Hitting the Sawdust Trail

Most young men first learn about woodworking in their high school wood shop class, but Captain Darell Houseton, a pastor in The Salvation Army, discovered a different path.

“My high school didn’t offer anything close to wood shop,” says Houseton, who went to Irvington High School in Irvington, N.J., before his days as an officer.

Today, the 31–year–old Houseton pastors the Chapel at Worthington Woods in Columbus, Ohio. Once known for his exploits as a Division I track and field athlete at Fairleigh Dickinson University, he is now gaining a reputation in The Salvation Army world as a master woodworker.

“I was always known as an athlete, but now I’m more known for my woodworking than anything I did when I was younger,” he says. “This is something I truly enjoy, and for it to become so much of my identity now, it’s nice to share it with others.” 

Houseton found The Salvation Army when he was younger. Even while his family was homeless and staying in a shelter, he always dabbled in the wood crafts. But his interest really took off while he was a cadet at the Salvation Army’s College for Officer Training (CFOT) in Suffern, N.Y. At age 20, Houseton was younger than many of his sessionmates.

“I found things to keep myself occupied and busy,” he said.

One of those things was woodworking. Major James Cocker, who was the vice–principal at the CFOT, had a woodshop in his garage. Each week he would invite Houseton over to show him the intricacies of woodworking and how to use power tools.

Cocker said he enjoyed teaching Houseton what he knew while he got to know the young cadet. Cocker remembers Houseton’s first project; it was a bookcase for his mother to mark his graduation from CFOT and his becoming an officer.

“It was something simple, something basic, but certainly something done with love for his mother for Commissioning,” Cocker said.

A new reputation

Cocker, who is now semi–retired and living in Old Orchard Beach, Maine, also gifted some power tools to his understudy when he graduated.

“The moment I left the training college, I also started investing in my own tools,” Houseton says. “I began getting better and honing my own craft. I started making easy and then complex things.”

In his younger days when he lived in apartments, Houseton’s access to power tools was limited. He did dabble a bit using hand tools, but he was cognizant of his neighbors and didn’t want to be too noisy.

His past appointments at the Ironbound Corps (church) in Newark, N.J., the CFOT in Suffern, N.Y., and the Ray & Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Boston, gave him plenty of garage space for a woodshop.

Houseton now has no less than 20 unique woodworking tools, including a table saw, band saw, and a drill press. The garage of his Salvation Army quarters becomes his woodshop.

“I carve out time to be able to complete people’s orders, but also because it is a hobby and not work for me, it’s something I do to relax,” Houseton says. “Where some people go golfing or go different places to relax, I go into the garage and make things.”

More than woodworking

Houseton said he makes everything, from detailed fine furniture to craft projects, toys, entertainment centers, and other customized pieces.

“People want anything, from bookshelves to dining room tables to coffee tables—all sorts to things,” he said. “One of my most recent pieces was a custom chessboard. If it’s made out of wood, I can make it.”

Houseton said his wife of seven years, Willow, has no problems with his hobby.

“We have two rules,” he says. “When it snows, I clean off her car and warm it up, and I make whatever she wants.”

Darell control torches the wood to give it a rustic look.

In fact, the couple’s quarters they share with daughters Winter, 6, and Zion, 3, are decorated with many of the pieces Houseton has made over the years.

The hobby also extends into his spiritual life. Besides the obvious comparison of Jesus being the earthly son of a carpenter, Houseton said he sometimes uses woodworking as an object lesson in teaching and devotionals. Like our spiritual lives, we need God to help us with the imperfections.

“I use the visual of what wood looks like in the beginning stages and what it looks like when it’s finished and after it’s been worked on and refined and smoothed out,” Houseton says. “It provides people with a visual of what I look like when I started and the work that went into me and the piece I am when God is done.

“I get satisfaction from the sense of completion. As Salvation Army officers, we move so much that oftentimes, the investments we make in communities and in people go unresolved. So being able to finish a project is something I think is good for my own heart; to see things finished and see things through. It’s not always a luxury I’m afforded in terms of my investment in the community.”

God is The Shaper

Cocker, who remains in contact with Houseton and follows his projects, agreed that woodworking and Christianity share some parallels. When he finishes a project, such as a recent one where he built a toybox for his granddaughter, Cocker said he asks what he could have done to make the piece nicer.

“It’s a process and I think that’s the process with our walk with the Lord,” Cocker said. “It’s a process we’re in. God’s shaping us, molding us, refining us, and finishing us.

“I start off with a rough piece of wood and I’m not sure which direction it’s going to go or what I want to create. I think that’s kind of how it is with us and our relationship with Christ. He starts off with a rough person, a rough piece of wood. He forms us. He molds us with His Holy Spirit, but if we don’t go down into the basement and actually do the project, if we don’t allow God’s Spirit to work in our lives, nothing is going to happen.”

Darell releases wood from a handmade mold prior to finishing.

Houseton, who has further sharpened his woodworking skills by trial and error as well as by reading, said the hobby has evolved into a ministry opportunity for about 10 men in the corps and community.

“We’ve been able to take it from just a hobby to a small learning experience,” Houseton said. “We make Christmas gifts for our corps and other corps. We sell them in the community at craft shows. People reach out to me and make a donation to [The Salvation Army] to raise money.”

Houseton gets his wood from a local lumberyard where the owner and sawmiller appreciates the work of The Salvation Army. He helps Houseton and the men obtain expensive and rare wood at a discounted price.

Building something more

Houseton said the men’s fellowship built the café furniture in the corps lobby. On Father’s Day, the fellowship made 315 desktop organizers designed to store cell phones, keys, and glasses for the fathers at Worthington Woods and 10 other corps.

“We’ve taken it from just a hobby in the garage to getting other men in the community involved and teaching people how to safely use tools,” Houseton said. “Many have gone on to start their own little woodworking, online businesses. It’s fun to see people get involved in the hobby and craft.”

In fact, other corps officers have contacted Houseton and asked for tips on how to start their own programs.

“It’s become a wonderful little community,” he said.

Houseton said he would like to see woodworking become popular at more corps and be used for the Kingdom of God, similar to the Others program. Others is a Salvation Army–owned enterprise where women and some men from various nations sell handcrafted goods overseas. The proceeds help them support their families and create more jobs.

“I really like the Others program. I think it’s a model for things we can do here domestically as we create a skillset for people in the community. We could offer a curriculum to officers that could be duplicated,” Houseton said.

“We could see people go into business for themselves and build their community. They’ll also be able to give back to the corps  from their own successes.” 

photography by Harry Acosta