To avoid scrolling, click on the titles to navigate directly to each story.
Taking Church to the People
Christ’s Outreach for the Blind
Therefore, Choose Life
Living Water Flows into the Mountains
Neighborly Love
The Red Bibles
Clowning for Jesus
Coffee Break with God
Bienvenidos, Amigos!
A Christmas Reflection of Love
Northside Baptist Church, Mt. Vernon,Ky. Freedom Celebration '07
Taking Church to the People
“Sweet Lord, Great Messiah/He’ll take your addictions away from you,” sang the Northside Baptist Church Praise Band at the 4th annual “Freedom Celebration” at the Brodhead Fairgrounds July 1, 2007. Church members handed out free hot dogs and hamburgers to a crowd of approximately 1,000 people. Just before fireworks cascaded across the sky, Bro. Chad Burdette preached a gospel message.
Taking church to the people is not a new concept for Northsiders who are watching their non-traditional efforts reach lost souls. At a recent Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, Bro. Chad Burdette was presented a “Pastor’s Excellence in Evangelism” award. Among 43,000 SBC churches, Northside Baptist Church in Mt. Vernon, Ky. (pop. 2,500) placed in the top 100 in baptisms. Since 2,000, the church, which began as a mission in 1959, has baptized 586 converts.
“Evangelism-telling others about Jesus-is the primary focus behind every activity of the church,” said Burdette, who was called to preach while he was a patient in a drug treatment facility. When he assumed his first pastorate at Northside in 2,000, church membership had dwindled to 33. “The members expected the doors to be closed,” he said. One night, he preached from the book of Numbers about how the Israelites feared taking the Promised Land because of the giants. After the sermon, 30 of 33 people present went to the altar to seek God’s will. “The Holy Spirit changed the church that night,” he said. “I knew God was going to do something great.”
Soon, the church began to grow so rapidly that he had to preach with both doors open to accommodate the people crowded into the foyer. The congregation responded by purchasing eight acres, (Faith Mountain) and building a 20,000 sq. ft. church building with a seating capacity of 800.
Northside church members recall many stories of how God has moved in unusual ways during the services. For example, a young man came forward to accept Christ one Sunday morning before Bro. Chad reached his second sermon point. Another young man under conviction jumped the pew in front of him one night and ran to the front altar to accept Christ. One Sunday morning, an older woman sat down in the church parking lot and simply said, “I am lost and need to be saved.” But perhaps the most memorable day was a 2003 “Friend Harvest” when a former addict brought 174 of his friends to church.
“If they are breathing, they are in our target area,” Bro. Chad often tells the congregation. As a result, the entire congregation is involved in evangelism. On Sunday afternoon, former addicts preach at the local jail. Prisoners who accept Christ are brought to the church in chains for baptism. Upon their release, the prisoners are encouraged to attend church services and weekly SWAT (Servants with A Testimony) meetings for recovering addicts and alcoholics. Their families are invited to HOPE (Hearts of Peaceful Expectations). Weekly church services are televised into 38 counties in Kentucky and broadcast three times a day, three days a week within the county via closed circuit television.
The church’s brotherhood group, “Christian Sportsmen Fellowship,” holds day-long hunting competitions. Hunting entry fees helped send over 100 children to church camp this year. Church members also pay a small fee for church meals. In addition to helping fund other mission efforts, these fees help send 10 men on a mission trip to Brazil and a youth mission team to Michigan this year.
Although facing outreach giants may create fear in the hearts of many church members,
Northsiders seem ready to accept any challenge. For example, in 2005 the church sponsored a huge three-ring circus, complete with elephants, giraffes and clowns. Bro. Chad presented a gospel message to a crowd of approximately 2,000 before the circus acts began.
“How are we reaching people for Jesus Christ by doing all this?” he asked. “All we ask is five minutes to tell them about Jesus.” Northside Baptist Church will soon expand its evangelism efforts into a new 10,000 sq. ft. Outreach Center. “We envision after-school activities, sports evangelism and a Senior Adult ministry,” he said. He also plans to launch a witnessing effort, “Mission Possible,” that asks the question, “How would Jesus witness?” Based on Luke 10:7, church members will work to establish lasting relationships with the people. Preparation will include a series of prayer drives and prayer journeys. He also plans to set up a strategy room with maps. “The idea is to take the gospel message into every home in the county,” he said.
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Christ's Outreach for the Blind
With a wry grin, MSC missionary Mike Gates said he wants this epitaph carved on his tombstone-“A Blind Man with Vision.” Blinded in a hunting accident in 1989, Mike has used his God-given vision to design and plan Christ’s Outreach for the Blind, a summer camp in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky. From the beginning, Mike has been actively involved in the physical labor of the camp’s construction.
