West Virginia Churches in the southwest and northeastern corners

St John Episcopal Church, Bolivar

St John Lutheran, Bolivar

Bolivar United Methodist Church

Caretta Methodist Church

St Peter's Catholic Church, Harpers Ferry

Methodist Episcopal Church, Harpers Ferry

Tabernacle of Faith, Caretta

We found ourselves wondering who wants us to stay out of church

Fellowship Bible Church, Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia

Who doesn't love potlucks? They're an all-American tradition, but theoretically even Communists would be pro-potluck because they're about sharing resources. (Some people do have potluck pet peeves. Some people get annoyed when they see Jell-O placed in the salad section. There are regional disputes about whether certain entrees should be called "casseroles" or "hot dishes."  And Mindy, as a pastor's kid, has traumatic childhood memories of being told to wait until everyone else had a turn, so she never got any Kentucky Fried Chicken.) So it shouldn't be too surprising that when we asked our friend Danita about cherished memories of growing up at Concord Bible Church, she mentioned, "Potlucks. And Vacation Bible School." She added, "Times we'd all be eating, not the church services, but when we'd all be together."

We met Danita when I worked at Concord Bible Church as a youth pastor. When we came to the church she was about three years old (her older brothers were eventually in the youth group while I served there, but I left before she was old enough). Danita also attended the kindergarten through 8th grade school on the property. "Since I was there all the time, I felt like I owned the place." It was the only church she ever attended before going off to college at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

A big draw in moving to West Virginia was to be with her cousin, Robin, who had moved to the state from California a few years before. Danita had visited Robin most summers while she was in high school, and she'd always felt drawn to the place. Six months after Danita moved to West Virginia, her cousin moved away. Her blood relation was gone.

Turns out though, Danita was not without family. Whenever Danita came to West Virginia she'd attended Robin's church. After her cousin moved away, people from the church kept checking in on Danita, and they'd come to visit her. One family in particular adopted Danita, inviting her to spend weekends away from the dorm into their home. Carrie and Kevin and their small children made Danita a part of the family. I met Carrie. Though Danita suggested Carrie was a second mother to her, Carrie insisted she was a sister.

Others at Fellowship Bible Church acted as family as well. When Danita moved out of the dorm, other women at college who also attended Fellowship Bible Church became her roommates. When those roommates moved on, an older woman in the church asked Danita to move into her farmhouse. Danita lived in Margaret's house for four years, helping her out in lieu of rent. Danita had graduated and become a school teacher, and she was able to save money to buy a house.

I asked Danita what she liked about Fellowship Bible Church when she moved out here a little over a decade ago. She said she liked that it wasn't drastically different than Concord Bible Church, though it was bigger. When she started attending, there were about 200 people in the single worship service, which seemed huge to her. (The church now has three services, each service with more in attendance than Concord Bible Church back in the day.) But there were still gatherings with food. "At the picnics there was so much food!" she said.

She also appreciated the spiritual feeding she received at Fellowship. The church motto is "Touching Lives With Scripture." From the beginning, Danita appreciated the teaching of Senior Pastor Van Marsceau and his expositional preaching.*

This past Sunday, we attended the third service of the morning, Pastor Van was preaching on Matthew 14 and the feeding of the 5,000 (plus women and children, as he noted). He also cited the telling of the story in the other Gospels.  It was a good sermon with helpful application. Danita had expressed appreciation for Pastor Van sticking to close to Scripture while still making things practical.

During the prayer time early in the service, there was mention of famine in Malawi. Pastor Van said he had taken five trips to Malawi and was saddened by the news. But he said he was sure there was still worship in the church that day and celebration of the hope of Heaven.

We appreciated the mini-orchestra which accompanied the hymns. Apparently, since there are three services, there is a different assortment in every service. Sometimes more violins and less flutes or vice versa, depending on who shows up. I did love having the opportunity to meet Jared (Jarrod? I didn't ask) with his electronic standup bass, which was very cool.

A surrogate family wasn't all that Danita gained at Fellowship Bible Church. Several years ago, she noticed a young man at church, JaRon Puller. She hoped for opportunities to talk with him, but he didn't seem interested. Until he was.

Danita and JaRon were married last year, and they are expecting a child late this summer. Danita found a surrogate family with her brothers and sisters in Christ at Fellowship Bible Church, and through that fellowship, she also found her literal family there.

Statistics

Service Length: 1 hour 23 minutes

Sermon Length: 33 minutes

Visitor Treatment: Danita introduced us to many people; visitors were encouraged in the bulletin and during the announcements to fill out a visitors' card (which also had space for prayer requests and other information) and put it in the offering basket.

