By Connie Davis Bushey
News Editor, Baptist and Reflector
John Shook, left, director of Hale Community Ministries for Watauga Baptist Association, stands recently with Jack Jones, a client of the Hale Community Ministries.
ELIZABETHTON — Just a few days ago a mother and her three-year-old daughter perished after an apartment fire here. The grandmother of the little girl called the Hale Community Ministries center and offered the Christmas gifts already purchased for the girl who would not be opening them on Christmas day.
The woman explained she wanted them to go to another little girl who needed them, said John Shook, director of Hale Community Ministries, a ministry of Watauga Baptist Association, based in Elizabethton.
That is just one example of how this ministry touches his heart everyday, said Shook.
Especially at Christmastime, Hale Community Ministries is busy touching the hearts of others, he added.
When possible, HCM helps families whose children wouldn’t receive gifts if not assisted, said Shook. HCM calls on Sunday School classes, churches, and other entities to help those families.
By the end of the month, the centers will have distributed a special food gift to about 700 families or 1,550 individuals, said Shook. HCM has centers in Elizabethton and Mountain City.
Many families in the area “are destitute, really,” said Shook. The area doesn’t provide many jobs to its residents, he explained. Most people who work must travel to Johnson City, Bristol, or Kingsport so that means many residents are unemployed.
Unlike other ministries and entities, “our main thrust is not only to take care of their physical needs but also to be concerned about and help them with their spiritual needs. …
“In our ministry at Hale Ministries, everything that we do, we do it in the name of the Lord. We make sure that they know about the plan of salvation and lead them to have the opportunity if they don’t know the Lord to come to know Him and accept Him as their Savior,” he reported.
During his years as a volunteer, he recalls several people making professions of faith. He hopes that will increase now that he is director. HCM has been without a director for two years.
“But for the grace of God, it could be any of us who has to solicit help. It’s got to be hard on them to have to go and pick up food. We make it just as happy and as much fun as we can … so they’re not demeaned in any way.
“They’re part of our family,” said Shook, a retired educator who is a member of Oak Street Baptist Church, Elizabethton.
The two HCM centers distribute food as well as operate a clothes closet year-round. The families come for food once a month by appointment, he explained.
“It’s such a blessing to me. I’ve been involved in church work for the last 35-40 years, but never in such a ministry as this that touches your heart everyday,” he described. Shook credited the other staff and volunteers who do most of the work and ministry for the impact on people.
“It is a blessing to be a part of it,” he noted.