For a time after he was blinded, Mike prayed for a faith healing. Eventually, he realized that God sometimes answers “no.” So he began crossing busy city streets, hoping to die. “Instead, I got good at it,” he laughed.
One day, as Mike stood outside venting his frustration to God, God spoke directly to him, telling him he could help others like himself. In 1995, Mike and his wife, Lori (also an MSC missionary) purchased 900 acres of land in Mt. Vernon. They began building the camp in October 1999. With a skeleton crew, Mike, who worked in construction before the accident, designed and helped build a barn facility with two staff apartments, a hydrotherapy room, steam room and bathrooms and an Outreach Center with ten bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a cafeteria, commercial kitchen, office and laundry. In addition, he built a greenhouse and garden house and helped install a wood fence that lines both sides of the property’s entrance. He also designed and helped build a covered bridge over one of three fishing ponds he added to the camp. Later, Mike had over 300 gigantic pine trees cut off the property, using the lumber to build a 16,000 sq. ft. horse barn.
In addition to stalls for horses and animals, the barn includes an indoor archery range, rock climbing wall and repelling station. Camping activities will also include horseback riding, hunting, fishing, hiking, swimming, gardening and independent living skills. “I am going to show the campers there is life after tragedy,” Mike said. “Kids are not interested in rehabilitation until you get them interested in life again.” Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Ky. will furnish horses for the camp and send Equestrian ministry students to work as summer interns. Equestrian Ministries International has designated Christ’s Outreach for the Blind as an international training center.
During the past four years, mission volunteers from 29 states have streamed into Kentucky to help with the camp’s construction. “People come from all over the country and do things they never did because it is like God’s Holy Spirit surrounds this property,” Mike said. This summer, 548 volunteers from 11 states have helped Mike complete six miles of 10-ft. high fencing and work on five cabins that will house camp counselors. “One reason we are fencing this property is so it can be designated as a Wild Game Preserve,” he said. “Once that’s done, these kids won’t have to buy a hunting license and we can name our own seasons.”
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Therefore, Choose Life
When MSC missionary Doug Cullen reluctantly went with his wife, Joli, to a dessert fundraiser at a Crisis Pregnancy Center in Florida in 1993, he had no idea God was about to dramatically change his life. That night, Doug heard the testimony of then 23-year-old Gianna Jessen, who was aborted but did not die.
Seven months pregnant, Gianna’s biological mother went to a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Southern California where she was advised to have a late-term abortion. After drowning in a saline solution for approximately 18 hours, the 2-lb. infant was delivered ALIVE. After several more attempts to end Gianna’s life, a nurse finally had the baby transferred to a hospital. Another nurse later adopted Gianna but the abortion attempts left her with Cerebral Palsy. “It allows me to really depend on Jesus for everything,” she said when she spoke before a House Judiciary Subcommittee in Washington, D. C. in 2,000.
Stricken by Gianna’s testimony, Doug Cullen volunteered at a Crisis Pregnancy Center for several years, driving a mobile unit motor home. He also took crisis pregnancy counseling classes but he quickly realized the women preferred counseling by other women.
In the summer of 2004, following God’s leadership, Doug and Joli began speaking at Florida churches about the sanctity of human life and the ministry of Crisis Pregnancy Centers. “We knew right away what God was calling us to do,” he says.
After graduating from Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Pineville, Ky.in 2005, Doug and Joli began “Choose Life Ministries” based on Deuteronomy 30:19. Packing their teens Cliff, Caitlyn and Crystal into a suburban van, they began traveling and speaking about the sanctity of life for three months at a time. “In 2006, we felt God calling us to do more, so we gave up our rental home, gave away and sold our possessions except what is in a 10 x 10 storage building and began spreading our message full-time,” Doug says. “We haul our belongings in a utility trailer behind the van. We don’t have a home.”
Since 2005, The Cullen family has shared their message in 210 churches and schools in 15 states. Traveling 40-44 weeks each year, they sleep in church parsonages or missionary housing. When no housing was available, they stayed briefly in a retirement home-a perfect venue for their sanctity of life message. “We want to reach all ages from tiny children to the elderly,” Doug says. Their son, Cliff, speaks to youth groups and Caitlyn and Crystal minister with puppets. Caitlyn also shares songs in sign language.
“During our first trip out west, 12 people accepted Christ,” Doug recalls. “We’ve seen several middle-aged women, who’ve had abortions in the past, come forward for prayer.”
