Rev. Rob Shrader
Minister of Youth & Young Adults, [email protected]

Beargrass Youth have a long tradition of summer mission trips. In addition to blessing the communities we serve, these week-long immersion experiences are a huge opportunity for relationship building, life skill learning, and spiritual growth. And they’re always a ton of fun! For the last three summers these opportunities have also been extended to our Beargrass Youth Alums who are current college age students. Three separate trips – one big impact!

The high school mission experiences loosely follow a four-year rotation – Urban, Disaster Relief, Rural, and International. Summer 2024 was a Disaster Relief year. While some years we travel to far flung places all along the eastern US addressing disasters of various types we couldn’t ignore the disaster relief needs right here at home. So, all three groups (college, middle school, and high school) stayed “home” in Kentucky.

Our college folks travelled to Dawson Springs, Kentucky for the second consecutive year to continue work on communities affected by the massive tornado that struck western Kentucky in 2021. Efforts to rebuild Dawson Springs and the surrounding communities will take decades but we were excited to see the progress made in just a couple of years. Our team worked primarily on two homes which are both new constructions. We primed, painted, installed bass boards and trim, and worked to prepare the site for cabinet installation which was to follow our week of service. We were housed at First Christian Church, Princeton, KY which has partnered with Crossroads Missions and converted their education spaces to house mission teams for a minimum of three years. So, we also spent one day of our trip helping the helpers, so to speak, doing various projects and tasks that have been overlooked at FCC while they put their focus into hospitality ministry.

Our middle and high school groups travelled to the total opposite end of the state to a place in Floyd County called Maytown. Maytown is an incredibly small town in the hills of eastern Kentucky but found itself right at the center of devastating flooding in 2022. In fairness, flooding is a regular reality in that community and many surrounding communities but the 2022 flood was on a totally different scale.

We again partnered with Crossroads Missions for these trips. Crossroads has had a presence in Maytown for nearly 20 years. But their focus changed significantly after the 2022 floods. Crossroads had determined to close the Maytown Center back in 2022 and was preparing to refocus their eastern Kentucky ministry. But the floods shined a national spotlight on the area and created new opportunities for service and communication of the Gospel.  We primarily worked on the mission center itself doing things that needed to be done so that it could continue to house groups for the foreseeable future. We painted, did repairs, helped in a couple of nearby homes, and travelled to an adult day care center to paint and generally give it a facelift.

We also spent time learning about the history and culture of eastern Kentucky. We studied the history of coal mining and its impact on the region. We talked with locals who told us stories about the Maytown they knew in their childhood. So much change has occurred in that community their stories created an image of a town that is almost unrecognizable when compared with the Maytown of today. We travelled to the Highway 23 Country Music Hall of Fame and enjoyed bluegrass music and traditional dances! At every opportunity we soaked up the incredible hospitality of the Appalachian people. We were moved by their strength, wisdom, and faithfulness.

All told Beargrass sent out nearly 50 youth and adults on these three trips. We were challenged, pushed, and stretched in ways we couldn’t have anticipated. Our eyes were opened to things we’d never experienced and to communities we’ll never forget. We were also welcomed, blessed, and loved in ways that have changed our lives forever. We pray that we were as much of a blessing to the communities we served as they were to us. Thank you, Beargrass, for your continued and robust support of Youth Ministry. We couldn’t have done any of this without you.

Sincerely,
Rob Shrader