God Loves All People: Appalachian Coalfields

There is something special and spiritual about traveling on mission for the Lord, getting away from your normal routine, and placing yourself in close quarters with fellow believers. This is exactly what we found working with God’s Love from a Diaper Bag in Jenkins, KY. Our agenda was full of good works- a baby shower for women from a lower income community, mission house repair, VBS activities for children in subsidized housing, and visiting a nursing home. Our expectation was for God to show up and work through us and around us. He is faithful! God showed us how He loves ALL people.

God loves the unborn. We shared His love with expecting mothers and made sure they have what they need to welcome a baby into the world. Each woman received clothes, blankets, a diaper bag, necessities, and a Bible. Women from our team shared about how God used motherhood to teach them more about Him. Women and their unborn were prayed over and provided with essentials.

God loves children and young families. We handed out VBS flyers on Friday night and the people in the community were so receptive. The next day many kids and families showed up to learn about how to magnify God. It was a fun time to hang out, play, do crafts, sing songs, and tell Bible stories. However it was our team that was encouraged by a family sharing with us the music and dances they learned from their church! God is working in this housing area and it was a privilege to be a small part of His work.

God loves the elderly. Our mission at the nursing home was to sing hymns, play bingo, and hand out gift bags that our kid’s ministry had decorated. Residents entered the dining hall and listened to the hymns. A few sang along. After dinner many left, but a few stayed for bingo. Hesitation changed to happiness and reserved attitudes changed to openness as people called out “Bingo!” and collected their prizes. God used songs, bingo, and prizes to remind the elderly that He still cares and loves them.

God is at work all over the world. This trip was a great reminder of how God is at work just four short hours away in an old coal-mining town in Jenkins, KY. God is using resident missionaries Lester and Bessie McPeek’s deep community roots for Kingdom impact and it was a pleasure for our church to get to join in. We cannot wait until next year!

– Abby Hardin, Calvary Baptist Church, Gastonia, NC

Appalachian projects occur year-round, and can include service in children’s ministry, sports clinics, evangelistic outreach projects, and construction, to name a few. There are dozens of requests for mission teams to help in 2026. Learn more here!