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Mission Immersion Weekend |
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Mission Immersion Weekend for March 15-16 has been canceled.
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Helena Delta
Christmas 2007
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| Ben and Leonora Newell and CBF’s Together for Hope sponsored
their annual Helena Delta Christmas
on December 13 at the Helena Community Center. 24 churches from
Arkansas and outside the state
participated along with 13 state and local organizations. The
Christmas celebration included a dinner,
musical presentations by local children, a presentation of the
Nativity Story, and the ministry project. 200
children received a coat, winter cap, gloves, a toy and a book.
Door prizes included sports equipment and
bicycles. 150 people served as volunteers for the event. Ben
Newell served as emcee and shared with
the community the importance of a personal relationship with
Jesus Christ. |
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Diverse partners work with Arkansas
community to improve local swimming pool |
By Carla Wynn Davis
CBF Communications
ATLANTA – When 100 children came to the Helena-West Helena community pool
for swim camp July 16-19, they entered through a new
pool house built by donations from Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship partner churches and individuals.
On June 22, the pool house was dedicated after thousands of donated work
hours and contributions from CBF partner churches. The
Fellowship has maintained a presence in Helena-West
Helena since 2002, when Ben and Leonora Newell, two of
CBF’s Global Missions field personnel, began working in
the community as part of Together for Hope, the
Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative in 20 of the
poorest counties in the United States.
Built in 1928, the former pool house was beyond repair. Last year Hayes
Barton Baptist Church in Raleigh, N.C., and First
Baptist Church of El Dorado, Ark., contributed $20,000
each toward construction of a new pool house, with the
city of Helena-West Helena providing another $10,000.
“The amazing part about this is we did it on a $50,000 budget,” said Ben
Newell. “Generous donations allowed us to stay on
budget.”
George Brasil, a member of Second Baptist Church in Little Rock, Ark.,
donated all the electrical work and supplies. Michael
Hall, a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Little Rock,
donated the tile and installation. Also crucial were
significant donations of time, such as that from Al
Jameson, a member of Trinity Baptist Church in Memphis,
Tenn., who drove a 180-mile roundtrip three times a week
for six weeks. As the project neared completion, Trinity
Baptist donated $4,800 that will go toward construction
of a shade pavilion by the pool house, Newell said.
The pool house couldn’t have been rebuilt without local involvement.
Several Helena-West Helena municipal departments helped
in the construction of the building and the recreation
department continues to provide lifeguards. Local
residents also chipped in like Bill Coad, a carpenter
who built all the louvers for the building. Local
residents also help teach swimming lessons. Julie Lewis
is leading lessons throughout the summer, Tina Overton
is leading water aerobics and other local volunteers
help, too.
This summer marks the fourth Together for Hope swim camp in Helena-West
Helena, where several years ago most of the population
in this city bordering the Mississippi River couldn’t
swim. In four years, more than 700 children have taken
swimming lessons at the camp, Newell said.
Among the first to use the pool house are this year’s
swim campers, including 100 children, 25 teens and
adults, and others who come for evening water aerobics
classes.
It’s been great,” Newell said. “Kids have been learning
to swim for the first time.”
And the camp couldn’t happen without nearly 60 members
from Hayes Barton Baptist Church; St. John’s Baptist
Church in Raleigh; Cornerstone Methodist Church in
Houston, Texas; Park Meadows Baptist Church in
Waxahachie, Texas; and Koinonia Church in Imboden, Ark.
And now with a new pool house, “we have the facilities
we need to improve program – our offering to the
community,” said Newell, who hopes to eventually develop
a swimming and health program in the community.
Summer ministry in Helena-West Helena peaks July 21-27
with the annual All Church Challenge, a weeklong
missions blitz that attracts Fellowship Baptists from
around the country and several hundred local children
and community members. Fourteen churches and
organizations brought 160 workers, and there were
another 75 local participants. Approximately 210
children and teens participated in All Church Challenge
– nearly 30 preschoolers, 150 children and more than 30
teenagers, Newell said. Also, 35 teens and adults are
taking swimming lessons.
To learn about ways your church can partner with CBF
field personnel, contact Karen Gilbert at (800) 352-8741
or kgilbert@thefellowship.info. For more on Together for
Hope, visit www.ruralpoverty.net.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches
who share a passion for the Great Commission and a
commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice.
The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and
churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given
mission.
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All Churches Challenge - Summer 2007 |
WOW! What a week in
Helena-West Helena our mission team experienced! Fifteen
of Pulaski Heights Baptist Church members went to serve
in a variety of projects with Together for Hope of CBF.
