AMBRIDGE, Pa., (BRN) – With each step, the 20-30 year old wood exposed itself a little more, replacing the once vibrant red paint with a rough, faded exterior. Starting to show their age, the front steps proved to be a challenge, and a safety concern, for Pastor Ken Sachs shortly after he lost his eyesight.
Sachs, the senior pastor of God’s Field Church in Ambridge, Pennsylvania, lost his sight last year in July due to glaucoma. Considering the railing-less stairs leading up to his home, he knew it was only a matter of time before they caused a serious issue for him or his son, who also struggled to climb the rickety stairs.
“With what I’m going through now with the legal blindness, coming into the house just wasn’t safe for me or for others,” said Sachs.
Not sure who to call, Sachs started by reaching out to BRN Disaster Relief Director Kenton Hunt to see if he knew of anyone who could help him rebuild the front and back steps. Thankfully, Hunt knew exactly who to recruit for the project: Pastor John Barkley, senior pastor at Hillcrest Baptist Church in Butler, Pennsylvania.
Barkley, who formerly spent years building custom houses, has made a habit of serving local churches and others by sharing his construction skills. After hearing about Pastor Ken’s situation and learning that Ken’s home was a mere five miles from his, Barkley quickly said yes to the project and put a construction crew together.
“That stuffs kind of in our wheelhouse…we were tickled to be able to do it. It was a blessing to us just to be able to help him,” said Barkley.
Following a quick assessment of the project site with his son, Barkley and his team pulled up to Sachs’ house on July 27 and got to work. The construction crew not only included Barkley and members from Hillcrest Baptist Church, but also a handful of volunteers from Little River Baptist Church in North Carolina. The team completed both the front and back staircases, installing railings on both and a gate on the back stairs, in a day in a half, wrapping up work on July 28.
Barkley’s wife Wendy also brought a small group of women from Hillcrest to plant flowers for Pastor Ken’s wife, Akiko.
The blessings didn’t stop there. The construction caught the attention of Sachs’ neighbors, many of whom do not identify as Christians.
“My neighbors said this was quite amazing to see, a mission team do something inside the United States…to see something in their own neighborhood like that; they were pretty amazed,” said Sachs.
He continued: “We were able to share about the church and about why they came, and it led to sharing about Christ. When the neighbors saw everyone there, they were blessed to see something so wonderful happen in their neighborhood.”
Barkley also took notice of Sachs’ neighbors, saying they seemed very grateful for his team serving Ken and Akiko. “They were real excited to see him get it done; I think they were worried about him too,” said Barkley.
Ecstatic about their new staircases, Pastor Ken and Akiko both expressed a deep gratitude to all who made this project a reality, but, even more than the stairs, they are thankful for the Kingdom partnerships forged through this opportunity.
“It’s a blessing how God brings people to help you in those situations. It’s hard, because as a pastor of a church, I’m used to doing this for other people…but one big take away is that we all need people in our lives, and we need help and it’s okay to accept it and let people be a blessing to you.”
Sachs continued: “It’s good to see that people are coming out to help us, but at the same time it allows us to do what we can do and that is talk about Christ, give Him the glory and talk about the Gospel.”
