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A Land of Promise
God's Love from a Diaper Bag
A Land of Promise
God Revives Appalachia
Growing up in the coalfields of West Virginia, Bill Barker saw firsthand the hopelessness that springs from poverty, hunger, and illiteracy. Parts of West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky rank as some of the highest povertystricken areas in the nation.
“That’s my people,” the North American Mission Board (NAMB) missionary says through heartfelt tears. Barker and fellow Mission Service Corps (MSC) missionaries Lonnie and Belinda Riley returned to the mountains they grew up in to bring hope back to Appalachia.
Settled by immigrants from many ethnic groups, the Appalachian Mountains are often described as enigmatic, mythical, mysterious, complex, and contradictory. Physically and culturally isolated, their survival depended on hunting, fishing, subsistence farming, timbering, or mining the region’s rich coal deposits. Their resourcefulness and ingenuity in “making do” evolved into a creative nature frequently expressed through music, literature, folklore, and art. Although Appalachians have a pronounced sense of home, their young people must often move away to earn a decent living.
As Barker drives through the rugged beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, he prays. “My prayer is that God will revive His people and then we can reach the lost,” Bill says. “Of the Appalachian region’s more than 18 million people, an estimated 13 million are unchurched or unreached by the gospel. In 47 counties of eastern Kentucky alone, an estimated 700,000 people do not know Christ as their personal Savior. In West Virginia, 1.2 million are lost.”
Bill serves as director of the Appalachian Regional Ministry (ARM). The Cooperative Program ministry, launched in 1999, was formed from ten Southern Baptist State Conventions in the Appalachian region in partnership with the North American Mission Board and the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU). The partnership includes Kentucky, West Virginia, Georgia, Pennsylvania, South Jersey, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Maryland.
ARM is an intentional missions response to the spiritual and physical needs of those living in the Appalachian region. The goal is to mobilize Southern Baptists and their resources to provide ministries, to evangelize the lost, to assist existing churches, and to start new churches in the multi-state region of Appalachia.
“In order to address the spiritual needs in the Appalachian region, you’ve got to meet the physical needs,” Bill says. “(The people often think or say) Please don’t tell me Jesus loves me when I am hungry or poorly clothed.
“If we are going to reach the people of Appalachia, we are going to have to plant churches,” Bill says.
Last year, more than 50,000 volunteers worked in more than 800 ARMrelated missions projects such as church planting, home repair, food pantries, clothing closets, evangelism, literacy, and medical missions.
Barker has also distributed 50,000 JESUS videos in lots of 100-500 to associational ministry centers and churches. The videos were an anonymous gift from a businessman in South Carolina. Bill also maintains a Web site, www.arministry.org, which lists needs in the Appalachian region and ways to volunteer.
Barker sees God at work in this region of the United States. For example, in Lynch, Kentucky—a former coal camp and one of the poorest areas in the United States— God called two native Appalachians back home to minister to their own people. MSC missionaries Lonnie and Belinda Riley never planned to return to Lynch when they came home in 1998 to settle her mother’s estate. During their visit, the mountain people came to plead with them, “Why don’t you come and help us?”
“We’ll pray for you,” the couple answered. But as they traveled back to Mississippi, God gripped their hearts.
“It was a compelling command, not a question,” Belinda says. “It left us breathless.”
Lonnie said God told him that they wouldn’t have a fancy home or car, or even a salary, but they would have Him. With no idea what God had planned, the couple left their children and grandchildren in Mississippi and moved to Kentucky.
Soon after, the Rileys prayed with 250 people in the Cumberland city park for God to return to the mountains. “They asked Him not to forsake them and leave them to die,” Belinda says.
When a 27,000 sq. ft. hospital building came up for sale for $85,000, Lonnie prayed for the Lord to send the money in 30 days. Within three weeks, the ministry received donations totaling $25,000. Two days before the loan closing, a $65,000 donation was deposited into the ministry’s account.
The 70-room hospital, now Solomon’s Porch Retreat Center, has been completely renovated by thousands of missions volunteers from 32 states. In addition to housing missions teams, the former hospital serves as a retreat center, and hosts meetings and reunions. It also holds a candle factory, sewing classes, and a gift shop.
