Welcome House Community Network Continues to Expand

Continues to

EXPAND

Since CBFNC launched the Welcome House Community Network (WHCN) ministry in 2020, the ministry has grown beyond the Raleigh-area, creating 30 expressions of Welcome House ministries across North Carolina. Because of this growth, two Welcome House Managers have joined the team to coordinate hospitality ministry in other regions: Linda Jones in the Triad and Paula McCosh in the Sandhills.

For founders Kim and Marc Wyatt, the addition of Jones and McCosh is the natural next step for the expanding ministry. But for Jones and McCosh, it’s a personal venture that reflects their life journeys.

“Refugees and other cultures always have been a passion of mine. I’m sure it came from my mom, who was well-read and well-traveled,” Jones said.

She recalls a decades-old memory, when her church in Dayton, OH, resettled a Cambodian family. “We delivered Christmas presents on a Friday night,” she remembered. “They lived in an old home, but when a Mercedes drove by, the mother said, ‘We had a car like that.’”

Those words drove home the vulnerability of life and the reality that surface appearances do not reveal refugees’ stories.

Jones is no stranger to this work. She was previously the missions coordinator for CBFNC and also helped CBF Global with its Encourager Church and Latino Network programs before she retired.

So, late last summer, she quickly agreed when Marc Wyatt asked her to help find housing in Winston-Salem for Afghan refugees employed at a chicken-processing plant in North Wilkesboro. That evolved into collaboration with both Welcome House and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants, as well as churches as Jones recruits congregations to help provide hospitality and housing.

“The rewards are great,” Jones said. “Just think about the relationships you form, the love you have for each other.”

That love, particularly for Afghan refugees settling near Fort Bragg, comes easily to McCosh, associate

From Left: Linda Jones (Triad) and Paula McCosh (Sandhills)

pastor of family ministries at Mount Pisgah Baptist in Fayetteville.

“My husband is alive today because of the Afghan refugees we are supporting,” she said. He is a CBF-endorsed chaplain with the U.S. Army Reserves. He served two tours of duty in Iraq and three tours in Afghanistan, primarily working with Special Forces.

“I am helping three families whose members served the U.S. Special Forces community in Afghanistan,” she explained. “I know their loyalty and commitment—at huge risk to their lives and to their own families—ensured my husband and his soldiers were safe.”

McCosh is working with Lafayette and Snyder Memorial Baptist churches, which are operating multiple homes that provide both short- and long-term housing for Afghan refugees. She also builds off her military relationships to collaborate with Fort Bragg families and she’s coordinating interfaith response to refugees.

The addition of Jones and McCosh to Welcome House reflects a natural progression beyond metropolitan centers and refugees. “The needs are greater, so the work is expanding,” Marc Wyatt said.

He adds, “There are many more possibilities for housing needs in rural parts of the state than where refugees traditionally are resettled. About half the churches in our network are serving other kinds of vulnerable people. We’re interested in seeing how housing develops for all kinds of people in other parts of the state.”

“We want to impress upon the fellowship, that if they have a church that has an unused parsonage, a missionary residence, other properties not currently used as housing or members involved in real estate, we want to speak to them,” adds Wyatt. “It’s a call to stewardship to show God’s love through affordable housing.”

To get involved, contact the Wyatts at wyatt@cbf.net and 910.632.4774.

By Marv Knox Contributing Writer and Founder of Fellowship Southwest

for the lives and ministries of these long-tenured pastors who recently retired from CBFNC churches. “Well done, good and faithful servant!”

–Matt. 25:23

JACK GLASGOW retired at the end of January after 34 years at Zebulon Baptist in Zebulon.

GREG ROGERS retired at the end of January after 35 years at Oakmont Baptist in Greenville.

JOE YELTON retired at the end of January after 25 years at Hominy Baptist in Candler.

Our encouragement and support go to the following ministers who have recently moved:

Paul Batson to Jersey Baptist, Lexington as Pastor

Cody Carpenter to First Baptist, Mount Airy as Associate Pastor for Families

Meagan Vizard Greene to First Baptist, Erwin as Co-Pastor

Barrett Owen to First Baptist, Wilmington as Pastor

When you make a move or know of someone who has changed places of ministry, please send us an email: seth.hix@cbfnc.org. For assistance to search committees and ministers seeking vocational discernment, visit the Equip Ministers and Churches page on our website (cbfnc.org) or call us at 336.759.3456.

CBFNC HONORARY & MEMORIAL GIFTS | January 2022 – March 2022

Jennifer and Seth Asbill in honor of Wanda Kidd and Jesse Croom Beth and Steve Baxley in honor of Wanda Kidd Ed Beddingfield in honor of Wanda Kidd Susan Burnette in celebration of Family Christmas Gifts Charlotte B. Cook in honor of Wanda Kidd Jim and Deb Cross in honor of Chris Aho Jim Culbreth in honor of Cindy Combs The Deer Family in honor of Amanda Atkin Patricia Dunn in honor of Wanda Kidd F. Sue Fitzgerald in honor of Wanda Kidd Susan Fouts in honor of Wanda Kidd Kim and Larry Hovis in honor of Lauren Hovis Gerald Hutchinson in honor of Wanda Kidd Sandra W. Jarrell in honor of Wanda Kidd Rebecca and Larry Keesler in honor of Wanda Kidd Shirley and Dean Kool in honor of Wanda Kidd Rebecca and Jeff Mathis in honor of Wanda Kidd Carolyn and Eric Matthews in honor of Wanda Kidd Jane and Jim McCoy in honor of Wanda Kidd Lisa and Kenneth Rust in honor of Marc & Kim Wyatt Miller Sigmon in honor of Tom Davis Amanda Gail Smith in honor of Wanda Kidd Charles and Carolyn Warford in honor of Wanda Kidd Christa Warise in honor of Wanda Kidd Belle Allen in memory of Randall Lolley Helen Bunton in memory of Randall Lolley The Deer Family in memory of Fleming Atkin Tom Graves in memory of Randall Lolley Tommy and Pat Hardin in memory of Sarah Ayia Azure Awuni Brenda Hipp in memory of Dennis Hipp and Hank Greer Jo Ann and Don Horton in memory of Randall Lolley Barbara Huggins in memory of Kay Huggins Wilma M. McNiel in memory of Mary Lib Causey Laurie and Steve Mills in memory of Randall Lolley Brian Murphy in memory of Dr. William Randall Lolley Mike and Bobbie Queen in memory of Daniel Hudgins Leslie and Gregory Rogers in memory of Daniel Hudgins Jamie and Jamie Rorrer in memory of Daniel Hudgins Patrick Simpson in memory of Betsy Purcell David B. Smith in memory of Roy Smith David Straw in memory of Randall Lolley Pam and Jim Thomason in memory of Randall Lolley John Vestal in memory of Cindy Vestal Laura Anne Vick, Jennifer Catellani, Carolyn Durham and Elizabeth Kirkman in memory of Randall Lolley Carol Wright in memory of Randall Lolley