Background
He claimed that his earliest memory was of his mother nursing his illness by holding a whisky soaked rag to his mouth.
He claimed that his earliest memory was of his mother nursing his illness by holding a whisky soaked rag to his mouth.
He became known throughout the Southern Appalachian region for his work to transform the region"s culture of violence and promote basic education. As a young man he witnessed and was caught up in the violence, alcoholism and ignorance of his impoverished and then isolated Buffalo Mountain community. Unable to attend school for much of his childhood he often resorted to violence and began drinking heavily.
But upon witnessing a massacre at a court house he vowed to quit drinking and entered law enforcement.
He returned to high school at the age of 30 in the same one room school as his 6 year old son. He soon became known for his very warm and personal preaching style and was in demand by established churches throughout Virginia and the Eastern United States.
His desire however was to return to his Appalachian community to help eradicate the violence and ignorance that was so pervasive. Through his 40 years of ministry he built and led congregations at six famous “Rock Churches” of which five of remain in the towns of Meadows of Dan, Bluemont, Buffalo Mountain, Slate Mountain, Dinwiddie and Willis.
His congregations did much to bring education and economic development to the Buffalo Mountain area of Floyd County, Virginia.
In the 1950s Childress was leading services in fourteen churches a week and traveling tens of thousands of miles a year. His life was chronicled in a book titled The Manitoba Who Moved A Mountain.