“God has supplied millions of dollars worth of goods through His people,” says Belinda. “It is the most amazing thing we have ever seen.”
The Rileys also established a non-profit ministry, Meridzo, a Greek word that means care. Meridzo operates a food and clothing ministry; an after-school program; a safe place for teens to play games and visit with friends; building supplies to sell to the community at discount prices; and an equestrian ministry.
When the mountain people ask for help with financial or other needs, Lonnie says, “If God gives it to me, I will give it to you.” God has provided for every need. Calvary Campus, a 25-acre college recently donated to the ministry, will be used for a Christian day camp, conferences, retreats, marriage weekends, and pastor and lay leader training. Two donated semi-trailer trucks are used to haul supplies and for storage. Building supplies are also stored in two large warehouses. A donated brick store building will be used for woodworking classes and storage.
In addition, the church in Lynch where the Rileys both accepted Jesus is reopened, and it houses a medical missions program where doctors, nurses, optometrists, dentists, and
pharmacists minister to about 300 patients each year. Four other churches have also reopened in the area.
“Any presence we have in the community gives us an opportunity to share Jesus,” says Belinda. Over 2,000 people have accepted Christ since the ministry began.
“What makes anything or anyone special is the presence of God,” says Lonnie. “When He is present, hundreds of people are fed and you share about Jesus and people are saved.”
As the ministry spread through the towns of Lynch, Cumberland, and Benham into Harlan County, the Rileys prayed for missionaries to help them. God called 17 full-time missions volunteers from six states to help. In addition to directing the staff, the couple coordinates the work of more than 3,000 volunteers.
Despite the hard work, these NAMB missionaries have never regretted returning to the Appalachian Mountains. “God’s promises are all “yes,” Belinda says. “Go where He calls, do what He calls you to, and don’t worry about tomorrow. He supplies every need.”
Reprinted from the July 2006 issue of "Missions Mosaic," Woman's Missionary Union, Birmingham, Alabama. Used by permission. To receive this issue, or subscribe to "Missions Mosaic, call 1-800-968-7301 or go to www.wmustore.com.
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God's Love from a Diaper Bag
Bessie McPeek understands struggle. As a young child, she watched her Dad come home
from work in a dark coal mine and stand his blue denim overalls beside the heating stove to thaw. She grew up witnessing the effects of poverty, uncertainty, and despair in the faces around her.
Bessie calls the beautiful Southern Appalachian Mountains in Jenkins, Kentucky, (pop. 2560) her home. The area is almost entirely dependent on its greatest natural resource—
coal. In the year 2000, Letcher County mines produced over 10 million tons of coal. The
mountains that make the area so beautiful, and provide the coal, also create relative isolation and hinder an efficient highway system to access the country’s markets; a fluctuating market that causes mine closings and layoffs. When a large mine closes, hundreds of workers are forced to apply for welfare to feed their families. When they do work, third and fourth generation miners live with the dread of black lung disease and mining accidents.
Several years ago, Bessie experienced feelings of hopelessness in her own life. “I was divorced and had three small children,” she said. “I needed surgery to remove a fourteen
pound tumor.” Reluctantly, she applied for welfare to feed her three children and pay medical bills. When the Cabinet for Health and Family Services in Whitesburg offered her a secretarial position, Bessie began working to earn her welfare check. During that difficult period, God gave her the idea of making homemade lollipops to sell. “I did this in order to survive,” she said. “That first year, I sold 22,000 to schools and churches . I helped put one
of my children through college with those lollipops.”
These personal struggles have given Bessie, a Mission Service Corps missionary with the North American Mission Board, unique insight into the plight of young mothers. To meet their needs, she began “God’s Love from a Diaper Bag,” a diaper ministry that reaches
over 200 families each month. After working her “regular job” all week, Bessie distributes diapers and baby clothing to mothers in the evenings and on weekends.
“Many of the mothers are very young,” she said. “Most do not have an education. Others need help temporarily while attending college. Sometimes mothers do not have a single diaper for their baby. One child had not had a clean diaper for three days. One little girl even sold her wedding rings to buy diapers,” she said. “Nobody chooses to be poor. It is because of the lack of education and jobs.”
