SheBUILDS Women: A Powerful Force for Missions

On July 18, a SheBUILDS team of courageous women flew from Houston, Texas, to Panama City, Panama, journeying to finish building a local AG church in La Solidad, a jungle community in the Coclé province on the nation’s southern coast.

SheBUILDS, a ministry of AGWM’s Builders International, is a community of ladies doing projects making a difference in the lives of women and children around the world who need it the most.

Launched in 2022, SheBUILDS helped fund a church in northern India. In 2023, it renovated a preschool facility in South America. In 2024 it helped fund a safe house for trafficked women in Melilla, Spain, and most recently completed Templo Vida Nueva’s (New Life Temple) church building in Panama.

Lourdes Arauz, pastor of Templo Vida Nueva, had prayed for the church and its final completion for 10 years, Terry Bell, AGWM missionary to Panama for 32 years (1987-2019), reports.

The Republic of Panama, home to 4.4 million people, sits on the isthmus of Panama connecting North and South America. Estimates on religion vary with some sources citing evangelicalism as low as 22%. However, Christianity is on the rise.

Bell says the number of AG churches in the country has tripled from 285 in 1987, to 850 churches and preaching points thanks to volunteer organizations and missions, such as SheBUILDS.

Laci Moore, Builders’ editor-in-chief responsible for writing, communications, and marketing, co-led the trip with Bell, 71, a retired yet active AGWM missionary, to Panama for the construction. Bell’s wife Julie, 67, accompanied him.

“The Lord called us to build places where people find hope,” Moore, 44, says. “Every brick laid is another opportunity for somebody to come to Christ.”

Moore and her husband Ryan, CEO of Builders International, both felt called to missions as teenagers. After their engagement in 1998, they had a life changing luncheon with a missionary where they learned about missionaries eager for assistance with on-the-field construction projects; a critical need.

“God dropped that need in our hearts and a light bulb went off,” Laci Moore recalls. “We knew he was speaking to us to help missionaries finish their projects.”

After years of God preparing them for the field, the Moores were approved as missionary candidates. They began itinerating to use Ryan’s civil engineering expertise as an AGWM missionary working for Builders International.

As part of AGWM’s International Ministries, Builders serves 2,600 missionary personnel in 256 countries.

Eager to see the SheBUILDS construction project for female pastor, Arauz, and her congregation, the Bells arrived three days before the SheBUILDS team to arrange supplies for the worksite.

Arauz and the local Panamanian men’s construction crew team, who works alongside each AGWM construction team that comes to the country, welcomed the SheBUILDS team on Friday, July 19 and discussed the work schedule. The women viewed the church structure open on all sides with a metal roof and dirt floor. Their main task, putting up cinder block walls, appeared daunting, especially in the hot, tropical humidity.

The SheBUILDS team included Laci Moore and Taylor Hukill, 24, Builders’ videographer, Terry and Julie Bell, and 12 women from AG churches - Crossroads Fellowship and Friendship Church in Houston, and James River Church, in Springfield, Missouri.

The U.S. team’s passion was unmistakable. Working alongside the Panamanians, they got dirty and sweaty mixing mortar and cement, using only shovels, and laying 1,200 cinder blocks on three walls. They also dug ditches and helped extend the foundation.

Team member Laura Yarbrough, 53, admin executive at Crossroads Fellowship, admits she had zero building experience before traveling to Panama.

“The work was very tiring but also energizing as I worked with local laborers and other women,” she explains. “It was empowering to fulfill needs on a missions trip.”

On July 21, Yarbrough and her 25-year-old daughter, Delaney, preached a sermon in the humble Panamanian church on the unity of Christ among believers. The Holy Spirit drew families to the altar where they prayed to become more united. A brother of one of the men working on the site accepted Jesus as his savior. It was a great time of rejoicing when the SheBUILDS team prayed for their new sisters and brothers.

“When ladies gather for God’s purpose, together they become a powerful force of faith, capable of accomplishing his will,” says Laci Moore. “SheBUILDS is building places where people find hope all over the world.”

SheBUILDS’ next project is helping provide a Project Rescue safe house in Honduras in January 2025.

Peter K. Johnson

Peter K. Johnson is a freelance writer living in Saranac Lake, New York. More than 500 of his articles and short stories have appeared in Christian and mainstream magazines and newspapers, including the Pentecostal Evangel,Charisma, the Saturday Evening Post, Guideposts, and Decision. He also serves as a consultant and contributing editor to a scientific journal.