ANDREA HORSCH grew up in a small village called Mt Sterling, a few miles outside of Zanesville Ohio. She was grieved, as she grew up, to see her town sink deeper and deeper into economic depression, as many factories, like the one her father worked for, closed down.

Feeling pretty hopeless about the Appalachian region of Ohio, and feeling called to ministry with people in poverty, Andrea fled to Kentucky Christian University to study mission, with the goal of serving God and the poor as far away from Southeast Ohio as humanly possible.

Much to her surprise, God changed Andrea’s feelings about her homeland through a series of events, lessons, and new friends. During her sophomore year, Keith Wasserman spoke in one of her classes. He talked about God’s concern for justice, and the work he and the Good Works staff were doing with people in poverty. Andrea was compelled to join the work God was accomplishing through His people so close to her home.

She fell in love with the people and atmosphere of Good Works, and came to love and appreciate her own culture for the first time. After graduating from college, Andrea and her husband, Ben (who now teaches 7th grade science in Parkersburg, WV), left jobs and job opportunities in Kentucky to move back to Athens in faith that this is where God wanted them.

Andrea is currently serving as the Director of Care-Giving at the Timothy House. She enjoys her work there and is grateful for the opportunity to meet and minister to her neighbors during these most difficult moments of their lives.

Andrea and Ben have found that Psalm 68:6 is true, that “God sets the lonely in families.” Together, they are seeking to be the kind of family God uses to embrace the lonely people around them.

When Ben and Andrea aren’t getting into adventures, watching movies, or cooking together, Andrea spends her free time painting, reading and writing.

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