By Marilyn Miller
Back in December of 2024, when First Baptist Church Minden sent a small delegation to the hurricane and flood devastated hills of North Carolina and Tennessee to deliver gifts to 13 families, little did they foresee the slightly bigger impact that they would make on the rural communities during the summer of 2025.
The mission trip started out as a youth-oriented undertaking, but on July 12,2025, the caravan of cars and vans leaving Minden for Newport, TN included 104 people ranging in age from 12 to the middle 70s.
“Everybody had a job and was willing to work…from cooking to driving, to building decks and installing floors,” said FBC Student Pastor Chad Parks, who is still beaming from the high he is on from the “most successful trip ever.” Part of that may have had something to do with two hot meals and delicious sandwiches dished out daily by Gail Downs and her crew of cooks.
“I was in that group that just went to eat,” Chad jested before getting serious about the differences he saw in the communities of Newport, Del Rio, TN; Hot Springs, NC; and Marshall, NC between Dec. 2024 and July 2025. “It’s unreal how much work has been done (primarily by homeowners) since December. Now there are businesses that are open…things are happening and moving.”
That’s what happened the four full days that the FBC youth and adults worked and ministered to the homeowners and businesses – more moving toward the goal of remaking their communities. And there are stories.
There are the crosses that each homeowner was given. They were discovered by student Riley Brown, just wooden crosses “in the raw,” Chad said. She finished them and painted them with different designs.
Spring, the owner of a multi-level Victorian house, told about swimming and hiking from
her home to let the authorities know that her family was stranded. One FBC group installed new flooring in the house. “We took some talents with us,” Chad beamed. “And it was amazing what the kids accomplished with the training they got in so little time. It was the Lord.”
Mission trip co-coordinator, Jodi Tuttle, agreed, adding that some of the tasks were completed in less time. “So, we got more done,” she said. Then there was the basement full of mud, where the team, attired in haz-mat suits and masks, shoveled out three and a half dumpsters of mud a five-gallon bucket at a time. “They were upset because we couldn’t get it finished.”
Then there was the funeral home, built in 1875. The residence upstairs escaped damage, but the bottom level was filled with three feet of water. “Our job was to demolish the downstairs, one room at a time. We took out all walls and every nail,” Jodi said. “And it was mostly girls!” The crew met the owner, Mr. Donny, who was a little tentative at first, but ended up trusting them and even remarking that he loved to hear them laugh.
One team was working at Mr. Ray’s house, actually cleaning up a shed filled with mud, getting the “shed-type” of implements out of it and cleaning them. Ray couldn’t be there because he was helping his friend, Mr. Larry, a Vietnam veteran and non-believer. Another group was tasked with cleaning out another shed. In the shed, student Elliot Brown found a box. In it were Ray’s mother’s wedding ring and Mother’s Ring. After the find, Ray stated, “It took a hurricane, a flood, and some teenagers from Louisiana to find the rings I’ve been looking for since 1984.”
The volunteers didn’t know what tasks they’d be assigned prior to arrival, so it was interesting when Tara Brown’s group was given outdoor clean-up at a high school-turned-art center. Tara’s passion is landscaping. “It was beautiful at the end of the week,” Chad said.
Ms. Carolyn, a cancer survivor, relied on rental cabins for her livelihood. They were all destroyed in the hurricane. First, she needed access to her office. Lane Headrick, who builds wheelchair ramps and decks around Minden, instantly trained a team (Kevin McCann, Terry Tate, Allison Heckel) to construct a deck with a set of stairs. “The patience they had – learning to measure, cut, drill…they built the deck and stairs in four days,” Chad recalled.
All stories didn’t revolve around homeowners. One student, Senior Bertie Hicks, surrendered his life to the ministry on the trip. “God was there in our path,” Chad said. When one student had to drop out, the young man who replaced him “gave his life to Jesus Christ on Wednesday night. He’s a different kid now.”
Each evening, the teams would all return from their assignments to home base, Newport, where they had supper, fellowship, music and testimonials. During the last evening, Spring, Larry, and Matt showed up. The teams had done a lot of construction work for Matt, who brought his young daughter. And Larry had been sleeping on a dirt floor for nine months. When FBC left to return to Minden the next day, he had a new floor. Larry called to thank them.
“This group, I can’t say enough about them. There were no arguments. They were there for the right reasons. Hope was a big thing for the adults…they all held out hope for the youth. And they learned to rely on the youth and the youth relied on them,” Chad said. “There’s not a better bunch of kids you could come across. To a name, everybody worked.”
Chad gave high praise to the Congregation and Sunday School Classes who made the trip and the giving possible. “Nobody knew my name…but they knew we represented Jesus while we were there. It’s amazing to see how much got done.”
Members of the “Here I Am, Send Me” team were Kenny Balkom, Lisa Balkom. Elliott Brown, Tara Brown, Steven Estes, Chris Grigg, Jonathan Harris, Chad Parks, Danna Parks, Ron Payton, Chelsea Peters, Jodi Tuttle, Christie Watson, Kyrin Clary, Anna Grace Harris, Jackson McKinney, John Nida, Anna Osborne, Cooper Parks, Lizzie Tuttle, Teresa Cockrell, Patti Hutto, David Martin, Jo Shelley, Abbie Ashley, Nate Bailes, Sage Bailes, Lizzie Balkom, Jake Boyce, Rance Brown, Riley Brown, Layla Campbell, Emma Capps, Nick Cartmill, Georgia Chapman, Julia Chapman, Owen Chapman, Bo Clary, Rance Dison, Falyn Erwin, Canaan Estes, Tanner Estes, Brody Glover, Helen Hall, Levi Hall, Gavin Harris, Gracie Heard, Ella Heflin, Jayden Hemphill, Bertie Hicks, Sutton Kramer, Anna Grace Lemmons, Carter Martin, Rowan Mascher, Jayleigh McCormick, Gavin Miller, Reese Miller, Dalton Harbor, Tiffany Morgan, Hayley Morgan, Riley Morrow, Ali Owens, Reace Payton, Georgia Pepper, Maggie Pesnell, Torin Peters, Jewels Plants, Sky Savage.
Also, Andrew Scriber, Luke Scriber, Max Scroggs, Sam Scroggs, EK Smith, Elliott Smith, Gia Sparks, Allie Swayze, Zander Thompson, Ethan Turner, Jaydee Tuttle, Carson Whitehead, Gracie Schaub, Joel Clary, Michelle Clary, Casey Morgan, Kristi Morgan, Megan Swayze, Ashlyn Heckel, Kari Briggs, Ronnie Briggs, Gail Downs, Jimmy Downs, Francey Harris, Allyson Heckel, Patti Pendergrass, Ty Pendergrass, Rene Tate, Terry Tate, Marilyn Thomas, Rank Thomas, Robert Chandler, Lane Headrick, Kevin McCann, Bro Leland Crawford, Rose Crawford.
