In the spring of 1999, More Than a Carpenter Missions was formed to pursue the possibility of partnering the Church with social service agencies. A great deal of time that summer was spent fact finding on the need, and on the possibility of joining the Church together with the agencies. A few small projects were done that summer, but most of the time was spent fact finding on the needs and possibilities.

August of 2000, we joined the team at Freedom Ministries and changed the name of the ministry to Freedom Builders. At that time we had the greater resource with Freedom Ministries to build a solid organizational foundation. We were able to finish that year accomplishing approximately 67 projects. That time was a great time of learning about the needs and situations that exist in the community for the disadvantaged and disabled.

The year 2001 took us to the next level of service and capabilities. In that year we took on 2 large projects, one was a partnership with Family Independence Agency to build a Habitat for Humanity home. That Habitat home was the first one ever built in the city limits of Traverse City, with it brought many challenges and consumed a great deal of time. The second large project was a remodel project that required the entire inside of the home being completely renovated. This project took almost 4 months and a great deal of new relationships had to be built. This project also broke new ground as this was a rental unit. We renovated a home for a landlord on the condition that the unit was rented at significantly below market rates for a Mom with developmental disabilities and 2 young boys. This was an exciting project as it taught us how to develop new partnerships to accomplish a project that no one else would try to do. With these 2 large projects we were also able to accomplish another 74 projects. We were able to do all of this while being both efficient and very cost effective. As a demonstration of that we built the Habitat home faster and for less money than our affiliate had every built one before, and the major remodel project was done for $3200 in costs and the value of the remodel job was in excess of $24,000. We believe that we are capable of doing a great deal with very little.

January 1st,2002, we separated Freedom Builders from Freedom Ministries so as to make both ministries more effective and to allow Freedom Builders to stand on its own. Since that time, we have continued to expand the services that we provide. Even in the midst of a slowing economy and program cuts by both the state and federal governments, we have been able to serve even greater numbers of clients. As always, the Lord has been faithful in providing what is needed in new ways.

In the year 2003, our list of volunteers continued to grow and we were able to serve another 73 families. The continued cutbacks in the state funding of local area service programs meant we saw an even greater level of need. The severity of the work that we were called to do increased substantially. We now find ourselves doing more major renovations.

The year 2004 brought with it a continued inability for the state funded organizations to financially partner with us to serve the needs of the disadvantaged of the area, but the need continued to grow dramatically. We were blessed in many ways, not the least of which was a relationship with a godly man and his family that made the need to replace furnaces, without the lack of adequate resources, go away. We were again able to serve another 71 families with needs that grow more difficult to solve.

We also started "Freedom Builders Golf Outing" as a fundraiser. The first year we raised $8,000. The second year we raised $10,000, and last year we raised $12,000. It is a means of raising money, but also to make the community aware of our mission.

As the 2005 year began, we had a need to move out of the converted bedroom office and into an office that would allow volunteers to assist us in expanded growth of the ministry. A businessman paid the rent so that we could have an office at the Cass Commerce Centre on Cass Road. We have eight youth groups on the schedule for summer mission projects. We have 70 projects on the schedule at present. We are also continuing to explore expanded services for our clients.

In all of this time we have expanded our list of those who want to be a part of helping the families in our area, both physically and spiritually. We have expanded our volunteer list and the churches and youth groups that want to be involved in the ministry. We have expanded our partners who contribute financially or by donating time and materials. We have also expanded our staff and Board of Directors.