EKY Pastor Uses Faith to Encourage Church Amid Flood Recovery and Past Tragedies

Everything inside the Letcher Independent Baptist Church was damaged in the July 28 flood. Six months have passed since the historic flood, but another rainy day brings back memories of destruction. Pastor Bill Jones of the church said, “Yeah we had people right here this morning that lost their homes, living in little trailers.” The congregation is now meeting in a basement below their nursery, where Jones begins what he calls God’s purpose for his life.

“I felt like I needed to preach messages to encourage the saints during this time. I find that God leads me to messages to encourage, you know,” Jones said. Tragedy is also not new. His son Bobby and Bobby’s girlfriend were murdered in 2016. The consistent uplifting Jones and his congregation get is from their faith.

“He (God) helps us get through life. Everything, and when you’ve lost a child, everything just comes, you know, after that,” the former coal miner said. Now as the church looks to rebuild and regroup, moving forward is coming one step at a time.

“He (God) told Moses, ‘speak into the children of Israel that they go forward,’ you know. ‘Oh we wanna go back to Egypt. We like the food back there.’ No, no, no, no. Go forward. Go forward and trust God. He makes a way,” Jones said.

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