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ATLANTA – In early May in Lake Providence, La., two high school football teams met on the football field not to compete but to help make each other better. 

The local private high school, Briarfield Academy, is on one side of the community and the public high school, Lake Providence Senior High School, is on the other. And as locals tell it, they don’t get together much. 

That’s what made this football clinic, held in conjunction with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship of Louisiana’s spring meeting, all the more significant. Though there are no CBF partnering congregations in Lake Providence or East Carroll Parish, the Fellowship has had a presence in the area for several years. Together for Hope, the Fellowship’s national rural poverty initiative, ministers in 20 of the poorest areas in the United States, and East Carroll Parish is one.

Together for Hope uses an assets-based approach to community ministry, building off what a community does well, existing resources and dreams for the future.  Ministries like the football clinic, which drew approximately 50 teenagers, help unite the community in order to build relationships and learn from one another, with the ultimate goal of working together to improve the community and reduce poverty.

“The camp was a good example of tapping people’s interests, skills and abilities,” said Jeremy Lewis, the Fellowship’s program manager for Together for Hope. “It’s welcoming to the community and lays a foundation for future relationships.”

The camp was led by Fitz Hill, president of Arkansas Baptist College in Little Rock, Ark., and a former football coach at the University of Arkansas and San Jose State University. After the clinic, the local football teams ate and worshipped together at a community rally, where Hill spoke about courage, comfort zones, getting to know neighbors and strength that comes through unity. 

At the end of Hill’s address, CBF of Louisiana announced that it would fund a scholarship to send a Lake Providence student to Arkansas Baptist College, with which CBF of Arkansas has a ministry partnership. A committee made up of local community members will soon be formed to select what Reid Doster, CBF of Louisiana’s coordinator, hopes will be the first of many students to receive a scholarship to the college.

In addition to the football clinic and community rally, CBF of Louisiana hosted a variety of community activities including a carnival, cookout, painting a mural and more.

“Through this [weekend] event I felt we extended some bridges of understanding. We’re not trying to present ourselves as people with all the answers. We’re just doing our part along with a lot of other people,” said Doster. “Every time we go to Lake Providence we deepen trust and strengthen friendships.”

More ministry events are planned later this summer. Approximately 200 teenagers will serve in the parish through a “Mission Serve” project July 12-18. At the end of the summer, CBF of Louisiana will host its annual back-to-school event, which provides backpacks and school supplies to school-aged children in East Carroll and nearby Tensas Parish.

For more information on Together for Hope, visit www.thefellowship.info/togetherforhope.

CBF is a fellowship of Baptist Christians and churches who share a passion for the Great Commission and a commitment to Baptist principles of faith and practice. The Fellowship’s mission is to serve Christians and churches as they discover and fulfill their God-given mission.