When a long-standing Russellville ministry that helped the needy at Christmastime shut down last year, churches in the community rallied to fill the void left behind.
Pastors Barry Holcomb of First Baptist Church, Wade Wallace of Calvary Baptist Church and Alan Beasley of First United Methodist Church stepped up to the plate and formed Russellville Christmas Mission to provide food and gifts this past Christmas season.
“When Faith Mission Outreach closed this summer, we realized there would be a huge void at Christmas,” said Richard Parker, minister of youth/education at First, Russellville. “Rev. Beasley contacted my pastor, Barry Holcomb, and Wade Wallace about forming a cooperative effort during the holidays.”
So the two Franklin Baptist Association churches and First United Methodist teamed up to serve needy families and individuals a meal and present them with Christmas gifts Dec. 20.
“The meal went great,” Wallace said, noting they hosted around 450 people.
He said the response was high throughout the holiday season and interested people began appearing in October to get their tickets for the free meal.
The mission also provided gifts to every child under 12.
“We helped around 150 children with gifts and had such a great response from the community that each child was able to receive two bags of gifts,” Wallace said.
While the three churches funded the effort, it took volunteer work from these churches and other groups in the community to make it all possible.
Volunteers donated money toward the meal and gifts through the Christmas Dove program, which is similar to the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree Program; promoted the mission; helped preregister individuals and families; and set up for, served or cleaned up after the meal, among other jobs.
“We had more volunteers than we could count,” Wallace said, adding local businesses also provided donations.
Parker said he was excited about the mission because it allowed his church’s members and others to work together as a community and sometimes it takes more than one church — or one denomination — to reach out effectively.
Wallace said the experience renewed his belief in the Russellville community and in the way Christians can work together for good.
“We want the Russellville community to know that we love them and that God loves them,” he said. “We are prayerful that this showed the community that churches can work together and that God loves everyone.”
Share with others: