Adventures in Eastern KY

Adventure. Help people. Appreciate what you have. Friends. FOMO. Fun. Compassion. Obedience.
For the glory of God. 

These are all various reasons for why people go on short-term mission trips. What about you? Why do you do what you do?

Our Father loves all of humanity created in His image and desires for all to enjoy a loving, familial relationship with Him. As we pursue His heart, He has moved our hearts to partner with other local churches in Eastern Kentucky to help them share with their communities the same grace and truth and love that we have come to know and enjoy in Christ. 

In the Spring of 2018, we took a group of students on a new adventure to Owsley County, KY. Adam and Franny Stall had just reopened the Carpenter’s Village Retreat Center, and our goal was to minister to both them and our students, build a gaga ball pit for the camp, and build/deliver beds for children in the area. This was only a few short months after the January 23rd school shooting, so our study through John 15 was a timely reminder of abiding in Christ and trusting in His presence. Jesus said, "abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me" (John 15:4).

The Lord continued to stir the hearts of people and within a year Lerose Community Church came into existence as Adam and Franny ministered to the broken and hurting of Owsley County. We visited twice in the summer of 2019 to help the church create a Family Fun Night with an outdoor movie to minister to families as they provided food, school supplies, and other household supplies. Our students moved the gaga ball pit from the camp out to the church property, then pulled flat rocks out of the nearby creek and built a new sign for the church, complete with landscaping in the shape of a cross underneath. Studying through Paul's letter to the church at Ephesus helped us understand the Father's heart in uniting His people through the power of the Holy Spirit-- "for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).

By 2021, the Carpenter's Village had been repurposed into an addiction rehabilitation center, so our group of students stayed out at the Youth Haven Bible Camp in Beattyville, KY (15 minutes from Owsley County). The students worked hard to build and deliver beds, and took the time to organize and stock the food pantry inside the Lerose Community Church. Our group helped the church host another outdoor movie night after the Wednesday night service to help the church minister to their community. Adam was super busy with both directing the rehab and pastoring the church, so our team worked in shifts to serve this family by finishing their landscaping and staining the deck on Adam and Franny's new house. 

Our study through Paul's letter to the church at Galatia challenged us to focus on the pure gospel from God that emphasizes salvation based on faith and not works of the Law. This salvation in Christ sets us free to live by the Spirit as a new creation with a new identity and new family in Christ!

The Lord shifted our focus the following year to partner with Hilton Duncan at First Baptist Church in Stearns, KY. The church is positioned in a great location on the edge of town, so the focus of the first trip in May was to help them (Derrick & Krystie Marcum, volunteer youth leaders) create a space for their teens, build a gaga ball pit, and set poles for a volleyball net to help them minister to teens in their area. Another fun evening of food and outdoor movie night was created and our amazing group of teens ministered in partnership with this church to both families and teens in their community. We then returned in July and used these new spaces and games to help the church provide a two-day youth camp for their teens. 

Our study through the book of James challenged us to be bold in the midst of opposition and to put our faith into action. "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world" (James 1:27).

As the summer of 2023 approached, Jerry Newsome introduced us to a pastor of a small church in Owsley County who knew of some families that needed beds for their kids. We were able to provide several beds and pray with one family, but then couldn't reach the other families to setup times to meet with them. We took ten beds to another church about an hour away and ended up helping them prep and distribute meals to the community that evening. 

On our way through Booneville, we stopped to spend some time praying scripture over the Lerose Community Church. Several of our plans for this trip fell through, but we stayed flexible and made the most of opportunities as the Lord placed them in our path. Discipleship became a major theme of the trip as our Bible study focused on reading and understanding Paul's letter to Titus. "For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus, who gave Himself for us to redeem us from every lawless deed, and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds" (Titus 2:11-14).

Early in 2024 we checked-in with our amazing friends at Stearns First Baptist Church to see how they were doing. Derrick and Krystie were running two church vans after school on Mondays to pick up elementary and middle school students for after school activities. They were also planning a VBS event and raising funds to take teens to camp. Praise the Lord for their commitment to faithfully ministering to teens in the Stearns community!

After a couple of messages and phone calls with Adam & Franny, plans were made to help them host a youth rally at their church and create a two-day VBS event for kids in their community. Substance abuse has impacted a large portion of the families in the Owsley County area. Lerose Community Church continues to minister to adults enslaved to drug addictions, families broken by alcohol abuse, and help grandparents who are trying to raise their grandchildren. The youth rally gathered families together for a night of food, worship, testimony, and prayer. The next two days were full of VBS worship, teaching, games, and other activities geared toward helping the kids (and a couple teens) discover and know the Truth. Our teens did an amazing job of building relationships, setting an example of Christ, and loving people with a love and joy that could only come from a relationship with our Father!

"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent" (John 17:3). Jesus said, "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come on you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8). "Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20).