IMB workers Alex and Marilyn Snowden* were excited when they were issued new 10-year visas for their East Asian country at the beginning of this year. It wasn’t until COVID-19 began closing borders and limiting international travel that they realized just how uniquely God had positioned them.

Snowden and his wife have served with the IMB since 1991 when they were sent out by Mount Harmony Baptist Church in Knoxville, Tennessee. Snowden was first called to ministry at Cumberland Homestead Baptist Church in Crossville, Tennessee. In all their years of ministry, Snowden said they’ve never been through a season with as much disruption and uncertainty as the pandemic has caused.

At a time when many overseas workers had to leave their countries of service due to visa issues or problems caused by the pandemic, the Snowdens were able to stay with their local Asian church and help them serve their community throughout the crisis. When a businessman from their church said he was joining a fundraising effort to help donate food to people in need, Snowden was excited. He knew people in their community who had lost their jobs due the economic shutdown resulting from COVID-19’s spread, and he saw it as a great way for their church to reach out.

He never imagined, however, that what started as a simple effort to help a few families would grow into a feeding program that has raised the equivalent of $30,000 and has helped more than 500 families each week.

Their church wasn’t alone in joining the effort. Several local congregations from different denominations came together, which Alex said was an encouraging show of unity.

“All the churches came together, and no one was trying to outdo anyone else. No one was trying to put their name forward more than anyone else. It was just a good cooperative effort,” he said.

Each church took on the responsibility of delivering the food to their neighborhoods. At the beginning, the Snowdens’ church only handed out a few grocery boxes a week. Word spread about the relief efforts though, and the church’s distribution list gradually grew.

Meeting the physical needs has opened doors for the church members to build relationships and start meeting the spiritual needs of their neighbors as well.

One family who lives close to the church is a single mother raising four children because her husband is in jail overseas. The church has been able to help her find work, as well as share the gospel and pray with the family multiple times.

Kids in another family call Snowden and the other church members the “amen” people because of how often they pray when they come over.

“Families have been very appreciative. We’ve been very well received, and we hope they’re seeing Christ in us,” Snowden said.

The feeding program has also opened the church’s eyes to needs in their community they weren’t aware of before. For example, the church currently only has an English service because English is a main language spoken in their country.

However, as church members met their neighbors through the feeding program, they realized many people who lived around the church spoke another language. To really reach the community around them, they realized they needed to start another service in this language.

“The feeding program has been a great encouragement to us, because we see the opportunity to grow our church,” Snowden said. “Also, the best way to disciple people is to walk beside them as you go and do ministry, and that’s what we’ve been able to do here.”

*Names withheld for security