With the forecast of snow and frigid weather, Pastor Tim Reynolds of Hazard First Baptist Church told them they needed to leave Thursday to avoid what would be a treacherous drive the following morning.

That’s when he began make connections, calling Three Forks Baptist Association Associational Mission Strategist Jamie Reynolds, who then put in a call to Charles Frazier, the AMS for the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association, who then put out a message to churches in that association about hosting the group overnight.

Frazier, who only recently became the association’s AMS, understands the importance of the help a church can provide. His former church, Zion’s Cause in western Kentucky, housed dozens of mission teams who came to rebuild following last December’s tornadoes.

It was less than an hour later when Pastor Harold Best said Burlington Baptist Church would be honored to have them at the church. He called Burlington members Greg Hoskins and Ken Ford, who sprang into action preparing a breakfast on Friday that would make a grandmother proud.

“We’ve been treated so good when we’ve gone to places,” Best said. “We appreciate them making a sacrifice to help eastern Kentucky. They were going to work all the way up to Christmastime (weekend). They might end up here a few extra days.”

The Seattle team arrived in Burlington around 5:30 p.m. Thursday and were shown their sleeping areas for the night. They then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner before returning to rest.

Burlington Baptist is only about 20 minutes from CVG Airport but there was 5 inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures awaiting Friday morning.

Several flights were cancelled with only five of the team members able to connect successfully on Friday. Team leader Franklin Beebe said he had been receiving calls from anxious parents for a few days. However, team members seemed unconcerned about making it home.

“We have to be ready to roll with the punches,” said Mary Grace Ervin, a team leader.

Elena Talley, one of the students, said if she could not be with her own family, this one was equally special. “None of us would mind staying together,” she said. “It’s like family.”

Burlington Baptist said hello again and began providing for lunch, dinner and other shower opportunities for the campus ministry team from the University of Washington. They also bought the team toboggans and gloves to help deal with the severe winter weather.

Rescheduled flights - and cancellations by others - worked out so everybody will be home by Christmas evenings. But even if that had not happened, it will be a Christmas that none of them will ever forget. They were praising God on Friday night after returning to the church with the good news that everybody should make it home before Christmas Day is over.

“It’s amazing how God’s team and the church formed together,” Reynolds said. “Southeast Kentucky would be in a terrible situation without the church. The church has a heart to serve and is still doing that. This is incredible how all this came together.”

Beebe, one of three members of the campus leadership team, said coming to Kentucky was God ordained. He said they had decided to take a trip to San Diego “until the Lord closed all doors. We were taking that option because it was easy. We were freaking out, but the Lord was telling us to trust Him.”

The three leaders – Beebe, Ervin and Emily Kasue – prayed individually about where God would send them. Individually, while praying, it became obvious, Beebe said.

“The Lord put Kentucky on each of our hearts,” he said. “When praying, one of us saw the shape of Kentucky, another saw blue and the word Kentucky popped up in our minds.”

They knew of the devastating flooding from the summer in eastern Kentucky. Beebe had a connection with an organization called Club 180 in Cumberland. He called them and they had work for them to do and he began calling random churches in Hazard who could host a mission team.

Reynolds made a connection with them, telling them he could host the group for several nights. He said the church could house up to 75 with six floors and six showers available.

“They are a power team,” he said. “We’ve hosted over 600 church people here since the flood. I appreciate each one of them. (But) this team sticks out in my mind. They are young people who love the Lord and love one another. They came here with a willingness to serve.”

The college group installed underpinning and insulation on a double-wide to get it insulated before the winter storm hit and installed insulation. They delivered a dryer and did much-needed work at the FBC building, Reynolds said.

“They worked at another project where a family had relocated to a fixer upper,” Reynolds said. “It was a junk pile. They cleaned up the basement.”

Beebe said that family included three young girls, a mother and a father who worked “100 hours a week.”

He told the team without the work they did for them in one day, which included insulation work and cleanup, the husband may have taken 2-3 weeks to finish.

“We heard about the floods,” Beebe said. “We wanted to go somewhere that was often overlooked. That’s when Kentucky came to my mind. It was a clear indicator.”

Many of the students had never seen poverty like they saw in eastern Kentucky, he said. It was eye-opening and humbling at the same time. “To step in and be part of this … I don’t deserve to be part of that.”

Pastor Reynolds was an inspiration to Beebe and the Seattle team.

“Pastor Tim is an amazing man,” he said. “What he’s doing for his community is so beautiful.”

In Cumberland, they refinished a gymnasium floor including replacing broken boards, working sanding machines and oiling the floor.

“Restoring a gym floor seemed like a small thing to do,” Talley said. “But when (we) talked about it later we saw how a little thing could make such a big change with more children able to come to that.”

Kasue, one of the team leaders, said “it was definitely shocking to see. I didn’t realize how big a need and how many families were impacted.”

While they didn’t do as much one-on-one witnessing as they wanted, the work that was done blessed not only the recipient but the team, Beebe said.

“It impacted me,” he said. “One lady named Tish, who had lost her home and everything, said sometimes when you want to give up, you turn it all over to the Lord. That stuck with me. Here she is with nothing and she’s still trusting in the Lord.”

Reynolds said there is much more work to be done in eastern Kentucky and any group wanting to volunteer for days, weeks or months to help can reach him at (606) 854-8506.

BURLINGTON, Ky. (KT) – The collaboration, connectivity and cooperation of Kentucky Baptist churches was on display to help a 20-member missions team from a Seattle to get home for Christmas.

