The 37 congregations in this association have big ideas about reaching the world for Christ.
NORTH RAPIDES BAPTIST ASSOCIATION – The 37 congregations in this association have big ideas about reaching the world for Christ.
A partnership existed in the 1970s between the Louisiana Baptist Convention and the Korean Baptist Convention. It died, but for many years its memory lived on for both the Koreans and some people in this association, said North Rapides Director of Missions Herb Dickerson.
“The Koreans wanted to recreate a new version of it,” Dickerson said, and others in the association came up with the idea to do so. “So we built a covenant, and they signed on and we signed on.”
The result has been more than 1,400 professions of faith among the Koreans over a span of about three years.
The two-pronged partnership involves an exchange of sorts. In the summer, Korean children grades four through six visit the association for about seven days to attend Camp USA, staying in host homes with other children and their families, attending Vacation Bible School and immersing themselves in American culture.
In the fall, the association sends witnessing teams to Korea to help churches in visitation.
Koreans generally admire Americans and want their children to be influenced by American culture, Dickerson said. By the same token, where a Korean Baptist in Korea might face closed doors, an American Baptist in Korea often is welcomed.
“The whole idea is for them to experience grassroots American life,” Dickerson said of the Korean children who visit each year. The results, however, often have a much bigger kingdom effect. “Well over half of them are saved and make professions of faith each year.”
Last year the association hosted about 85 children. This year, the children are expected to arrive July 21 and stay through July 30.
The project uses about 150 volunteers during the week the children are here. “We work with the church development board from the Korean Baptist Convention and with Dr. Paul Lim, the liaison on the other end,” Dickenson said.
Workers on the American side include Carolyn Lowrey, a member at First Pineville and a general contract worker for the association. Lowrey sets up all the host home assignments for the children, writes the curriculum for the English classes the children attend in the afternoons, recruits teachers for the classes, and teaches the children during the week they’re in North Rapides Association.
Another worker, Kevin Roberts, associate pastor at Philadelphia Baptist in Pineville, helps organize the children when they arrive by dividing them into three groups, or teams, called, appropriately, red, white and blue, he said. Typically the white team is dispersed to the Montgomery area, while the red team stays in the Pineville/Tioga area, and the blue team stays with families along Hwy. 28 east toward Deville.
In each area, Susan Dukes of First Tioga lines up the locations for vacation Bible school and makes sure the churches know what to expect, Dickerson said.
After VBS in the morning hours, each team goes to another church in the area for lunch, English classes, and culture classes, all of which usually take place at the same church all week long, Roberts said. Other churches supply meals and transportation so that as many churches as possible in that area are involved.
Another church provides Wednesday night services and a meal to the children, and every day, the children go on some sort of excursion, Roberts said.
“We’ve done the water slides at a church before or they go to the zoo, or the Kiwanis camp in Tioga where we let them fish and play some games,” he explained.
The blue group often goes to the Ruby-Kolin Fire Department, where fire fighters show them the fire truck, shoot water into the air, and provide the children with fire helmets to take home and a meal of hot dogs.
Sometimes the entire group of children, all three teams, come together for a special event, such as a trip to an ACES baseball game.
The week inspires close relationships for many, Roberts said.
“When we say our goodbyes at First Pineville, there are a lot of tears that are shed because you’ve grown to love them,” he said. “And I know that some of the host home people have kept up with their relationships through email.”
For every five children, all of whom speak very little English, one adult from Korea is present to serve as a translator and comforter if a child needs it, Dickerson said. Usually the adults speak English well and have also been a part of the event in previous years.
Fear and excitement bubble through the children, but generally by the second day, they’ve calmed down and begun to do normal things that children do, Dickerson continued.
One year one little girl was so homesick she was crying. The woman with whom she was staying heard the child, got up, and brought the little one back to her own bed, Dickerson said. “The little girl put her head on [the woman’s] arm and went to sleep. Children are children and you just take care of them.”
“Some of the little boys are tough little nuts,” Dickerson continued, laughing. “They like to fight. We have to say ‘Anyo! Anyo!’”
“Anyo” is the Korean word for ‘No!’
After the children leave North Rapides, they travel on to CentriKid and then to Disneyland, Dickerson said. Every year at evaluation, workers ask the children what they liked best. Every year the answer is the same: the host home experience in North Rapides.
The second part of the partnership includes sending about a dozen people from the association to Korea for 10 days, eight of which are spent going door to door. The missionaries are divided into teams of two or three who then help two churches each, Dickerson said.
The pastor and staff of the Korean church build up a list of prospects to be witnessed to, he continued. Then, each American team gets a translator as well as the list and goes door-to-door for prearranged visits where they present the Koreans with tracts that are in both English and Korean.
Sometimes the teams are out as late as 11 p.m. making visits, Dickerson said. One year, teams saw about 400 professions of faith.
Most Koreans are Buddhist, but their fascination with all things American makes even that religious wall come down, Dickerson said, remembering a doctor he witnessed to in Korea.
“He begged me to wait until he’d seen two more patients,” the DOM said. “Then he shut his practice down, brought in his nurses and begged me to speak. All I could do was read the tract, but they made professions of faith.
“Last time I went I had 27 appointments and 24 professions,” Dickerson said. “Most all our people have that same impact.”