Benfield, a former foreign missionary, saw a local need that led to a national mission trip by a group of N.C. Baptist men. The Illinois mission church members saw that world missions includes them. The missions conference was sponsored by what was the Foreign Mission Board, but is now the International Mission Board. Benfield said the first part of the conference went as such events usually do.

Then a group of missionaries visited mostly small missions struggling to stay alive. When Benfield spoke at one such mission church, he heard the pastor tell some of his members that a group that had planned to fix the church roof had canceled its trip.

Benfield saw the disappointment and discouragement in the members¼ faces.

"During the entire presentation on European missions, I kept thinking about Illinois missions, centered on this one small, struggling mission church," he said.

After the service, Benfield heard the members talking with their pastor. The pastor of a nearby church who had carpentry experience told them that the materials to fix the roof would cost about $5,000.

Labor would cost more.

Benfield spoke.

"I am the interim pastor of a good church in Winston-Salem, North Carolina," he said. "We have an active Brotherhood organization of Baptist Men, and the church is becoming more missions-minded and active. Let me see what I can do when I return home."

Benfield told them that the men might raise some money, offer to come repair the roof or both. He said they would at least pray about the situation.

The church members were taken aback. They told Benfield any help would be deeply appreciated. When Benfield returned he was asked by Tommy Riggs, the Brotherhood director at Konnoak Church to give a report about his trip. Benfield told him he would give the men a report and a challenge.

At the meeting, Benfield showed photos of the Allen Park Church building. He asked the 12 to 15 men there to pray about the situation and tell him at their next meeting in May if they wanted to sponsor the effort.

The men voted in May to take on the project. They asked for money for material and volunteers to go fix the roof of the church, which was about 850 miles away.

Within a few days, money started coming in. A barbershop quartet raised $782 during a concert at Konnoak Church.

Other churches offered to help.

More than $2,000 was raised in North Carolina. About $2,300 was raised in Illinois. The Illinois church secured a loan for other needed money.

Three men from Wilkesboro decided to make the trip with the team from Konnoak Church. Benfield¼s brother-in-law, Bill Ernest, came from Clinton, Md. to accompany the team.

The team left on July 27 after a commissioning service at Konnoak Church. The men spent the night in Louisville, Ky. and arrived in Illinois at about 1:10 p.m. on July 28. They started the tedious work of tearing off the old roof at 3 p.m.

By 10:30 p.m. four days later, a new roof was on the sanctuary and educational building. Men from the Illinois church and some from Peoria, Ill., helped. Church members provided lunches and dinners. Benfield called the trip a "great outpouring of God¼s grace and glory.

"This was truly a World Missions Conference: a foreign missionary leading a team from local churches to carry out national missions here in America in our own homeland," he said.