Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham joined staff and volunteers to dedicate this year’s church construction project in Alaska.
Four-wheelers sputtered into the gravel parking lot as families from Port Alsworth, Alaska, and neighboring communities arrived with the rising sun. Children let go of their parents’ hands to scurry joyfully through the newly finished rooms.

Franklin Graham meets with Pastor Luke Wegner.
Neighbors, friends, and family hugged each other in the lobby and then slowly found their seats as Lake Clark Bible Church gathered with Samaritan’s Purse staff and volunteers Oct. 12 for Sunday services in the congregation’s first-ever dedicated space in the remote Alaska community.
“It’s about sharing the Gospel; it’s about taking the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and that means Alaska.” —Franklin Graham
Eric Wardell, a longtime deacon, opened the dedication, sharing the first verses of the new building’s history:
“You are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord” (Ephesians 2:19-21).
As the group joined in song, toddlers ran between the aisles and infants cried in the back to their parents’ chagrin—marks of any lively, healthy church.
Samaritan’s Purse President Franklin Graham encouraged the congregation in their Gospel ministry.
“The only hope for Alaska is the church. And if you can make the best building in the community the church, then it becomes a lighthouse for the people. That’s what this is all about: it’s about sharing the Gospel; it’s about taking the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth and that means Alaska,” he said. “I just want to thank God for allowing us this privilege of working here in Alaska. We are thankful; we praise God; and we give Him the glory.”
A New Building for God’s Glory
Over the course of 19 weeks nearly 400 volunteers from 38 states donned the Samaritan’s Purse orange shirts to work on construction of the new building—which includes a 200-person-capacity sanctuary, nursery, kitchen, office spaces, and a multipurpose room for Bible studies, youth events, and numerous other gatherings.

This was the first church service in the new building.
Luke Wegner, the church’s senior pastor since 2019, said the new church building provides greater freedom and opportunity for year-round ministry.
“With that freedom comes excitement and responsibility,” he said. “Now the question is: ‘What else can we do?’”
For many years, the church and its roughly 120 members rotated between meeting in an outdoor gymnasium in the summer—where wind, bugs, and extreme weather often cut services short—and gathering in the colder months inside the chapel of a local Bible camp.
“It was difficult to keep people’s attention when planes came flying in and you were constantly swiping at bugs,” Pastor Wegner said, who recounted the difficulty of organizing “youth events or other activities for the church to do because we didn’t have our own building.”
Completion of the Lake Clark Bible Church building marks our 36th Alaska construction project since beginning the work in 2006. Most projects are houses of worship in Native Alaskan villages inaccessible by road. These volunteer-built structures meet the demands of harsh winters in locations ranging from fishing towns along the Bering Sea to remote villages deep in the inland Alaskan bush.

Corey Lynch, director of Alaska Projects, emphasized the importance of long-lasting structures in Alaska.
“In Alaska there are around 250 villages in the middle of nowhere, and they are all off the road system—you can only get there by boat or plane,” said Corey Lynch, director of Alaska projects at Samaritan’s Purse. “So, Samaritan’s Purse has an objective to build a church or community center in each one of them, so that the Gospel message will spread and so that people have a place to go to especially in the harshness of winter to worship the Lord.”
Port Alsworth, situated near Lake Clark National Park, is also where Samaritan’s Purse hosts our Operation Heal Our Patriots ministry in the summers at Samaritan Lodge Alaska, providing a Biblically based marriage enrichment retreat for veterans and their spouses.
Built for Ministry and Alaskan Winters
“I’ve never seen this much buzz,” said Corrine Ledford, a local postmaster and mother of 10 who has called Port Alsworth home for 19 years. “It’s bigger. It’s better. And it’s just a lot more comfortable compared to where we were meeting before.”
Corrine grew up in a nearby Native Alaskan village called Egegik. She sees Alaska’s desperate need for a strong church presence. She knows Lake Clark Bible Church has a role in that mission.

Volunteers prayerfully completed the finishing touches in the days leading up to the celebration.
“Port Alsworth now serves as a springboard for people to go out into the surrounding villages,” she said. “It’s changing for the worse out in the bush. There are lots of suicides and depression, but I’m hoping and praying that more of us would get together and pray and then also go out to other villages and have some time with other people to encourage them with God’s Word.”
Port Alsworth’s roughly 175 full-time residents and its two airstrips make it a local hub—and a beacon for the Gospel—to the surrounding communities.
“There really hasn’t ever been a place for the church body to meet together without having to make other arrangements, and now with this church, we can bring others in,” said Sonnet Smith, also a mother of 10, who was born and raised in Port Alsworth. She and her husband, Andy, are excited about the child-dedicated space in the new building.
“It’s beautiful to know that [the kids] will have options and opportunities to experience Jesus in different ways,” she continued. “And even for moms to get together to just have fellowship while the kids run around.”
As with all of our Alaska building projects, Lake Clark Bible Church is constructed to last for generations.

Volunteers and staff enjoy the fruits of their labor after many weeks of work, and they pray for spiritual fruit far into the future.
The steel-clad structure required 1.6 million pounds of concrete to complete its extra-deep foundation. Thick walls, high R-value insulation, and about two miles of subfloor hydronic tubing were installed to maintain warmth and cut energy costs in the frigid winter months.
“This will stand up to anything Alaska throws at them. The building is not only a safe space for Christians to come, but for all to weather out a storm that Alaska might produce,” said construction foreman Russell Richardson, who’s seen the ministry impact of the projects in the Alaskan interior. “Sure, it starts with a building, but it’s what occurs in the soul of a person that we are going for… I hope they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. It’s about taking out that heart of stone and replacing it with a heart of flesh. That’s what will change lives.”
Volunteers Serving Alaskans in Jesus’ Name
Engrained in each church build in Alaska is the “sweat equity” provided by the Samaritan’s Purse army of dedicated volunteers.
“The horsepower under the hood of this machine is the volunteer labor,” said Luther Harrison, vice president of North American Ministries at Samaritan’s Purse. “One of the best parts of the programs Samaritan’s Purse does in North America is seeing a building built where God’s Word is going to be proclaimed. As we are sent out, we always serve in Jesus’ Name.”

Luther Harrison, vice president of North American Ministries at Samaritan’s Purse, has seen God work through many Alaska construction projects since our first building project in Hooper Bay in 2006.
“One of the best parts of the programs Samaritan’s Purse does in North America is seeing a building built where God’s Word is going to be proclaimed.” —Luther Harrison
Diane Owens, a volunteer from Harbinger, North Carolina, who attended the dedication, described their last day of work as the church prepared to open its doors. They walked the church grounds and prayed over the building, the nursery where children would be taught the Bible, and even the front doors.
She said she touched each chair in the sanctuary and prayed for each soul that would sit in them on Sunday mornings and hear the Word of God preached.
“I pray that they will love Jesus and take Him everywhere,” Diane said.
Pray for the hearts of all those who walk through the doors—and sit in the sanctuary chairs—of Lake Clark Bible Church in Alaska, and that the Gospel would spread beyond its walls and into the land.

Volunteers and staff gathered to pray for the newly completed church building.
