The Friday Finish - Thumb-body Loves You - "should have packed a lunch" - Building Future Generations - Visit Strengthens Partnership - Be honest, be welcoming, be thankful
- Tim Crawford
- Feb 20
- 9 min read
February 20, 2026
Thumb-body Loves You!
Students in Grades 4 and 5 at Red Bird Christian School created thumbprint art recently as part of their art class to share this message: YOU are "Thumb-body" special to Jesus and to our Red Bird Family!
Thumbprint art is a popular activity that uses the child’s thumbprint in paint to create animals that can be finished into creative artwork. For this “Thumb-body Loves You!” assignment, the body of the cardinal is made from the child's thumb dipped in paint and then pressed on paper. When the paint is dry, the beak, legs, and other features are added.
The 4th and 5th students created these projects to pass along as expressions of love for family and others that support their academic and spiritual development. All of us at Red Bird Mission want our support partners to know this, too.
YOU are "Thumb-body" special to Jesus and to our Red Bird Family!
“…should have packed a lunch…”
That was the response of Pauline Burkett, Clinic Coordinator for AppalReD Legal Aid, when Tracy Nolan, Red Bird Mission Community Outreach Director asked how the free ProSe Legal Clinic went at the Red Bird Mission Annex on Tuesday. The AppalReD staff assisted 14 clients providing counsel and documents needed that will enable those individuals to represent themselves in resolving for a variety legal issues without hiring an attorney.
Pauline added,
“We were so busy we didn’t even take a break. We are thrilled that the word is getting out and that we are able to provide legal help to our most vulnerable neighbors. Looking forward to coming back next month!”
Athletic Director – “building… future generations”
This school year has marked a lot of new beginnings and people stepping in and stepping up to new roles. Meet our sports guy – the man always on a mission, Athletic Director, Dane Sizemore. He’s the one in the background encouraging us, reassuring us we’re doing a great job, and making sure we feel appreciated.
Since stepping into this role, I’ve watched him find his niche here at Red Bird and I believe he’s in the exact spot he’s meant to be. He cares about our kids. When we started archery as a brand new sport, he backed us without hesitation. He fought to get us practice time in our one and only gym that every team shares. He made sure our safety curtain cable got installed so we could shoot. He brought back “Meet the Cardinals” night we hadn’t had in years, introducing every team and inviting the community back into our gym. Little by little, he’s been helping bring life and fun back into Red Bird Athletics.
Instead of a traditional interview, Coach Dane wanted to speak straight from the heart to Red Bird Nation. So I’m going to step out of the way and let you hear directly from him:
"As a young man growing up in the 90s and early 00’s, sports was life. Basketball, Baseball, Football, Racing and Golf was always a staple at the Sizemore's residence. I first learned of our school in 2002. The ESPN docuseries was called Blue Grass Basketball. John D. Wilson led a basketball program and athletic department that was unmatched across the board
Red Bird has always been in excellent hands and I look forward to the future. I want to thank Mrs. Tonya Dickerson Asher for her years of being our AD. Without her, I couldn't even begin to know the knowledge it takes to serve our school correctly.
We are building our programs for future generations. Cross County, Track, Archery, Basketball, Volleyball, Baseball, and Cheer. At Red Bird, we have the best coaches we can ask for. They work tirelessly to achieve success. Our coaches have accomplished many milestones this year. I am so proud of them. As an Athletic Director, I will do anything in my power to see our kids succeed not only on the court/field but in the classroom. We will see scholarships. We shall see college graduations.
Our goal as a school is to see these kids succeed after high school. We also want them to know they are always welcome back. Red Bird does not exist without our alumni or our current students."
As we close, let’s remember what he said: this isn’t just about wins and losses. It’s about building programs that last, sending kids on to college and careers, and keeping our doors open wide for every graduate who walks back through them. Dane stepped into a role that asks for more than a clipboard — he’s brought time, effort, and an easy kind of faith in our kids. For Red Bird Nation, that’s what matters.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts & Media
Visit Strengthens Holt Partnership
The Holt United Methodist Church (UMC) of Holt, Michigan — a longtime and faithful friend of Red Bird Mission — recently invited Red Bird Christian School's Principal, Jennifer Wilder, to address its congregation during Mission Sunday.
"It was an honor to spend time with the members of the Missions Committee and address the congregation about all the many great things happening at Red Bird Christian School," said Mrs. Wilder.
For more than ten years, Holt UMC has supported the school's academic programs and has sent a Work Camp group to serve the Red Bird community each year. Relationships like these are so important to Red Bird Mission.
Contact us if your congregation, church group or community organization would like to have a staff person speak about their work and Red Bird Mission. Travel expenses, lodging and meals while in your community is needed so that all donations go to our local programs.
More Gifts Needed for School Chiller
Supporters are stepping up to help this week, but we still need approximately $4,000 by March to complete payment to avoid borrowing money to complete this vital project to provide the best environment for students to learn.
Replacement of the failing classroom units for the system will follow, but can be done on a room by room basis as funds become available. The cost for installation and replacement of the room units is now estimated at $10,000 each.
