Where to next? That was just one of the questions I had for Pastor Jay Buckhalter when I finally caught up with him on the phone between flights, on his way to the Dominican Republic. Yes, it was a vacation, but “Whenever we missionaries vacation, we meet the people, get to know them and learn what their needs are. Some of us were just down there in March seeing what another mission group is doing. It looks like it will be a good fit for us in the future.”
Us?
Welcome to Hands and Feet Ministries—a great notion dreamed up by Pastor Buckhalter and wife Penny in 2000. Together they created a faith-based organization that sends Greene countians and others out into the world to help established missions in need of some extra hands and feet.
Over the years, “we’ve done work in five different countries and 21 states. We’re not exclusive, we just figure out how we can work with others.”
In Liberia, for example, “we built a building that became a physicians assistance college that the people there could use. As they grew, we built another.”
Hands and Feet Ministries volunteers come from local churches and the community at large, Pastor Buckhalter pointed out.
“I’m the pastor of Waynesburg Bible Chapel but Hands and Feet Ministries is separate. The church is our umbrella but we’re organic in the way we network. One of our strategies is to partner with other people who are connected with the people on the ground where missions are being done.”
In the states, Hands and Feet Ministries has done work with the Lummi Tribe in Washington and partners internationally with missions in Liberia, Bermuda, the Philippines and Ghana. Upcoming missions will be partnerships with others in the Dominican Republic and Guatemala.
Here at home, there are equally important missions to be done. Pastor Buckhalter is board vice chair of The Way, an educational nonprofit busy converting the building that was once Belkos Market at 209 W. High Street Waynesburg into a state of the art family center. He and a host of other community volunteers were there on April 28 for Raise the Roof Preview, a fundraising event for potential new community partnerships.
When Hands and Feet Ministries holds its planning meeting in September, members will take a vote on where to go next.
“My number one choice is Guatemala,” Pastor Buckhalter told me on the phone. The mission group “Hope of Life” has been there for more than ten years and “teams are over 100. I think it will be something we can do.”
Whatever mission is chosen, “We’re targeting 2024. It takes a lot of planning to do it right.”
