Strip Mine Jesus: Hope for the Rural Church, Small Towns, and Overlooked Places

by Charles E. Cotherman

Many young people entering ministry believe success requires them to leave their communities. After all, the fastest-growing congregations and highest-profile ministries are in big cities or their wealthy suburbs, aren't they? But Jesus didn't ignore the small, the exploited, or the overlooked--and neither should his followers.

In Strip Mine Jesus, pastor and executive director of the Center for Rural Ministry Charles E. Cotherman challenges our assumptions through stories that showcase the power and beauty of a faithful presence in seemingly "insignificant" places. Drawing on his lifetime of experience in rural communities and churches, Cotherman demonstrates the outsized impact we can have when we have the courage to stay, root where we're planted, and serve God with joy.

Whether your community is rural or in the rust belt, whether you're surrounded by endless corn or abandoned mining operations, Jesus still sees you and has a plan for your ministry. Discover how you can make a difference right where you are--starting now.

240 pages, Paperback

Published August 4, 2026

About the author

Charles E. Cotherman (PhD, University of Virginia) serves as executive director of the Center for Rural Ministry and assistant professor of biblical and theological studies at Grove City College. He is lead pastor of Oil City Vineyard Church, a congregation he and his wife planted in 2016 in a corner of rural western Pennsylvania they have always called home.

He writes on rural ministry, small-town America, church planting, the Christian Study Center movement, and American religious history. He has taught church history at Fuller Theological Seminary and Pittsburgh Theological Seminary. He also serves as a member of the Brookings-AEI Commission on US Rural Prosperity.

He writes regularly on Substack at "Strip Mine Jesus" and for The Center for Rural Ministry (www.ruralministry.org).

Reviews

[Eric]

Charlie Cotherman’s Strip Mine Jesus is the kind of book that slows the reader down and asks them to pay attention to the places they may have been taught to forget. Cotherman begins by sharing his own background and upbringing, inviting readers to remember the places that helped shape them. That invitation to remember will strike a chord with many readers as they begin to think about the time and place in which they were reared.

For me, it called to mind the dirt roads of backcountry Manitoba, where my grandfather would take me for walks after a morning of feeding chickens, calves, and pigs on the little farm where I stayed during summers as a child. Cotherman reminds us of the importance and beauty of these little forgotten places, and that the spaces we have inhabited and experienced are part of the greater, glorious creation designed and dearly loved by our Creator.

What makes Cotherman’s invitation compelling is not simply that he asks readers to remember where they came from, but that he treats ordinary places as spiritually significant. His writing presses readers to see memory, land, community, and discipleship as deeply connected, making the book especially valuable for those who have learned to overlook the small places that formed them.

I would recommend Strip Mine Jesus to readers who are interested in place, memory, Christian discipleship, and the spiritual value of ordinary communities. It is especially fitting for those who have left small places behind—or who are wondering how to love them more faithfully. The book is a call to give attention and intention to these little, small places: to see the value the Creator places on them, to invest in them, and to resist the impulse to divest ourselves of them in search of something greater.

[Diana Micklos]

As one who pastored a small rural church that was about a mile and a half from the strip mine mentioned in the book, Strip Mine Jesus, I am very familiar with the challenges and joys of rural ministry. Most of the subjects addressed in the book are ones I wrestled with as I ministered in my rural church. I accepted the assignment to this small congregation with aspirations of bigger and better things. However, after 20 years in Fern, PA, I wish that I had had the encouraging words and insights offered in this book early on in my ministry as it may have saved some painful lessons.

I recommend this book to anyone in rural ministry, but especially for those who are just starting out.

Rev. Mark Micklos (retired)