Tuesday October 18th, I left Gainesville GA to participate in an adult project in Harlan Kentucky. The drive there took us about 5 hours through the winding roads Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky. I traveled with Bill Pagel, Leadership Development Coordinator for AIM’s Short Term Mission tripsand his son Dar. Bill was going to be leading some training of future project leaders. The training was going to take place at the same time those individuals were participating in an adult short term mission project. The plan was to experience a short term trip and at the same time work through the training to lead one of those trips at night, using the trip almost like a lab.
The participants on this trip consisted of a church group from Wisconsin (crosspointe community church) and a mother and her daughter from Illinois. Together we were all there to serve the people of Harlan. Our project leader was Christian Vogel. Christian is the director of our projects in the Appalachian Mountains and he also resides in Harlan.
Harlan Kentucky is a beautiful town located in the Appalachian Mountains. The economy is supported by three industries coal, timber, and the railroads. This town like most towns it has needs for the poor, sick, elderly, lonely, and the broken hearted. One of the major issues plaguing this community is addiction to drugs.
Our ministry time was spent repairing the roof of a local couples home, prayer walks, working in an adult daycare center, and sharing Christ love with the people that God led us to. Each day that we were there I felt that God led me to a specific person that I could minister to and in turn I learned something from them each day. Our ministry days were Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. On Thursday I met Jeff, Friday Lori, and Saturday I spent time with Terry. Check back over the next couple of days as I share with you what I learned from each of these people.
I really enjoyed all the people of Harlan and the great group that we were able to work alongside.
