Living Out Faith

BY BRIANNA STEPHENS

Martin County became the face of poverty in America when President Lyndon B. Johnson came to the county seat of Inez in 1964 to promote programs and initiatives intended to help end poverty in the United States. Year after year, the poverty in the region is recounted in the media but Dwayne Mills chooses to focus on the richness of the beauty, culture, and tradition of the people here.

“Even though we were poor, I reflect on those times as wonderful memories,” said Mills, a native of Martin County and the executive director of the nonprofit organization Appalachia Reach Out (ARO) since 2019.

ARO, founded in 1972, strives to be Christ’s love in action through being His hands, feet, heart, and mission each day, every day. The organization focuses on four main areas: education, addiction recovery, community engagement and leadership development, and Work and Witness teams. ARO also operates a food pantry that serves more than 180 families a month and a thrift store. And they partner with local schools to provide students with hygiene items, coats, shoes, and more.

Mills’s early education and career drew him away from the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, but he felt God’s radical call to return home to serve the people there. In 2012, he returned to Martin County to pastor his childhood church and serve people in the community.

“I knew our call was more to the people than just the church,” Mills said. “I remember interviewing with the church board and telling them, ‘If you call me here as your pastor, know this — there are going to be many people that we minister to that will never darken the doors of the church, and yet God still calls us to serve those folks.’”

In less than a month of being back in Martin County, the church hosted its first Work and Witness team, a group of volunteers who traveled from outside of the area to serve local families through short-term missions. After the number of volunteers continued to grow, Mills recognized the need to expand their capacity to host groups and partnered with ARO to use the organization’s volunteer lodging. After two years of partnership with the organization, Mills transitioned to his current role with ARO.

In 2023, Mills was recognized by Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) as a Champion of Appalachia for his dedication to serving the people in the region. The award recognizes individuals and organizations that have had a positive, long-term impact in the lives of people in Appalachia.

“My heart’s desire is to bring glory to what God has done in and through our lives,” Mills said. “That’s really the heart of what we are trying to do. We are bringing back hope into those hopeless situations, and it is vital to the work that we do. We have to live out our faith every day, in every moment.”