The Friday Finish - Strengthening Families - Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly - Shoes for Six
- Tim Crawford
- Jul 3
- 5 min read
July 3, 2026
Strengthening Families through Service
Work Camp volunteers oftentimes bring a double blessing to campus because they bring needed items from their hometown and spend four days doing home repair for someone living below the poverty line. Monday, the Wet Feet Ministries Work Camp team unloaded a trailer full of durable medical equipment like walkers and shower benches that is needed but unaffordable by people living here in the mountains. The focus of collecting medical equipment for Red Bird by Wet Feet Ministries teams began last year with a delivery of two trailers of medical equipment after one team member, a nurse practitioner, learned how badly equipment is needed.
Another unique characteristic of the Wet Feet teams is you often see young children in the groups that come. Mitchell and Jennifer Smith, the founders of Wet Feet Ministries say that it’s by design that they invite families to come together to learn to serve as a means of strengthening families. For many years Mitchell and Jennifer wanted to go on a mission trip as a family but there seemed to be barriers.
“We always wanted to go on a mission trip as a family, but we always kind of convinced ourselves. We didn't have the time or the money, and so we did this for years.”
There was another tugging in their hearts that moved them to involve other families in this ministry of service, a desire to strengthen families that might be struggling with relationships. Mitchell said, “I think the Lord had just shared a burden with us about broken families. But,
we wanted to do something to strengthen families, kind of the front end, and just build up the family institution of marriage.
So those two ideas kind of came together – taking families on missions for the sake of the family [and] for the sake of missions.”
They began leading families from their church, Concord Methodist in Americus, Georgia, on mission trips nine years ago. Seeing families strengthen during those trips led them to take a leap of faith three years ago.
“We went all in. We both quit our jobs. We sold our house. We took our kids out of school and the Lord led us to start Wet Feet Ministries which has a two-fold mission of serving families and leading families to lives of service.”
Wet Feet Ministries serves families by hosting family retreats in south Georgia aimed at strengthening family unity. In just three years, almost 200 families have attended those retreats, but not all families have gone on mission trips afterwards. They’ve led family mission trips to Mexico, Jamaica, Honduras, Brazil, Taiwan, and, in a couple weeks, to Paraguay for the first time.
Red Bird Mission Work Camp is the option for families not ready for an international mission trip. Jennifer said,
“Red Bird has kind of become our state side option. Yes, for people that don't want to travel internationally. We'll always offer Red Bird because it's just such a great place to come to get you get [started in missions].”
Do Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly
Friends and family of Paul Givens gathered two months after his passing on Thursday afternoon at Red Bird Mission in The Cardinal House to pay tribute to Paul’s service and sacrifice for the people living here in southeastern Kentucky. His family traveled from North Carolina; fellow volunteers came from middle Tennessee; and staff and community stopped their routines to honor his legacy of giving and motivating others to serve with compassion. The date coincided with a food pantry delivery to Red Bird Mission that Paul started several years ago that now supplies 144 food boxes every six weeks packed at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church (UMC) in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Paul’s family led the celebration with instrumental music, scripture readings, hymns and their testimony of his servant leadership lessons. Paul’s granddaughter, Rev. Rebecca Greniven, read Micah 6:7-8, and shared that while sitting on a pew in church next to her “Pawpaw”, he wrote, “Micah 6:8” on a ripped envelope and said, “I’ll tell you about this later.” That verse reads, “He has told you O mortal, what is good and what does the lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.”
Not surprisingly, the core of that verse – “do justice,” “love kindness” and “walk humbly with your God” – resonated over the next several minutes. Tracy Nolan, Red Bird Mission Community Outreach Director, read a portion of Paul’s testimony shared at the Red Bird Day gathering at St. Mark’s (UMC) in July 2024. Paul shared that day with scores gathered the emotions evoked while he’s packing oatmeal, canned peaches, peanut butter and jelly, and pinto beans for Red Bird.
When I pack the oatmeal, I think
a little skinny boy will have oatmeal instead of water gravy
and a biscuit for breakfast. When I pack the canned peaches, I think
a little skinny boy will have canned peaches for dessert
tonight. When I place the peanut butter and jelly in the box, I think
a little skinny boy will have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich
when he gets home from school one day. When I place the four-pound bag of pinto beans, I think when
a little skinny boy gets home from school one day he will smell the pot of beans boiling and be a happy camper because he likes beans.”
He went on to say,
“Nothing has ever changed me like the moment we close the trailer door and I know many children will have food tomorrow that they would not have had otherwise.
“Why does that moment mean so much to me? Seventy-five years ago, I was that skinny little boy just 30 miles up the road from Red Bird in Perry County [KY].”
Red Bird Mission staff, grateful community members and fellow volunteers shared stories, tears and appreciation for his leadership that provided new homes for families through the Red Bird Build Project, continues to provide food for hungry people, toys at Christmas, and household necessities to families in hopeless situations.
The story of feeding the children is now strengthened because generous donations of money, materials and time will be spent in the coming weeks to upgrade the old hospital medical lab serving as Red Bird Mission’s food pantry. A direct load in, and new metal shelving will allow the pantry to better serve the thousands of food boxes packed each year at Red Bird Mission. Now, that’s justice, kindness and God’s humility demonstrated in what will become known as Paul’s Pantry at Red Bird Mission.
School Shoes for Six
Getting growing kids ready for school each year can be challenging because the clothes and shoes they wore last year may no longer fit. A mother made application recently to receive Back to School Assistance after moving to the Red Bird service area. Because their family is low income, it was a huge relief to know that each of her six children would receive a new pair of shoes and a voucher for clothing to start the new school year.
We still need funding to complete the purchase of clothing vouchers and shoes needed for each child receiving a new backpack on July 21st filled with necessary school and classroom supplies. You can help a student by making an online donation today, or mail a check today payable to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked “Back to School Assistance”.
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