Every year around Saint Patrick’s Day, a different sort of March Madness descends upon Millbrook.
It has nothing to do with seeds or brackets or three-pointers. But even so, this year — like the ones before it — was another slam dunk toward training young men up in the way they should go.
It’s the Alabama RA Congress. It’s held at Camp Grandview, a YMCA conference center about half a mile off Interstate 65, and it’s always a good time.
“Well it’s a good time for [the boys],” Steve Stephens said, laughing. “Me, well, I’m getting too old for this.”
The RAs (Royal Ambassadors) were established in 1908 with the purpose of imparting Baptist boys with a biblical appreciation for the missions field. Alabama has had a congress for at least 66 of the RAs more than 98-year history, according to Stephens, who has served as RA consultant for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions for 17 years. This was the 16th year the event was held at Camp Grandview. Groups from 61 different churches participated.
There are more paved roads leading to the camp this year, and the old view of the surrounding woods is being crowded with new shopping centers, but the boys still came to rough it.
More than 230 of the 548 attending camped out the night of March 16 — a tradition come rain, snow or shine.
This year was blue skies and sunshine, with winter holding on by just a thread at 50 degrees.
“We like it when it’s cool weather,” Joe Brothers said. “It’s good for camping.”
An RA volunteer with First Baptist Church, Glencoe, in Etowah Baptist Association, it is Brothers’ climbing wall that annually generates the most buzz among the Lads (boys in grades 1–3) and Crusaders (boys in grades 4–6) who make the trek to Millbrook.
“[The last couple of years] we’ve been able to have everyone climb who wanted to climb,” said Brothers, who was attending his ninth congress in a row. “It’s amazing what a few boards put together can do.”
The congress this year featured exhibits from three former missionary couples — Bob and Mavis Hardy, who served in Japan; Charles and Betty Whitson, who served in Namibia and South Africa; and Paul and Kathy Broom, who served in Venezuela.
Stephens said before the RAs could go to the climbing wall and inflatable obstacle course, they listened to a 10-minute presentation from each couple.
In addition to climbing walls, tossing hatchets, competing in three-legged races and participating in the nearly 30 other activities available the morning of March 17, the missions fair and missions bowl served as the RAs’ trademark emphasis on international missions, an emphasis not lost on the RA group from Southside Baptist Church, Ozark, in Dale Baptist Association.
Last year, the boys from Ozark placed second in the missions fair competition — but not this year.
“This year, we were really going for it,” said 11-year-old Dustin Reeves as he admired his first-place trophy.
Behind the trophy stood the point of real pride — a tri-fold presentation board displaying the details of the group’s ongoing missions projects.
Its projects included planning and participating in a fund-raising walk-a-thon for international missions and a monthly World Vision child sponsorship funded entirely with proceeds generated from recycling aluminum cans.
“I’m very proud of them,” said Sam Pickett, Southside’s RA director. “They really got excited about it. We had a missionary come to speak to them from the Philippines. It just created a lot of interest.”
While comparisons to organizations like the Boy Scouts of America are inevitable, the RA program has undeniable advantages, according to Pickett.
“The biggest thing … is that we are building godly men, building them into the character of Christ. We use the RAs to do that, the RA pledge, the uniform, the patches — we use all that as incentive to learn about Christ,” he said.
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