JEFFERSON CITY—The Royal Ambassadors have gone back to their roots, in a way.
At the national level, the boys program will be under the direction of the Women’s Missionary Union (WMU). The WMU founded RAs, a missions education program for boys, in 1908. RAs then transferred to the Brotherhood Commission in 1957, which became part of the North American Mission Board (NAMB) in 1997.
For Missouri, the transfer is not expected to cause many changes. Rick Seaton, who is over men’s ministry and disaster relief for the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), will continue to oversee the RA Congress and offer training for chapter leaders.
“I’m certainly happy to continue to do what I’ve done,” Seaton said.
Missouri has a strong RA program, with 425 chapters. The annual Congress, held at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia each Easter weekend, draws in 700-800 boys and men.
“We’ve got a lot of people who have been working in RAs for a long time and they are committed to sharing with the boys and they do a good job,” Seaton said.
RAs is a missions program for boys in grades 1-6. Challengers is for young men in grades 7-12.
“They both emphasize missions and teaching the boys to have a missions lifestyle and being open to sharing the Lord,” Seaton said.
Beginning in 2012, WMU will oversee day-to-day operations of the RA program and prepare curriculum, which chapters use for their weekly meetings.
Steve Heartsill has been named managing editor for RA and Challenger resources. He has served at WMU the past 10 years as design editor of the missions leader resource team.
The national-level change is part of NAMB’s organizational restructuring. NAMB President Kevin Ezell said the board will continue to operate Baptist Men’s Ministry work and maintain close ties with the development of Royal Ambassadors curriculum.
SUSAN MIRES/contributing writer