they received on-the-job training and got busy.

"Everybody learned how to do something - some of the sisters even learned how to weld," he said. "It was really impressive at how fast they picked up everything."

Sister Juanita Murphey said the construction's speedy progress amazed her, and it was exciting to watch.

"I heard a building this size would take a year to build," she said. "I don't think you could've paid somebody to build this fast."

Opening services at new Kingdom Hall were last Sunday - just 10 days after walls went up. Three Spanish-speaking congregations and an English one use the facility, including Bible studies every night of the week.

Andrews resident Tony Martinez said he drives to Odessa to be with the Oasis Spanish congregation that now meets at the new Kingdom Hall, which was needed because of the organization's recent growth in the area.

"It's growing, especially in Spanish - there's about 500 Hispanics who meet in Odessa," he said. "Instead of being a big group, we divide it into small groups so we can take care of each other - but still we're the same."

A Jehovah's Witness Regular Pioneer - an approved member (publisher) who puts in 70 hours a month - Martinez said he makes time to spread the message of his faith and enlist people in Bible studies.

"We go preaching door-to-door, and we help out people that way," he said. "People can know the Bible and get knowledge from it, and once they get knowledge, they can make their own decisions so they can serve Jehovah.

"No one is forced - it's by your own choice," he said.

Many people don't really know the beliefs of the Jehovah's Witnesses, but Duggan, who described Jesus as a "savior" and a "tireless worker on the behalf of all mankind," said it all comes "straight from the Bible."

Funded through worldwide donations, the new Kingdom Hall is accessible and open to visitors, he said.

Its Theocratic School has auxiliary classes to teach members how to share their faith in public, showing interest in individuals and giving a talk on a subject.

Duggan said no offering plate is passed at the Kingdom Hall services, but there's always a public talk over a biblical subject.

A future project at the site will be to construct an apartment home for the traveling minister who visits for two weeks each year.

The Jehovah's Witnesses Governing Body is located in Brooklyn, N.Y., but a body of elders takes care of the local congregations, which Duggan said are reaching out through the new facility.

"It's primarily to be a place for people to really know God's Word," he said. "We really are concerned about mankind and the situation that mankind is in ... there's a lot of challenges for the family today."

BY THE NUMBERS
>> 800 to 900: Estimated number of Jehovah's Witnesses in Odessa.
>> 8: Number of congregations in Odessa.
>> 10,000: Square footage at the new Kingdom Hall.
>> $500,000: Estimated cost of building materials and property.
>> 600: Number of volunteers to build the Kingdom Hall.
>> 10: Days to construct the building.
>> 400: Number of Jehovah's Witnesses who worship at the facility.
All numbers given by Case Duggan