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Playing Golf to Build Churches

May 19, 2014

Daryl Flora
Daryl Flora

Daryl Flora, Salida, Calif. (pictured at right), made a bargain with God that he would give 30 years to a specific ministry if God gave him the strength to continue.That was 18 years ago – and his mission-construction enterprise, Blocklayers Ministries International, a ministry of the Grace Brethren Church in Ripon, Calif. (Glen Shirk, pastor), is still going strong.

About 20 years ago during a home fellowship meeting, Flora listened to Gordon Grover give a presentation about the church-building organization, Total Mobilization Support Ministries (TMSM), a ministry of Grace Brethren International Missions (now Encompass World Partners) that was phased out in 2007.

“You know what?” he says he told Grover after the presentation, “I love golf. I’m gonna’ have a golf tournament and raise money for you.”

Flora didn’t act on that commitment for another two years, but one day he pulled into a golf course in nearby Manteca, Calif., and told the owner of his desire. Then he told him his plan to host it that summer.

“He started laughing,” recalls Flora. “He told me that their golf tournaments are all planned a year in advance.Right then, the owner’s phone rang. When he hung up, he asked Flora, “How about this June 13?” At that moment, somebody had called and canceled a golf tournament, leaving that day open. Flora accepted.“I knew right then that this is way bigger than me. God had appointed that time for the guy to cancel and me to be there.”
That first year, Birdies Fore Blocklayers raised $13,000, more than double Flora’s goal of $5,000. To date, more than $700,000 has been raised to help fund the construction of simple block buildings on various mission fields, beginning with one for a Grace Brethren congregation in Cordoba, Argentina, in 1999.
Flora ShirtSince then, they have traveled to Cambodia, Brazil, Mexico, the Philippines, Kenya, and Tanzania. The ministry has funded building projects ranging from tiny hut churches in Cambodia to a Medical Ambassadors Training Center in the Philippines with a cost upwards of $75,000. The back of Flora’s shirt (see left) lists the places they have funded and constructed buildings.The mission board at the Ripon church administers the funds. Photos of the finished buildings line the church’s entryway, a testament to the involvement of Flora and his fellow parishioners in the varied projects.With such astounding success, one might think Flora would be content. But he’s got even bigger plans.“I would love to get 50 churches in 50 different states to do a golf tournament and they could each raise $40,000,” he notes. “That’s a couple million bucks. Medical Ambassadors right now would like to do a training center in Africa that’s $350,000. If we could get 50 states to do this, we could raise the money in six months.”“If anybody would be interested, they can call me. I’d love to see it duplicated many times over.”

This year’s tournament was held Saturday, May 17. For more information about this ministry, click here.

This story first appeared in GraceConnect eNews. To subscribe to the weekly e-newsletter that includes news and information about ministries in the Fellowship of Grace Brethren Churches, click here.

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