Bryan Wheble has been the Pastor at Revival Vision Church of God in Maynardville for five years. In his time within the community, he has been a part of many projects working toward growth in drug and alcohol education in youth and families.

Pastor Bryan has served as a representative of the faith community on the iCare Coalition the five years he has been with the church. In this position, he has helped with many events including Red Ribbon Day at Horace Maynard Middle School, rallies, and a mock car crash at Union County High School (UCHS) promoting substance abuse education. He coordinated a Fifth Quarter Fellowship event at UCHS basketball games providing youth with an alternative event after the game with pizza, a live band, as well as demonstrating anti-drug and alcohol goggles, cornhole games, and handing out informational packs to parents and families.

Experience that Pastor Bryan brings to the iCare Coalition is strong in the drug and alcohol education sector. In the past, he was in Campbell County assisting with the DARE Program in every school countywide. He has been involved in this kind of thing for quite some time. iCare was a natural outlet for him to be involved in because they share the same goals and the programs are parallel to the ones led at the church in general.

iCare is a drug, alcohol, and tobacco education program to teach children, teenagers, and parents about these issues and try to prevent them from going in that direction. Through the years, the program has been running in many different ways always with the goal of deterring kids from these negative activities. The coalition meets once a month at Revival Vision. At meetings, members share programs they have accomplished as well as plans of implementation, working together to reach goals that will qualify for grants and funding.

The vision for his church is “Reviving Hearts, Reviving Homes, Reviving Hope” for the community, which all falls in sync of leading families into maturity and creating good experiences together. In the past, many events that the church has held were in the same line of work as iCare. As a part of the Stand in the Gap program, the church has provided drug testing kits to families. These were provided to the church and to iCare at the time. The program was called “Give me a reason.” Parents got drug test kits and would tell their children that they would spontaneously give them the test, the idea being that if the kid is being peer pressured, they can use it as a reason or excuse to avoid falling under the influence. Peer pressure is weakened or downright eliminated. Those kits are no longer available.

Another large community project led by the church is an emergency food pantry which is specifically call by appointment. The focus is not to be a full-service pantry because there are many locally already in existence. Sometimes people need food because the pantries are only open on specific days and hours and, occasionally that may not fall in the time that there is a food need, unfortunately. The emergency stock can provide a two to three-day food supply. This program is funded completely by the church people bringing food donations. The very successful program is led by Elsa Marra. Just last year, overall the pantry provided about fifty meals for families. Pastor Bryan says, “The goal is not to feed the community but rather to be a helping hand in the time of need.”

The church invited the health department to hold a workshop concerning children at risk. The service provided information on dangerous phone apps and children trafficking including related dangers.

Recently, Revival Vision held a treasure hunt, filling the sanctuary with boosts and prizes. While the goal of the church was to promote Christ, iCare provided information and prizes for all the children in attendance, working together to reach goals of both organizations. Partnering as organizations through active events is a focus of the coalition.

Pastor Bryan states that, “Substance abuse is running rapid in our community, illegal and prescription.” He says there are two ways to assess how to fix the issue. “It is not only a physical issue, but also a spiritual issue,” he stated. Being a pastor, he is looking at both aspects. With the physical attribute, the goal is to go ahead and provide as much education as can be to children specifically. He feels that there is a need in teens, but the education should initially begin the elementary aged children. Prevention should be stressed at this age because they are so impressionable. By the time they are teenagers, many have already been involved or exposed. Spiritually he feels there is a power in prayer. He believes God answers prayers and still does miracles today in people's lives. He says that this is the larger of the two issues. “The addiction manifests itself in the physical realm, but it is hard to fight a war physically when it is really more than a physical fight. A lot of times we fall short of what is needed. We are only looking at it from only one view,” he believes. Seeing both views is a strength he brings forth as a faith-based representative in iCare. He addresses these issues in his church and in the community but when he partners, he provides help personally with them in any way he can as well.

He feels that if there is really a want for change to be made, that it needs to be done so in our children and now. He is not giving up hope for those who are older, but “if you are going to change a generation, you have to make the change while they are children,” he proclaims.

Pastor Bryan believes that what you look at the most will become the strongest in your life. Working with his church, iCare, and other community organizations, he is investing his all in the youth of our community through drug and alcohol education.