About Our Ministry

Coalfields for Christ is a Christ-centered ministry focusing on church planting, evangelism, and outreach in southwestern West Virginia. Mike and Carolyn York are appointed Southern Baptist missionaries serving the  Coalfields Association of Southern Baptists. There are twelve congregations affiliated with the Coalfields Association of Southern Baptists:

 

As Associational Missionary, Mike works with these churches in program development, ministry training and missions strategy. Mike has also started a ministry at the Southwestern Regional Jail in Holden, WV.

The Coalfields are a rural and remote region of West Virginia. Because of its inaccessibility, the area has lagged behind economically. With the downturn in the coal industry, there is a sense of hopelessness and the need for ministry is great.

Mike and Carolyn moved to the Coalfields of West Virginia from Pike County, Kentucky, in March 1999. After four year’s of service with Elkhorn City Baptist Church they were delighted to see what God’s next assignment would be. Mike's initial call came in December 1998 when the West Virginia Convention of Southern Baptists (WVCSB) invited him to accept a job as a regional church planter strategist. The position required both Carolyn and him be approved and appointed by the North American Mission Board (NAMB) of the Southern Baptist Convention.

By early January 1999 they were endorsed by the Tug Valley and Mountain State associations (the local Baptist bodies that encompass most of West Virginia’s coalfields region), called by the WVCSB Executive Board , and had begun the process of NAMB missionary appointment. They flew to Atlanta in February for NAMB interviews. They were then formally appointed and started employment March 1, 1999.

Mike is considered the primary missionary in the York team and Carolyn has the assignment church and home support. Spouses of primary NAMB missionaries are free to maintain other employment, so after a time of settling in (buying a house, packing, moving, getting the kids in new schools, etc.) Carolyn has been considering part time employment.

 Mike's assignment changed in January 2000. Rather than a regional church planter strategist, he is now the church planter strategist/associational missionary for the Tug Valley Association, who had been trying to fill the position of part time director of missions for several years. Mike's primary responsibility is still church planting, but he now works closer with Coalfields' established churches in their missions and ministry programs. The administrative duties increased but so have opportunities to join God in His work among His churches.

In May 1999 Mike began working in Madison to start Gateway Baptist Chapel, sponsored by Peytona Southern Baptist Church. It had had a fruitful beginning. In addition to a ministry booth they've hosted the past two years in June at the Coal Festival, the church has held several Vacation Bible Day Camps, ongoing Bible studies, and an Ugly Pumpkin Block Party last October. In December 1999, Gateway sponsored a Christmas in the Coalfields celebration for 28 Boone County children at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Madison.

With help from the Pelham First Baptist Church of Greer, South Carolina, the children were given gifts of new clothes and toys valued at $3,800.00. The gifts were bought locally with funds provided by Pelham First. Their South Carolina friends had offered to bring the gifts with them but then decided to send the money and have them purchase them here to help the local economy. Pray for the enlistment of a larger core group and strength to permeate this area with the Gospel.

In addition to the mission they've been working to establish in Madison, God has put a burden on their heart for new works in Oceana, Man, Harts and Matewan. The Lord has been speaking to them about developing a 20/20 Vision for our association. By the year 2020, if Christ tarries, Mike will be about retirement age. They believe they can have 20 churches (ten full-time pastors and ten bi-vocational) and 20 associational missions outreach programs by that time. Their missions outreaches hope to include ten chapels/missions and ten associational missions opportunities for their members to plug into. Along with the disaster relief, seminary extension and regional jail ministries they now have, they hope to have several Baptist Centers with full time missionaries providing Christian social ministries. They would also like to see an associational network providing substance abuse recovery counseling as well as other kinds of Christian counseling. Their main goal is to follow Christ first.

Mike accompanied six other volunteers from the association January 16 to Grifton, North Carolina, to assist folks who had their homes flooded by Hurricain Floyd last September. They were joined by eight other West Virginia Southern Baptists from other parts of the state and together they helped re-floor and sheetrock two homes. Tug Valley's newly trained Disaster Relief Team and newly built Disaster Relief Trailer has made three trips to help Floyd's victims. They need your prayers for further training, more equipment for the trailer, and funds to make the trips when disasters hit.

Contact Mike & Carolny York at:
Coalfields Association of Southern Baptists
226 Second Avenue
West Logan, West Virginia 25601
Phone: (304)752-7060

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