The team chose Kentucky to do a weeklong mission work, splitting time between Cumberland and Hazard. They were planning on leaving Hazard on Friday morning and driving to the Northern Kentucky Airport for flights home to several locations – Colorado, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Seattle and Oregon. Two other members were driving home to Knoxville.

With the forecast of snow and frigid weather, Pastor Tim Reynolds of Hazard First Baptist Church told them they needed to leave Thursday to avoid what would be a treacherous drive the following morning.

That’s when he began make connections, calling Three Forks Baptist Association Associational Mission Strategist Jamie Reynolds, who then put in a call to Charles Frazier, the AMS for the Northern Kentucky Baptist Association, who then put out a message to churches in that association about hosting the group overnight.

Frazier, who only recently became the association’s AMS, understands the importance of the help a church can provide. His former church, Zion’s Cause in western Kentucky, housed dozens of mission teams who came to rebuild following last December’s tornadoes.

It was less than an hour later when Pastor Harold Best said Burlington Baptist Church would be honored to have them at the church. He called Burlington members Greg Hoskins and Ken Ford, who sprang into action preparing a breakfast on Friday that would make a grandmother proud.

“We’ve been treated so good when we’ve gone to places,” Best said. “We appreciate them making a sacrifice to help eastern Kentucky. They were going to work all the way up to Christmastime (weekend). They might end up here a few extra days.”

The Seattle team arrived in Burlington around 5:30 p.m. Thursday and were shown their sleeping areas for the night. They then went to Cracker Barrel for dinner before returning to rest.

Burlington Baptist is only about 20 minutes from CVG Airport but there was 5 inches of snow and sub-zero temperatures awaiting Friday morning.

Several flights were cancelled with only five of the team members able to connect successfully on Friday. Team leader Franklin Beebe said he had been receiving calls from anxious parents for a few days. However, team members seemed unconcerned about making it home.

“We have to be ready to roll with the punches,” said Mary Grace Ervin, a team leader.

Elena Talley, one of the students, said if she could not be with her own family, this one was equally special. “None of us would mind staying together,” she said. “It’s like family.”

Burlington Baptist said hello again and began providing for lunch, dinner and other shower opportunities for the campus ministry team from the University of Washington. They also bought the team toboggans and gloves to help deal with the severe winter weather.

Rescheduled flights - and cancellations by others - worked out so everybody will be home by Christmas evenings. But even if that had not happened, it will be a Christmas that none of them will ever forget. They were praising God on Friday night after returning to the church with the good news that everybody should make it home before Christmas Day is over.

“It’s amazing how God’s team and the church formed together,” Reynolds said. “Southeast Kentucky would be in a terrible situation without the church. The church has a heart to serve and is still doing that. This is incredible how all this came together.”

Beebe, one of three members of the campus leadership team, said coming to Kentucky was God ordained. He said they had decided to take a trip to San Diego “until the Lord closed all doors. We were taking that option because it was easy. We were freaking out, but the Lord was telling us to trust Him.”

The three leaders – Beebe, Ervin and Emily Kasue – prayed individually about where God would send them. Individually, while praying, it became obvious, Beebe said.

“The Lord put Kentucky on each of our hearts,” he said. “When praying, one of us saw the shape of Kentucky, another saw blue and the word Kentucky popped up in our minds.”

They knew of the devastating flooding from the summer in eastern Kentucky. Beebe had a connection with an organization called Club 180 in Cumberland. He called them and they had work for them to do and he began calling random churches in Hazard who could host a mission team.

Reynolds made a connection with them, telling them he could host the group for several nights. He said the church could house up to 75 with six floors and six showers available.

“They are a power team,” he said. “We’ve hosted over 600 church people here since the flood. I appreciate each one of them. (But) this team sticks out in my mind. They are young people who love the Lord and love one another. They came here with a willingness to serve.”

The college group installed underpinning and insulation on a double-wide to get it insulated before the winter storm hit and installed insulation. They delivered a dryer and did much-needed work at the FBC building, Reynolds said.

“They worked at another project where a family had relocated to a fixer upper,” Reynolds said. “It was a junk pile. They cleaned up the basement.”

Beebe said that family included three young girls, a mother and a father who worked “100 hours a week.”

He told the team without the work they did for them in one day, which included insulation work and cleanup, the husband may have taken 2-3 weeks to finish.

“We heard about the floods,” Beebe said. “We wanted to go somewhere that was often overlooked. That’s when Kentucky came to my mind. It was a clear indicator.”

Many of the students had never seen poverty like they saw in eastern Kentucky, he said. It was eye-opening and humbling at the same time. “To step in and be part of this … I don’t deserve to be part of that.”

Pastor Reynolds was an inspiration to Beebe and the Seattle team.

“Pastor Tim is an amazing man,” he said. “What he’s doing for his community is so beautiful.”

In Cumberland, they refinished a gymnasium floor including replacing broken boards, working sanding machines and oiling the floor.

“Restoring a gym floor seemed like a small thing to do,” Talley said. “But when (we) talked about it later we saw how a little thing could make such a big change with more children able to come to that.”

Kasue, one of the team leaders, said “it was definitely shocking to see. I didn’t realize how big a need and how many families were impacted.”

While they didn’t do as much one-on-one witnessing as they wanted, the work that was done blessed not only the recipient but the team, Beebe said.

“It impacted me,” he said. “One lady named Tish, who had lost her home and everything, said sometimes when you want to give up, you turn it all over to the Lord. That stuck with me. Here she is with nothing and she’s still trusting in the Lord.”

Reynolds said there is much more work to be done in eastern Kentucky and any group wanting to volunteer for days, weeks or months to help can reach him at (606) 854-8506.