You
can't put it in words what it was like just knowing that something's getting ready to happen
when I try to explain it to people I can't there's no words for it it's just something you have to experience
what's happening is a story you know what's happening has never happened before
why did it start here I've asked myself that many times why here of all the places in the world why here
you
you've ever traveled other places you know that people will say where are you from and when you would say Clay County it was like oh Clay County
the reality was that Clay County per capita was one of the most deadly counties in the state
Appalachia sort of has this sense about it that is different from a lot of other places
our county was actually formed because of the cattle wars
not long after that we were so violent the state of Kentucky didn't know what to do with it so they tried to disband us
mountain people are the best people in the world they'll do anything in the world for it as long as you don't bother
you mind your business you be a neighbor to be a friend to they'll help you anyway but now they'll kid you if you mess with it
I can recall going to a house and seeing a guy that it looked it appeared like had been shot from a distance of 40 feet right up to against him
I was assassinated
and I can remember that there was nobody that would tell you what was going on there was nobody that would talk
about it. 200 years of violence, poverty, shame, feuds, 200 years of that
When I first came on this job in the middle 80s you know it started covering this broader territory one of the things that I would hear about was that Clay County had the reputations being particularly corrupt
the elections were bought and paid for and so they knew their vote didn't count so they didn't go out and vote
they never want to do anything legal they've made a good living out of it and here you are broke down with nothing
it was just so discouraging
there's something that is not right when you can deal drugs on every corner in Manchester
they would bust somebody take them on the courthouse sale and before they got their paperwork filled out they were back out and a lot of them never went back to court
I don't think anybody realized the extent of the corruption
the daily fight against drugs were just about I thought a losing battle
we had at that time communities every community filled with drug dealers I mean that's what we had
they were selling a lot of pills, marijuana, cocaine, every drug imaginable was in our county and you know I saw a lot of these kids going down that road
Smiletown nothing to do you have to entertain yourself
for a long time you know it was it was marijuana it was cocaine it was Quailudes you know pills like that
but it was sort of seen as the bad people what really started happening after oh after 99, 2000, 2001
when you started seeing the daughters of the school superintendents and the sons of the mayors and I mean it was the you know the good kids
who started to have drug problems and that really was a wake up call for a lot of people
that it sort of moved from what was seen as a trailer park problem on the main street
and it finally just got I mean it just got terrible it just you just can't imagine
it was just so bad and so it was almost like every day you walk outside and it's just like on a cloudy day it's just dark
the general breakdown of the families have just been devastated blown apart
I can remember my dad going down the road and me and the pastor seat making me lay down to shoot through the car at the guys that shot his brother
we arrested five individuals in one household and we had an opportunity to talk to the mother of that household
she said I have nothing I have no one I have nowhere to look to look I'm scared to death she said I'm scared of my own kids
and we were really in denial about the drug problem we thought that we didn't really think that our kids were hooked
but it he began to escalate and they began to do things that were worse and worse and worse
and then it got to really be combative and there were no good times anymore
we used to grow Murrow One right up on that flat
Steve was probably one of the worst of the worst of the worst guys that you would ever want to tangle with or meet
no one wanted to be around him scared of him that was Steve Collin
my mom always said if a snake bit me it'd kill it
he was not afraid of anything leaving and breathing
what I would throw was a knife, a hatchet and a skill saw blade
in that point of life I decided that my only friend in life was my shadow
and so I never called anybody my friend because I knew my shadow wouldn't tell on me
I knew my shadow would be there with me through anything so therefore I found out early in life there was no friends
I was the most miserable human being that ever drawed a breath
I wouldn't tell you nothing on the inside I'd die with you but I wouldn't tell you my heart
but inside of me I was dying
I remember sitting there in that ice cold and just remembering a piece and thinking this is death
this is you know death sitting in and this is you know where they're going to find my body
so I came in one night and I told my wife I said well I saw mine today
and I said this is going to be over with pretty soon
I said she's not going to last two more weeks
I said we're going to have a resolution of this
because everything it was just crashing you know you would hear awful stories
I just couldn't get that girl off my mind
