And  the preacher said, “The average Christian will spend his/her life doing God’s work in the church that they belong. Whether they teach, work in administration, work with youth, get involved in van, sign or bulletin ministry, work with seniors, visitation or serve as prayer warriors, they will for the most part work in that church. And thank God for them! Most Christians are bound by job, family, health or financial constraints that prevent them from being able to go into the field and serve in mission work of any kind. The fact that some can overcome those constraints make those that are able to go into the field that much more important. West Virginia absolutely needs you. We can’t do it alone. It’s folks like you, and the churches and family members back at home that support and send you to us that keeps us focused on the job at hand.”

That was the message we received standing on the sidewalk next to the Coalwood Community Methodist Church on July 15. We had just finished a Bible School class for the children and adults of Coalwood.

Our week had begun the previous Saturday, when 17 members of the Floyd County Baptist Association and one retired Rome schoolteacher from the First Christian Church left the association headquarters headed out for West Virginia. We reached Tazewell, Va. later that evening and checked in to the motel that would be our home for the week. Five of our team members were already there.

The next morning we traveled to War, W. Va. for regular church services. There was another Baptist mission team from Augusta that was scheduled to work in War the same week we were to be in Coalwood. Needless to say, the little Calvary Baptist Church was full that Sunday morning. After services were over, two ladies from Fellowship Baptist Church on Burnett Ferry Road presented a check to the church raised from their Bible School offering to be used to assist the children of McDowell County for school supplies and other necessities.

After church we traveled over another mountain about eight more miles to Coalwood, a pretty little town of about 300 families and one convenience store that might or might not have gas. The ladies decorated their classrooms and we then returned to Tazewell.

The next morning on the way back to Coalwood, we stopped at the mission in the community of Caretta. With us we had pulled a double axle U-Haul that was packed. We unloaded four flat pushcarts at the mission. We had several boxes of clothes and stuffed animals for kids, but mainly we had brought personal hygiene items at their request.

Several Floyd County churches had contributed items and cash for the mission. On Tuesday, using that cash, we stopped and purchased a considerable amount of hygiene products and dropped them off at Caretta. The mission operators tell us they have lost the contact and provider in soaps, shampoos, toothpaste and other items due to the recession and company cut backs.

Also, all the food they get is now from the government. People are hurting everywhere, but especially so in the mountains. The one and only industry is coal and there is only one mine operating part time. There are NO jobs in McDowell County.

The Bible School in War, now in it’s third year was wall to wall. They had 88 registered on the first day. In Coalwood, we were plowing new ground. We had a daily average of 31 or 32 attendees although we actually enrolled 45 during the week. The pastoral team from Calvary Baptist in War that was sponsoring this Bible School was elated! Both Bible schools had a community kitchen each night after Bible school was over and were a great success!

Many of the adults in Coalwood were aloof and withdrawn from us at the first of the week, but not the kids. They didn’t want Bible School to end and they certainly didn’t want their teachers to leave. And many adults had begun to trust us by the end of the week.

I know that we were not in Haiti, Africa, India or some other South American country, and I do admire those who go. In fact, the great commission says to go into all the countries. It’s just that other Americans living in this kind of economic devastation has to touch you. Houses are old company houses built probably in the 1930s or maybe earlier. Ten feet of front yard and maybe the same in back before you hit a creek or mountain. Two-thirds of all houses are on direct sewage. A four-inch pipe straight to the creek. We were told that banks would not finance a house on direct sewage so you either live there or you abandon it, because you can’t sell it. And about every fourth or fifth house is falling in from abandonment.

Pray for West Virginia. They are great people. Democracy here is still pure and fresh. They don’t want to take anything from the government, but I fear that is slowly becoming a way of life for many. Their population in the 1950s was 100,000, now it is 21,000. And when the

Department of Natural Resources has a “nuisance” bear somewhere, the staff will “dart” it and turn it loose in a less populated area like McDowell County. Nuisance bears in your backyard, how would you like that?

They now tell us they want a Bible School in the Berwin and Canebrake communities. I guess next year that problem will be addressed. Also, another mission needs help. We’ll be taking a load back to War and Caretta the second Saturday in December.

The pastor at Calvary said that a couple of weeks before we came, he spotted some visitors in his congregation on a Sunday morning. They looked familiar. After services he went back to welcome them as all preachers do, and found they were from Rome, Ga. They told the pastor that they had read the guest column from the paper and decided to come and see for themselves.

Calvary has an open invitation for you to do the same. The church in War would love for you to visit. The column also prompted many others to support this mission with funds or items. God does work in mysterious ways.

Mike Ragland of Cave Spring is a retired Rome

Police Department major.