I live in Appalachia a few yards away from the Church of the Brethren on Longmeadow Road.

Raised in Appalachia, he was surrounded by Christians for whom faith was simply a way of life. Poor, socially conservative, the adults of Vance’s childhood found community and kinship here; as a child, he came to see that “God loved us, that He demanded our best but would forgive our worst.