Hundreds of Alabama boys spent a weekend filled with fun, education and fellowship March 17-18. The two-day adventure included everything from checking out race cars and building pinewood derby vehicles to camping and rappelling.
Some 900 Royal Ambassadors (RAs) from across the state participated in the 2000 Alabama RA Congress. The event was held at the Camp Granview Family YMCA and Conference Center in Millbrook.
“There’s a lot of activities and it’s fun,” said Will Bradford, 12, of Central Baptist Church, Gardendale.
Will said this was his second year at the RA Congress.
State RA Director Steve Stephens said the congress is designed as a reward for participation in the RA program in the boys’ local churches.
“The main thing for the congress is to give the boys something to work for as far as an interest activity,” Stephens said.
He said boys in grades one through six are encouraged with the promise that if they come to church, they can attend activities like the RA Congress, the pinewood derby and camp outs.
“It gives them a reward for coming to RAs every so often,” Stephens said. “The congress just kind of helps as a reward for being part of an RA program.”
A RA counselor attending the congress with several of his boys said the event also is important for their social development.
“It’s just good for them to get out and get them on the hills in God’s country up here and hope they’ll take back some of the fellowship that they have with these other boys and understand better how to get along in life with other people,” said Allen Green, a counselor from Silverhill Baptist Church, Silverhill.
The boys’ time at the congress wasn’t limited to recreational activities alone, with information presented on media evangelism and a presentation by a missionary. Stephens said the impact the RA program has had on missions cannot be ignored.
“Time and time again, you’ve heard missionaries say that they got their start in missions through RAs or GAs (Girls in Action),” he said.
Stephens said he has heard approximately 80 percent of Southern Baptist missionaries have said they got their start in either RAs or GAs.
“To me, if we’re going to have missionaries in the future, they’ve got to hear about it (missions work),” he said. “It’s not likely they’re going to become an adult and then say, ‘Hey, I want to be a missionary.’ It’s going to be something they decide when they’re young.”
That opinion was supported by Mike Sexton, a RA counselor from Tannehill Baptist Church, Tannehill, who attended the congress with nine of his boys.
“I think it’s very important for them to be here,” said Sexton.
“They learn a lot about missions, and of course, you know that the Baptists are very involved with missions. That’s where we’re really evolved from … and what a better way to teach them than to bring them to a place where we can actually sit down, and they can meet some folks and learn about (missions),” Sexton continued.
Stephens added the RA program is also important in that it gives a boy a sense of identity.
“I guess, probably more than anything else, it gives them a group to belong to,” Stephens said of RAs. “Most of the time, the leaders are really interested in boys and having them feel good about themselves and being involved in things that make them feel good because they can accomplish (things).
“When RAs is done the right way, there’s a lot of involvement of the parent and the son doing missions things together and things like that,” Stpehens said. “There’s a lot of involvement of family.”
Media evangelism was included as a topic during the congress’ North American Missions Study on Friday. Boys learned about different aspects of the news media, including a presentation by The Alabama Baptist.
Participation was statewide, according to Stephens.
“We got a group from Mobile, we got a lot of them from up in Huntsville, and in Birmingham — just everywhere,” he said. “We got some that just came from across the road.”
Stephens estimated almost 400 of the RAs attending were camping at the congress site.
RA Congress packed with fun and education
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