Category Archives: Inspirational

Who else will protect the kids during a pandemic?

Health care, Inspirational, State government

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

Who are the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic? Let’s add child abuse investigator Rachel Speights of Texarkana to that list.

The 37-year-old walks into strangers’ homes and interviews children, their sometimes hostile (and sometimes drinking or drugged) parents, and others, and then decides if the children should be removed.

It takes guts for Speights to do her job under normal circumstances, let alone during a pandemic. She conducted six face-to-face interviews in two homes April 7 while wearing a mask.

“Yes, the coronavirus is here, and yes, it’s a very scary thing, but I don’t let it stop me protecting these children because these children are vulnerable and they need us, and if I don’t go in there, then who’s going to go in there and help them?” she told me.

Speights is an investigation supervisor managing five counties for the Division of Children and Family Services. Like many other employers, DCFS has had to improvise during this crazy time. More work is being done remotely or by videoconference. But as Director Mischa Martin told me, some things still must be done in person. Continue reading Who else will protect the kids during a pandemic? →

A story of Hope

Inspirational

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

I turned 50 years old last June 17, and then on Jan. 10 I became a dad again. My daughter’s name is Hope Renee – Renee being French for “reborn.”

Hope is definitely the baby of the family. In addition to her AARP-eligible dear old dad, her mom is 44 and her sisters are 18 and 15.

The answer to your obvious question is, “No way!” This baby was not planned. Instead, Hope is a gift from God.

Our family has experienced a lot of twists and turns this past year-and-a-half. With help from The CALL in Arkansas, a Christian ministry, my wife, Melissa, and I became respite foster parents in 2018, meaning we would give a break to families fostering full-time. Foster parents temporarily take care of children the state removes from their biological families because of abuse, neglect and/or drug abuse in the home. Continue reading A story of Hope →

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 →