Working in the Kid’s Camp each morning were Harriett
Phillips, Gene and Lynn Blagg, Judy Moses with a special
boost from Kay and Darrel Coleman, Randy and Janet Hyde,
and Gerry and Julie Claybrook. Working in the Youth Camp
were Mallory Ferguson, Patrick Lee, and Molly Reynolds.
Working in the library was Edwina Mann. . Fellow
Arkansas Baptists from First Baptist Trumann and Second
Baptist, Little Rock lent a hand. We were also joined by
at least a hundred other volunteers from Texas,
Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia Baptist
churches.
I directed the music each day for Kid’s Camp. If anyone
had ever told me while I was in music school that I
would one day be learning and leading RAP songs, I’d
have said they were crazy! Ben and Leonora chose a great
curriculum for camp that had several rap songs and
motions to go along, and the kids loved them!
The Kid’s Camp served 150 children each day, the Youth
Camp 50, and the Pre-school Camp 50 as well. We worked
from 9 until 1 PM each day in a variety of settings. God
provided the blessing of a cool breeze to perk us up
when needed, plenty of cool water, and the energizing
spirit of all those children and their hugs and smiles.
Thanks to the youth who went to work this year and were
pioneers in the first Youth Camp. They gave valuable
insights into some ways to improve the camp next year
for Other volunteers came to Helena-West Helena for the
week to work in Bible School, in construction and
gardening projects, in the library, and with the Stories
on Wheels ministry the next round of workers. It could
very well be that our youth will work in Kid’s Camp next
year and enjoy this experience too! Thanks for going
with us!
A special additional treat was provided by EMOBA camp
led by Ernie Dodson of Second Baptist Church Little
Rock. EMOBA (Ernie’s Museum of Black Arkansans) brought
about 30 kids of all ages to Helena. They sang for the
camp and for community worship, and also helped lead the
camp songs each day. Thanks to Ernie, Jon, and Fretonsia
Dodson for their leadership.
Local churches were generous with their hospitality in
housing teams and helping to provide meals for workers.
We also shared in a joyful community worship celebration
at the Helena United Methodist Church that culminated in
taking the Lord’s Supper together. It was truly a
picture of community harmony and fellowship.
We pray that many of you who have not been able to go to
Helena will look ahead to next summer and plan to join
us. I believe Ben and Leonora are looking at the second
and third weeks of July for the two big volunteer
opportunities of All-Church Challenge. As Arkansas
Baptists we can also find other weekend trips throughout
the year to go and serve. God is truly blessing this
investment of service in the Delta!
Blessings,
Carolyn Staley
Minister of Education
Pulaski Heights Baptist Church
Little Rock, AR |
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Helena’s 3rd Annual TFH-FCA Basketball
Camp |
 The
3rd Annual Together for Hope-Fellowship of Christian
Athletes Basketball Camp started in Helena June 11th.
Over 50 young male teenagers are participating. Robert
Upshaw, with FCA in Little Rock, is the motivational
speaker. Former Hughes, AR High School Coach Jason
Carmichael heads up the camp. In addition to developing
their basketball skills, the participants are cleaning
up the neighborhood around the community center.
According to Ben & Leonora Newell, CBF’s TFH sponsors of
the camp, the goal is to help young people begin or
build upon their relationship with Jesus Christ. |
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Arkansas youth participate in camp
sponsored by CBF rural poverty ministry |
By Catherine Bahn and Carla Wynn
Davis
CBF Communications
ATLANTA – More than 50 teenage boys participated in a
camp June 11-14 in Helena-West Helena, Ark., that
focused on learning new basketball skills and about a
relationship with Jesus Christ.
 The
camp was sponsored by Together for Hope, the Cooperative
Baptist Fellowship’s rural poverty initiative, and
Fellowship of Christian Athletes. This is the third
summer that the traveling FCA team and local Together
for Hope workers have worked together to offer the
basketball camp.
“I’ve learned to let God take control of your life,”
said Dexter Davis, 13, who participated in the camp for
a third year. “I also learned how to dribble better and
how to play defense.”
As with previous summers, the teens participated in a
community service project, collecting more than 150 bags
of trash within a five-block radius of the city’s
community center. They honed basketball skills through
drills led by former Arkansas high school basketball
coach Jason Carmichael. Robert Upshaw, brother of former
National Football League player Willie Upshaw, also
challenged the teens to focus on a relationship with
Jesus Christ.
“We hope and pray that some of these young people will
improve their basketball skills and more importantly
begin a relationship with Jesus Christ or build upon
that relationship,” said Ben Newell, who serves with his
wife, Leonora, as CBF Global Missions field personnel in
Helena-West Helena.
