Article by Jennifer Webb Photos by Schellenbach Photography & Design Specializing in the Waterfowl Hunting and Sporting Dog photography Instagram: @schellenbachphotography In January 2002, four Army Rangers came to Arkansas to hunt ducks. They had just finished the first of many combat deployments, and the hunt became an annual event. For Shawn Daniel and his friends, the weekend away was exactly what they needed. They came to hunt ducks, but they walked away refreshed, ready once again to face harsh realities of another deployment on the horizon. “The wars and their effects are constant. It’s something that doesn't go away, so we try to help. The conversations that happen here around the fireplace or around the table are simply remarkable.” - Dena Daniel, Wife of Col. Shawn Daniel, Executive Director of DWS They learned a powerful truth as a result of their Arkansas rendezvous — nature heals. And Darby’s Warrior Support was born. The idea hatched where many great ideas hatch, around the dinner table. They devised a way to share the experience with others. The model was simple and down to earth. They would use southern hospitality in the beauty of the natural state, combined with traditions of hunting and fishing, to reach out particularly to members of the special operations community. The warriors they hosted would only have to pay for the cost of their hunting/fishing license. They would arrive on Friday, and stay through mid-day Monday, making use of a weekend pass in an effort to not use leave days. Meals, lodging, and all required hunting gear was provided. Then, the magic would happen naturally . . . in the duck blind, around the kitchen table, or sitting by the fire. “It’s not about the hunting. It’s about being in the duck blind and watching the sunrise together, seeing God's glory, and being with those you spent some hard days with overseas. It’s about sitting around the campfire and saying ‘Are you good?’ It’s about committing to somebody that, ‘Yes, I’m good. I’m going to be ok, and if I’m not, then I’ll call you and say I need help.’” - Dena Daniel, Wife of Col. Shawn Daniel, Executive Director of DWS They started small, with Shawn’s parents, Jim and Julia Ann Daniel, hosting and resourcing the hunts out of their home in Bald Knob, AR. In 2015, a local businessman made a renovated farmhouse available in Bisco, AR. As they hosted hunts, they saw healing happen again and again. They also noticed something that wasn’t happening — they were operating at a 0% suicide rate. They had not lost a single warrior who had been on a hunt. Suicide rates among US military personnel are higher than among average US citizens, and special-operations military suicide rates are 30% higher than standard US military rates. What they were doing was working! “It’s not just the things that they've been through as soldiers, it’s the pressure and the guilt of what they've put on their families, the pressure they’ve put on themselves. There’s also pressure when they step away from the military community. The civilian world is very different.” - Dena Daniel, Wife of Col. Shawn Daniel, Executive Director of DWS Colonel Shawn Daniel retired from the US Army in 2017 and assumed full-time duties as executive director in 2021. He came before the board with an ambitious plan; he wanted to take Darby’s Warrior Support to the next level. His dream was big — to build their own facility. Their dream was a massive 10-bedroom lodge with over 20 beds, 10 bathrooms, a dining area, a kitchen, and a game/rec room. The facility would be facing a private lake stocked with game fish, and on the grounds would be a rifle range, a pistol range, and a clay/skeet shooting area. In the garage area would be individual locker areas, with all the gear, and parking room for small vehicles for easy transport. The board approved and started a campaign to raise the money for the project in 2022. From there, God started putting all the right people in their path and the grand vision started becoming a reality. They found the perfect piece of land, with a discounted price specifically for DWS (Darby’s Warrior Support). From there, he and Nick, Director of Operations, rode around in the side-by-side, planning the facility’s layout. They measured, spray-painted, and prayed hard. Through the generosity of donors, God provided the money. With grit, determination, hard work, and a tremendous amount of God’s blessings, they built a 9,000-square-foot facility that’s more spectacular than they ever imagined. The DWS staff is a small but committed group of former special operators who have a passion for hunting and helping others. Personal touches are all over the lodge. “Gretsky” is the nearly record-breaking Caribou that hangs over the fireplace in the dining room. He was harvested by Shawn and Dena’s son on an