Two weeks ago, I got the distinct privilege of traveling with my church, Amelia Baptist Church, to do a mission project in Matewan, West Virginia. For those of you who don’t know where Matewan is, it is just east of the Kentucky border and only a few miles north of the North Carolina border.
For those of you who don’t know why Matewan is famous, well, just take a look at my blog title. It is where the infamous Hatfield/McCoy feud took place. According to some historians, the family feud started over a stolen/missing pig about hundred and twenty years ago. Furthermore, in 1920 Sheriff James Hatfield tried to stop the Baldwin-Felts detectives from invading Matewan and investigating the coalminers’ union. A bloody shootout took place and few days later, sheriff Hatfield was assassinated. His assassination spearheaded a major uprising among the coalminers that lead to over 50 dead in shootouts. Eventually, it lead to the kind of compromises the coalminers were looking for.
And there you have it. A little piece of American history buried in the Appalachians.
It was truly a great experience. We spent our days working on folks’ homes. Many of whom could not afford to move or repair their rapidly aging houses. Then we spent our evenings working the Magnolia Ministerial booth at the annual Magnolia Fair. I was put in charge of the booth, where we passed out Bibles, tracts, did free facepainting for the kids, free ringtoss game, and did a drawing every hour for the movie “Facing the Giants” (a gospel-centric movie about a football coach). We had several hundred pass by our booth and we took many opportunities to share the gospel.
Toward the end of the week, my youth group came up and we took them into several neighborhoods where we put on a backyard Bible club, complete with “camp style” songs, t-shirt making, skits, and other fun games.
It was really sad to see that this is a part of the USA. It was just above third-world level quality. Many people talk about the decrepit nature of urban neighborhoods, but the mountain folk are just as bad off, if not worse. Many people we met were illiterate. Many were in poor health and were living on Medicare. The children were so excited to do those Bible clubs, mostly because they had nothing else to do. No Nintendos or youth camps for them. They’re just bored and out looking for trouble.
But, as sad as it was, we saw God move in the hearts of those people. Many were challenged to follow Christ with some of them committing to that challenge. And just to see the looks on their faces when they got a new porch, new ceiling, new kitchen, new plumbing, or whatnot. It was one of true gratitude. I got to see our Christian beliefs put to action and it was awe-inspiring.
Matewan may be famous for its feuds, but here’s hoping the Prince of Peace gets His chance to change that reputation.
