Royal Ambassadors is alive and well at Garden City Baptist Church.
The missions education organization for boys in grades 1-6 was begun at Garden City Baptist Church at Garden City Beach in the late 1970s and was strong for a number of years but gradually became inactive.
Feeling God’s call to lead young boys to become strong Christian men of tomorrow, Norris Short, John Platts and Mark Schlueter began the process in 2011 to revitalize the organization. After meeting with Mickey Hyman, RA consultant with Waccamaw WMU, they have been successful in restarting the group.
“[The boys] get it,” said Platts. “They learn about Christ and also do missions for Christ.” The RA March mission project was to raise money for the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American Missions.
Although the boys have opportunities to take part in physical activities, their motto is “We’re RAs on mission for Christ,” and they are willing to give up recreation time in order to learn how to share Christ with others. That approach resulted in eight of 13 boys achieving requirements necessary to receive Royal Ambassadors’ Bibles on March 11.
RA leader John Platts, left, along with RAs Ian Graham, Noah Schlueter, Josh Pierce, Jim Brown, Christopher Owens, Clay Cook, Colter Chapman and Caden Devlin, and Garden City Baptist Church pastor Robert Shaw, say the RA pledge.