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Sunday service comes with a smudge of pink edging the eastern sky, a full moon hanging over West Texas and the rumble of diesel engines across a stone-cold storage yard in Prosper.
In minutes, the drivers hook eight sparkling white trailers to the heavy-duty pickups, gun their engines and begin hauling the makings of church to a deserted Prosper High School. There, dozens of volunteers will transform classrooms, a cafeteria and an empty gymnasium into Prestonwood North.
The early risers who set this process in motion each week call their ministry “Pulling for Jesus.” And it truly is a ministry. It’s the way the half-dozen or so core members and a group of occasional volunteers work together to further God’s kingdom.
“It’s all worth it,” said driver Michael Brady. “When you see people come forward at the end of services, you know you had a small part in it.”
“This helps us get plugged into church,” said Lance Poole, who hauls trailers in the dawn, then changes clothes to lead the North Campus ushers during services. “I’ve read more Bible this year than I have in years.”
The men know they are part of something special. With the population in the 380 Corridor booming, they sense a hunger for what a church like Prestonwood can offer. They see the same possibilities the Prestonwood leadership imagined when they brought the vision for a second campus before the church family. Beyond All Limits, the church’s spiritual journey of faith to fulfill our mission to reach others for Christ, includes the construction of a building for Prestonwood North on 130 acres just west of Prosper High School.
For now, though, Prestonwood North is portable.
At 8:30 a.m., two hours since the men left the storage yard, the set-up work is mostly done. They pause for a few minutes around a table in the school’s cafeteria, transformed into a welcome center for church visitors. Soon they’ll head to the school’s locker rooms, to change into their going-to-church clothes. But for now, they swap stories and share memories, like the morning when the trailers’ padlocks were frozen shut, or the time they unloaded in a pounding thunderstorm.
Sharing is a big thing for them—sharing their thoughts, their struggles, their prayers.
When Lane Hamby’s mother was taken to the hospital recently, “these were the first guys I saw,” he said.
“That’s one of the great things, being able to pray for one another,” said Ben Hangartner.
“Our wives give us a hard time because we get together a lot, we talk on the phone three or four times a week. They say we’re worse than they are.”
“It’s built a strong brotherhood in us,” Lane said.
The regulars—also including James Gargus, Obie Corley, Woody Malugani and John Paul Floyd—have grown closer and closer over the months since the North Campus opened in Prosper. So have all the teams of volunteers who put this place together every Sunday morning and tear it down again on Sunday afternoon.
It took 16 hours to put everything together that first weekend in August, said Jim Wicker, who coordinates the operation and seems to be everywhere, all at once. “Now we have it down to an hour and a half to set up, and maybe an hour to take it down.”
Such speed requires an operation that’s been finely tuned.
The trucks and trailers come first, breaking formation as they roll into the entrance of Prosper High School. Teams of volunteers meet them in various corners of the building to create a welcome center and bookstore, a children’s ministry, Bible Fellowship classrooms and a worship center complete with stage, sound system, big screens and 626 carefully arranged chairs for the coming crowd.
In May, Prestonwood will break ground for a permanent church. And the guys in Pulling for Jesus realize theirs is a temporary ride, with big changes around the corner.
“It’s kind of bittersweet with the new church coming,” Lance said. “I kind of look forward to seeing those trailers waiting on Sunday morning.”
Behind the Scenes at Prestonwood North
Life magazine will document Prestonwood North as it unfolds on a typical Sunday morning. Join us in the upcoming issues as we continue our behind the scenes look at the volunteers who help turn Prosper High School into a place of worship every week.
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