“I know I’ve been forgiven,” a woman told Doug, “but I will never forget that I took my child’s life.”
The Cullen family has given away approximately 10,000 models of 10-12 week babies in the womb. “A pastor used the model in counseling a 16-year-old girl,” Doug says. “She decided to keep the baby.” God also spoke through one of the models when a church member faced the pregnancy of her daughter. “We have to abort it,” she thought. The night before a scheduled abortion, the mother reached into a nightstand to find something to wipe her tears and out fell one of the baby models. “We will work through this,” she told her daughter. “We can’t do the abortion!”
“Our goal in ‘Choose Life Ministries’ is not to change pro-choice people into pro-life people,” Doug says, “but it is for people to know Jesus through the sanctity of life message we share.”
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Living Water Flows into the Mountains
Water flows freely down the mountainside beside the Combs home in George’s Branch Hollow near Hazard in Eastern Kentucky. For many years, Rose Combs, 50, carried water from a natural spring a few feet up the hollow for cooking, bathing and drinking. She washed her family’s clothing in a nearby creek. But five years ago, strip mining of the coal inside the mountain polluted the cold fresh water, making it unfit for her use.
In the meantime, Rose found the eternal source of living water and accepted Christ. On July 8, she met with a small group of people at her home to thank God for His provision of clean water and to dedicate a new well in her yard.
Rose was still using water from the natural spring when she and her family formed a friendship with North American Mission Board missionaries John and Shaughanessy Morris several years ago. But when the missionaries began a Bible study in her home, Rose and her family faced strong opposition. “After the very first night,” John said, “Rose called to say her daughter’s vehicle exploded because someone set it on fire. The next couple of times we had a Bible study, people busted the windows in her house and kicked in Rose’s basement door.” Despite the opposition, she eventually accepted Christ.
After Rose’s water source became polluted, John and Shaughanessy began praying for God to provide water for the Combs family. The missionaries shared the prayer request with a mission team that came from South Carolina to help in the mountains last Christmas. A short time later, one of the team members, Bruce Byce, called to ask John the estimated cost of digging the well. “God began working in their hearts saying, ‘Hey, this is a need,’” John said. Byce raised two-thirds of the money for the well by publicizing the story in churches in South Carolina. Commonwealth Compassion Bridge, a non-profit corporation, paid the final third of the cost.
“When we came to share the news about the money with Rose and her family, we read Matt. 6:25,” John said. “Rose, God loves you and your entire family,” he told her, “and before you even know about your need, He knows and is concerned about that need.”
“We began crying,” John said, “because God had provided what none of us could.”
When the crew began drilling the well, Shaughanessy began to pray. The estimated cost of digging the well and installing a pump was $1,200-$4,500, depending on the depth of the well and the number of times drilled. The crew hit water the first time, making the cost $2,700-about $30 less than the money raised. John purchased a water hose with the extra money so the Combs family could have running water in their home the same day. Lothair Baptist Church in Hazard bought a kitchen sink, cabinet, bathroom sink, water heater, shower and bathtub and a Tennessee mission team installed the new fixtures.
“Physical water will never ultimately satisfy your thirst,” said Jim Castlen, Director of Missions of Three Forks Assn. in Hazard as he spoke during the dedication service. “Jesus flows into us and satisfies us so deeply in our spirit and flows out of us in service to others to satisfy a hungry, thirsty world. We rejoice in what God has done in giving you this physical water and we rejoice in how God is going to spread his spiritual water around you.”
“This is a great example of a local leader in Eastern Kentucky with a vision to help a family and a wonderful example of faith-based groups in South Carolina and in Kentucky working together to make the dream of the water become reality,” said Dr. Larry Martin, Kentucky Baptist Convention Missions Growth Team Consultant and President of the Commonwealth Compassion Bridge.
“God did this. God worked it out,” John said. “It was too big for any of us, too much to even comprehend.”
“God bless all of you all,” Rose said with a smile.
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Neighborly Love
The outstretched arms of Jesus beckoned from a large stain-glass window behind the baptistery at a dedication service of a new Jack’s Creek Baptist Church building April 28. Nestled in the mountains in Eastern Kentucky, near Wheelwright, the new church was built by brothers and sisters from North Carolina.
“I still walk in the church and I can’t believe that God would give us something like this,” said Rev. Roger Trusty, the church’s pastor. Floors and the underlying foundation of the old church building had rotted and deteriorated beyond repair. The new debt-free 125’ x 36’ building includes a sanctuary that seats 200, four classrooms, two bathrooms and a Pastor’s study.
