Published: June 24, 2009 11:00 am      

No Separation Between Church and 'State'

One Man's Journey, Entry 9

On my vacation last week, I returned home to see my mother in a small community called Wyco Hollow, W.Va.

Never heard of Wyco, you say? Well, I'd tell you to "Google" it, but that would not turn up anything useful. Wyco, W.Va., if you search it, produces more than 39,000 hits. At least 38,980 items in those results are advertisements for lawyers, doctors and the like in and around Wyco. Around is the key word because no business of any sort calls Wyco home. The closet thing to a business that exists would be the one-room post office that houses at least twice as many boxes as the community does residential customers.

But it's where I called home for the first 18 years of my life. It's where my parents continue to live, and my uncle and his family call home, too.

For the first time in many years, Wyco recently made news in our state. The Preservation Alliance of West Virginia's 2009 Endangered Properties List included the Wyco Community Church. Seven other properties were listed, and to a native West Virginian, all came from towns you've at least heard mentioned. So that people could recognize what area Wyco lies near, the state newspaper traveled 10 miles south of the community to say it was "near Mullens."

And I'm sure still some people - even W.Va. citizens - would say, "Where's Mullens?"

The church, which was built in 1917, was last in regular use nearly 10 years ago. I remember from my time at the old building. I spent many Sundays inside the building as a child, up until the mid-1990s when my family changed churches.

The quarter-mile stretch to get to the church is a slim grass path covered more with overgrown weeds and downed trees than any features of a road. Once there, however, you saw the dilapidated building in all its past majesty. A mound of concrete steps led into the main entrance of the church. Chunks of the concrete were missing; some from wear and tear, some from youthful mischief.

Inside, hardwood floors moaned when you walked around the beautiful church. The cherry-colored wood lay black and scuffed on the floor, matching the long pews covering the large inside room of the church. The centerpiece was a plain alter, but one that was ornately hand-crafted. A yellowed poster outlining the Ten Commandments and the Covenant decorated the wall directly behind the alter, signaling the time-tested truths the church had seen during its life.

For nearly eight decades, the church served as a meeting place where the community (or at least segregated parts of it until the '70s and '80s) could come together; it was a place of worship and fellowship. As Wyco - a once booming coal mining community - declined in population, interest in the community center did, too. That's why the church is in its current state.

In 2003, the church's ownership was transferred to the Rural Appalachian Improvement League. Under this organization's guidance, plans to restore the church are already underway. The hope of a restored church is not only to provide the community a new center for activities, but it is also to encourage tourism to the small town in W.Va.

This project would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of its leader, Dewey Houck. Houck has worked endlessly promoting Mullens and southern W.Va. His work allows for this restoration to come to life.

So why am I telling you about a church? Because in some ways, it is symbolic of my journey to a healthier lifestyle.

Like the church, I did nothing in terms of upkeep on my body for several years, thinking that eventually, things would improve. And like the church, it never did.

Sure, I had a few visitors along the way that encouraged revitalization. My doctors asked me to get healthier and offered suggestions, but I never took their advice. And like the community did with the church, talk about fixing its state was all that ever took place; the talk about fixing my body was as far as I allowed the restoration process to go with doctors.

That was until I found motivation, much like the drive in Houck has to restore his community and heritage. Now that I have that drive necessary to create change, something is actually happening to my body. Just like now that the community church has its catalyst, change is actually on its way to the community church where I was once a member.

In general, we can talk all we want about fixing things, be it a building, our body or anything else. But until we decide to take action, nothing will ever be done to fix it.

The time has come to turn talk into triumph. With the drive and motivation needed to do such, revitalization will come to both me and a church in my community.