Cheyenne Koch

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, s...

#LifeStory [ 3 ] As a child, my parents instilled in me the habit of praying before going to sleep at night.  In my teenage years I would lay in bed at night, often drunk from alcohol, and out of habit pray to God before going to sleep.  You see, I knew what the Bible taught, and would often ask God to forgive me for being drunk.  But there was no change, only an increased desire for alcohol to fill the emptiness I tried to hide.  Without any sort of purpose in life, alcohol was a version of fun that I could explore with my friends. My reckless lifestyle produced several near death experiences, and at night I would lay in bed trying to imagine what it would be like to be dead.  I knew what the Bible taught about eternity, but all I could picture was emptiness and darkness.  I was frightened by the thought of being nothing, nonexistent forever and ever. Then one night I had a dream.  I dreamed an angel of the Lord carried me to Heaven and set me dow...

#LifeStory [ 2 ] My ninth grade year was a year of change as I road the bus to attend the consolidated Sullivan Senior High School in Sullivan, Missouri.  I entered high school determined to be a good person; no cigarettes, drugs, or alcohol for me.  Unfortunately, my convictions changed toward the end of my high school years, and I began to abuse alcohol with my friends as we met for parties at creek crossings, at someone's cabin, or a house when the parents were gone.  Soon, the small lies turned into bigger lies as I tried to hide from my parents the truth of my late night activities.  Reckless driving, parties, property and mailbox destruction, poaching, alcohol abuse, wine making, and the list goes on.  But I went to church on Sunday and still thought I was a Christian. Somewhere in the middle of my high school years, my family left the little country church I grew up in and became members of Trinity Presbyterian Church, in Union, Missouri.  The c...