For more than 40 years, a South Carolina church has been steadfastly committed to assisting churches, schools and needy persons in two Eastern Kentucky counties.
This summer, in addition to various ministries at more than 30 sites, ranging from leading Vacation Bible Schools, doing light construction and painting projects, conducting basketball camps and providing food support, a 240-member team from First Baptist Church of Spartanburg allegedly instigated a prison RIOT – “Revival In Our Town” – according to chaplain Mitch Bradshaw.
“What impressed (the inmates) the most – was that the team would work it in their schedule to visit such a remote place and display the love of Jesus with them,” said Bradshaw, who works at the Bell County Forestry Camp, a minimum-security correctional facility near Pineville.
“They were shocked at the number of volunteers who showed up on the final day of their journey in Kentucky to sing to the inmates,” added Bradshaw, who also is pastor of East Cumberland Avenue Baptist Church in Middlesboro. “It brought tears to many eyes; it gave the inmates a sense of self-worth and encouraged them dramatically.”
“The morale of the prisoners is higher, and their countenance has changed,” said Seth Buckley, minister to students at First Baptist, Spartanburg. “I pray God is using us to offer real hope. I feel like that’s happening.”
Even with a fence between them, inmates from the Bell County Forestry Camp join the 240-member mission team from First Baptist Church of Spartanburg in worship. According to prison chaplain Mitch Bradshaw, several inmates were moved to tears by the unified display of worship and that the church group would go out of its way to share the gospel with the incarcerated men.Prison ministry
Buckley led daily chapel services at the prison during the last week of June that were attended by as many as 65 inmates, Bradshaw reported. On Friday, the entire missions team gathered at a parking lot just outside the prison fences to sing and share testimonies with inmates.
The Spartanburg team’s objective was to create a core group of inmates to reach other prisoners with the gospel. Buckley said he sees a possibility of beginning a monthly ministry to the inmates by partnering with churches in the Bell County area.
“We want to encourage them to seek to honor God, even in the midst of the bad times; then something beautiful can come from it,” Buckley said.
“Don’t let this define you as a person,” he urged the inmates. Even though they made mistakes, they can “determine from this past what you will become,” he explained, emphasizing that God still can use them even now.
Buckley anticipated that First Baptist, Spartanburg, will continue to partner with Bradshaw in the future, possibly even investing in constructing a new chapel at the Bell County correctional facility. Speaking of Bradshaw, Buckley observed: “God is using him in a huge way; he’s making a real difference.”
‘Upward’ camps
The Spartanburg team also conducted basketball camps, working with the coaches from area high schools, including Middlesboro, Bell County, Pineville, Knox Central and Barbourville. Partnering with Upward Basketball – which originated at First Baptist, Spartanburg – each of the nearly 400 children who attended the camps was given a jersey, a basketball, a bottle and a sports bag.
“The coaches were a joy to work with,” Buckley recalled. “They welcomed us with open arms, and the camps were a blessing to the children.”
Also, team members led Vacation Bible Schools and outreach programs at several churches in Bell and Knox counties.
At Chapel Grove Baptist Church in Corbin, where First Baptist, Spartanburg’s members have worked for nearly 10 years, they assisted pastor Jim Elliott, providing a needed boost to summer ministry programs for youth and children. And, at Mount Mary Baptist Church in Middlesboro, which typically sees about 50 people in worship, they visited in the community and used two of their vans to transport kids to a Vacation Bible School that averaged about 115 children daily.
“It was inspiring to see all those young people interested in church,” said Paul Gibson, pastor of Mount Mary Baptist. “It really meant a lot to us.”
As a result of the week’s work, the Spartanburg team worked with approximately 1,600 children and witnessed more than 100 professions of faith, Buckley estimated.
– Deaton is editor of The Western Recorder, the newsjournal of Kentucky Baptists. He formerly was managing editor of The Baptist Courier. Reprinted with permission of The Western Recorder.