Jerry Newsome remembers the moment about 20 years ago when he stood in a men’s prayer circle and another man mentioned that he was preparing to receive two foster children from a bad situation. A 10-year-old boy happened to be standing right next to him in the circle, too.
“And this was his prayer, ‘God, thank you for the bed that I slept in last night,’” Newsome recalled. “I was close to 50 years old, and I’d never in my life thanked God for the bed that I had slept in. Really, that prayer always burned in my heart.”
What began as a whispered prayer that day in the prayer circle continued to work on Newsome’s mind and heart. But it wasn’t until his daughter asked him to build a small bed to house his granddaughter’s American Girl doll in 2013 that Newsome returned to the idea of being thankful every night to have a place to rest his head for sleep. He realized that many others, especially children, weren’t as fortunate.
“So, I stopped and sat down in my chair out there (in his garage workshop) and started praying,” he said.
The Bed Ministry began in October 2013, and Newsome trusted God to show him the way to raise money and provide for the ministry. In late June, the Bed Ministry produced its 1,000th bed. The total since 2013 broke down like this: 776 twin beds, 207 bunk beds, nine full-size beds, and seven toddler beds.
The beds aren’t fancy – simply a wooden headboard and frame – yet they provide needed comfort to those who don’t have a place to sleep. The beds don’t take long to build, typically around a half hour. Having a bed is something that many of us take for granted.
During the first year of the ministry, Newsome and volunteers produced about 15 beds, and last year, they produced about 175. Some are bunk beds, while others are single beds. The ministry supplies the bed frame, mattress, linens, and pillows to those in need. English Home Furniture donates the mattresses.
“We’ve been all over western Kentucky,” Newsome said. “We’ve got beds in every county in the Purchase Area. And then we’ve got beds in Livingston County, and we’ve got beds in about seven different missions in eastern Kentucky.”
When the ministry began, Newsome took the first set of beds to eastern Kentucky. “I had no idea that this thing would be what God’s done with it,” he said. “I never dreamed in all my life that I’d be starting a ministry like this.”
After he took beds to a mission in eastern Kentucky, word slowly got out in western Kentucky. Melissa Elrod, director of the family resource center at Central and Benton elementary schools in Marshall County, called Newsome to tell him that she needed two beds for children. She had asked around and not found any options.
“So we talked, and after I got off the phone, I said, ‘OK, God, let’s answer the prayer,’” Newsome recalled. “Because I was praying how in the world am I going to find these needs. These resource center directors in the school systems deal with everyone in every county, and they really know the needs in these counties.”
Elrod said it’s nice to know that she can call on Newsome and the Bed Ministry to meet needs within a few days. She recalled the story of one boy, a second-grader, who listened to storytime in class about monsters under the bed. He looked up at his teacher and told her that he couldn’t have monsters because he didn’t have a bed.
The teacher told Elrod, and she contacted Newsome to find a bed for the boy. The boy had been falling asleep in class and putting his head down on his desk. Elrod located a bed through the ministry over the summer and helped his family. She asked his third-grade teacher in the fall if he fell asleep or put his head down. The teacher said no. “You don’t think about that, about how getting a good night’s sleep affects these students,” she said.
Newsome recalled talking with one grandmother whom he helped. She also had looked for affordable options for beds when she had to take in her two grandsons, and she found nothing that she could afford. Newsome and his ministry provided beds.
“We delivered one over in Livingston County to a 17-year-old boy,” Newsome said. “He wrote me a letter that said that was the best night of sleep he’d ever had. He’d never had anything new. All he’d ever had were hand-me-downs.”
The ministry doesn’t push denominational doctrine on the recipients. The ministry actually draws from several denominations, and Newsome said the volunteers all agree on spreading Jesus’ love rather than indoctrination about a particular denomination.
“Afterward, we talk to them about a relationship with Christ,” Newsome said. “Their life is priceless.”
Volunteers also come from all walks of life. Newsome worked in maintenance at a Calvert City plant before he retired. Neal Cole, another volunteer, is a retired school superintendent from Illinois. Others have worked as pilots or engineers, among other professions.
“One of the joys of working with the Bed Ministry is the people you work with,” Cole said. “We all come from, like I said, about seven or eight different denominations. We lift up the name of Jesus, but we don’t try to push our denomination. And that’s been a real blessing.”
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Donations may be sent to Bed Ministry, 6830 Scale Road, Benton, KY 42025. Donations are tax-deductible. More information about the Bed Ministry may be found at bedministry.org.