“We are happy for this day-a great effort from all the churches,” said Don Toney, who led the project, a cooperative effort between the Sandy Run and Green River Baptist Associations of North Carolina.
Toney’s relationship with Jack’s Creek Baptist Church began with a phone call seven years ago to Teresa Parrett, Kentucky Baptist Convention Volunteer Missions Coordinator for Eastern Kentucky. “God gave me a vision to come to Kentucky,” Toney said. When Teresa mentioned Toney’s call to Enterprise Association Director of Missions Tom Biddle during a VBS meeting, Biddle said, “I know just the place.”
“I know this church had a dream for a new building even before Teresa and I met,” he said. “God has been part of this Master plan.”
Toney first began to lead the North Carolina Crestview Baptist Church to minister to Jack’s Creek members by bringing coats, shoes, clothing, blankets and toys at Christmas. “I really believe we were where God wanted us to be,” Toney said. Last year, the volunteers brought Christmas gifts for 165 children.
In 2003, after deciding the old Jack’s Creek Baptist Church building was beyond repair, Toney called Appalachian Regional Ministry (ARM) Director Bill Barker. Barker reprinted a N.C. newspaper article about the vision for a new church building in the ARM electronic newsletter. “I just acted as an encourager,” said Barker. He also spoke at a Sandy Run Associational meeting about the project. “I think this shows the power of God at work as volunteers and Jack’s Creek Baptist Church stepped out by faith,” he said.
Toney also spoke to associations and churches in North Carolina about the need for a new church building in Kentucky. Churches, individuals and businesses have donated hundreds of thousands of dollars and building supplies to complete the new building. Approximately 60 volunteers who worked on the building slept in the church or in a cafeteria. Jack’s Creek church members also helped with the labor and provided meals for the teams.
“I made a lot of friends and met a lot of godly people,” said Doug Atchley, who along with Max Bridges, drew blueprints and supervised the construction teams. “During one of our trips, six kids and one of the volunteers got saved.”
Bridges, who helped build a church in Brazil in five days last year, echoed Atchley’s comments. “I thank God for the opportunity to be part of this,” he said. “God provided the right people for each trip and we were able to do more work than we planned to do each time.”
“As Southern Baptists and Kentucky Baptists, we talk about cooperation,” said Teresa Parrett at the dedication. “It is so exciting to see Kentucky Baptists and Southern Baptists come together to do God’s work.”
Despite all the hard labor and trips to Kentucky, Don Toney, 67, beamed during the dedication service. “We are here to glorify God and I know these men feel the same way,” he said. “We are just happy that God is using us as one of His little instruments to make it happen. Roger calls me every time somebody gets saved. I just say, ‘Man, don’t that make it worth it!”’
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The Red Bibles
Despite health problems, D. Fred Joines, 71, traveled with his wife, Joyce, to Kentucky from North Carolina last week for the first time. Fred was on a mission.
Joines, who became an ordained minister in 1963, pastored many country churches but on November 16, 2000, after he had cancer surgery, God gave him a new
vision. “I saw many mountains and something red in color, like a small bud that maple
trees have in the spring,” he said. The next day, he prayed for God to give him a clear vision of the work He wanted him to do. Joines thought the mountains in his vision were possibly in W. Va. because his son-in-law had lived there. But God said, “No, they are in Hazard, Ky.” Since Joines had never visited Kentucky, he had no idea where Hazard was located.
In March 2002, he asked the Lord how he would finance these mission trips and Bibles. “I heard a still small voice say, ‘Sell your antique bottle collection,’” he said. “I raised up in the bed and said, ‘What, Lord?’ The Lord repeated the same command.”
Although Joines had vowed he would never sell his prized collection, he knew to make a complete commitment, he had to sell everything. “I started selling the bottles and took three of them to an auction. The auctioneer said they wouldn’t bring anything, but I knew they would because people were praying,” he said. The three bottles sold for $1,130. After the auctioneer’s commission, he received $830, just enough to cover the cost of the Bibles he had already purchased. “I don’t regret it one bit. It’s all about Him,” he said.
When Bessie McPeek from Jenkins, Ky. spoke at Peace Haven Baptist Church in Wilkesboro, North Carolina in October 2003, Joines was seated in the congregation. “As she spoke, I knew I had my connection,” he said. After church, he asked McPeek if she knew a town called Hazard. “Sure,” she said. “Hazard is about thirty miles from where I live.”
Later that month, doctors in the emergency room told Joines’ wife that his body was shutting down, that there was no hope he would survive without surgery and he might not survive the surgery. He told the doctors that he wanted thirty-six hours to pray. His church also prayed and he survived. He spent 46 days in the hospital, 90% of these in ICU. Joines said God used this time for him to witness to a number of doctors, nurses and technicians who accepted Jesus. During this time, God also revealed to him that the red maple bud was the color of the Bibles He wanted him to distribute.
