July 2020

It is bittersweet to sit and write of my plans to move along from Together for Hope. Four years ago I boarded a plane in Richmond, Virginia, and flew into Baton Rouge to do a final interview and receive a tour of the Delta. Kyle Kelley and I traveled from University Baptist to Emmanuel Church in Alexandria to the backroads of East Carroll Parish, getting turned around a time or two but eventually making it to Lake Providence.

During the trip, Kyle told me of the legendary status of one Catholic nun who was a cornerstone support of the ministry, Sister Bernie Barrett. We hadn’t been in town for more than five minutes when we drove past Sister Bernie as she was taking an evening walk. The daylight hours were fading, and we were trying to see a little more of the town before it got completely dark. Sister jumped in the car with us and off we went to see a little more of the surroundings.

I grew up in a small, rural town in eastern North Carolina, so there were many things that didn’t surprise me about Lake Providence. However, as we were concluding the trip, Kyle drove us out of town and up on the levee to Lake Providence’s port, and there we were, a rock’s throw from the Mississippi River to our east and, facing west, there was a stunning sunset over the fields that stretched out before us. I knew in that very beautiful moment that this was a special place and a place where I wanted to be.

Since that sunset, I’ve been deeply moved by the hospitality and welcome that I’ve received from CBF Louisiana. I’ll remember fondly the opportunities to share a good word from your pulpits, to break bread together over lunch after worship, to see one another on workdays in Lake Providence, and to reconnect at the CBF annual gatherings. It is your support, both personally and of the ministry of TFH, that makes this difficult work possible.

I’m also proud of the forward movement of the ministry. With the help of our board of directors, TFH is now a 501(c)3. We have a generous scholarship fund that is fully established for adult education students, such that they should not have a financial hurdle to clear to take their tests for a considerable time into the future. Because of these scholarship funds, and through some work done to get a testing center established in Lake Providence, TFH has sponsored nearly thirty adults in their successful efforts to earn their high school diploma. We’ve sponsored summer literacy camps and have put tens of thousands of dollars into the public school system. More recently, we’ve also begun helping channel diapers to low-income families. And thanks largely to the effort of Sister Bernie, we’ve even recovered hundreds of thousands of dollars from a corporation who illegally took public funds that should have gone into our schools, sheriff’s department, and the local hospital.

I’ll close by giving a special thank you to Kyle Kelley, who has been an advocate for TFH and Lake Providence for nearly twenty years. This also extends to Sister Bernie, who has been a consistent source of strength and inspiration. She once mentioned that there may be many ways for people to overcome poverty, but all of them depend upon the attainment of a good education. In that sense, I’m glad that TFH has, for years, grown to be oriented toward education at all levels in East Carroll Parish. The public schools are, indeed, underfunded and face challenges that many people would not otherwise believe. And yet, these schools are in many ways the bedrock of the community, both in terms of education, culture, and support for struggling families. It is my prayer that TFH continues to have some orientation in this direction over the years to come.

There are many more people to thank, and more stories that I could tell, but space will not allow. Please know, though, that my heart is tremendously full. I’ll take the Delta and CBF-LA with me in my heart on the next phase of my journey, and I will always consider this to be one of my homes. Thank you all for the love you’ve shown to me, and, more importantly, for the love and support you continue to show to Lake Providence and the TFH ministry. My love to you all!