It's All Good

It’s been almost a decade since Jack Adams began his post-retirement life as a volunteer. He had put a lot of thought into what his new life would look like as he started this new journey.

“I’ve been given so much,” Adams said. “One of the driving verses in my life is Luke 12:48 which reads in part ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ There’s no way I can pay back what I’ve been given. When I retired, I knew I wanted to do something so that other people could have a good life like mine.”

Adams had been looking for ways to help in his community and he started out by volunteering with Forgotten Man Ministries.

It made sense that Adams, who wanted to help people create good lives for themselves, would choose an organization that helped inmates build new lives through the love of

Jesus Christ. Adams began to visit inmates in Michigan’s Huron County Jail to deliver books. “I was the book cart guy, kind of like in “Shawshank Redemption,” but I actually went in the cells,” he said.

It was a book written more than two decades ago that first moved Adams to expand his volunteer life beyond his community into Appalachia. The inmates he delivered books to knew he was looking for direct service volunteer opportunities and a Kentuckian suggested a book he had read by Reverend Ralph Bieting. When Adams read about the way Christian Appalachian Project (CAP) seeks to transform lives, it was immediately appealing to him.

“I have no idea how that book got on the book cart in the Huron County Jail,” he said. “After reading it, I called and said I wanted to come down. I made my first trip in Nov. 2011.”

The year that Bertha Mullins lost her home for a second time, was the same year that Adams and his wife, Lynn, first volunteered at CAP as a couple. That year they worked on Disaster Relief projects for two weeks and spent a third week at WorkFest working on home repair. This is the eighth year that they have participated in both WorkFest and YouthFest. Lynn is a popular kitchen crew leader at Foley Mission Center known for her quirky songs and her sparkling personality.

This year, during WorkFest and YouthFest, Adams helped teams finish a deck on the Mullins’ home. He appreciated being able to interact and mentor the young people he met on the worksite. He is inspired by their sacrifice and excited to share his knowledge and expertise.

“These young people give up their break to make other people’s lives better. They are an impressive group to me,” Adams said. “Working with CAP has been everything I hoped it would be. I get to work with young people, which is grand. I get to talk with them and offer a different perspective. I love talking about Jesus, and I get to work with my hands. It’s all good!” • __________________________________________ Donate at christianapp.org/MtSpiritGive to help us continue to share these meaningful stories. Find out more about volunteering with CAP on our website at christianapp.org/volunteer