PULASKI, Tenn. — Those leading and volunteering at CB Outreach in Pulaski want their unity to show the world the truth of Christ.

No competition. No tension. No barriers. Just a building in the center of a mission field.

First Baptist Church (FBC) Pulaski pastor Tony Gomillion organizes the outreach’s mission around Jesus’ prayer in John 17:23: “May they be made completely one, so the world may know You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.”

“It is a part of the answer to that prayer,” Gomillion said.

FBC Pulaski, the ministry’s catalyst, originally bought the 10,000-square-foot property to expand its parking. But in the summer of 2015, the church formed a vision team and began brainstorming other uses for the facility.

After meeting with other churches in the area, leaders decided to create a “base of operations” for practical Christian outreach in Giles County.

They named it CB Outreach, a nod to the building’s previous life as the Duncan CeeBee grocery store.

FBC Pulaski led the funding effort for the building’s renovation and by September 2018, construction was complete. Six churches spanning several denominations joined together to launch the ministry.

Today, they have more church partners all of whom affirm an evangelical Statement of Faith. They can use the property only for outreach activities that involve at least two Christian churches and include sharing the gospel.

Pulaski sits in a heavily agricultural and automotive-manufacturing region.

Giles County has about 30,000 residents, with roughly 9,000 living inside the city limits.

Many local families face low incomes, drug-related struggles and broken homes — factors that drive up the need for foster care, Gomillion said. From 2020 to 2024, about 13% of the county’s population lived below the poverty line, according to census data.

Still, signs of growth are emerging. A new subdivision is under construction, and the University of Tennessee Southern has become a prominent presence in the community.

“Pulaski is in a time of, I think, sustained growth that’s coming,” Gomillion said. “So in the grace of God, He’s put us here as a group of churches and as a ministry at CB Outreach to connect with folks.

“They’re really good people,” he added. “I think they have a heart to be a part of the community.”

Kelley Garrett has lived in Pulaski for 18 years and now serves as CB Outreach’s director. She credits her church community with keeping her rooted in the small town.

“I found my community in my church, and that’s what has kept me here — my community, my friends,” Garrett said. “That’s why I stayed, and it’s because of my church.”

Gomillion praised Garrett’s leadership. “Kelley is the most focused, organized, passionate leader that we’ve had of this ministry,” he said. “A lot of what’s going on right now is because of Kelley.”

Garrett said the work has changed her. “I have grown tremendously from it. The more I do, the more I want to do. And with CB, it gives me an outlet to grow and do more,” she said, adding that she was surprised by the depth of need in the community. “It gives me reason to want to do more.”

Meeting practical needs

Free community meals every Thursday have become one of the ministry’s most visible offerings. In 2025, CB Outreach served more than 10,000 free meals.

They also provided 59 free back-to-school haircuts, offered free dental care to 129 patients, and delivered 250 free Thanksgiving and Christmas meals to families in need.

“We have over 100 volunteers from various churches that do the meals week to week,” Gomillion said. “We have over 150 volunteers that minister regularly out of CB to our community every month in the name of Christ. So that’s pretty cool.”

The ministry’s Wrap Closet program additionally served 226 foster children and 102 families.

The Wrap Closet

The Wrap Closet began as a prayer from Andrew Maddox, FBC Pulaski’s pastor of children’s ministry and the program’s coordinator, who wanted to reach people outside his church’s walls.

Through conversations and meetings with local agencies, Maddox came to understand the depth of need among foster families, children and Department of Children’s Services caseworkers.

“This is what they needed,” Maddox said, gesturing toward a long room lined with clothing racks and boxes of shoes, furniture and baby supplies — nearly all of it new or gently used.

The name Wrap stands for the ministry’s mission: wrapping around foster families to love them in Christ, Maddox explained.

“This is probably 90% brand-new stuff,” he said. “The first kid that came in and got stuff said, ‘This is not for me. There’s tags on it.’ And we thought, we’re making sure they have stuff with tags.”

The Wrap Closet opens once a week, from 5-7 p.m. Thursdays, alongside the free community meal. A team trained to share the gospel works in the closet and interacts with visitors.

Each foster child receives an allotment of five outfits per quarter, along with other items as needed.

But more than the supplies, Maddox said, it’s the community supporting the community that matters most.

He recalled one local grandmother, 83 years old and blind in one eye, whose granddaughter dropped off a child on her doorstep before leaving the state. The grandmother found herself desperate for baby supplies.

“We made it happen, and we went up there, and my son played with the kids on the floor, and I prayed with her, and I put together beds,” Maddox said. “So yeah, stories like that — upon stories like that — that we get to be a part of.”

Gomillion added, “They’re saying, ‘Hey, these are community members who we know care.’”

The ministry also works closely each week with CarePortal, an online platform that connects the needs of foster families and social workers with willing donors. CarePortal receives donations through the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board.

“That helps because then we grab that need, we connect with the family, and then we’re in their home,” Maddox said.

Room to grow

Gomillion admits the building isn’t yet filled to capacity day to day. But he and other leaders envision expanding operations to include tutoring sessions with University of Tennessee Southern students, parent date nights, disabilities training, cancer support groups, and more.

“They have to involve at least two churches, because the unity vibe from the Lord’s high priestly prayer is ‘may they be one,’” Gomillion said. “So we’re trying to model for the community that He is bigger than any of us, that He is bigger than any one church, that He is the reason we’re here.”

Jacob Crum, the children’s ministry’s summer intern, said his time with CB Outreach has reshaped how he thinks about pastoral ministry.

“It’s been super encouraging to see that — because I plan to go into the ministry — that once I get into the ministry, it’s not all church offices and preaching on a Sunday, but getting out into the community and actually having people to interact with in and out of just the church building,” he said.

“It gives you something that brings joy to your life outside of, ‘I’m going to prepare a sermon for Sunday morning.’”

For now, the ministry leaders are asking for prayer — specifically, for new partner churches to join the effort.

“That God would raise up new partners. We need that to give us some new lifeblood and some additional help,” Garrett said. “I think that’s our biggest prayer request: new partners.” 

(EDITOR’S NOTE — This article originally appeared in the Baptist & Reflector.)