About Appalachian Mountain Ministry
The Appalachian Mountain Ministry was sanctioned by the Rehoboth Baptist Association as a ministry in December of 2008. The idea came from a lot of love, prayer, and the enormous outpouring of Love and desire to help those less fortunate than a lot of the people in the Warner Robins area by Mr. Zachery and Anna Lovorn. Anna was the real driver of the ministry and Zach was the full supporter of her yearning to help other people, especially children. I remember seeing flyers requesting donations of clothes, toys, bibles, and anything that could be sent to the Appalachian Mountains in 2009 shortly after Ms. Anna had started collecting items to send. However, it was not until a few years later that I began helping with the ministry as a driver to drive the items up to the mountains in Tennessee and Kentucky. In January 2015, Ms. Anna was talking to me about how her health was not allowing her to be able to continue and after much prayer I decided to try and continue the ministry and took over as director in May of 2015. No one could fill the shoes of that little woman as she devoted her whole life to this ministry, and it showed everywhere you turned. Knowing that I could not do everything she did, I enlisted help from John and Phyllis Johnson to undertake the ministry. They have been and continue to be mainstays in the ministry. We try to operate as a team, and I mean a team because there is no way to manage a ministry this size without it being a total team effort.
This ministry has come a long way in a matter of 12 years. From the days in the garage and carport putting everything in banana boxes and then loading them on a truck by hand to now being in an 88 x 50 building putting everything in in gaylord boxes and some banana boxes but for the most part we ship by semi to every area that can facilitate one. Other than that, we use our box truck and put gaylords and furniture on it unless they must have banana boxes specific. The weather in Kentucky and Tennessee has hampered some of the sites due to flooding this spring.
This ministry has grown from two boxes that were sent by UPS in 2008 to upwards of 1 million pounds of clothes, household goods, linens, shoes, and furniture shipped each year. This ministry could not function and be successful without the help of the Rehoboth Assoc. and the Disaster Relief ministry who allows us to use their truck to transport all the material. This year we were blessed beyond measure when we received an offering from a very kind individual who provided us with a 2016 26-foot box truck that we can now safely go up on the long trips with. Additionally, we have several individuals who come over on Tuesdays to pack material that has been received. We can always use more people. Most of our volunteers are retired and they are maturing each year and could sure use some younger helpers to get the job done. We load the trucks with mainly gaylords which does not take a lot of labor however, when we load furniture which is usually on Saturday mornings, we sure could use some young men to help us. It is hard to load furniture when the average age is 75 of the men there to work. Please consider being available to help. We appreciate all the efforts that Tim Millwood and the association has provided to this ministry to keep it moving forward and always there to support us.
We pray God will continue to Bless us through donations of materials to send to the Appalachian Mountains and the wonderful people and churches that donate funds that allows us to deliver the items to the mountains. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Him all things are possible. We have established a way that people can donate on a regular or one-time basis to the ministry via online. There is a button on the pages of this web page that will allow you to donate funds. Please pray for God to show you how much you should donate and be sure that these funds are used only for purposes to pack and transport goods to the mountains and the delta of Louisiana. You will be provided a letter of your contributions for tax purposes
Thank you,
Pete Soots, Director of Appalachian Ministry
The Appalachian Mountain Ministry was sanctioned by the Rehoboth Baptist Association as a ministry in December of 2008. The idea came from a lot of love, prayer, and the enormous outpouring of Love and desire to help those less fortunate than a lot of the people in the Warner Robins area by Mr. Zachery and Anna Lovorn. Anna was the real driver of the ministry and Zach was the full supporter of her yearning to help other people, especially children. I remember seeing flyers requesting donations of clothes, toys, bibles, and anything that could be sent to the Appalachian Mountains in 2009 shortly after Ms. Anna had started collecting items to send. However, it was not until a few years later that I began helping with the ministry as a driver to drive the items up to the mountains in Tennessee and Kentucky. In January 2015, Ms. Anna was talking to me about how her health was not allowing her to be able to continue and after much prayer I decided to try and continue the ministry and took over as director in May of 2015. No one could fill the shoes of that little woman as she devoted her whole life to this ministry, and it showed everywhere you turned. Knowing that I could not do everything she did, I enlisted help from John and Phyllis Johnson to undertake the ministry. They have been and continue to be mainstays in the ministry. We try to operate as a team, and I mean a team because there is no way to manage a ministry this size without it being a total team effort.
This ministry has come a long way in a matter of 12 years. From the days in the garage and carport putting everything in banana boxes and then loading them on a truck by hand to now being in an 88 x 50 building putting everything in in gaylord boxes and some banana boxes but for the most part we ship by semi to every area that can facilitate one. Other than that, we use our box truck and put gaylords and furniture on it unless they must have banana boxes specific. The weather in Kentucky and Tennessee has hampered some of the sites due to flooding this spring.
This ministry has grown from two boxes that were sent by UPS in 2008 to upwards of 1 million pounds of clothes, household goods, linens, shoes, and furniture shipped each year. This ministry could not function and be successful without the help of the Rehoboth Assoc. and the Disaster Relief ministry who allows us to use their truck to transport all the material. This year we were blessed beyond measure when we received an offering from a very kind individual who provided us with a 2016 26-foot box truck that we can now safely go up on the long trips with. Additionally, we have several individuals who come over on Tuesdays to pack material that has been received. We can always use more people. Most of our volunteers are retired and they are maturing each year and could sure use some younger helpers to get the job done. We load the trucks with mainly gaylords which does not take a lot of labor however, when we load furniture which is usually on Saturday mornings, we sure could use some young men to help us. It is hard to load furniture when the average age is 75 of the men there to work. Please consider being available to help. We appreciate all the efforts that Tim Millwood and the association has provided to this ministry to keep it moving forward and always there to support us.
We pray God will continue to Bless us through donations of materials to send to the Appalachian Mountains and the wonderful people and churches that donate funds that allows us to deliver the items to the mountains. Without Him we can do nothing, but with Him all things are possible. We have established a way that people can donate on a regular or one-time basis to the ministry via online. There is a button on the pages of this web page that will allow you to donate funds. Please pray for God to show you how much you should donate and be sure that these funds are used only for purposes to pack and transport goods to the mountains and the delta of Louisiana. You will be provided a letter of your contributions for tax purposes
Thank you,
Pete Soots, Director of Appalachian Ministry