With needle and thread, FBC Clinton women stitch together a global impact for Christ

April 18, 2023 By Michael Smith

CLINTON – A dozen women here practice missions around the world, one spool of thread at a time.

Mission Action at First Baptist Church, Clinton, produces all kinds of sewn items to supply the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of its community and people across the globe.

"The items we make are just small gifts that meet a need and help open the door to pray with someone, invite them to church, introduce them to Jesus, or just let them know they are loved," says Mission Action Team Leader Delaina Bullock.

The items the group produces change with the needs it sees. Everything is given without cost and includes the plan of salvation and church information.

Mission Action produces various types of quilts, turbans for cancer patients, walker and wheelchair bags, different styles of clothing protectors and bibs, cooling ties, medical monitor covers, tracheotomy covers, catheter bags, water bottle holders, T-shirt dresses (started for a Haitian student camp), fidget quilts for Alzheimer's sufferers and children with special needs, miscellaneous bags, jump ropes, and more.

"We have sewn dolls to put into our Project Christmas Cheer boxes that go around the world—around 500 a couple of years ago," says Carolyn Varner, another long-term Mission Action member.

"If we see a need and think God is leading us we try our best to meet it," Bullock says.

Varner says the "ministry is for anyone needing a helping hand. Our ministry exists to show others the love of Jesus."

Neither woman knows how long the ministry has existed.

Bullock says when she and her husband moved to the area in 1986 the ministry was active and she believes it has been ongoing for more than 40 years.

The church's senior pastor, Pat Findley, says the church has a passion to serve others, and "Mission Action is an incredible example of that passion."

"Not everyone can do everything, but everyone can do something. I don't have the sewing skills of Mission Action ladies. But these ladies are using their talents to make things that minister to people in practical ways both here in Henry County and around the world."

Every year the group gives away hundreds of items. "This year it's only April and we’ve already given away over 100 items," Bullock says.

"Our items have been shipped overseas, taken by mission teams, taken to nursing homes and the local veterans home," Varner adds. "We have senior fairs and health fairs that we attend and give these items away. Even the police have some of the lap robes to help people who have been in accidents." Items have also gone to local hospital patients, other community organizations, and directly to individuals.

"Basically, we give where we see a need," Bullock says.

For a sewing group, sewing skills are not necessary.

"If you can pray, count, cut, visit – or you just enjoy eating chocolate – we have a spot," Bullock says. The group has had children, grandchildren, neighbors, and friends join in to help.

"My granddaughters love coming to Mission Action when they are visiting," Bullock says. "When my son was little he would thread needles for some of the older ladies."

The group includes women of various ages, including women in their 90s who have sewn fabric blocks from their assisted care rooms.

Varner remembers a 97-year-old friend who participated by tagging "each item with a little note of blessing and steps to conversion (and) an address to contact or call if they would like help in knowing the Lord."

The ministry goes beyond sewn goods.

Mission Action supplies Christmas Cheer Plates of cooked goods to the church's homebound and nursing home members. It has provided new toys to the local children at Christmas.

Bullock describes Mission Action as "just a group of ladies serving the Lord, doing things we love, praying the Lord uses our gifts to bring others to Him."