Power saws whine and sawdust flies on Wednesday mornings in Appomattox, Va., when the firewood team from Grace Hills Baptist Church is cutting and splitting wood for residents with limited resources to heat their homes. This ministry began six years ago with the delivery of 20 pickup loads of wood and this season it has grown to probably 80 loads, said Richard Carter, coordinator of the ministry.
“Most of the team is retired people, yet ‘busy’ retired people,” said Carter. They gather around 9 a.m. and end with lunch at a local restaurant. During those hours the team of 15 to 18 people can typically split, load and deliver seven to eight pickup loads of wood. While most of the team is composed of church members, Carter said several are from the community and at times members of families receiving the wood pitch in to help with the cutting.
Cody Lipscomb operates the wood splitter, while Kenny Fields passes pieces to Ben Guseman to take to the wood pile, as DeWayne Thies looks on. All are volunteers from Crossroads Community Church.
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“We try to supply most of the wood that a family needs for winter,” said Carter. Most every recipient receives at least four loads of wood and many use it for cooking as well as heating their homes.
“It’s amazing how this has grown and how the Lord has supplied the wood,” said Carter. He admits at the onset most of the wood came from “everybody with a dead tree in their yard.” But as word spread, other sources have become available. The ministry received 13 dump truck loads of wood from an individual who was cleaning trees from his property. Last November Carter said a member learned Appomattox County was cleaning property around voting precincts and planned to haul wood to the landfill. “Can you take it to Grace Hills?” he asked, and three truckloads of wood were received and are now waiting to be sawed and split. A stockpile of wood is kept on church grounds.
“It keeps us busy and we enjoy the camaraderie of it,” said Carter.
When the work for the day is complete, Carter said they always open their lunch with prayer. “We give the Lord credit for this ministry and for keeping us safe.” During the years he admits there was one accident where a volunteer lost the tip of a thumb. Team members furnish their own power saws and donate the gas and the pickup trucks for delivery.
Mill Creek Baptist Church in Fincastle, Va., has had a woodcutting ministry for close to 30 years, said Tom Moore. It was organized in response to the need of those in the community who needed to heat their homes in the winter.
“We’ve had as many as 30 or so people on an afternoon to cut, split and deliver wood,” said Moore. Doing the work on Sunday afternoons allows men and women with jobs during the week to participate. The youth group at Mill Creek Baptist has made the woodcutting ministry a project on several occasions, loading the wood and taking part in its delivery to homes.
Volunteers from Crossroads Community Church stand in front of a stack of wood cut at the Metcalf wood yard for a family in Louisa, Va.
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“This is a life-changing experience for some of them,” said Moore. “They get to see the conditions that some people in our community live in and how appreciative they are for a load of firewood.”
Moore recalls shortly after Christmas that three youth went on a delivery to an elderly woman’s home. “For Christmas she had been given two small bags of candy and she insisted that we take it,” he said. “We finally convinced her that we would only take one bag, but the youth were so impressed by her wanting to give to us that they’re still talking about it.”
“So far this year we’ve delivered over 60 loads of wood,” said Richard Simpson, who has coordinated this ministry at Mill Creek Baptist for many years. The church averages about 80 to 100 truckloads delivered each season. Many of the recipients are referred by the Botetourt Resource Center in Buchanan, Va., an organization that works with seniors and low-income residents. Simpson said the Center screens families, many who have disabled members, and every fall gives him a list of those needing assistance.
Mill Creek Baptist Church stockpiles wood behind the church on property that is owned by the cemetery. It receives wood from many sources, including Appalachian Power, which donates trees cleared from under power lines, and the local forestry service. Moore said last summer’s derecho left many homeowners in that area with trees that needed to be cleared.
Most of the equipment used to cut and split wood is provided by members, but just recently the church has purchased a gasoline wood splitter for use in the ministry.
The “Firewood for Jesus” mission at Crossroads Community Church in Troy, Va., began in 2010 in partnership with Metcalf Tree and Landscaping, a local company that stockpiles trees it takes down for clients, said Bruce Hunter, pastor of Crossroads Community Church. “Along with other folks in the community, we cut and split the wood two or three times a year and they allow us to provide it to persons in need in Central Virginia.”
“There’s always a huge fire for warmth, homemade soup and chili provided by the church and others in the community, and a lot of good fellowship,” Hunter said about woodcutting days. “We have help from a good cross section of folks in the church — retirees, middle-aged families, youth, and even some children,” he said. “All that is needed is a heart for people and a pair of willing hands.”
On Nov. 11 a group gathered at Metcalf’s wood yard and cut and split wood for a family in Louisa County with a member who is awaiting a kidney transplant.
“We cannot change the world, but we can make a difference in that part where God has called us and equips us to be the visible presence of Christ,” Hunter said.
Barbara Francis ([email protected]) is on the staff of the Religious Herald.