Serving Hope at Home

(above) Simms Kerbaugh (right) chats with Johnny Hall, whose home was damaged by historic floods. The team from Southland repaired flooring, installed drywall, and replaced underpinning to make his home safe, warm, and dry.

BY TINA V. BRYSON

Southland Christian Church has traveled all over the world helping people in need and spreading the love of God through service. Due to the pandemic, they had to pause mission trips outside the United States, but this presented an opportunity to look for local partnerships like Christian Appalachian Project (CAP).

The church sent staff members to visit several CAP programs and witnessed first-hand the need in Eastern Kentucky. They saw the opportunity to serve children, families, and seniors within driving distance of their main campus in Nicholasville, Kentucky.

“The partnership with Southland Christian Church expands capacity for CAP. When they responded, this allowed CAP crew leaders to lead additional projects for families dealing with flooding devastation. By combining our forces, we worked together to increase the number of families that could be helped and allowed them to get back into their homes,” said Becky Neuenschwander, manager of Mission Groups.

“Every pair of hands is a vital part of transforming lives in Appalachia. Volunteers from Southland served on kitchen crews to feed large groups and partnered with our Housing Program to make homes safe, warm, and dry,” she said. “But they also sent an entire team of highly-skilled volunteers who helped with disaster recovery. We are grateful to have had the chance to help so many families.”

Southland opened 65 years ago with 170 people. Now, on any given Sunday, there are over 10,000 people attending services at one of their five campuses located in Nicholasville, Lexington, Danville, Georgetown, and Richmond.

“After hearing the news of the flood damage in Eastern Kentucky in the spring, Southland knew the church could partner with CAP to meet these immediate needs in a very real way,” said Lauren McCoart, coordinator of Church Relations. “We were grateful for a very generous donation immediately followed by five different groups of volunteers to help with flood recovery.”

Ultimately, Southland coordinated 11 mission trips with over 100 volunteers to CAP's service areas. Volunteers ranged in age from 15 years old to late 70s. For some, this was their first time on a mission trip, and it was helping their neighbors in Appalachia. Projects included repairing and installing decks/ramps, roofs, windows, and floors. Teams also worked on bathroom and kitchen renovations, as well as drywall repair/replacement.

Teams not only repaired homes, but worked to make connections with the families too. Some volunteers had ties to the region and all of them demonstrated that what they had in common was the love of Christ and the passion to help people in need in Appalachia.

“The volunteers that worked on these projects also worked to build relationships with the people that were displaced by the flooding,” said Mark Perraut, Southland’s mission pastor. “Our volunteer teams were impressed with CAP’s staff. All of the staff and longterm CAP volunteers made Southland’s volunteers feel so welcome and part of the team.”

CAP looks for additional opportunities to partner with churches in Central Kentucky and Southland has been a model of what service partnerships can look like.

“It has been my privilege to get to work with Southland's staff in making connections between the church’s mission and vision, and how that can be accomplished through CAP programs,” McCoart added. “Southland started with sending some members to participate in BuildUP, CAP’s one-day housing blitz, but also packed over 25,000 toothbrushes into care packages for children across Appalachia. Now, there are teams helping with disaster recovery and home repair. We truly are able to impact more people and I’m excited to see continued growth in our relationship.”

Volunteers from Southland Christian Church helped repair homes. Southland coordinated 11 mission trips with over 100 volunteers to CAP's service areas.

Philip Noble (left) and Colin Hattrick (right) replace drywall in the Hall home damaged by spring flooding.