Anchor Missionary Fellowship - Church Re-Construction project

After much prayer for a meeting place of our own Anchor Missionary Fellowship was invited by the caretaker of historical church property in Buxton and Scarborough, Maine. In 2002 the members began meeting in the fellowship hall next to the church. After several years of prayer and loving labor the rotted sills and support structures under the building were replaced. The entire floor, including all the had crafted pews had to be removed.The old tin ceiling, which was rusted through and gray from age and water damage was repaired and painted. The horse hair plaster walls were repaired and painted. It was an overwhelming task that required many intensive hours of labor. Anchor fellowship members and folks for the local community pitched in to complete the reconstruction task in two years. This is an on going project as we are currently in need of steeple repairs and exterior painting.


restoration project begins 1st week of July 2005	rotted sill	replacing sill - jacking wall up to level	Pastor Bill Keef explains project to local news reporter.	missing sills

	Barry Saunders & son Alex	missing sill	rotted sill	bowed wall

digging under granite slabs in preparation for pouring cement		cemented rocks at footing of granite slabs	Mike Saunders	jacking the sills

New Sill in place	Floor coming up	old oak and hemlock floor removed in panels	this was allot of work	where the pews belong

	Frank Wright removing pews			Frank cutting floor into panels

	good cross section of what we gutted out	removal of rotted debris continues		floor falling out below the pulpit

more floor and porcupine dung exposed	not much floor left to remove	Barry and Frank putting in a long day	Pews stacked outside	In preparation for plastic protective covering

Pile of removed floor joists and timber	Floor panels stacked out front	View from the balcony		New carrier (front) vs old carrier (back).

Will we ever finish this project in our lifetime?		3 X 8 Hemlock floor joists - expected to last into the year 3000		as straight and level as it was in 1839

3" of insulation being installed in the floor	1/3rd of the floor panels back in place	08/27

reinstallation of floor - piece by piece - balcony was raised over 3 inches 09/01		Holly Lane working hard to clean pews - 1 cup TSP 1 quart clorox 3 quarts water and lots wet sanding - about 1/2 hr per pew and there are over 3000 pews - so it seems		painting the floor with Urethane Enamel - after 3 gallons of bondo - just like they used in 1836!

floor took over 40 hours to prepare for painting - filled every nail hole - repaired every crack and cut and fit missing pieces.			1st coat of paint - new stage left of pulpit prepared for installation of a new hardwood floor.. 09/15

the magic of bondo	removed deteriorated carpet around pulpit area	..meanwhile in his spare time, Dean is trying to get the outside wall scraped and painted 09/20

Frank sprays the pews with oil based semi gloss 09/ 24	pews are staged for cleaning - once clean placed under tent for drying and storage and then into the yard on plastic tarp for spray painting
Co-Located Meeting hall The Anchor Missionary Fellowship meeting hall- Sunday school Formely known as "The Bungalow" this turn of the twentieth century (1910) building has been modernized with a new kitchen and bathrooms. It is the perfect function hall for our church activities and Sunday school. Stage inside Anchor Missionary fellowship meeting hall The interior of the function hall is perfect for traditional "New England bean suppers", concerts, missionary speakers, and church events that are intended to reach the local community. Back to top

Anchor Missionary Fellowship - Church Re-Construction project

Co-Located Meeting hall

The Anchor Missionary Fellowship meeting hall- Sunday school

Stage inside Anchor Missionary fellowship meeting hall

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