Kerri Kite, left, spearheaded the Christmas backpack ministry of Central Baptist Church, Erwin, with the assistance of Donna Street.
ERWIN — For the past four years, Central Baptist Church in Erwin has participated in the Christmas Backpacks Ministry of Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.
This year was to be no different, according to Kerri Kite, who spearheads the ministry at Central Baptist. The church held a Christmas in August event and had collected enough to provide 52 backpacks, she said.
Then, along came Hurricane Helene.
Erwin and Unicoi County were among the hardest hit areas in the state. Several of the Helene-related deaths happened in Unicoi County.
Even Central Baptist’s basement was flooded by the hurricane and some of the backpacks were damaged and needed to be replaced, Kite said. Hosting a backpack party had never been on her radar, she acknowledged.
Moore
Beth Moore, compassion ministry specialist for TBMB, knew of Kite’s passion for the backpack ministry. Moore called Kite to see if Central would be open to hosting a party.
Kite called her pastor, Bart Richardson, and asked him if the church could host a Birthday Party for Jesus for about 100 children. He readily agreed.
As it turned out, Richardson had been praying for God to expand the church’s territory. God answered those prayers in a huge way for a congregation that averages between 60-70 on Sunday mornings.
The pastor noted that when the hurricane happened “there was a sense of helplessness” because there was not that much the church could do. “The backpack ministry has provided us an opportunity to provide for those who really need us the most,” Richardson said. “We are really blessed.”
As word spread about the event, the church continued to get requests to help other children in the community. When the number reached 300, Kite joked that she asked the pastor to stop praying for the church to expand its territory.
Youth of all ages helped with the Christmas backpack ministry at Central Baptist Church in Erwin. The church hosted seven “Birthday Parties for Jesus” to reach children and families affected by Hurricane Helene. The church also provided Christmas bags for children under the age of 2.
When the final number was tallied, the church provided 390 backpacks reaching children from not only Unicoi County, but three neighboring counties as well, the pastor said.
Instead of one party, the church hosted seven parties, including two at local elementary schools and a smaller party for children with special needs. Four parties were held on consecutive days last weekend (Dec. 13-14) at Central Baptist,” Kite said. “We were not going to tell anyone that they couldn’t come and hear about Jesus.”
In addition to the backpacks, the church provided bags with toys and baby supplies for children under the age of 2, she added.
The Christmas parties included a meal complete with birthday cake (funded from compassion ministry funds provided by TBMB), games and the Christmas story.
Richardson shared with the older children while his wife, Danielle, told the story to the younger kids.
Because of space issues, the parties followed a VBS format with kids going from room to room for different activities, Kite said. “We had to use every inch of our space,” she said.
In addition, it was “all hands on deck. I told our members that if you can walk you need to be there,” she laughed.
Kite is excited because the children and youth at Central were actively involved in the ministry.
“In addition to reaching children in our community, we wanted to teach our own kids about missions.”
Moore expressed her appreciation to Kite and Central Baptist.
“Kerri jumped at the chance to host an event and has been working tirelessly to make this happen so that Central can be a light to families still struggling after the devastation of the floods, said Moore. I am encouraged to see a church that doesn’t let the size of their congregation determine the size of the impact they can make for the kingdom.
Though they may never know if anyone accepted Christ as a result of their efforts, Kite knows seeds were planted. “We presented the gospel and got their minds off the tragedy for just a little while.”
Including parents and younger siblings the church had the opportunity to share the gospel with nearly 700 people. “Only God could do that,” Richardson affirmed. B&R
