Years ago, communities were often built around textile mills. Different mills even had their own baseball leagues that competed against each other. When the work week was over, parents dressed their kids in their Sunday best and headed off to the community church that was less than a mile away from their homes.
“Most people went to church, knew each other, and really cared about each other,” said Yvonne Moore, member of Woodside Baptist Church. She said people worked together at the mill and kids went to school together.
Toni Vermillion and Vickie Wilkes serve hot dogs to guests. (Photo by David Coiner)
Fast forward to 2024, and Woodside Mill has become high-end apartments. The diverse neighborhood continues to grow and change. Moore said, “New people moved in and did not go to church.”
Low-income families struggled, while the upper class took over. Still, Woodside Baptist Church, constituted in 1905, sits in the middle of this complex neighborhood consisting of people from different ages, races, and economic statuses.
Moore said reaching the Woodside neighborhood is harder now. “You don’t feel safe to go and knock on doors. We have a lot who don’t speak our language.” But reaching the lost is still a need. “Each person we see has a soul and they need Jesus,” Moore said.
Because of that need, the church continues to reach the Woodside neighborhood in various ways. On July 27, the church hosted a “Back to School Bash.” Dozens of children, many of whom were Hispanic, gathered in the parking lot to fill a backpack with free school supplies.
The backpacks were provided by Send Relief, and the school supplies were provided by donations from the church members. This year, the church decided not to pre-fill the backpacks. Instead, they let students choose their own school supplies that would meet their specific needs along with the backpack color of their choice.
Bryce Staggs, pastor at Woodside Baptist Church, said that when the kids get to choose their own backpacks, it gives them a sense of ownership. The pastor and his wife, Katie, also recognized that students of different ages need different types of supplies. A kindergartener may need crayons, while a fifth-grader may want colored pencils.
Why such intentionality? Staggs said that the event was to “share the gospel and just make sure these underserved families know that somebody cares about them and loves them.
“When we do things like this, our goal isn’t to get people into our church,” he said. “Our goal is to ultimately get them into the kingdom of God.”
One highlight was the number of people they were able to serve. Katie said, “We gave away more bags than we thought we were going to, so it was great getting to connect with more families than anticipated.” She continued, “Just as Paul writes in Ephesians, God can do immeasurably more than we think or imagine.” Staggs said God was at work even when they doubted and worried about the amount that would show up.
The church also fed those who came. One church volunteer, Toni Vermillion, served hot dogs. Vermillion said the biggest highlight for her was serving the last hot dog.
“All that was left were buns that were ‘broken’ on the bottom”, Vermillion said. “The teen didn’t mind. He taught me how to stack a hot dog as if it were a sandwich and thanked me, then walked away as happy as he could be.” The incident left a spiritual impact on Vermillion.
She said, “Little did he know that broken hot dog bun reminded me of how the Lord will take broken people and make them whole again.”