Category Archives: Inspirational

The best Christmas ever

Inspirational

By Steve Brawner, © 2020 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It’s Dec. 10, and a gray-haired man in a red hat and a suit – a business one – is helping deliver gifts at the State Capitol.

That would be Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who briefly donned a Santa hat at the annual Christmas at the Capitol event, where legislators, lobbyists and others connected to state government bring gifts for foster kids around the state.

The event, created five years ago by Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, brought several foster kids who are eligible for adoption to the Capitol. One little girl excitedly declared it the “best Christmas ever.” Continue reading The best Christmas ever →

Pastor: Churches must make green to avoid red ink

Business and economics, Inspirational
Mark DeYmaz is the pastor of Little Rock’s Mosaic Church.

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

The pastor who started a church for white, black and brown people to worship together says churches must get serious about another color – green.

Mark DeYmaz started Mosaic Church in Little Rock in 2001 after deciding God was calling him to start a multiethnic congregation in a city with a segregationist history.

Now it’s a thriving inner city church. Its ministry arm, Vine and Village, monthly provides three or four days’ worth of groceries to residents of one of the city’s neediest areas. Operating partly through grants and partnerships, last year it fed 20,000 unique individuals in a zip code with 32,000 people.

Along the way, DeYmaz realized the typical church’s financial approach – more members equals more money for operations and ministries – wouldn’t work at Mosaic. Too many of his people are too poor. Continue reading Pastor: Churches must make green to avoid red ink →

Helping kids in crisis immerse into adulthood

Inspirational

By Steve Brawner
© 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Eric and Kara Gilmore’s lives changed when they watched Meagan ride off in a Greyhound bus the day after her 18th birthday. She was exiting the foster care system with one bag of clothes, one night’s worth of bipolar meds, and a one-way bus ticket to Fort Smith where some biological family members she hadn’t seen in a while lived.

“That was her transition into adulthood,” he said.

The Gilmores had met Meagan when they were house parents in a group home when she was 14. They’d separated and then reconnected shortly before she turned 18. Watching that bus drive off, they believed someone needed to do something. So the Gimores formed Immerse Arkansas in 2010.

For foster children removed from their homes but never adopted, the stage where they age out of the system can be perilous. After lacking a stable home life during childhood, they sometimes face the complexities of early adulthood alone. And then they can get into real trouble.

State programs do help. Foster children ages 14 and older are eligible for transitional youth services to help them plan their adult lives. Teens can stay in extended foster care until their 21st birthday. Funds are available for education, job training and basic necessities during those years.

But as with any government program serving a challenging population, there are gaps, which Immerse Arkansas can help fill. And since its founding, it has broadened its mission to serve all young people in crisis, not just foster kids, including victims of abuse and sex trafficking. Continue reading Helping kids in crisis immerse into adulthood →

Why one ex-con is ‘proud of the man that I have become’

Education, Inspirational, U.S. Congress, Uncategorized

By Steve Brawner, © 2019 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Less than a year ago, Terrance Knowlton was in a Wrightsville prison for dealing drugs. Now, he says, “I’m proud of the man that I have become today.”

How did he get from there to here? Partly thanks to Shorter College.

Knowlton, 30, made bad choices in life and ended up selling drugs out of his house. While he was in prison, he met Stormie Cubb, a Shorter College staff member who works with inmates. The North Little Rock-based school is one of 67 institutions nationwide participating in the Second Chance Pell program, which offers government grants to educate prisoners. It teaches classes to 500 inmates in eight locations across Arkansas.

Knowlton enrolled in classes and made good grades. When he was released from prison 11 months ago, he was determined to continue his education.

“First day I came home, I went looking for Miss Stormie,” he said. “She said, ‘Mr. Knowlton, we’re happy to see you. You ready to get started? You ready to be successful? We’ll give you all the tools that you need.’ And she did that. She gave me that opportunity.”

Knowlton made that comment during a meeting Sept. 6 with Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., and representatives of Shorter College, Arkansas Baptist College and Philander Smith College. Continue reading Why one ex-con is ‘proud of the man that I have become’ →