Followup by Tuesday Morning: none

Our Rough Count: 180 people

Probable Ushers' Count: 200

Snacks: coffee, decaf, hot water for teaMusicians: keyboards (man), piano (woman), flutes (3 women), trombone (man), electric upright bass (man), upright bass (man), violins (man and woman), percussion (man), cello (man)

Songs: "A Mighty Fortress is our God" (orchestra)

"Victory in Jesus"

"How Deep the Father's Love for us"

"Beneath the Cross of Jesus" (orchestra)

"When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" (orchestra)

"And can it be"

Miles to church: 15

Miles from start: 12,821

Total 2016 Miles: 12,564

Church website: http://www.fellowshipwv.org/

*Expositional preaching is the practice of working through a book of Scripture rather than a topical or liturgical sermon schedule.

6 wild (but not necessarily wonderful) facts about West Virginia

1. West Virginia is ranked 49th for median household income (Mississippi is ranked 50th). Overall personl inome growth over the past 30 years has been only 1/3 of the national average. It's also the only state where the death rate is higher than the birth rate. For five years, West Virginians ranked themselves as more miserable than people in any other state

2. The state reptile is the timber rattler. The motto is Montani semper liberi ("Mountaineers are always free").

3. West Virginia was created after delegates from unionist counties of northwest Virginia decided to break away from the confederacy. A number of secessionist counties were included. West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863. However, many voters in the pro-secessionist counties were fighting in the Confederate army when the vote was taken, and they refused to acknowledge the area as a separate state. After the war, West Virginia and Virginia disagreed about who should pay Virginia's prewar debt.

4. Harpers Ferry changed hands twelve times during the Civil War.

5. Due to the building of many new railroads following the war, coal mining became practical on a large scale. Currently, almost all of the state's energy is created by burning coal.

6. Many of the state's churches are small, independent and un-affiliated churches which don't fit into the categories listed on surveys, leading to statistics which seem to show many areas as unchurched.

Hope for the hills

Warrior Creek Development

McDowell County, West Virginia

"Are you a Redneck or a Hillbilly?" the little boy asked our friend, Beckie. It does seem like a rather limited range of choices, but choices have been limited for a while in McDowell County, West Virginia for a long time now. Widely known as coal country, the area declined as the industry declined in the middle of the last century.

In a speech in May, 1963, PresidentJohn F. Kennedy said, "I don't think any American can be satisfied to findin McDowell County, in West Virginia; 20 or 25 percent of the people of thatcounty out of work, not for 6 weeks or 12 weeks, but for a year, two, three orfour years." The county was a focus in Johnson's War on Poverty -- but the area continued to lose that war.

There was some hope the area might flourish during the 1970's energy crises, but it didn't happen. In 1990, the poverty rate reached 37%, with half of all children in families below the poverty line. Since then, there have been other industries lost in the community, natural disasters such as floods, and human disasters such as drugs (OxyContin has been particularly destructive). With the reduced tax base, the educational system has obviously suffered. Most young people see few options when they look to the future.

Beckie and her husband, Craig Snow, have come to the area to offer a few more options to young people in the area. Last May, Craig incorporated the non-profit organization Warrior Creek Development ("Warrior Creek" was a town name from the early 1900's that was changed by the coal companies). One of the goals of the organization is to offer training and skills to young people.

Craig admits he took the outline of the program straight from a man named Brandon Dennison of the Coalfield Development Corporation. In a two year program, willing men or women will work 33 hours, attend six hours of classes at Southern West Virginia Community and TechnicalCollege, and three hours of life coaching. Those who complete the program will have an A.A in Applied Science, Construction, and Craig hopes the life coaching will lead to a balanced view of life.

When Craig presents the program, he makes something else clear: "I want you to know I'm a follower of Jesus, but you don't have to be a Christian or become a Christian to be a part of the program. I just think you should know my foundation for living, so this won't take you by surprise. I don't want that to be a Trojan Horse."

The projects built by Warrior Creek Development are chosen to benefit the community at large. One of the many challenges faced by the education system of McDowell is a lack of adequatehousing for teachers. Warrior Creek is currently building three structures that will have two apartments each, designed as a help in recruiting teachers to the area.

The program started last May, and in August, Craig started mentoring the two young men in the program this year. Both are married; one is 20 years old and the other 30 years old. Other young men and women have applied to the program, but didn't follow through. (Alcohol and drugs have been a factor for a couple of those dropouts.)  Applicants are required to be high school graduates, or at least in the process of completing their G.E.D.s. Some of the program applicants are presently high school seniors. (One of those high school seniors is 17 years old, married with one child.)

In answer to that question from the eight-year old, "Are you a Redneck or a Hillbilly?" Beckie answered Hillbilly. The Snows have made a commitment to the hill country of McDowell County in the hope that when that boy grows up, the world before him will be full of options.

(For more information about the project go to

http://www.warriorcreekdevelopment.org)