First Baptist Church (FBC) in Mt. Vernon, Kentucky strives to share Jesus’ love with the people of Rockcastle County. The church has partnered with Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) to be the hands and feet of Jesus and serve the needs of children, their families, and seniors in the community through service.

“We work with CAP because Christ commands us to feed the hungry, clothe those without, even offer a cup of cold water in His name,” said Dennis Wilder, pastor of the church. “CAP is already organized to do such, so we wanted to come alongside and offer help to our community.”

The church is a strong supporter of CAP’s Grateful Bread Food Pantry in Mt. Vernon and has offered food donations, hands-on service, and its campus to host CAP’s large community food distributions of USDA Farmers to Families food boxes and fresh produce from God’s Pantry Food Bank.

When COVID-19 restrictions limited the size of CAP’s 10th annual Hunger Walk event in Rockcastle County, members of FBC continued to show their support by collecting food donations and walking on the church’s campus to raise

awareness about food insecurity. With the support of the church, Rockcastle County Schools, Lexington Christian Academy (LCA) in Lexington, Kentucky, Texas Roadhouse, the event sponsor, and others, nearly 14,000 pounds of food was collected to fight hunger in Appalachia.

“When we live in a community for so long, we can become numb to the needs around us,” Wilder said. “The Hunger Walk is an awareness day. I don’t want people to forget our neighbors who are in need.”

Even when disaster struck Eastern Kentucky in early 2021 with a destructive ice storm followed by historic flooding, the church answered the call for help and delivered donations of food and cleaning supplies and offered hands-on aid in cleaning mud, debris, and wet materials out of flooded homes alongside CAP’s Disaster Relief Program staff and volunteers.

“We are blessed to be able to participate in many events with CAP. FBC is reminded that we are here to be a blessing to others and serve others,” Wilder said. “Our mission is to share the gospel with everyone, so they may know the forgiveness only found through a relationship with Jesus. CAP allows us to do that through service.”