As Joines drove into the tall mountains of Eastern Kentucky last week, he saw them exactly as in his vision. “Everything the Lord showed me, I have seen in the Jenkins-Hazard area,” he said. Besides distributing Bibles, he visited homes with Mission Service Corps missionaries, Bessie and Lester McPeek and did personal counseling and witnessing. Joines’ Bibles will have a special place in “My Father’s House,” the McPeek’s ministry building in Jenkins. As God allows, Joines plans more trips to Eastern Kentucky. “You have got to have faith in your prayers,” he said.
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Clowning for Jesus
When Hurricane Katrina roared through New Orleans and Mississippi, Mission Service Corps missionary Robin Reeves responded in Corbin, Ky. by gathering donations for the families who were left homeless.
In September, she assisted with “Operation Labor of Love,” a relief effort sponsored by several agencies in Corbin and Williamsburg. The group collected 86,000 bottles of water, blankets, bedding, diapers, canned food and other non-perishables. Robin helped coordinate the volunteers to pack label, inventory and load five semi-trucks. The items were later delivered to the hurricane victims. The Kentucky Baptist Convention joined the effort by providing two of the trucks and their drivers. Witnessing the devastation by Katrina also prompted Robin to complete Southern Baptist Disaster Relief training.
Her compassionate reaction to the displaced families was just another aspect of Robin’s ministry as Church/Associational Strengthener in the South Union/Mt. Zion Baptist Association in Williamsburg. For fifteen years she has painted her face and dressed in a pink wig and lime green hat and costume to work as “Ringo the Clown” in Vacation Bible Schools, Back Yard Bible Clubs and camp settings. Her son, Cameron, 11, has performed with her since he was six weeks old. Beginning as “Little Ringo,” he now dresses as “Goofy” and applies his own makeup.
“At age 14, I felt God calling me into missions,” Robin said, “but I didn’t know how or where, only that I would someday go. I thought a gospel singing career was possibly in my future because I love to sing.” Instead, she was approached by Director of Missions Janus Jones about directing a Christian Clown Ministry/Drama Team. “I had never had any experience doing this sort of thing but had the gift of gab,” she said. “At first, I felt I was not educated enough but God immediately began to open doors for me to work closely with Him and I knew right away this was my mission field.”
At the associational level, she assists with Awana, Youth Ministry and Sunday School and is available to serve in the association’s 52 churches. For the past 15 years, Robin has worked at Laurel Lake Baptist Camp, serving as a counselor, teaching crafts or conducting clowning workshops. At the 2005 Mountain Missions Conference in Oneida, she worked with missionaries’ and pastors’ children in a VBS setting. During a recent Jerry Pipes Crusade in Williamsburg, she served as a counselor. One hundred forty-one
professions of faith were made during the crusade. She also helped her church, Frankfort Baptist in Corbin, host an “On Missions Celebration” with twenty-one NAMB, IMB and MSC missionaries present. Several times a year, she speaks at WMU or youth events.
In addition, Robin leads VBS in nursing homes by singing songs and leading music and, along with other volunteers, she dresses as bible characters. Last spring, she helped gather and sort more than 1,300 pairs of hospital slipper socks from the Mountain Missions office in Berea. Later, she distributed them in five nursing homes.
The custom sewing business that Robin operates from her home is another facet of her ministry. She places gospel tracts inside her finished sewing. “Sometimes we get interested in our own projects and forget that a mission field is wherever we are,” she said. As a surprise for DOM Janus Jones, she quickly whipped up five sets of draperies for his office while he attended an Kentucky Baptist Convention Annual Meeting.
When a trailer fire recently destroyed everything her neighbors owned, Robin spent the day helping calm the children, feeding them and just loving them. “I knelt down and prayed with the family of eleven and offered my help and support,” she said. “That afternoon, I began calling to collect items I knew they would need such as clothing, bedding, food, etc. The following day, the fire rekindled itself and burned for several more hours. How devastating it was to watch them crying, running and screaming in worry and fear. But the mention of God and praying seemed to calm them instantly. I am so thankful God allowed us to build our new home in this neighborhood. There are so many here who need the Lord in their lives.”
In December, Robin will pack up her “Ringo the Clown” costume and travel to South Africa to teach VBS and BYBC. The mission team of 33 will also be involved in medical missions and evangelism.
