Martin and Phillips -- 'The Christian Appalachian Project' in Kentucky

 Jerry Martin and Danny Phillips.

“We had two missionaries in Kentucky last week (Sunday-Friday, May 21-26, 2023),” Pastor Raymond D. Burrows said as he introduced “Brother Jerry Martin and Brother Danny Phillips” on Sunday, May 28, 2023, at Faith Temple, Taylors, SC.

Jerry and Danny spoke about their volunteer reconstruction mission work in Appalachia, “a cultural region located in the central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern U.S.” The men worked with the Christian Appalachian Project (CAP).  

“The Christian Appalachian Project is an interdenominational non-profit organization, based in Kentucky, U.S.,” internet sources say. “Their mission is ‘building hope, transforming lives, and sharing Christ's love through service in Appalachia.’ CAP was established in 1964.” 

Jerry said the Appalachian area is probably the poorest part of the United States.

“I’ve never seen it [poverty] in America like that. You have generations of people with very little hope, very little money — now they have very little jobs… You say South Carolina is a poor state. Yes, it is, but, let me tell you, it has nothing to compare to what we see up there. Eastern Kentucky has rugged landscapes, lots of steep mountains, lots of deep valleys, and that’s where the people live — down in the flatlands they call ‘hollers,’ it’s just little places carved out between the mountains… When all the rain comes down, guess where it goes? Down where the people are. They have tremendous floods.”

The coal mining industry has diminished, plunging many Appalachian people into poverty. Jerry and Danny worked on a house that had been swamped by flooding. As a creek rose, the family evacuated the house. Workers previously had stripped mildewed walls, floors, etc. Jerry and Danny installed new flooring and sheetrock and assisted with painting. Jerry showed photos of their project and of workers, including Danny and himself. 

“You can’t work to add anything to your salvation. You can’t work to erase any sins or to give you any more ‘atta-boy points’ with the Lord,” Jerry said. “But he did tell us to be servants and be profitable servants.”

Jerry indicated that he and Danny were trying to be the Lord’s servants by working in Kentucky’s “hills and hollers.”

Danny Phillips inspired a Dec. 2022 Faith Temple outreach to Rainelle, West Virginia, and 101 food-and-blanket packages were delivered. Contributions were appreciated! After that, Jerry invited Danny to go with him in May 2023 to work with CAP. 

Danny, who grew up in Appalachia, told of tragedy that a recent flood brought to an Appalachian family in the area in which Jerry and he worked. A mother and father sat in their living room with their three babies when the flood rose. After finding their three little ones dead in a field, the parents committed suicide.

“The thing that stuck out to me this week was the love those people that worked there showed,” Danny said. “The reason why I went — I know Appalachia, came from there — but I saw a desire in Jerry’s heart. He has a desire… So, I wanted to go with him. And I think that’s what we do as Christians. If you have something that the Lord has laid on your heart that you need help with, you [the person who has been asked to help] should jump up and go immediately.”

Danny suffered from plantar fasciitis (inflammation of tissue in the foot used during walking) during his workweek. 

“The whole time I was doing it [working for the CAP project], I was thinking, ‘You’re not doing this for yourself. You’re not even doing it for those people there. You’re doing it for Jesus Christ. And that made it all worthwhile… I’ve come to love Jerry even more because I’ve seen in his spirit that he wants to help those folks. Thank you [he said to Jerry].”

Danny shared something “the Lord laid” on his heart, including his reading of 1 John 3:16-18, 23 and John 21:15-17.

“When you look at your life, what do you see?… When Jesus looks at you, what does he see? Do you see your life in the same way that Jesus sees it? When you look at your community or environment… When you look at your neighbor, your brother or your sister, what do you see? What you see depends on what kind of eyes you have… It’s commonly said in the world that love is blind. Is that true or false? It’s false. Love has eyes to see.”

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