Project Resurrection

is an outreach ministry at First Baptist Church at the Mall in Lakeland Florida. The 1968 Firebird was donated to the Church. The goal of Project R is simply to share the love and salvation of Jesus Christ with others, to grow in fellowship with one another, and ultimately share it just as Jesus freely shares his love and salvation to us.

When Project R hits the streets again, it will be sporting a finely tuned Pontiac V8, over-drive transmission, huge on large brakes, finely tuned suspension, one-off interior, and jaw dropping style. It will be new again from top to bottom. The old rusty, worn, faded, abused, neglected and tarnished machine we started with will become a new street pounder fresh inside and out and ready for another 40 years or more to go. The difference is, this car is being saved from total and absolute destruction. It can't do it on its own. It requires the dedicated and diligent help and sacrifice of others to save it. More on that later...

For now, the project has begun. The Wheels of Faith automotive ministry came together through our Sunday School connect class - Victory Lane and launched the tear down on 4/26/08. As a reminder and visual sign of my commitment to the project, I shaved my head bald upon wrapping up the tear down. I won't cut my hair again until we have reached a substantial mile post along this rebuild journey.

We are deeply thankful to those that have stepped up to be a part of this project through donation of time, services, product, and material. If you are interested in supportng Project R, please contact me via e-mail link. We are in need of many restoration and repair parts to complete this project.

Click here for a Youtube video of the tear down day

The next phase of the project included a massive repair to the sub-frame. At one point in time this car had a substantial collision between the cross member and something heavy. It crushed and rolled it under. Bobby Hough is our key fabricator and in no time made it better than new. He had the frame blasted, then performed the repair by cutting the section out and rebuilding it with fresh metal. He also welded the main seams solid and welded over un-needed holes in the assembly. He was careful to weld in small sections at a time to avoid warpage. The final product is amazing.

We gathered together again on June 7 to tackle the floor replacement and get suspension and steering parts ready to assemble on the beautifully restored sub-frame.