You can be a part of what the Lord is doing here at God’s Appalachian Partnership by helping complete the new Distribution/Office Building. $300,000 is needed to finish the building and purchase the needed furnishings. This amount does not include the parking lot and landscape which will be additional costs. The giving pyramid shows how donations of any size are needed as we partner together to continue fulfilling our purpose: meeting people at their point of need, so they may know Jesus. We ask that you prayerful consider how you may join with us and others to complete this building, ensuring GAP has a permanent home for years to come so the Gospel can continue to be sown here in eastern Kentucky. All donations are tax deductible. Please prayerfully consider your partnership in this ministry milestone!
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness.”
The first verse of Psalm 115 was on our minds and hearts as God’s Appalachian Partnership celebrated 25 years of dedicated ministry here in the mountains of eastern Kentucky during a weekend-long celebration June 21-23. Partners from across the nation joined together to celebrate GAP’s past, present, and future ministry.
Friday evening began looking back at the last 25 years of ministry and seeing the hand of God at work in numerous ways while enjoying delicious desserts. Angie and Lynn Wagoner, the co-founders of GAP shared stories of God’s miraculous provision and mighty hand of direction through the years. God’s steadfast love and faithfulness were reoccurring themes as they shared. Kasie Osborne who grew up in the area and was a member of the GAP Youth Services as a teen, shared how God used GAP and the Wagoners to eternally change her life. She is now serving the Lord faithfully in TN. We also heard from two different partnering churches: Smoke Rise Baptist Church in Stone Mountain, GA and Lawndale Baptist Church in Greenville, NC. Both shared how their partnership with GAP has impacted their church and what it means to their body of believers. We are grateful for both partners but for the many other individual and church partners that enable us, the staff at GAP, to minister as God has called us to.
Saturday afternoon may have been my favorite session of all. It was a luncheon not only for our partners in ministry but also for about 40 GAP families who we invited. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful lunch prepared by one of our partnering churches, Dallasburg Baptist Church in Owenton, KY. Dallasburg outdid themselves with delicious food and sacrificial service. We were also blessed to enjoy wonderful music by the talented group Ol’Elkhorn Pickers Club from Frankfort, KY. And that was just the beginning. The best part of the session was a panel discission with 5 of our GAP families. Each of them shared how God is presently using GAP to make a difference in their lives. They had told me how nervous they were to speak in front of such a large crowd but once they began, warmth and loved filled the room and all nerves seemed to disappear. I am so proud of every one of them! Their stories were full of laughter and tears while acknowledging ultimately it is only God who is our strength for each day.
After lunch and saying goodbye to our GAP families, partners were invited to visit each of our different building locations and to participate in a small hands-on mission project at each one. For many people, it was the first time they could see our new Dental Clinic. It was set to open this spring but with a major construction project going on next door we have delayed until our new Distribution/Office Building is complete. Partners also visited Servant’s Heart Lodge, the Warehouse, and Distribution Building.
The evening ended with a catered meal at Fitzpatrick Baptist Church and staff sharing about the direction God is leading GAP into the future. With a clear purpose, mission, and vision, I outlined GAP’s three-year ministry goals we have set that guides us into the next few years. We are excited about starting new ministries and casting new vision for older ones as we follow the Lord’s leading. We also shared about GAP’s new distribution/office building that is currently being built. A permanent home for GAP, a vision of GAP’s cofounders, that is now becoming a reality. All praise be to our God!
The weekend celebration concluded with a Sunday morning worship service lead by Ben Branon and Seth Carter. Ben is the Worship Leader at partnering church Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church in Raleigh, NC, and Seth is the pastor of a local partnering church in Paintsville, KY, First Baptist Church. The worship and message were a wonderful ending to a great weekend celebration of God’s steadfast love and faithfulness.
If you have ever served at GAP, prayed and/or financially partnered with us, or received services at GAP, God has allowed you to become a part of a special family, “the GAP family”. I described the weekend as a big family reunion and it was like that in many ways. It was great to see ones we had not seen in a long time, meet new family we have not met, and we missed many that were not able to join us but have played a vital part in GAP throughout the last 25 years! We laughed, cried, talked about old times, and looked forward to what the Lord has to come. Even if you could not attend, on behalf of the board of directors and the staff, thank you for your faithful partnership in ministry! We celebrate what the Lord has done in and through you.
Amid God’s Appalachian Partnership’s 25th Anniversary Celebration and our largest building project, this summer has been packed full of ministry! In addition to Constructors for Christ who came over 5 weeks bringing 318 volunteers representing 71 churches from 10 different states, we hosted 8 different church teams totaling 96 volunteers from 4 different states.
In May, we had Smoke Rise Baptist Church (Stone Mountain, GA) help us clean out our Maintenance Building which led to something we had never done before. We held a one-day construction material sale, for our GAP families, here at the office with the excess supplies stored in our Maintenance Building. We had everything from lumber, boxes of screws, plumbing supplies, toilets, tubs, and hot water heaters. Various building supplies that our families were able to purchase at a low price and use on their own homes to repair and replace. A college and single adult team from Lawndale Baptist Church (Greenville, NC) was here serving and there was much excitement in the air over the supplies people found and how it was just what each family needed/wanted. It was a blessed opportunity to share how God loves us and provides for our needs.