Her prayer requests are for her husband, Rick, her son, Cameron, and for her personal health issues. “Also, please pray that God will continue to use me to touch people’s lives and that I will always be a witness wherever I am,” she said. “When I feel alone, He just reaches down. He gives me the energy and courage to go on. I definitely don’t do this without His guidance.”
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Coffee Break with God
It was just a small white Victorian gazebo with a wood shake roof, set in a tiny triangle park on Main Street in our small town, Mt. Vernon, Ky. (pop. 2,500) Nothing was particularly unique about this place. That is, until the night a lady in our Experiencing God Bible study, Sue Hamm, woke around 3:00 a.m., sensing God wanted her to begin a prayer group. The next day, she and our Experiencing God facilitator, Jewel Hansel, decided we would begin praying in the town gazebo on Thursday mornings before our Bible study meetings on Thursday evening.
The three of us met at the city park at 9 a.m. the first morning and set a large sign, “Coffee Break with God,” on an easel. Inside the gazebo, we set the coffee, orange juice, doughnuts and a small vase of flowers we had brought. We felt a little self conscious and exposed. We were definitely out of our comfort zone, displaying a boldness that was new to us. But with a sense of expectancy and excitement that comes with new beginnings, we looked forward to this different kind of prayer.
As we bowed our heads and began to pray, warm breezes gently touched our faces. Cars, trucks and buses whizzed by and an occasional horn blew as someone recognized us, but we focused on God in a way that was powerful and intimate. Tears streamed down our faces as we prayed for each other, the churches in our county and for revival. Inside the gazebo, God seemed to wrap His arms around us, drawing us closer than we ever imagined possible. As we felt His love and protection hovering about us, we lost all feelings of vulnerability.
For many weeks that summer, we returned to pray at the gazebo. Our prayer group grew as people stopped by, weeping, to share their prayer requests. A few times, the gazebo overflowed, leaving a person or two standing outside, but without fail, God made His presence known to us. As we prayed, God changed the focus of our prayers, giving us His prospective. Gradually, we prayed for God to send out His light from that place to touch the state, nation and the world. By allowing us to see a little of His greatness and the magnitude of His love, we realized there are no boundaries in prayer except the limitations caused by our lack of faith. We cried out unashamedly in a way that would have embarrassed us a short time before as we held up our arms in praise, honor and worship. In that public place, God gave us a freedom that fed our spirits and renewed our souls. Each time, we left the gazebo feeling spiritually strengthened, with prayers of thanksgiving on our lips, hearts and minds.
As we drove through town one evening that summer, Jewel, and I spotted a crowd of people gathered inside the little triangle park. A young man stood beside the park with a huge wooden cross on his shoulder. Another man with a microphone was calling for repentance. We left our car and went inside the park and learned that two local preachers from different denominations were taking turns preaching. The young man holding the cross said God had awakened him in the night and told him to carry the cross across the United States and to begin in the city park in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky. The young man, who was from Ohio, had asked directions to Mt. Vernon.
Awestruck, we left to tell others in our Bible study group about how we had experienced God. After the Experiencing God Bible study ended, we had such an insatiable hunger for God and His Word that many of the same group studied the Bible and prayed together for 3 l/2 years. Later, Jewel and I prayed for two years in a community prayer group that met in a storefront building on Main Street, near the gazebo. After distributing 40 transformation videos to churches in our county, the group prayed for the state, nation and world and against the drug problem in our county. Missionaries from Guatemala, Honduras and Israel stopped in to pray with us. A woman from Maine and another from Texas also prayed with us and took home transformation videos.
Since 2,000, the year we prayed in the gazebo, God has revealed His power in our area in many different ways. Three miles south of Mt. Vernon, Mike and Lori Gates have built Christ’s Outreach for the Blind, a 900-acre summer camp for the blind and disabled. Blinded in a hunting accident in 1989, Gates has been actively involved in the camp’s construction. Mission teams from across the U.S. have come to help build the camp which will accommodate 600 campers each season. (Read “Christ’s Outreach for the Blind-July ’07).
On the north side of Mt. Vernon sets Northside Baptist Church’s new church building. Since 2,000, the church has experienced phenomenal growth, baptizing nearly 600 converts. The church’s pastor, Bro. Chad Burdette was called to preach while he was a patient in a drug treatment facility. Since 2,000, the church has ministered to many people struggling with addiction and has baptized nearly 600 converts. (Read “Northside Baptist Church Freedom Celebration ‘07-Taking Church to the People”)
God’s powerful movement in Mt. Vernon has raised many questions. Why did God honor our prayers? Was He honored that we prayed publicly, unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ? He is God and could do all this without us, so why did He draw us to pray? Perhaps He just wanted to spend time with his children because the greatest change was in our hearts. Now we spend time with Him and go to His house to honor Him, not out of duty or habit, but from a longing to return the love that flows so freely from God. Church services are a continuation of our communication with Him, our prayers a language He understands and answers. As we continue to seek Him, we feel empowered by the blessing of prayer that God gave us that summer in a tiny gazebo in a small town in Kentucky.
