When the national news is reporting live from your little corner of the world, it is rarely a good thing. The larger world has turned its eye to the area of Appalachia where NHIM is working in the church planting ministry through coverage of the historic and catastrophic flash flooding that took place this week. Flooding along the North Fork of the Kentucky River surpassed the all-time record set in 1939.
Communication is still difficult, the waters have yet to recede, and more heavy rain is on the way; however, efforts are already underway to meet the challenges of this disaster, and NHIM is working to minister God’s love to those affected.
Many of our partners in the church planting ministry that we have been able to contact are safe. We are still waiting to hear from some families who live in low-lying areas. The area around our friends at Wide Creek Community Church is badly flooded, and loss of and damage to property are expected to be tremendous.
Our friends at Bear Pen Community Church near Campton are serving as a staging area for donations that are already coming in and work teams that will be traveling down in the coming days to help with the cleanup. The Abiding Hope Food Pantry will be serving flood victims by distributing food and other necessities.
Two teams from Wilmore Free Methodist Church are already planned to travel to Eastern Kentucky in partnership with NHIM in the next week to do cleanup. In addition to the team that will put feet on the ground, that church’s benevolence fund has made a large financial contribution to the relief effort. Shiloh Camp Meeting in Georgia has also sent funds through NHIM, and we are deeply grateful. One hundred percent of all funds coming to NHIM for flood relief work will go directly to helping the people impacted by this unfolding tragedy.
How, you may wonder, can I help?
First of all, please pray for the precious people who are experiencing such devastating loss in this natural disaster. More rain is forecast, and there is great concern that the receding waters will rise again. Many people were just recovering from unusually severe flooding in the Spring of 2021 and have now lost everything all over again.
Secondly, you can give. Friends wishing to make tax-deductible donations through New Hope International Ministries may (1) send a check or money order directly to our office: New Hope International Ministries, One Macklem Dr., Wilmore, KY 40390, (2) contribute online via Venmo here, or (3) donate online via PayPal here. Please indicate “FLOOD” as the reason for your contribution.
The driving force behind all New Hope has done through the years has been Jesus’ admonition, “That which you have done for the least of these, you have done for Me.” Thank you for joining us in prayer and giving as we seek to serve Jesus by serving the people of Eastern Kentucky.
When I made my first trip to M.D. Anderson Cancer Treatment Center in Houston, Texas, my outlook was bleak. My first diagnosis had given a rather short length of life projection. After a myriad of tests and consultations, Dr. Kuban, the lead doctor, sat down with my wife and me. Her prognosis was more encouraging. She told us that if everything went really well, they had a chance of adding five years to my life expectancy.
It has been a while since we have provided an update here on the website on New Hope’s many ministry activities. Here are a few ways that the Lord is blessing New Hope in these days.
Several months ago the Abiding Hope Food Pantry truck ‘went home to be with Jesus’. The truck was old and tired and threw a rod through the block. Since then it has been a real struggle to get the food from God’s Pantry in Lexington to the food pantry at Bear Pen. Many of you have been praying with us about another truck. In the Lord’s timing, David and his son Eugene located a truck. The price was reasonable, and all we needed was the money. I called the gentleman who had sent us the money we were going to use to help increase David’s expenses account. I asked him if it was all right to split the money and use half for David and the other half for down payment on the truck. After a pause, he said to use the full amount he sent to help David. Then he said, “I’ll send you the money for buying the truck shortly.” That was another “Praise the Lord!” moment. As I was sharing this great news with the fellows I drink coffee with, one of the men asked if the truck was road worthy. I told him it was as far as I knew, except the front tires were badly worn. He pulled out his billfold and handed me a $100 bill to help with new tires.
Brother Roy will be preaching the messages for 
Over the past week, 26 friends and co-laborers participated in a pastors retreat cruise sponsored by New Hope International Ministries. The goal of the cruise was to provide a time to get away and refresh for several pastors with whom New Hope works in Eastern Kentucky. The theme of the week was “Come Apart Before You Come Apart” with the theme verse of Mark 6:33: “Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat” (NLT). 
New Hope International Ministries 