Pikeville First Baptist Church is a faithful partner of ours and this summer they brought their very first college/young adult group for a week-long trip. This is my family’s and Tanya’s home church, so it was exciting to see Jhaughanessy and Allison participate. The group built a much-needed ramp for a family, served at Distribution, senior citizens, and helped serve supper at the Group Home.
We also had a new church serve alongside us this summer, Crossroads Evangelical Church, from Wauseon, OH. What a blessing this team was with their servant hearts and willing spirits. The team did a home repair that included new windows, bathroom, kitchen sink, and stairs to a side porch. They also served two days of distribution, group home, and senior citizens. They accomplished so much and were such a blessing. We pray we see them again here at GAP!
We continue to minister at the senior citizens building here in McDowell/Minnie, but this summer we were asked to come to another center. The Martin senior citizens center asked if we would come and minister there each week. We only started at the end of July but have had a wonderful time getting to know new people and share with them. We praise God for this new ministry opportunity.
Two teams helped us provide two weeks of Day Camp at Left Beaver Townhouses, Wake Cross Roads Baptist Church (Raliegh, NC) and Forks of Elkhorn Baptist Church (Frankfort, KY). The children and families had been looking forward to this all summer and we had a wonderful mixture of both fun and gospel conservations. We had as many as 33 children in attendance.
Our last team for the summer, Across the Map, is more like an associational team. The team is made of members from different churches. This is the third team they have brought in this year. The first was in March, another in June, and then this final team which ministered by doing home repairs for a widowed lady in addition to haircuts during distribution and at the senior citizens center.
Thank you to each of our teams and summer intern, Zach, who ministered with such joy and love. Thank you for being the hands and feet of Jesus in our communities and sharing the Hope of Jesus with our families. Your partnership in ministry is making an impact. Thank you for standing in the GAP.
In 2010, GAP’s cofounders, Angie and Lynn Wagoner had a vision of securing property where God’s Appalachian Partnership could build a permanent ministry home and discontinue having to rent ministry space. The following year, 2011, this vision became a reality when God miraculously provided the land with the generous help of a partner church. Years later in 2018, architectural drawings were created for a distribution/office complex that would allow for ministry growth and expansion. However, it was not God’s time to build. At the beginning of this year, we decided to make some changes to the original architectural drawings and to go ahead and submit them to the state for approval. On March 19, 2024, I received a call from a group from Georgia called Constructors for Christ. Their summer construction project had just fallen through and they were quickly trying to find another building project for this summer. In just a matter of 3 weeks, God had sent back our building permit from the state, and we had committed to start the new building project and host Constructors for Christ for five weeks in June and July. It was God’s time for us to build!
God’s timing is always perfect! At first, I must admit that I was overwhelmed with the thought of a building project plus GAP’s 25th Anniversary Celebration happening all at the same time. No, it is not something I would have ever planned but as I am reminded time and time again, God’s Appalachian Partnership is the Lord’s and I and the other staff are just earthen vessels that are privileged to be used of Him for His glory here.
Prior to the first week of Constructors for Christ, there was a lot of work that needed to be done in preparation. Mainly, we needed to have the footers and foundation completed prior to their arrival. GAP is blessed by a godly man who is a retired local contractor who volunteered to oversee this entire project. His knowledge and expertise are invaluable to us, and we are so grateful for the time and energy that he has given and continues to give to this project. By May 13th the foundation was completed, and we were ready for Constructors for Christ.
The first group of Constructors for Christ arrived on June 16th with servants’ hearts ready to work. Monday through Thursday the groups started at 6:00 am, took a breakfast and lunch break, and did not stop for supper until 6:00 pm and would work half a day on Friday. At the end of week 1, most of all the framing was completed. The group during week 2 arrived and quickly finished the framing and in a day and half set all the trusses. They also began enclosing the building in.
Week 3 group continued to enclose the building, put roofing paper on the roof, and wrap the building. The group on week 4 started pulling electrical wires, putting metal on the sides, and installing vents and soffit. Week 5 was doing insulation, hanging drywall, and continuing to hang metal on the outside of the building.
It is amazing what God accomplished through these men and women in just five weeks! Not only did they labor with such craftmanship at the building site, but many came and served alongside us at the distribution center. Words cannot express the amount of gratitude we have for Constructors for Christ and their hearts for the Lord! Thank you for standing in the GAP.
The Lord continues to work on that which He began. All the data wires have been pulled and insulation hung. Sheetrock has not only been hung but is being finished as I am typing these words. The concrete pads in the back and front are completed and stonework on the front of the building is beautiful. Exterior lights and guttering are complete. The last things we are waiting for on the exterior of the building are the installation of the wood columns on the front, some painting to be done on the front, and the garage door on the back to be installed. I am asked a lot when the building will be completed. I honestly have no idea because if you asked me 5 months ago when we would be starting on the building, I would have said, “Hopefully next year.” I am trusting God for His provision and watching Him work in a way that exceeds me. It’s exciting, stretching, even at times uncomfortable. But this I do know; God’s timing is always perfect and His provision is always sufficient. “Praise be to the Lord God, who alone does marvelous deeds” Psalm 70:4.