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Bienvenidos, Amigos!
In an age when many Americans view immigrants with a wary eye, a large sign beside the front door of Garnett Jones’ white frame house in Georgetown,Ky., reads “Bienvenidos, Amigos,” or “Welcome, Friends.” For Hispanics coming to Scott County to house tobacco or work at horse farms, her home a place where Spanish is spoken, where the Hispanic culture is nurtured and understood. This is a place where they can learn English, find acceptance, even love.
Garnett’s call to missions began when she was a young missions volunteer in Dry Ridge, Ky.
The churches her husband, Clarence, pastored presented many opportunities to serve God. “I loved being a pastor’s wife,” she said, “but after 36 years of marriage, Clarence died suddenly while we were at a state meeting.” Pleading for God’s guidance, she prayed, “Lord, you know me better than I know myself, please help me find something to do.”
She was unprepared for the answer. “God moved me to study Spanish at age 66. It was
difficult,” she said. The next two summers she went on mission trips to Equador and studied Spanish with a private tutor and at a language institute. When she returned, she worked with Hispanics as a teaching assistant in Dry Ridge and taught English to Hondurans in Cincinnati.
The third summer Garnett went to Equador, she tumbled down a mountain. “They used two tree trunks and horse blankets to make a stretcher to carry me back up the mountain,” she said. Her leg was so badly injured that the doctor told her amputation might be the only solution. However, the Hispanic community in Williamstown, Ky., heard about her accident and gathered to pray. “Let Garnett’s antibiotics start working,” they prayed aloud over and over and her leg began to heal.
Gradually, her home has become a combination school and social center for Hispanics. On Tuesday mornings, she teaches English to five Hispanic women. “They bring their children and we study in the kitchen while we watch them,” she said. “ In a year, they want to go through 5-8 grade curriculum. I get material that our teachers use that is considered valid. I try to teach them things their children might need.”
Garnett’s student, Graciela Chabiez, who has lived in the United States for seven years, began taking Garnett’s English classes two months ago. Her 11-year-old son, Freddie, translated as Graciela said, “The classes have been helpful for my doctors, homework for children, to read papers, mail. It has been difficult not to know English.”
Two volunteers help Garnett teach English on Friday evenings to 14 men and women who
work and cannot attend her day classes. She has also taught cooking classes and a class about purchasing a home. “They have never bought a home and don’t know our system,” she said. “When migrants- mostly Hispanics-come to harvest tobacco farms, they love it here and want to stay.”
Sometimes, Garnett finds her pupils in unlikely places. For example, when she went to a motel to post a notice for English classes, the motel owner asked, “What agency do you work for? Who pays you?” “I work for the Lord,” she said.
He asked Garnett to teach his wife, a 60-year-old Pakistani lady who could not converse with anyone. “I teach her on Friday mornings,” she said. “I started putting her with Hispanics. It was so neat to see how they welcomed her.” On Thursday mornings, she teaches English to five Chinese immigrants. “I went to a local Chinese restaurant and asked about putting up a bulletin for Hispanics. A Chinese lady asked me about teaching her workers.”
Additionally, Garnett interprets for Hispanics at doctor’s offices and acts as their advocate with public agencies. “The pediatric dentist will not work on them unless I am there to provide their medical history,” she said. She also assists the Hispanic community by calling lawyers, going to court, helping with legal papers and providing information about immigration laws.
Displaying a keen understanding of the crucial role that socialization plays in the Hispanic culture,
Garnett’s home is open for special occasions. “For birthdays, we sometimes let them have parties in our homes so they will have space to entertain friends,” she said. “By using my home, they can bring their children. Three weeks ago, we had a cookout in my yard for 50 people. They bring food-they don’t expect a handout.”
“We checked on English classes at the Kentucky University and it costs $l,000 for a 6-8 week course. We could not afford that,” said Enrique Cantu, whose wife is taking English classes at Garnett‘s home. “My wife has learned how to listen, understand English, even to have a conversation-not very fluent but she can speak. It has been a great blessing for my wife to attend those English classes. Being in an odd country, you feel isolated from the language and the culture. We get afraid and very intimidated very easily. Sometimes, we don’t get services because of the difficulty in communication. It is easier to just do without them. One of the things we learn in this area is there are many Hispanic people-there are few services.”
