Greensboro, N.C.-Members of Daystar Church worked hard to give back to their community building benches beginning Saturday, April 1.

Daystar Church members who attend colleges and universities near Greensboro fellowship in small college groups every Monday evening at 7 p.m. At Daystar Church, each college small group mission is to have a project that will benefit their community. Small group members volunteered to paint, sand, frame and weld wooden pieces to create benches that will inspire lives and offer the gift of rest.

A church member, Andy Weldon, visionary of the bench idea, is a third-time participant of community service projects with Daystar Church. Weldon enjoys the positive outcome of the projects. “Driving around town, I seen people at bus stops standing, leaning, and looking miserable-looking,” he said. “So, the whole point is to provide some place for people to take a rest. To take a load off at a bus stop. I get to outreach to the community and the city.” Weldon is determined that he can build several benches alone within an hour. The groups collectively built seven benches within two hours.

Daystar Church College Minister Trevor Brock said that the student’s Bible verses and favorite sayings written on the benches will give that encouraging message that will remind commuters that God hears them and that they should not feel that they are alone. “A lot of us just wanted it to say 'you matter', that somebody thought about you, that you have a purpose and that you are not just random by chance,” he said.

In total 18 benches has been made to place at GTA bus stop locations last Saturday, April 8.