Turley Church Gets A Makeover

By Craig Day, The News On 6

TURLEY, OK -- An Oklahoma church is getting an extreme makeover thanks to the giving spirit of others.  The Turley Assembly of God Church will look much different a week from now.

On a weekday morning, the Turley Assembly of God Church would usually be a quiet place.  But on Thursday morning, that was not the case.

"Construction.  Dry wall.  tile, carpet, ceilings, electrical, plumbing.  You name it, we're probably going to do it here," said Chuck Marler with the Carbondale Assembly of God.

The church is being renovated by volunteers from the Carbondale Assembly of God Church in west Tulsa.

"A lot of them will give up their vacation, give up days off just to come and sow a seed," said Carbondale Youth Minister Jeff Walker.

For the past several years, Carbondale has looked for churches in need, but don't have the funds to make improvements on their own.

"We just put our ability to do things like this and their need for things like this together and we just came up with this project," said Chuck Marler with the Carbondale Assembly of God.

The Carbondale congregation knows what it's like to get a helping hand.  The church got help from volunteers after a tornado 10 years ago.  Now, it budgets each year to help some other congregation. 

The pastor of the Turley church says it's an answer to prayers.

"Our congregation is so ecstatic about having someone come in and volunteer and do everything they're doing," said Pastor JJ Jennings with the Turley Assembly of God Church.

The members of the Turley congregation know some type of renovation work is going on here.  But, they don't know exactly what is happening.  The volunteers took their keys, locked them out and they won't be allowed back in until the work is finished in time for the Wednesday night church services.

"We just feel like this is a place we can open up and pour into and see them blessed.  They have a great opportunity to reach out to this community," said Carbondale Youth Minister Jeff Walker.

So for the next week, the church which has about 45 people attending each week will have much more than that inside working, showing brotherly love and making a difference.