By Lindsay Peyton

The word “ministry” might not conjure up the sound of buzzing saws or the smell of sawdust  – unless, that is, you are a member of St. Luke’s UMC in Houston. The congregation’s Woodshop Ministry has been making toys and repairing furniture for decades.

St. Luke’s is now in the process of constructing a new home for its woodworkers. In August, the church broke ground at 2614 Edloe Street.

Plans for the 3,370 square-foot building include both indoor and outdoor workspaces, as well as room for an office and meetings. The building will be larger and more modern than the existing space.

“The participants of our woodshop ministry have been working in an old storage building across the street from the church, which just absolutely needed to be replaced,” Dr. Tom Pace, Senior Pastor of St. Luke’s UMC, said.

He explained that the ministry is not only important to the church but has also impacted the local community for years.

“The woodshop is a marvelous ministry that brings people together, many of them retired, to do really satisfying and impactful work,” Pace said. “There are not many weeks that go by that I don’t get a thank you note from some organization somewhere in the country that has benefitted from the wooden toys they make – or from a Houston non-profit organization that the woodshop helped out with bookshelves or some other project.”

The construction project is made possible through St. Luke’s recent “Transformed” capital campaign, which also includes building the Community Youth Center, partnering to open an early childhood education center on campus and restoring the church’s 60-year-old steeple.

Lee Denson, a long-time woodshop volunteer and program leader, said that the ministry has outgrown its current space. The new building will have central air and heat, as well as a complete dust-collecting system.

“There’s a whole bunch of good things that will come out of here,” he said. “It’s going to be great.”

Denson joined the Woodshop Ministry about 25 years ago – and became more involved after retiring in 2000.

He explained that the ministry was the brainchild of Hugh Parker, who was working with other church members around campus, helping out with projects here and there. Parker proposed using the storage building across the street, which had various uses in the past, for an entirely new mission.

“Hugh asked if they cleared the storage building out, could they use it as a woodshop,” Denson said. “A lot of tools were already in the shed. And that’s how it all got started.”

Parker then assembled a crew of mainly retired church members, ready to lend their expertise to benefit the church and community.

At first, the group used the woodshop to build wheelchair ramps. They also volunteered to go to parishioner’s homes to help with odd-jobs. “We would go out and change light bulbs or adjust doors to make sure they’d close,” Denson recalled.

Before long, the Woodshop Ministry landed on its main project. With donated wood and a collection of wooden toy patterns, the space transformed into Santa’s workshop.

Crafting toys remains the ministry’s primary purpose, Denson said. Ministry members collect donations from around town, often cast-offs from construction of windows and doors.

“Anything 2-feet or shorter is trash to them,” Denson said. “And it’s absolutely perfect for what we do. We make the rounds and pick it up. We basically have an endless supply of wood to make toys.”

The Woodshop Ministry acts like an assembly line. One group traces the patterns, another crew makes the rough cuts with a band saw. Then, the drill press is fired up.

“In another room, they round off the edges,” Denson said. “Then, another group runs the toys through a series of three types of sanders to smooth them.”

nWheels or other additional parts are assembled and the final touches added. Then, the toys are donated.

Most go to the Christian Community Service Center (CCSC) Jingle Bell Express, which provides Christmas toys to thousands of children each year. “We take boxes and boxes of toys over there to give away,” Denson said.

He added that donations are made to other worthy causes. “We’ll also give the toys to anyone, as many boxes as you want, as long as you promise not to sell them,” he said. “That’s the only hitch.”

The Woodshop Ministry also repairs furniture for both the church and its members, as well as building sets for the congregation’s theater productions.  He said over the years, the woodshop has built desks, bookshelves and cabinets for the church.

In addition, members build bookshelves for children in the Kids Hope USA mentoring program, as well as “faith boxes” for young members of Christ the King Lutheran Church, located near Rice University.

The woodshop is also a place where members can work on personal projects and connect with others who have a passion for carpentry. “For those who do not have a workshop at home, it’s a great place to do a project,” Denson said. “We’ve got a lot of guys here who do amazing work.”

Each quarter, the ministry hosts a hot dog grill-out to celebrate the birthdays of members for those three months. “We invite the entire church staff,” Denson said.The woodshop is a place of fellowship. “It’s kind of like a family,” Denson said. “We keep up with each other on a fairly regular basis.”

Most members are from St. Luke’s, but there are also those from other denominations. “We have two Baptists, three Catholic, one Jewish carpenter, one Episcopalian and one Presbyterian,” Denson said. They are united by a desire to do good works for the community, as well as the camaraderie.

Sometimes Denson receives calls from other churches interested in starting a similar ministry – but as far as he knows, no one has replicated the effort yet. Still, he hopes other congregations will consider building their own woodshop ministry. “You don’t have to start out big,” Denson said. “It can just be in someone’s garage – and it can grow from there. There’s so much that can be done with this ministry. There’s a huge demand for what we do.”