Enrique also appreciates the spiritual aspect of these social occasions. “In Mexico, we don’t have Bible study,” he said. “It is very difficult. Maybe at the border, we have them. So this is a good opportunity for the people to share the gospel.”
And Garnett uses every opportunity to share the gospel. “Many times, when I am called to interpret, they want to pay me,” she said. “Then I tell them I do this for God. It is a very enriching experience.”
While most people her age are enjoying retirement, Garnett serves as Chairperson of the Scott County Migrant Coalition which sponsors “Amigos,” an eight-week program held on Sunday evenings from August through September. Initially funded by seed money from the Southern Baptist Convention to meet the needs of seasonal migrant workers, the program now has involvement from area churches and community volunteers. A flyer announcing the meetings offers free English classes, English phrase books, Spanish Bibles, health kits, child care, children’s activities and transportation. A highlight of the meetings is a festive meal prepared by different churches. “It is a time for Hispanics to enjoy fellowship and worship together in their own language,” she said.
Garnett also represents the Hispanic community at Scott County Community Connection in Georgetown, an organization with representatives from all social agencies and community services.
Additionally, she represents Scott County on the State Hispanic Consortium in Frankfort, an agency concerned with social, legal and immigration problems of Hispanics in the state.
“I get so much back,” Garnett said with a youthful sparkle. “Some of the things I wanted to do when I retired, I had to lay aside to focus on this. Teaching those women in there, I feel like I have been to the best party in the world.”
A Christmas Reflection of Love
Sometimes, the busyness of decorating, shopping and attending social events can obscure views of Christ at Christmas. But folks driving by Eubank Baptist Church in Eubank, Ky. on December 16, 2006, saw a genuine reflection of the love of Christ.
Early that morning, a long line of people stretched across the parking lot outside the new educational building for the church’s monthly food distribution. One man hobbled along on crutches and an elderly woman stooped over a walker. But by noon that day, church members had filled 153 boxes and baskets with fresh fruits, vegetables, cereal, spaghetti, ham and fresh bread. The night before, the church also gave away 82 food baskets and 45 fruit baskets.
“We can meet spiritual needs but we also work to meet the physical and emotional needs of people,” said Bro. Shelby Reynolds who has pastored the church since January ‘0l. At the time, Sunday School attendance was 70 and 100 people attended worship. A bi-vocational pastor, Reynolds also worked as an Instructional Supervisor for the Rockcastle County School System. When the church began to grow rapidly, however, he retired early to pastor full-time. Today, attendance is 230 in Sunday School and 300 in worship services.
The church responded to the rapid growth by enlarging the sanctuary to seat 450. Recently, the congregation also moved into a new 15,000 sq. ft. educational building which includes 19 additional classrooms and a large multi-purpose room in the basement.
Bro. Shelby credits the church’s growth to seeking God’s direction. “The church was ready-hungry for a movement,” he added. “We formed Experiencing God weekends that were revolutionary and studied The Purpose Driven Church. We believe if you are going to be a strong church you have to be strong in the areas of evangelism, ministry, worship, discipleship and fellowship. The church also began sending out Grow teams on Monday nights. It is a matter of people looking to the Lord and getting out of our comfort zones.”
Situated in an area where 75-80% of the students qualify for free or reduced lunches, the church began to work with area schools to identify families with basic needs. Youth Pastor Ryan Coffey led studies on poverty in the Eubank area and other Kentucky counties, asking the youth tough questions. “What can you do to break the cycle? How does poverty affect people?”
Over a year ago, the church began to minister to families by opening a food pantry which gradually developed into a monthly food distribution. Food is primarily from the U.S. government or is purchased from God’s Food Pantry or Save-A-Lot at reduced prices. Four area schools also help by holding food drives. Church members, Penny and Bill Jones and George and Judy Russell haul in large shipments of food in covered trailers and Phyllisteen Mick and other members set up the food for distribution. Food is also available for pick-up or delivery from the church’s pantry during the week.
Additionally, the church reaches out to the community through an Upward Basketball program held at a local school gym. “We gained 6-8 families from this program last year,” Bro. Shelby said. “The program has enrolled 95 children this year. We are also considering adding Upward Archery.”
As the church moves forward, the congregation continues to seek the direction of God. “God has surely been at work in the Eubank area,” Bro. Shelby said. “The people of the church have looked to see where God is at work and they have been very willing to join Him. The future looks very bright for Eubank Baptist because God is so awesome and the focus is to serve the people He loves.”
