RAs compete and celebrate during the 100th Anniversary race
By Jessica Tuggle
June 20, 2008
INDIANOPOLIS (FBC)—Though the weather was dark and gloomy outside, the air inside the Indiana State Fairgrounds was charged with excitement as more than 200 people celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Royal Ambassadors program, a missions program for boys grades 1-6.
Blue and gold RA emblems of the past and present decorated the hall along with checkered racing flags, a reminder of the main activity, the first-ever National Royal Ambassador Racer Event for World Hunger held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis June 7.
Six of the 55 competitors were from Florida, having qualified for the national race after a series of associational and regional races.
Boys attending the anniversary celebration included: Elijah Wilson, First Baptist of Interlachen; Caleb Stranzl, Pine Terrace Baptist in Milton; Andrew Ervin, Harry Franklin, Austin Jones and Jake Steely, First Baptist of Palm Coast; and Kayleb Barnard, Samuel Frisco, Daniel Ray, Samuel Snyder and Benjamin Tuggle, Central Baptist of Melbourne.
Ten-year-old Harry Franklin, a fifth grader from Palm Coast, was the only Florida RA to bring home a trophy. As his black, Batman-themed, pinewood car beat 23 other cars to bring home the third place trophy in the Crusader’s (grades 4-6) category, Franklin excitedly pumped his arms in a “V” for victory.
“I was real happy. We had done all that work on our cars and I was feeling great,” Franklin said.
Franklin also received second place in the Crusader’s Show and Shine contest, a competition that focused on the racer’s physical appearance rather than speed.
Fractions of seconds separated the contenders for the trophies; at one point 1/1000 of a second determined the race winner.
A $100 per person entry fee benefited the World Hunger Offering.
“They are going to buy food for the people who don’t have food with the money,” explained Samuel Snyder, 10, from Melbourne, who traveled to the anniversary event even though he did not qualify to compete.
Such activities teach boys spiritual truths, said Eddie Blackmon, director of the Florida Baptist Convention’s Men’s Missions and Ministry Department, who was an RA himself.
“I was learning,” he said. “But I was learning through the activities with spiritual application.”
David Franklin, Harry Franklin’s father and the RA leader, said his boys learned about perseverance and patience while building their racecars.
“The boys are all tempted to rush to get the cars built in minutes,” David Franklin said. “I have shown them it takes time and hard work to build a winning car just as it does in life or in the Lord’s work.”
The opportunity for young boys to see men standing up for their faith and living out their faith is part of what makes the RA program so successful, Blackmon said.
“We’re about teaching boys to apply their knowledge into action, being on mission, not just learning about missions, but doing missions and really, it’s a part of their life,” Blackmon said.
“The leaders and the volunteers, they see how much their boys need that spiritual mentor... they’re hungry for male leadership,” Blackmon said.
The significance of the anniversary celebration was not lost on Central RA leader Rick Hile, who was involved in the organization as a young boy. “It was humbling to be part of such a milestone celebration for RAs. Forty years ago I joined the RAs and now I am a leader during the 100 th anniversary of a program that helped me grow in the faith.
“To think that one or all of the boys that have gone through RAs while I have been the leader will someday be leaders in their church’s RA program is exciting and motivating,” Hile said.
Blackmon said he hoped more national RA activities would be planned in the future. Gesturing around the hall at all the different displays and activities, he said, “A lot of people think RAs is dead—as you can see, it’s not!”
