Residents of Cordova, Alaska, joined Samaritan’s Purse volunteers and staff to dedicate a new church building on the edge of Prince William Sound.
Bob and Dottie Widmann arrived at Cordova Community Baptist Church just as the Sunday morning rain was moving in. They settled into the back row of new chairs in the just-finished house of worship at the corner of Adams Avenue and Second Street.
The Widmanns joined scores of fellow residents and church members, along with dozens of Samaritan’s Purse volunteers and staff, to celebrate the dedication of the organization’s 38th Alaska construction project.
“This is a gift from God through the donors of Samaritan’s Purse. Those are the prayer warriors, the ones who write the checks for the materials that go into this,” Luther Harrison, vice president of U.S. Rebuild at Samaritan’s Purse, told the congregation. “But one of my favorite gifts is the sweat equity—the boots and gloves and the hands and feet of those who come and help build it.
“Their DNA is in this building, and we want God’s DNA in this building. Is this a place where the Gospel’s going to be preached, sinners can come and get ministered to, and where the saints can come and get refreshed, renewed, and refilled to go out into the streets?”
Through the hard work of many volunteers this summer, Samaritan’s Purse built Cordova Community Baptist Church a new facility, right next to the one that no longer met its ministry needs.
During the ceremony, Russ Richardson, lead construction manager for Alaska Projects, handed Pastor Mike Glover the keys.
“Mike, these keys will even open the doors to that preschool over there, where the young ones from this community might come and learn about Jesus in a warm, safe, well-lit space,” he said.
Russ Richardson, the lead construction manager for Samaritan’s Purse Alaska Projects, handed the pastor the keys to the new church at the dedication ceremony.
From the start of planning, Pastor Mike said his prayer was that ministry would take place in the building every day of the week.
“The question that we kept asking ourselves was not, how many people can we cram in on Sunday morning? The question was, how many people can we serve and love throughout the week?” he said. “How can we design this space to make sure that it blesses our entire community, and not just the membership of our church?”
The dedication, which fell on the week marking Pastor Mike’s seventh year in Cordova with his wife, Mandy, was followed by a feast of covered dishes.
Pastor Mike Glover displays the Bible the church received signed by the Samaritan’s Purse volunteers.
Building to Last a Century
This latest of our Alaska projects was built to last a century. This area in south-central Alaska is hit by wind gusts up to 150 mph, more than 100 inches of rain a year, up to 12 feet of snow, and seismic activity.
The walls are 13-inch-thick rebar-reinforced concrete. The windows are triple-paned and filled with argon gas. The building itself is a heat sink that traps the warmth radiating through the floor from miles of tubing in the foundation.
Their old building was, in some places, “growing mushrooms in the walls” and was difficult to heat affordably, according to Pastor Mike and some of the members.
Now the congregation has a place to worship that will withstand the elements for a century.
Over the course of the project, we praise God that multiple townspeople received Jesus Christ as Lord. Several were baptized in the Sound.
Providing A Personal Touch
The new building sits right next to the old one, on the very ground where Dottie once ran an art supply store and taught art lessons to residents. The church moved her store into its old sanctuary.
Dottie got teary-eyed when she described the Lord’s hand in placing a church where she’d once hoped to give her neighbors a place to gather.
Bob and Dottie Widmann say that the vision of Samaritan’s Purse and Pastor Mike mirrors the heart they have had for the Cordova community since the 1970s.
“I prayed a lot in that building. And it’s interesting how God had something bigger in mind,” she said. “When I see this, I’m just in awe.
“It was like our missions were aligned, and they saw that, and so they allowed me to move into their building. Took out their pews and everything. Not many churches would do that.”
The Widmanns said the vision of Samaritan’s Purse and Pastor Mike mirror the same longing when she and Bob arrived in the 1970s. Dottie said that the building provides an ideal space for building relationships and welcoming people from many walks of life.
Luther Harrison speaks with members of the congregation at the supper following the dedication.
“All kinds of conversations with people about God and sharing the Gospel can happen on a boardwalk,” Dottie said. “But it’s really nice to have a place out of the rain that’s warm. It’s like the hospitality that you can offer your community.”
Strengthening the Faith of Volunteers
Volunteer Brad Richardson was one of more than 300 volunteers who served in Cordova this year. He said that working on this project helped to strengthen his faith.
Brad Richardson (right in orange) connects with a fellow volunteer, one of the many ways God strengthened his faith through this deployment.
Brad prayed to receive Christ in 2024 while watching Franklin Graham on television invite viewers to pray with him. The new believer’s first Samaritan’s Purse deployment was flood relief in Pikeville, Kentucky. Cordova is his second Alaska church build.
He arrived in Cordova excited to serve but also in need of encouragement in his faith.
He said that one morning during the team’s devotion time at breakfast, the leader invited anyone who wanted prayer to stand.
“I stood up, and everybody came and put their hands and prayed over me, and I was just sobbing,” Brad said. “The good Lord was there, and I felt the Holy Spirit in me. Everybody was so gracious and so giving, just loving me. And I know that’s Jesus.”
In addition to putting the finishing touches on the baseboards, chair rail, and door trim, he made the daily trash run to the transfer station and worked alongside volunteers he had served with before.
“There are a lot of people here I’ve worked with before, and I love them,” he said. “I like being the hands and feet of Jesus.”
Each summer, Samaritan’s Purse builds a new church in an Alaska community off the road system. Please pray for this and future projects as we continue to provide remote communities with spaces for ministry that will stand up to Alaska’s severe weather for generations.
