A group of 43 volunteers, including 30 from the Weakley County Baptist Association and 13 from Strong Tower Baptist Church, completed a series of service projects this summer during a “stay home”mission trip.
DRESDEN — A mission trip without much mileage.
Perhaps that’s the best and most succinct way to sum up what a large group of volunteers from Weakley County experienced this summer.
In place of their annual long-haul mission trip, the Weakley County contingent stayed close to home, completing more than a dozen service projects inside the county lines.
Phil Mitchell, director of missions for the Weakley County Baptist Association, said the volunteers had done a “stay-home” missions event several years ago — and he felt the timing was right to do it again.
“Back in 2018, several people kept asking me, ‘Why did we go here and there to do work when people around here have needs?’ ” said Mitchell. “And I said, ‘Yes, you’re right.’ So, that’s what we did that year, and then decided to it again this year.”
The “in-house” missions trip, which took place the week of July 14-19, included various projects at local churches and individual’s homes. The team — which consisted of 30 volunteers from Weakley County and 13 others from Strong Tower Baptist Church in East Tennessee — also assisted with Vacation Bible School at Moore’s Chapel.
“It was a great week,” said Mitchell. “We have people that really work hard. I mean, they just don’t mind working hard at all, and so things just kind of come together for us (because of that mindset).”
The Weakley County group does an international missions trip each January, and then traditionally does a “state-side” trip during the summer, having partnered with churches in West Virginia, Iowa and Ohio, among other places, in recent years.
Over the past four years, the team has participated in the Ocoee Outreach Ministry in Cleveland.
“We’re always doing something in the summer,” said Mitchell.
The DOM noted that some churches in Weakley County simply don’t have the resources, or the manpower, to do their own repair work — on the church or the church members’ homes. And that’s where this summer’s mission experience came in.
Weakley County volunteers, from left, Larry and Vanice Parker stand with homeowner Paula Worrell and volunteer Frank Abair during the mission trip.
“You would think and hope that churches would take care of the needs of their own people and their neighbors,” said Mitchell. “But our association is like every other association: we’ve got some small churches and aged people that can’t do a lot of the work that needs to be done in their congregation or in their neighborhood or even on their own church. They can’t do small repairs. So, we were able to come in and help out.”
Mitchell said he began to publicize the plans for the local missions work in the associational newsletter this past spring. They also began contacting churches to find out their needs. And from there, basically, they waited for the Lord to help work out the details.
“We do it by faith,” said Mitchell. “We believe that we’re going to have the right amount of people to do the right amount of jobs.”
Mitchell said the work ethic and ability level of the team members makes it easy to complete job assignments that span a wide spectrum of needs.
This year, the team repaired and painted soffit at one homeowner’s residence, and reconstructed an outbuilding for another. The team also helped with a painting job at one of the local churches, and put a roof on a house located near the association’s office.
Mitchell said one particularly satisfying job was when the team provided assistance to a lady who had essentially been hoodwinked by her contractor.
“We were able to go in and get her squared away on some things, including setting her cabinets and getting her plumbing done and things like that.”
Shepherd’s Field Church, in Martin, hosted the WC team — providing them with a place to eat and even to sleep, if the team members chose to stay overnight.
Mitchell noted that some of the volunteers opted to go home each night and return the next day, while others stayed in Martin.
“The way we had it set up this year, the volunteers could either come and stay at the church and kind of get the mission team or mission week feel,” he said, “or they could come for a day, or they could come for an hour. We just wanted everybody that wanted to be involved in missions to be involved.”
Mitchell said the idea of staying close to home opened some doors for volunteers who otherwise might not have been able to participate.
“Not everybody can get on a van and go somewhere in the summer, so this was an opportunity for them to get involved right here at home,” Mitchell said. “So, it worked well.”
Mitchell said the work of the WC team was bolstered by the Strong Tower team — a partnership that seemed to come out of left field. Or, more accurately, straight from above.
“They happened to call one day and they told us, ‘We’ve got some youth and four adults that are looking for a place to do missions this summer.’ And they came and worked with us.”
Michell said the youth from Strong Tower were able to help Moore’s Chapel with Vacation Bible School.
“We had advertised that if you want a Bible school — if you need some help, you need some money, you need whatever — we’ll come and help with that,” said Mitchell. “And so we were able to help one of our smaller churches.”
Mitchell said WCBA sets aside about $6,000 from the association’s “Great Commission Fund” to help cover the costs of materials and to help churches who don’t have the funds.
Mitchell said the stay-close-to-home missions expereince was a nice break for a team that often travels great distances, including recent trips to Honduras and Puerto Rico.
“We’ve also been to the Ocoee Ministry, which is really a wonderful ministry and they’ve got everything laid out for you,” said Mitchell. “But we just thought it was time to stay here. So, I got together with our mission team leader and a couple of our folks with disaster relief, and we just kind of made the decision.”
For the WC volunteers, it was a mission trip of memories, not mileage. B&R
