June 23, 2008 issue
In Kentucky, bringing up a church like family
By Vicki Sairs Mennonite Weekly ReviewONEIDA, Ky. — Poverty, broken families and a lack of opportunity create pitfalls for Clay County’s youth. Bored and unable to find work, they often turn to drugs for recreation and as a source of income.
Charlie Hensley mans the power saw at Panco Wood Shop. The shop can produce 500 to 600 pallets a day and employs seven people full time. — Photo by Jerry Rice
Panco Community Church, a Conservative Mennonite Conference congregation, is committed to changing that.
Clay is the second-poorest county in the state, said Jerry Rice, Panco’s pastor. It has a 65 percent unemployment rate and is “a high drug area,” he said.
Rice and his wife, Brenda, have spent 26 years working with local youth and their families, building up the church.
Begun in the 1950s by Allegheny Mennonite Conference, Panco came under the auspices of Rosedale Mennonite Missions, a Conservative Mennonite Conference agency, in 1971. Lee Roy Borntrager served as pastor from 1971 to 1978, when the church closed for four years.
The Rices started as RMM missionaries at Panco in 1982, with the understanding that they would transition to self-support as the church grew.
“I saw the need 15 years ago to create work in this area,” Jerry Rice said. He’s been running the Panco Wood Shop for almost 16 years and employs seven men full time, making pallets for factories.
“We’re taking the raw material from this area and utilizing it rather than shipping it out,” he said.
“We’re creating a final product, and providing work indirectly for local sawmills.”
The wood shop has a mutually beneficial relationship with three sawmills in the area.
Comment on the article In Kentucky, bringing up a church like family
The purpose of comments is to engage in dialogue. We expect commenters to treat authors and each other as each would want to be treated. Respectful criticism is welcomed; offensive comments or parts of comments will be removed by the site administrator. Name and comment will be posted; email address is for follow-up only and will not be made public.
Download
Download a free PDF showing the populations of
Mennonite groups and other Anabaptists.