Along with diapers, Bessie offers encouragement and hope. “God knew one day He would use me to help others,” she said. “I praise God that I had to go through the surgery in order to have compassion for those in need. When they come to me, crying, I can say, ‘Honey, there
is hope for you.’ I use this opportunity to show them they are not alone. God is always with them.”
Bessie’s faith in God was tested in February 2003. Wit h no resources to support the diaper
ministry, she knelt at the altar at Faith Baptist Church in Myra, Kentucky and whispered a prayer. “Lord, please let me know if you want my ministry to continue,” she prayed. “If not, I will go anywhere, do anything for you. You just let me know.”
Two days later, she received a call requesting an interview foran article for the Appalachian
Regional Ministry newsletter that reaches eleven states. The next week, Southern Baptist missionary Bill Barker told her story to a lady in Kershaw, South Carolina, who had asked if she could help a ministry center in Appalachia. The lady donated $2,000 in cash along with
$500 worth of new baby clothing to “God’s Love From a Diaper Bag.” Bessie found a source to purchase 16,000 diapers for $143 and rented a storage building.
Since the first newsarticle, this ver y shy Appalachian woman has had several newspaper
and radio interviews and appeared on five television shows in Kentucky and Tennessee. In May, she was a guest on a live telecast in Louisville, Kentucky, one that reaches a million homes and 22 cable affiliates. She has spoken to WMU groups, women’s groups, local churches, and several churches in North and South Carolina. She uses every interview as an opportunity to tell about Jesus. “At the altar, I promised God that if he would allow me to do my ministry, I would tell the things He has done in my life,” she said. The media
exposure has earned her a reputation as “The Diaper Lady,” a name Bessie enjoys because it opens doors for her ministry. “We have gained access to community rooms in two housing projects in Whitesburg where a Christian and abuse counselor and I meet with fortytwo
women each month,” she said. Bessie distributes diapers while the counselor assures the women that she is available. “Usually, after we earn their trust, they open up and relate family problems they are experiencing,” Bessie said.
She has also provided diapers and clothing for clients of Letcher and Knott County Health Departments. When a four-year-old child wore her mother’s shirt to school, Letcher County Head Start called Bessie. The little girl began to cry when she saw her new clothing.
God has used the media. “Several people have called from other states saying they could not rest or sleep until they offered to help,” she said. In July, Bessie was local coordinator for a missions team from three Baptist churches in North Carolina. The group, which included a clown ministry, conducted three Backyard Bible Clubs and held a Celebrate Jesus Festival in Whitesburg City Park. Thirty-five people accepted Christ during the week. The team brought 500 Bibles, 200 pairs of new shoes, clothing, and diapers.
A few months later, a tractor-trailer arrived with children’s clothing and nursery supplies from
Knoxville, Tennessee. Bessie prayed again; this time for more storage space. “I was already
renting three storage spaces,” she said. “Two days later, the Letcher County Judge-Executive made four large rooms available to my ministry, rent-free, in the old Jenkins
High School building.” At Christmas, Bessie coordinated three missions teams from North
and South Carolina. They distributed food, clothing, gifts, and toys to 600 families. A lady from South Carolina who organized one of the teams said God spoke to her in a dream, telling her to “go feed Kentucky." Her church brought 240 Bibles, 277 boxes of food, 500
pounds of potatoes, and over 300 boxes of blankets, diapers and clothing.
Bessie’s husband Lester, also a Mission Service Corps missionary, works beside her, along with her three children and granddaughter. As Bessie has experienced God’s transforming power through her ministry, she has learned to view each new day as an adventure with Him. “Every day, when I awake, I ask God, ‘What person are you going to put before me today, what situation?”’ she said. “I want to show people the amazing love of God and how
He has blessed my life and will bless theirs if they will surrender to Him. Someday, I hope to have an ice cream truck stocked with ice cream, lollipops, and diapers and travel into the hills and hollows and spread God’s love from a diaper bag.
Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of "Missions Mosaic," Woman's Missionary Union, Birmingham, Alabama. Used by permission. To receive this issue, or subscribe to "Missions Mosaic, call 1-800-968-7301 or go to www.wmustore.com.
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