God’s Provision Through World Vision’s Mission Trips

World Vision has provided churches and families with mission opportunities in West Virginia’s under-resourced Appalachia region since 2001. Since then, 225 mission groups, comprising some 6,500 individuals, have participated in this ongoing effort to build relationships, rebuild houses, and construct community facilities such as this one in Weaver, West Virginia.

Weaver Church of the Nazarene sits at the top of a long winding road, surrounded by trees, mountains, and running streams. On this day, Pastor Doyle Rider is serving in one of his many roles, acting as groundskeeper as he cuts a tree that has fallen on the church’s property.

Pastor Rider puts his saw aside as he describes what God has done in his life and the life of his 70-member church. “You would not believe how the Lord has blessed us with this,” he says talking about the new “safe center” that World Vision’s summer missions teams have been working on over the past few years.

Each year, World Vision in Appalachia hosts mission trips, inviting church teams and families from across the country to grow relationships with local residents as together they building and repair homes and facilities in West Virginia’s low-income communities. One ongoing project is building the basketball court facility on church grounds to serve local youth who have little access to recreation. “It’s helping our community immensely. You wouldn’t believe how it’s helping,” says Pastor Rider.

In addition to providing some of the muscle for this project, World Vision in Philippi, West Virginia supplied materials. These include essential—and often expensive—building products such as light fixtures, doors, bathrooms, and shower stalls.

Pastor Rider sees many of the tough situations facing young people in his community and explains his motivation for building the sports center. “There are so many drugs around that it’s pathetic. It’s unbelievable the kids that are really hooked on drugs. Of course they make meth and they raise marijuana,” Pastor Rider says. “It’s running rampant here. They really need the Lord. This might be a way we can minister to them.”

The pastor understands the hold of drugs over young people. During his youth, he struggled with alcoholism. It threatened the future of his family. But in the early 1970s, he turned to God. Following his calling to become a pastor, he worked in the local coal mines while attending school, and was ordained in 1984. Now, like many rural West Virginia pastors, Pastor Rider serves a small congregation whose members struggle to make ends meet at home.

Despite chronic financial challenges “things are really going great,” Pastor Rider said. “The Lord is blessing us financially this year. I mean it’s amazing. We have spent I don’t know how much money on this building and it’s all come back us.”

He gives an example. Ralph and Jan Cigich, long-time World Vision missions trip volunteers, worked at the church site in the summer of 2007. They returned that autumn and Ralph donated $1,000 to the church. Jan told Pastor Rider that this money had been her Christmas present to Ralph. ‘I gave him $1,000 and he gave it to you guys,’ she said. Pastor Rider’s voice catches as he tears up, “Can you beat that?” he asks.

Because building the sports center is a multi-year project, some of the same teams have returned to continue the work. One group is First Friends Church from Canton, Ohio. Janelle Linder, 16, was so impressed with her time working on the facility in 2007 that this year she returned with her parents in tow. “It was one of the greatest experiences. It was really awesome,” says Janelle.

Throughout this project, visiting mission team members have worked side-by-side with those who live in the community. Among the locals who have devoted time to the construction is Darius Humphrey, 15. Both of Darius’s parents have died, and today Weaver Church of the Nazarene is one of the primary constants in the young man’s life.

“If this place was stopped, I don’t know how I’d handle that,” Darius says. He wants to help build the center because he hopes to tell any children he might have that he was a part of this project. He also feels that a “safe center” might bring more young people to church. “The world needs a little more help with so much bad going on,” he says.

The mission trips also have opened up new opportunities to Darius. Before working with the visiting teams, Darius says he wanted to be a mechanic. Now he is leaning more toward carpentry because of the new skills he has learned from the project.

Janelle talks about how the mission trips have drawn their youth group closer as they have served together. Janelle encourages other young people to get involved. “If you have the chance to do something like this—even if it’s in your community, or next door at your neighbor’s house, just helping them to mow the grass—do something for your older neighbor or something like that. Just do it.”