PITTSBURG, Kan. (BP) — Elijah “Touch” Touchton was a big believer in the big impact missions can have on a church.

Thirty-three years ago, Touchton and his son, Dave, went with a group to a Promise Keepers rally in Dallas. A pastor there talked about a friend who had bought a church building in a rough section of Fort Worth for $1 to start a homeless ministry. Considering his years in disaster relief, it’s no wonder a trip to see the building’s condition sparked something in Touchton to lend a hand.

“Dad looked at it and asked if we could bring a group to do some maintenance work,” said Dave. “They said that was fine, but they had no money to pay for it.”

No problem, his dad told them, so Dave Touchton joined his father and eight others for the return trip. They exchanged windows pocked with bullet holes for plexiglass, working under a deadline of 30 minutes before sundown because their safety couldn’t be guaranteed beyond that. The next morning one of the plexiglass windows already bore a new bullet hole, so it was promptly replaced.

The mission center continued to grow and impact the neighborhood, becoming what is now Beautiful Feet Ministries. Teams from the Southeast Kansas Baptist Association take three weekend mission teams in the winter. Kansas churches go on the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and then in February. A team from First Baptist Church in Joplin, Mo., goes in between, this year landing on Jan. 24-26.

Elijah Touchton died on March 30, 2023, at 81 years old. He had no major health concerns but simply went to bed and never woke up, his son said.

“He just lived for Christ and bridged the gap well between church people and those who weren’t,” Dave Touchton said. “It became a priority for him to get people to go on those mission trips.”

The logic was that even though a difference was made in those in Fort Worth, the experience made its way back to small churches in the association. Participants from congregations in Chetopa, Independence, Mound Valley, Pittsburg, Coffeyville and many others continued serving and sharing with their neighbors.

It would require taking a day off work Friday, mainly for the nine-hour drive. Ministry projects — including major ones for construction and maintenance — fill Saturday. Sunday is spent attending church at Beautiful Feet before the return home.

Teams sleep at Victoria En Cristo Church, a short drive from Beautiful Feet. Steps like that, plus assistance from the association and other partners, keep costs to $30 per person, $50 per couple and $70 per family.

“You have to be over 10 years old and still breathing,” said Touchton, now pastor of First Baptist Chetopa who led a trip just last weekend. “We had an 82-year-old couple go with us last week. There is no ‘common’ description of who goes with us.”

One couple from Joplin went there, he said, years ago when they were dating. After getting married they remained active with Beautiful Feet and eventually started a homeless ministry of their own in Joplin.

“God has moved through this trip amazingly. I can tell story after story of God doing things in people’s lives you don’t see often,” Touchton said.

Last weekend, the Joplin team remodeled a room, worked on camera systems, hung lights and performed numerous maintenance projects. Personal changes accompanied cosmetic ones, though.

“It was life-changing,” said Faith Smilko, 21 years old and the administrative assistant at First Joplin.

“This was my second time to go, and I felt more comfortable sharing with the homeless we talked to on the street. There were so many, and we would pray with them, hand them a snack bag and invite them to church the next day. If they didn’t want to pray, I would write their name on my bracelet and promise to pray for them from home.”

First Baptist took 55 volunteers on the trip.

“Our group made really good connections with each other, too,” she said. “Afterwards we shared what we learned and what the Lord showed us. It was a special time.”

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Scott Barkley is chief national correspondent for Baptist Press.)