One hundred twenty days ago, Amy Coyle and Jennifer Sprayberry, founder and co-founder of God’s House of Hope, purchased the former Montgomery County Elementary School from the Winona-Montgomery Consolidated School District.
Coyle and Sprayberry, along with Rebecca Johnson, the director of the new GHOH Kilmichael, came in bright-eyed ready to get to work and see Jesus work – and they did. In less than four months, classrooms that were painted yellow and were adorned with the Montgomery County Hornets mascot, painted with planets, books, math problems, have now been turned into dormitories, a worship room, staff housing and housing for the board of directors, Johnson and her family, Sprayberry and Coyle.
There’s still work to be done – lots of it – but Johnson took a break to give a tour of the campus to see all of the progress they’ve done. On Feb. 20, five months from closing on the purchase of the building, God’s House of Hope will open its doors in Kilmichael.
“It’s changed a lot hadn’t it?” Johnson asked. “There has been so much work done since you last came.” Johnson said volunteers have worked from 7:30 a.m. until 9 p.m., working 16-hour days to transform classrooms. In one of the rooms that’s being transformed, a dry-erase board still has encouraging quotes on it to motivate students to do their best.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail,” one of the quotes read. Another one says, “Integrity: has no need of rules” by Albert Camus. Another one, “An investment of knowledge always pays the best interest.”
“We still have to cover up the boards in here,” Johnson said.
She said it’s easy to get caught up in what has to be still done and miss what has been done.
“It’s encouraging to have people come through here, that’s never been here or has been here but hasn’t seen what we’ve done so far and to hear them say ‘Oh my! Look how much work has been done.’ Because, all I can think about is, we still have a lot to do.”
It’s not as many workers has it has been at GHOH Kilmichael, but they have been working nonstop still.
“Everyone that was with us when we first started, a lot of them are no longer with us. It’s just who we started with. But, that’s okay because the people that God wants to be a part of this, He’ll bring them in,” she said.
The Town of Kilmichael is still pouring out love and helping hands. Members of Kilmichael Baptist Church, one of the many churches that have came aboard with aiding God’s House of Hope has two dorms – one of the men, done by the male Sunday School class and one for the women.
Families whose loved ones have completed the program at GHOH have returned and dedicated rooms so new people will find a newfound love in Jesus and lives will be changed.
“The lady who did the Joshua room’s son went through our program and now she’s come back and is doing a room for him,” Johnson said. “And the room that says ‘Timberstrong’ her daughter went through the program and her husband became sick and died, that’s how her daughter’s addiction started, after her father’s death. Now they’ve come back and did a room.”
Families who have lost loved are also dedicating rooms to new souls that will saved in honor of their loved ones.
The family of Marlee Jones, who died in March 2019, dedicated a room at GHOH to Marlee, fittingly called “The Marlee Room.” The room, painted all pink, is in the women’s wing and will house women who now have the opportunity to take a new path, saving their lives and living again.
In the corner of the room, hangs a picture of Jones with a simple caption above, painting on a rustic wood canvas – Choose Kindness. The Jones family also left journals the women will be able to use throughout their journey at GHOH.
“They poured their heart and soul into this room,” Johnson said.
Diagonally across the hall, the family of Jessica Lofton who died in November, is preparing to transform a room, that will called the Jessica Lofton room, for women who will have a chance to take a new path to sobriety.
Johnson said to see people pour back into GHOH is a blessing within itself.
Sprayberry put it in words that many people wouldn’t think about. “You saw it from the beginning, there were desks everywhere, garbage, it was a mess. And we took it one room by one room, day by day. And Jesus does us the same way. When we let Him in, He goes in and He begins to clean us up. And it hurts, and you get tired and you get weary, but it’s worth it. It’s a process and you have to trust it.”
She said one day, while cleaning in September she said an encounter that changed her. “We were in that office and you remember how hot it was in September? I was in that office over there cleaning it out and there was no air conditioning. It was the hottest I’ve ever been,” Sprayberry said. “And right there in that room, the Lord revealed a lot to me about my ugly heart and I’m forever grateful to Kilmichael for that. It changed my life forever.”
Johnson said it’s a bit overwhelming at times and hard but in the end it’s all worth it. “To know that people are going to come and their lives are going to be changed is all worth it. If one person walks out those doors and their lives have been changed forever, it’s all been worth it.”
