Each year since 2014, Olive Branch Ministries and CBF field personnel Scarlette Jasper have collected Christmas boxes to brighten the season for children in some of America’s poorest counties. Last Christmas season, over 3,000 Christmas boxes were collected by dedicated volunteers and distributed throughout Appalachia by Scarlette. Boxes went to Pineknot Elementary in McCreary County, … Continue reading
By Scarlette Jasper Scarlette Jasper is a CBF field personnel serving in Southern Kentucky. She works with Together for Hope, CBF’s rural poverty initiative. “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Ask any fan of fantasy stories and they’ll tell you that magic makes things out of nothing. It conjures out of thin air; it achieves the impossible. It leaves people befuddled, awed at its capabilities. For Charles Tinsley, pastor of St. Paul Baptist Church in Barbourville, Ky., it’s the most apt descriptor … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester It has never been about the food. When Jesus, as portrayed in the Gospel of Luke, instructs his hearers to invite “the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind” to their luncheons or banquets, it isn’t about the food. It is about the invitation itself, the dignity inherent in having been … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Glynda Jackson believes God speaks in threes. This work-from-home call center agent and relatively new Corbin, Ky., resident – relative at least to the families who have lived there for generations and will likely stay there for many more – maintains that her “faith isn’t where it should be.” Nonetheless, she believes … Continue reading
By Scarlette Jasper, Cooperative Baptist Fellowship field personnel The White Flag Winter Relief Ministry is a cold-weather ministry of First Baptist Corbin, in the Tri-County area of Corbin, Kentucky. Corbin is located in the center of a cluster of Together for Hope counties. This ministry provides shelter at a local motel on the coldest nights … Continue reading
By Grayson Hester Even Superman can be in only one place at a time. But that doesn’t stop Corbin, Ky., resident and White Flag Ministry volunteer Darell from trying to emulate him. Darell, who moved to Corbin nearly six years ago, is one of White Flag’s most regular volunteers and knows intimately the challenges facing … Continue reading
By Steve Clark, Cooperative Baptist Foundation field personnel Walking to the car after the third day of opening Hope Rising Ministry Center, I saw a Chin church member (probably a church leader and seminary student) pull into the parking lot of the parsonage beside the church. He got out of his car and waved to me … Continue reading
By Rev. Michelle Carroll, Associate Pastor of Missions, First Baptist Church on St. Clair, Frankfort, KY Over the next few weeks, officials from 197 nations around the world are gathering in Egypt for COP27. This is the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP27) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), founded in … Continue reading
By John Mark Boes In recent weeks, we have seen devastating flooding in eastern Kentucky, another mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, TX (not to mention mass shootings elsewhere), continued war in Ukraine and across the globe, the ever-increasing scourge of hunger, and migrants continue to arrive at our southern border. In the … Continue reading