Missionaries Greg and Alice Whitetree of the North American Mission Board, who serve at the Freeda Harris Baptist Center in Lookout, Ky., provide after-school programs, emergency food and clothing for people in the community as part of Southern Baptists' Appalachian Regional Ministry. (NAMB photo by Carol Pipes.)

The world has tremendous needs and Baptists are right to think long and hard about the best ways to ensure that every dollar given is used to spread the Gospel. This has led us to think primarily about international missions in the current focus on the Great Commission Resurgence. I think it’s equally important for us to think about the work that still must done in our own backyards as well.

One of those backyards for us here in Kentucky is the Appalachian region of our state where some very fine people struggle in a very difficult economic climate. It’s a place that many Southern Baptists think is “reached” because belief in God is widespread. But the fact is, Appalachia is one of the most unchurched parts of our nation and a place where faith is often more cultural than personal.

Part of fulfilling the Great Commission for Kentucky Baptists, therefore, has to be to reach out to our neighbors within our own borders. One of the ways we do this is through a partnership known as the Appalachian Regional Ministry, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. A.R.M. is a cooperative effort between 13 state conventions through which the Appalachian Mountains run and the North American Mission Board. Local Baptist associations are also heavily involved in the related ministries within their borders.

It’s led by NAMB Missionary Bill Barker and focuses on changing lives both physically and spiritually. Barker coordinates a wide variety of ministries to meet needs and win souls. Food pantries, clothes closets, literacy missions projects, medical missions projects, church planting efforts and other ministries are used to show people that God cares.

A.R.M. is funded by the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering but as much as anything it is driven by Baptists who are willing to go on mission themselves. Some 450,000 volunteers have participated in missions projects over the past 10 years. According to a recent Baptist Press story, these volunteers have “tackled 10,000 home repairs, partnered with 100 ministry centers and assisted 100 church planters.” And many of the ministry centers operate rely on the commitment of Mission Service Corps volunteer missionaries for leadership.

The work so far has been outstanding but there is still much to do. It’s exciting to be a part of this Great Commission enterprise through the KBC.

Here’s the story about A.R.M.’s 10th anniversary from Baptist Press:

HURRICANE, W.Va. (BP)–Winding roads and switchback curves punctuated by tiny hamlets mark the landscape of Appalachia — a 205,000-square-mile, mountainous stretch from Alabama to New York. The region covers all of West Virginia and parts of 11 other states, including 39 of the nation’s 100 poorest counties.

The steep mountains and rugged roads have kept Appalachians isolated from the rest of the country and from outsiders’ involvement in their lives, contributing to a distinct mountain culture.

It’s been 44 years since Lyndon Johnson declared his “War on Poverty” from a ramshackle porch in Inez, Ky. Since then, the region has seen quite a bit of progress, but the current economic crisis in the U.S. has made a tough situation worse. More and more families are finding it difficult to make ends meet. In Clay County, Ky., for example, the median income per household is less than $21,000 a year, with 41.9 percent of the population living below the poverty line.

But hope comes in the form of food, clothing, missionaries and volunteer labor as Southern Baptists wrap their arms around Appalachia.

Missionary Bill Barker (left) stops by to check on God's Appalachian Partnership directed by Mission Service Corps missionary Lynn Wagoner (right). GAP assists families with food as well as clothing, personal products, household items and cleaning supplies, many of which can't be bought with food stamps. They also provide job training and home repairs. Every person who comes through the door hears the Gospel -- with more than 300 decisions for Christ in 10 years. (NAMB photo by Carol Pipes.)

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Appalachian Regional Ministry (A.R.M.). Led by North American Mission Board national missionary Bill Barker, A.R.M. combines church planting, home repair, food pantries, clothing closets, evangelism, literacy and medical missions in an effort to impact lives in Appalachia with the Gospel. What began as the dream of one man, James Porch, executive director of the Tennessee Baptist Convention, has now flourished into a network of ministries across the region.

“Traveling into the area to preach in rural mountain churches or visiting directors of missions, a consciousness prevailed and beckoned me each time I left the area,” Porch said. “I knew we needed to find a way to be the hands and feet of Jesus to the people living in the hills of Tennessee and the rest of Appalachia.

“These people — often victims on a corporate ledger sheet of a coal company and short-term memory of well-intended benevolent efforts — clarified a question I felt responsible to answer,” Porch said. “Could Baptists of the Appalachian states come there ready to honor the mountain culture, minister alongside the folk, share Christ and join in responding to the suffering caused by poverty, harsh weather, limited educational opportunities and seasons of despair? The answer is the current state of the Appalachian Regional Ministry.”

From the beginning, A.R.M. was a state convention executive director-driven ministry, working closely with the local Baptist associations and churches. Today, A.R.M. entails a partnership of 13 state conventions, the North American Mission Board and Woman’s Missionary Union and is is supported through the Cooperative Program and the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.

Click here to read the full Baptist Press story.