TFH and FCA didn’t want campers to simply take home
polished basketball skills, but to also adopt a new
outlook on life.
“In an environment like this, kids conform to whatever,”
said FCA intern Sam Farris. “But then you notice kids
listening, and maybe changing their attitude.”
“I’m taking home a new me,” said Thomas Henry, 14. “I’m
going to try to be better.”
Since 2002, the Newells have ministered in Helena-West
Helena, which is located in Phillips County – one of the
20 poorest counties in the nation according to 1999
federal poverty statistics. The Newells address poverty
through a focus on empowering and encouraging local
community members to use their gifts and talents to
better the community. Each summer, several hundred
Fellowship Baptists and other Christians join the
Newells in a summer missions blitz in Helena-West Helena
called the All Church Challenge.
To learn about partnership opportunities with the
Newells and other CBF field personnel, contact Karen
Gilbert at (800) 352-8741. For more on Together for
Hope, visit www.ruralpoverty.net.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches
who share a passion for the Great Commission and a
commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice.
The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and
churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given
mission.
Catherine Bahn is serving in Helena-West Helena, Ark.
with Together for Hope this summer through Student.Go,
the Fellowship’s student missions program.
Photo information: A camp participant collects trash
around the community center. Catherine Bahn photo
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Together for Hope ministry in Arkansas
inspires local resident |
By Carla Wynn
CBF Communications
ATLANTA – Several years ago, Helena-West Helena, Ark.,
resident Tracy Davis needed something for her children
to do in the summer. She took them to a summer camp in
the community sponsored by Together for Hope, the
Cooperative Baptist Fellowship’s rural poverty
initiative. There she met Ben and Leonora Newell, two of
CBF’s Global Missions field personnel serving in
Helena-West Helena.
Davis said to herself, "I can … help with this summer
camp. Then I started talking with Leonora and a
relationship started. I started volunteering my time,
and then said, ‘This is what I am to do.’"
Now Davis works at the city’s community center, where
much of the Newell’s ministry is based. She helps with
the center’s after-school tutoring program, art project
called Imagination Station, and the Stories on Wheels
literacy bus that travels around Phillips County
promoting reading among children and families. After
years of consistent volunteering, she will become the
center’s recreation director, a position offered to her
because of her volunteer commitment.
"She’s the mother of the community center," Leonora
said. "She knows those kids inside and out."
Davis also goes with the Stories on Wheels bus to Kids
for the Future, a disability center where children come
aboard to hear a story, check out a book and interact
with volunteers like Davis.
As important as education is, Davis considers her
priority to cultivate spirituality among children.
"A lot of our kids do not hear the gospel," she said.
"The best thing we do with them is share the gospel ...
in a way they can receive."
Through the ministry, the children have also received
winter coats and each summer have the option to take
swimming lessons taught by Fellowship Baptists.
"The Newells have given so much to this community," she
said. "They are always giving. Their life, their
ministry is always giving. They don’t have a big
ministry, but we love them here. We really love them."
After many years in Atlanta, where she worked as a
nurse, Davis returned to her hometown to take care of
her ailing parents. Hesitant at first to move from a
large city back to Helena-West Helena, Davis thinks
differently after four years in Arkansas.
"There’s no better place to be at no better time than
right now when things are really moving," she said.
"I’ve seen such a turnaround. It’s awesome. You have to
see it. Sometimes I have to say, ‘Well, look out!’"
Through Together for Hope, the Cooperative Baptist
Fellowship addresses domestic rural poverty by coming
alongside rural communities in 20 counties across the
nation. For more information on Together for Hope, visit
www.ruralpoverty.net. To learn how your church can
partner with rural communities through CBF, call (800)
352-8741.
CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches
who share a passion for the Great Commission and a
commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice.
The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and
churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given
mission. |
Missions Immersion Weekend |
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83 participants in the Missions Weekend
65 participants in the Drum Circle led by Wilson Borovskis
6 Helena churches
Helena United Methodist
Body of Christ
New Light MBC
New Hope MBC
Delta Fellowship
Rock House Church
Cullowhee BC, Cullowhee, NC
Western Carolina University Baptist Collegiate Ministry, Cullowhee, NC
5 AR churches:
Second BC, LR
FBC, El Dorado
Fianna Hills BC, Ft. Smith
FBC, Mountain Home
Koinonia Christian Fellowship, Imboden |
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Swimming Pool House |
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West Helena Community Gardens |
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