South Piedmont’s Construction Management Technology students are being called “an answer to lots of prayer,” after having completed renovations to a home that will be used to support children in times of crisis.
“We had a plan for this house. That plan didn’t work out, but God had an even bigger plan in mind, and he put all the pieces, including South Piedmont, together in a way that we couldn’t have even imagined,” said Tim Cruse, pastor of Shining Light Baptist Church in Monroe.
In 2005, a home off Shining Light Church Road was donated to Shining Light Baptist. The church eagerly dried it in and replaced the roof, envisioning that one day it would be used for its planned youth camp.
Shortly thereafter, however, progress on the camp came to a standstill.
“There was sort of a missing piece to the puzzle, though we didn’t know what it was. As a church, we decided to seek the Lord and wait on his timing,” Cruse said.
Then in 2013, the church was entrusted with The Shepherd’s Place Children’s Home and Academy, a nonprofit begun in the 1990s to help children and families in times of crisis.
“That’s when we started to get some clarity about what God wanted us to do,” Cruse said. “The home would be used for the Shepherd’s Place ministry.”
About two years ago, the City of Monroe connected Shining Light and Shepherd’s Place with South Piedmont’s Construction Management Technology program. Together, they came to an agreement: South Piedmont’s students would renovate the home, which had sat dormant since 2002. The project would give students invaluable learning experiences and make the home usable once again.
For the past two years, students have been working to renovate the 3,000-square-foot home, which is located just off Old Charlotte Highway, about 10 minutes from the College’s Tyson Family Center for Technology.
“The windows were broken, the wires were ripped out. At one time, it was set to be demolished,” said Dennis Baucom, who leads South Piedmont’s Construction Management Technology program.
“There’s nothing we can’t do. We knew we could make this a livable home again.”
Even as the original students involved in the project graduated or otherwise moved on in life, Baucom made sure each of his subsequent classes continued the work. Month by month, they breathed new life into the house.
Together, Baucom and his students installed new plumbing and electrical wiring, as well as a new HVAC system. They also added a bathroom, installed new cabinets, and painted the interior and exterior.
“We took it down to the studs. Everything in it is new,” Baucom said.
During the course of the project, student James Thurston said it was rewarding to see all that he was learning in class immediately applied to the home renovations. Even more rewarding, however, is the knowledge that his education and efforts will make a difference for someone else.
“We gave back to the community,” Thurston said. “We got to learn, and we got to make a do something to help our neighbors.”
The house is now being used by Shepherd’s Place staff members, allowing the ministry to expand its services. Meanwhile, its plans for a youth camp are back on track, but at a different location that Cruse said is more appropriate for a camp.
“How everything has come together, including the work South Piedmont has done, is a huge answer to prayer. It’s also a testimony that we’re all living here in the same community, and we can all come together to pursue a common goal and achieve a common good,” Cruse said.
“This is an interesting story of how God has provided, through his timing and through what we thought were setbacks. We never would have imagined all these pieces, including South Piedmont, coming together, but now we can see that something greater than we could have ever planned was unfolding.”
South Piedmont’s Construction Management Technology students offers certificates and degree options designed to help students enter and advance in the construction industry.