Please help now with an online donation, or mail your check to Red Bird Mission, Inc., 70 Queendale Ctr, Beverly, KY 40913-9607 marked “Cool the School”.
“…be honest, be welcoming, be thankful…”
"I'm just an ordinary Appalachian girl, nothing fancy to my name. Most days my job is simple: pay attention and try to catch little glimpses of Jesus in the people and the work we do out here in these hills. Today I see Him in the story of an Alabama boy who followed God's call to our Kentucky mountains and quietly gave his life to serving this place we all love."
Everyone in our neck of the woods knows our wonderful educator at Red Bird Christian School, Mrs. Patty Vance. For years, one of her most memorable projects with 5th and 6th graders has been the “interview with a community elder.” This year she carried that same heartbeat up the hill to her high school Appalachian Studies class. Her students were asked to choose an elder from their community, sit down with them, and listen close to the stories that shaped the people and the land around us.
One of the elders chosen was a man many of you already know, but don't always see in the spotlight: our Director of Development at Red Bird Mission, Mr. Timothy Dale Crawford - my boss, and my friend. This interview matters because it asks students to listen—to hear Appalachia through the words of a man who chose these mountains, not one born to them. Tim’s Alabama roots and decades here show that our values—family, faith, honesty, service—travel and take root. For students it turns textbook history into living memory, for the community it reminds us that belonging is earned by what you give, not where you started. That lesson is everything.
Tim grew up in west central Alabama in a small rural town. He went to college there before packing up and moving to Kentucky. He’ll tell you,
"I've lived longer in Kentucky than I have in Alabama.”
Besides the Appalachian mountains, he served as a missionary in Africa. But even after going that far, something in these hills kept calling him back. He started his life in Kentucky in the 1980’s, and he says plainly that God called him to the mountains.
“I’m here to stay.”
When a student interviews someone who didn’t grow up here, but chose these mountains anyway, they get to see Appalachia through fresh eyes.
For Tim, the meaning and value of family in eastern Kentucky feels just like it did growing up in rural Alabama: family is important. His people were in the chicken and egg business, most of the farm work happening at his grandparents’ homestead. That meant his childhood was spent running around with cousins, staying close to his grandparents, and wrapping every week and season and around family time. Sundays meant going to his grandparents’ house. Aunts, uncles, cousins packed in. Every holiday, everybody is together. That was tradition and custom for him growing up, and those same threads run through these hollers today.
When Tim came to Kentucky coal was still the backbone of work for a lot of folks - coal mining, tobacco farms and strip mines. Now, the change is profound. Communities and schools are smaller. So much is different because of coal. People had to turn their coal trucks into log trucks just to survive and take care of their families. But even with all that change, one thing has stayed the same in his eyes: the people. Folks here remain tight-knit. Neighbors are still close as kin.
One of the first differences Tim noticed between Alabama and Eastern Kentucky was our storytellers. He didn't grow up with that same kind of storytelling tradition, so hearing old stories passed down from your papaws like “Where’s my big toe?” was brand new to him. The sounds of Bluegrass in the hills, the power of church music here, especially a service where beautiful voices rise up with no instruments at all- that settled right down into his heart. Around here we know that's enough. A little love and a lot of Jesus will carry you a long way.
When the student asked him what lessons young people should learn from the past, his answer was simple, but it landed heavily: be honest, be welcoming, be thankful for your family, and treat them well. He talked about how honesty can feel scarce, not just here but everywhere. Yet those old values-telling the truth, love your people, showing hospitality- are the ones that matter most and are worth holding onto.
My favorite question asked was “what being Appalachian means.” Tim said being Appalachian is something you're born with. Even after living here on and off for 45 years, he doesn't claim that alone makes him Appalachian. But he has come to understand what it means. Being Appalachian is about people being proud of who they are, their culture and heritage. He sees a great legacy of service in these mountains- people who are always faithful to their family and community. He’ll tell you that kind of faithfulness is rare, and the importance of those things should never be taken lightly. Faith has carried Tim his whole life.
“My daddy was a Methodist, my mama was a Baptist, so I got the best of both worlds,”
he says with a smile. To future generations, his message is clear: “Pass down your values, your knowledge. Don't lose your roots. Hold on to those good honest values.”
What have we learned about our Appalachian elders through this project in Appalachian Studies? Whether you grew up in Alabama or in the Appalachian mountains of Kentucky, we have more in common than we think. It does not always matter where you were born. Sometimes, God will change your plans to HIS plans. He will call you to these mountains to make a difference in people’s lives. For Timothy Dale Crawford, that call has stretched across decades. He has spent his life here serving, listening, telling the story of Red Bird Mission, and helping keep this place going for people who depend on it. His values of service, family, and honesty-shaped in rural Alabama and refined in these Kentucky hills- have helped make Red Bird Mission what it is today.
From one ordinary Appalachian girl to an Alabama boy, I want to say this plainly: Tim we accept you just like you have accepted us. These mountains are your home. Your heart runs deep for our people, the land, and for our mission. We are better because you listened when God called you to stay.
- Kayla Smith, Development Gifts & Media
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