I just sat there and I thought you know I am so mad at you God
you have abandoned me you know I've heard about you all my life
and you know here this is what you had in store for me
you know this is going to be my life I can't take it
I pulled up the driveway and there was an ambulance and a bunch of people and stuff all around everywhere
and I walked up on the sidewalk to the front porch
and my brother-in-law was standing on the front porch
I was having like one class member OD a week
like it really got bad
I said Bill what's wrong he said it's Brandon he's gone
I said what do you mean he's gone he's dead
I said no can't be
As a community we did just spell we kind of stood back
and we had let the drug dealers rule our county
Good people sat back and did nothing
and I'm convinced that's a big part of our problem
we talk about how bad the darkness was
but the lack of the light was more of a problem than the darkness
Spiritually I think our county was fragmented because no pastor would dare venture outside his comfort zone
and try to seek fellowship especially with a pastor of another denomination
We had hid behind our church wall so long that nobody gave us any
that they didn't you know think anything about church we weren't a factor
I mean we had no hope there was nothing we could do
it was at the end and I mean like we said many times there's not going to be a next generation of Manchester
it's going to be over with everybody was leaving
and the ones that were staying half of them were dying
who wants to live in a place like that nobody nobody wants to live in a place like that
so we were losing all of our good people
and everybody said well this is a good place to live
the truth was it really wasn't a very good place to live
so that's where we've been up till a few years ago
when God came to town and began to change things
and then one day a little Methodist guy that's not here anymore
that looked like Mr. Rogers you know what Mr. Rogers looked like
I mean all he needed was a little sweater in the song
he's just a meek good man
got up and he said we need to pray this morning for God to expose the darkness
you have to get people in your community that are God fearing
you have to be faithful you have to pour your heart out
and that's what a lot of good people here did
it's in those their darkest moments that really those prayers were answered
it's not been without any consequence to the church
to step out on faith and say we need to change
I was scared there were lots of times that I was scared for my pastor
got phone calls before church
I was nearly accosted one night at the park
in some ways they threaten people's livelihoods
to say that we're going to do something about this horrendous drug problem
a lot of people had an economic stake in that horrendous drug problem
I had a bad feeling about it I was afraid something bad would happen
about five minutes to seven this guy named Rick walks in
he's got a long trench coat on
and when he came in I just knew that there was going to be trouble
through his coat back he pulled a pistol out
and at the time it looked like the barrel was about that long
and he just stuck it up under my nose he said I'll blow you away preacher
everyone here has paid a price
and as we put down our feet we felt like Martin Luther King and all of them had to have felt
as they were taking their land back
you took sides that day and either you were going to side with corrupt government
or you're going to side with God
the officials that was watching us they were parked in cars along the way
you know just it's almost like you knew they were taking your name but you didn't care
when the pastors got to the to the march and we repented of our sin
and everything changed something changed
John Becknell says God tabernacled here
and I don't know any other way to say that he really did
for so many years so many people judged Clay County in Manchester
and didn't think that hope was possible
well that day sparked hope and it sparked a new kind of belief in eastern Kentucky
that they turned our camp in town around
there's not a doubt in my mind it did
it was just as if the evil spirits had truly been chased away
there's just a state of mind of people now that wasn't here before
you know we're seeing social change, political change, spiritual change and economic change
every week they're busting drug dealers and getting them out of the county
what has been the most inspirational to me about Clay County Kentucky is to change lives
I can honestly say now that I have witnessed a miracle greater
than the raising of Lazarus from the dead
when you think there is no value in a person or no worth in a person
then you need to step back and look at Steve Collin
he's probably been responsible for leading more people to Christ than any preacher in this county
he has touched hundreds of people
if he can change me and Steve he can change anybody
anybody
we can talk about it for days and days and can't really get really across what else happened to you
we're part of something that's bigger than us
and that's something that's going to change everything this could change the whole country
it's just something God's doing we feel like we've got a tiger by the tail
this is the centerpiece of this whole thing is that God has come to this community
everywhere you look and every way you look at it
there's no downside it's a win-win
thank you Jesus that you have allowed me to be a little part of this
