KNCSB Can Help Church Plant In Arkansas
By Eva Wilson
February 2008
Southbound traffic on Interstate 55 in northeast Arkansas races around a curve to join Interstate 40 in West Memphis.
In the hectic rush, travelers could hardly be blamed if they fail to notice a modest mobile home community on the west side of Interstate 55.
Lakeshore Estates is situated around a lake that was constructed 30 years ago when fill dirt was removed for the highway construction.
Developers envisioned a retirement community where senior adults could enjoy the lake and have easy access to the interstates for travel. However, that vision never quite materialized.
Since then Lakeshore Estates has deteriorated into a poverty-stricken community with mostly unkempt mobile homes. It has 480 units with a population of about 1,200 people. Despite “No Littering” signs, trash is an ever-present part of the landscape.
Statistics back up the grim sights in this community: a family’s average income is $13,000 annually.
This is the community where New Hope Baptist Mission has planted itself.
On a spring-like Sunday morning in early January, Pastor John Rech drove up in the small bus owned by First Baptist Church in nearby Marion. First Baptist is New Hope’s sponsoring congregation.
After getting the children on the bus settled into their Sunday School classes, Rech took time to tell about New Hope’s ministry.
A former corporate trainer, Rech is now a bivocational pastor who works as a landscaper. Local volunteers, as well as outside mission teams, play key roles in assisting his ministry.
As he gave more details about Lakeshore Estates, Rech explained the community is 60-percent white, 30-percent African-American and 10-percent Hispanic.
“It really is a transient community—a stepping-stone neighborhood,” he says. “People get established in a job and move up and move out.”
The church finds itself acting as a substitute family for many of the children in the neighborhood.
“Almost all of the kids who come here, the families are in some kind of stress,” Rech continues. “The kids just kind of float around” to the homes of cousins or other family members in the community.
New Hope has an array of ministries aimed at meeting the community’s vast challenges:
- Wednesday night children’s ministry with 60-85 kids attending. “Basically we teach Sunday School lessons on Wednesday nights. I borrow Sunday School teachers from other churches.”
- Food and clothing distribution. Area residents generously donate food and clothing for New Hope to distribute. The church also receives assistance from the Southern Baptist Mississippi River Ministry.
- Hispanic ministry. New Hope shares its facility with Iglesia Bautista de Luz, led by Pastor David Amaro. The Hispanic congregation holds Bible study on Saturday nights and worship service on Sunday nights.
- Hope House, a women’s shelter. The county correctional facility is located on the east side of Interstate 55. Hope House often serves women who have been released from there and are trying to get back on their feet.
- School supply distribution. New Hope gives out school supplies at the beginning of both the fall and spring semesters.
- “Christmas Spree,” simultaneous December parties for adults and children. First Baptist Church in Marion stages a birthday party for Jesus for the children. Adults gather at New Hope where outside groups donate gifts for a Christmas store. The adults choose gifts for their children, and volunteers wrap them.
All of New Hope’s ministries have an emphasis on sharing the gospel. Rech proudly told how the Christmas Spree in December ended with the small church choir presenting its first Christmas concert.
Outside mission teams play key roles in assisting New Hope’s ministry. As a bivocational pastor, Rech needs to work these teams around his schedule. He tries to have one mission team a month in the summer and once a quarter the rest of the year.
A Kansas church is looking at the possibility of sending a summer 2008 mission team.
For more information on assisting New Hope, contact Rech at (901) 246-9787 or send e-mail to
Kansas-Nebraska Southern Baptists are urged to pray for New Hope. Prayer needs include:
- Church bus drivers and volunteers to sit with the children riding the bus. This would free Rech to concentrate on other ministries, especially when outside teams are visiting.
- Volunteers to distribute food. The Memphis Food Bank has offered to set up a distribution site at New Hope. But volunteers are needed to run the operation.
Summing up New Hope’s ministry, Rech cited renowned spiritual leader Henry Blackaby: “We just continue to work where we see God working.”
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