At the age of 14, John Gillenwater of Gate City is already becoming pretty well-known in his community. John accepted Christ as his Savior at an early age and is a member of Community Fellowship Baptist Church and Boy Scout Troop 86. He is always willing to help whenever called upon.
During his short 14 years, John's “let me help” attitude has impacted many people, including his family, friends and his church family. For the past eight years John has been a key player in “Operation Christmas Child.” John's uncle and aunt, Ron Dow and Judy Kilgore, are the Operation Christmas Child relay center directors for Scott County. When John was 7, his uncle asked if he wanted to go to the distribution center in Boone, N.C. Though he wasn't old enough to actually work at the distribution center until last year, he has always helped load the trucks in Gate City and unload them in Boone. This year, he supervised that whole process—making sure every box was accounted for, packed, transported and unloaded at the center and this year he even got to work in the center once he arrived.
Several Clinch Valley Baptist Association churches—including First Baptist Church of Gate City, Heritage Baptist Church in Gate City, First Baptist Church of Nickelsville, Cowan's Branch Baptist Church in Gate City, First Baptist Church of Dungannon and Community Fellowship Baptist Church in Gate City—collected 1,509 shoeboxes filled with various items for children around the world.
John says his greatest moment in life was when he gave his heart to Jesus.
In September 2005 John received his technician FCC amateur radio licenses and in February 2006, he received his general FCC licenses. Being the youngest HAM radio operator in our area, John is an active member of the Scott County Amateur Radio Society, the Scott County Emergency Communication Team, the American Radio Relay League, the Amateur Radio Emergency Service and Radio Amateur Civil Emergency Services, which supports national communications in times of emergencies. He is also a member of the Mountain Empire Keyers, which operates Morse Code, and has been teaching Morse Code to his brother's Boy Scout troop. He is a member of “SKYWARN” and as a trained spotter, he shares and reports extreme weather conditions for Scott County and the surrounding areas to the National Weather Service in Morristown, Tenn.
In December 2006 John was featured in the Kingsport Times-News' “Teens making a Difference.”
John hopes to follow in the footsteps of his life long friend, M.A. Lunsford, and join the Virginia State Police.