In 2012 my wife and I restarted the Coeburn Church of God. This being our first pastorate and a restart of the local church, the State Office invested in us by allowing us to go to the Church Planter's training held in Kentucky. Fresh with new ideas and a desire to see lives changed, we took over the 120-year-old building (the oldest church building in town) and were excited to see what God would do. We started holding services and began to see new families join us. Through the years, God has brought us people with purpose and a desire to work for the Kingdom of God.

One example is through our prayer gatherings. The Lord sent us a lady who had such a passion for prayer. She had held a prayer meeting at her former church for nearly 20 years. Since her former church had closed, she wanted to continue that mission here at the church. And what a blessing that has been!

In just about every service since, we take the time to go over the four-page prayer list, double stacked. We read the list of names before the church and the Lord. This has become a focal point for our church. People in the community would reach out and ask to be put on our prayer list. We would tell them with joy that their request was made known to the whole church each Sunday morning, which touched those people. They knew that each week a group of believers was focused on them and their needs, bringing them before the Lord. The torch has now been passed on, but the focus is still the same.

As with all churches, 2020 was a challenging year. Our congregation is older, and we had to shut down for a time. This forced us to get creative and find new ways to do things. We were limited in our options. We couldn't do a drive-in church given the layout of our two properties. Our building was small, and social distancing was a bit of a challenge. So, we moved to Facebook Live during this time. Using this new medium, we were able to reach a broader audience, even beyond our local community.

However, little did we know that this time of shutdown was God’s time of preparation for us.

We were able during this time to make the move from our older facility to the new one that we had purchased the year before. The sanctuary is the size of our previous church building and has additional facilities. It had been closed for some years, so we had many renovations that needed to be done. During this time, one of our group started doing a significant part of the renovation: laying tile, replacing sheetrock, and any other jobs that he could find to do. Still, there is much to do, but we can see an end in sight.

So, for what is God preparing us? My hope has always been that the church building would be in use every day of the week. With our new facility, I see us partnering with others to reach the community. We have a desire to minister to groups dealing with grief, addiction, and other life-altering items. This is an opportunity to help a hurting community directly and partner with other like-minded Christians to see the culture of the Kingdom manifested in our community.

We use the phrase "A place of Hope, Healing, and Restoration" when talking about our church's mission. We are now getting to the place where we can fulfill that mission. To God be the Glory.

- Pastor Tim Branson

Ministry on the Margins at Coeburn