Train Up a Child in the Way He Should Go...
By Rita Kay Driggers
As a child in the 1940’s, I attended a Fort Worth church where my parents had been married by Baker James Cauthen, who later headed the Foreign Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention for many years. Between Sunday School, BTU and GAs, I received lots of mission information and thought I might become a missionary “when I grew up.” I was aware from that early age that my parents did NOT want me to go to Africa, and probably neither did I! My, my, how times have changed!
On June 28 when the Trinity Baptist Mission Team boards a plane for Ghana, West Africa, six of the 19 travelers will be teenagers with their sights set on providing Vacation Bible Schools at three different sites in the northeastern Yendi region served by the Reverend Emmanuel Mustafa. While the local children are in school, these teens will also pitch in to help with other activities: medical screenings, roofing a building which houses a school/church/recreation center, and serving as God’s emissaries from TBC to the people of Ghana. Not only are their parents allowing them to go to Africa, but in some cases they are actually going with them!
Sarah and Katie Smith, students at San Antonio Christian School, will be travelling with their parents, Ken and Brenda Smith. Tanner LaRocque, Reagan High School freshman, will be travelling with his mother, Jeanine, and Kyle Bruchmiller, Texas A&M freshman, will be travelling with his mother, Denise. The teen team will also include Kimberly Ayala, daughter of Carlos and Beth Ann, a junior at Reagan High School, and Taylor Snyder, a San Antonio Christian School friend of Sarah and Katie. While the whole team will be in our prayers, these young people especially should be lifted to the throne of God for their willingness to make a difference on the other side of the world. Not only will they bless the children with whom they interact, but they will bless all of us with their stories when they return.
The Reverend Mustapha has been called a modern day Paul because he has planted more than 100 churches in this region of Ghana. While the TBC team members are in Ghana, they hope to plant a new church as well. As you might guess, there are many needs among those to whom these churches minister. Our missionaries are spending more than $3000. each to go to Ghana, but we who are supporting them with our prayers can also have a part in their trip by providing some of the supplies that are needed:
- Drum (Every new church must have one, and 100 are needed.) - $80.
- Bicycle (Extends the distance that a pastor can travel to serve more churches, 100 are needed) - $80.
- Bibles (Need as many as possible) - $6.
- Mosquito Nets (Health necessity – need as many as possible) - $6
These listed items are nominal in cost but mighty in potential. Perhaps you or your children or your Sunday School class might like to participate in missions in this way. If so, notify Mel Pankey of your wish to provide one or more of these supplies.
Proverbs 22:6 (KJV) says, Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. The Message translates the same verse: Point your kids in the right direction; when they’re old they won’t be lost. In either translation, the promise is great, and it applies both to those who are going to represent us in Ghana and also to those who support their journey with prayer and needed supplies.
We are proud of you, young people, and also of everyone else who accompanies you on this trip. May God bless each of you and your efforts to carry His message to a needy world.