Pastors, congregations key supporters in the search for Summer

Posted: Jun 27, 2021 / 09:51 PM EDT

Updated: Jun 28, 2021 / 05:35 AM EDT

HAWKINS COUNTY, Tenn. (WJHL) – Pastors and their congregations are showing up to aid in the search for missing 5-year-old Summer Wells in any way they can.

Mt. Carmel Freewill Baptist Church is serving a special purpose in the search by acting as a command post for hundreds of law enforcement, emergency workers and search crews to operate out of.

“It’s a great honor for us,” Mt. Carmel Freewill Baptist Church Pastor Terry Roberts said. “They’ve got all their computers set up to run all the checks they need to run that way they can get people out in crews.”

Roberts said his church has provided food, drinks and welcomed crews into their fellowship hall with open arms while they work around the clock.

“Some of the guys I’ve seen down there it’s been sometimes they’ve been down there two or three days, and I don’t know when they’ve slept,” Roberts said. “Every time I’ve been down there they’ve been down there.”

Meanwhile, his church has moved services to Tri-Cities Baptist Camp. Mt. Carmel isn’t the only church helping out in whatever way possible, Mill Creek Baptist Church provided desserts to search teams on Saturday.

“We had some some of our people from our church go to different area grocery stores to get some desserts,” Mill Creek Baptist Church Pastor Calvin McCray said. “We took them all down here yesterday for them.”

McCray said it’s what’s written in the Bible that has lead his congregation to help out.

“The Bible says caring one for another that that’s our job is to carry one another’s burdens and that’s just a small price that we’re supposed to do as Christians,” McCray said.

“The great thing is we’ve all come together as a community and as churches all working together to try to make this bad situation as good as possible,” Roberts said.

Summer Utah-Moon Wells went missing on Tuesday, June 15 around 6:30 p.m., and has been the subject of an AMBER Alert since the morning of June 16. Search crews have been working each day in the nearby area since her disappearance.

You can see a full timeline of the major developments in the Search for Summer Wells by clicking here.

The TBI AMBER Alert reports Summer’s appearance as follows: