West Virginia Pastor Stands Up to EPA
Pastor Mitchell Bias, of Delbarton, WV has found himself in the middle of state-wide controversy, and he has decided that the prayer is his and West Virginia’s best buddy. Several weeks ago, hundreds gathered in inside the West Virginia Capitol building to protest the recent U.S. EPA decisions that denied new mine permits. The acting Governor, Earl Ray Tomblin, chaired the “Rally for Coal” calling it “a rally about jobs, plain and simple. When you create an atmosphere of uncertainty, you hurt our economy. You hurt our jobs.” Pastor Bias led prayer at the gathering declaring that God placed coal on earth. His father and father-in-law were both coal miners for more than four decades. “As with other generations, I too have been blessed to be part of the incredible legacy of coal mining and coal miners. I know it well and I am very proud to be associated with the many aspects of this incredible natural resource. Coal has put food on the table for my entire life and it continues to do so. The industry is indeed the economic lifeblood for the people of West Virginia and throughout Central Appalachia.”
Bias argues for every coal mining job at least three additional jobs are created within other sectors of the economy. Coal also provides a reliable tax base for vital services that our local governments provide, such as fire and rescue, law enforcement and education. As a result, coal has sustained our communities over the course of generations, and without it our national, state and local economies would be completely crippled.
“For the past 32 years,” Bias says, “I have been blessed to serve a church in the town of Delbarton, a small, historic coal mining community in Southern West Virginia. Ours is a visionary congregation in providing ministry in over 30 different fields including a Christian school, regional television ministry, bus transportation outreach, House of Hope food distribution, Boy Scouts, state and world missions projects. These are impact ministries that are making a real difference to those who need them most. And every one of those life-changing ministries is dependent upon the base of charitable giving that is primarily made up of coal miners — people who not only fuel our nation’s energy needs, but also generously provide the funds for the benevolent ministries needed to heal the hurts of humanity in our part of the world.”
Coal fuels more than half of the nation’s energy demand, and with all that hinges upon the coal industry continuing unabated.
Doug Small and Claude King, a southern Baptist prayer leader recently responded to plea from the group “Faces of Coal” to lead a prayer rally attended by almost 100 pastors and the West Virginia Mining Association President. Both Small and King told the group, their answer was not in coal, but in God Himself. King suggested that God uses moments like these to sharpen our sensitivity to and dependence on Him. To correct and redirect. Small said that there are times when a community crisis emerges and the answer is found in the most unlikely place – the church itself. To God’s people, he gives the key, the answer to the crisis. He called on the pastors to hear from God and be an instrument to West Virginia and the nation.
(Source: Project Pray)