Alaskan hunt when he was 8 years old. He hung in their home for years, but when they finished the lodge, they knew they had a special place for Gretsky at the Patriot Outpost. Through their early work hosting different groups, they soon found that instead of inviting a group of random people, it worked better to select one person and let them select who to bring. This model results in instant chemistry within the group, and the weekend becomes as much of a reunion as it is a hunting trip. Each group is treated to guided hunts during hunting season and can also take advantage of fishing the stocked lake, shooting skeet, and practicing on the pistol range. Everything, including gourmet meals prepared by professionally trained chef, Heather Burns, is provided. In the off-season they will host various unit-led events, unit reunions, and corporate retreats, making use of the facilities year-round. It’s part of their mission to reach out and help as many people as possible. In the past year they hosted 286 veterans and hope to expand that number to 800-1,000 with the addition of the new facility. Darby’s Warrior Support continues to be in need of financial donors to continue its mission to heal our veterans. If you would like to learn more or schedule a corporate retreat, please visit them online at darbyswarriorsupport.org/ or contact Shawn Daniel at sdaniel[at]darbywarriorsupport.org or 931-220-2919. Read the full issue below.

Tricia Kauffman Visitation Room By Jennifer Webb Photo by Kim Boyd, Zoe Art “There’s something I need to tell you,” Chris started. “Ok,” Tricia responded, not sure what was coming next. “For our 25th wedding anniversary, I had a visitation room named after you, and the official opening is in ten days.” “That’s so sweet!” Tricia looked up at her husband, knowing the thought he had put into the unusual gift. Fostering had been a part of their story for most of their lives. God had put it on her heart to foster when she was only 12 years old. When she and Chris started dating, she told him, “If you don’t want to foster, then we don’t need to date because I know that it’s going to be a part of my life.” He agreed to her terms, and they dated for two years before getting married. They welcomed their daughter, McKinley, to their family in 2003. At the time, in the early 2000s, not many people in Searcy were fostering. Tricia still felt it heavy on her heart, so in 2004, she went down to the office and got the paperwork to start their journey as foster parents. She filled it completely out, but when she took it to Chris, he told her, “I'm not ready yet.” Disappointed, she put the paperwork away and prayed about it. After ten months or so, she gave up trying to make it happen and threw the papers in the trash, surrendering to God’s timing. The next week, Chris told her what she had been waiting nearly a year to hear. He was ready. She went back to the office, got more paperwork, and filled it out. They officially started fostering in 2005, after McKinley turned 2. They brought her a newborn baby boy, straight from the hospital. It was the start of a 10-year period in their lives, during which they fostered 11 baby boys and provided respite care for a few families at church. It was rewarding and heartbreaking at the same time. Even babies straight from the hospital carry trauma that has to be dealt with. Since the goal of fostering is reunification with the biological family, visitations were a big part of their journey. Tricia dreaded the visits. Many occurred in the DHS office, which was a sterile and intimidating place with numerous people trying to work. Some occurred at a local fast food restaurant, which had an indoor play area. The kids knew what was happening when they arrived at the DHS office. Many visits started with officials having to rip a frantic, crying child from around Tricia’s neck. It broke her heart. After several repeats, she finally started staying in her car, requiring them to get the kids from there for the required visit. The whole experience was not a comfortable one for anyone involved, but many of the mandates stated it had to be in a public place. Many years later, when Chris saw in the church bulletin that Children’s Homes, Inc. was needing funding for a foster care visitation room located in Searcy, he knew it would be not only the perfect surprise for Tricia, but a way to pay it forward to other families involved in fostering. He made the arrangements in secret, with the agreement that the room would be named in honor of Tricia. It took some rearranging of everyone’s schedules, but Tricia and Chris were able to be at the ribbon-cutting. They held the ribbon as it was cut and declared officially open for foster children to be able to visit their biological families. They celebrated with snacks and refreshments as they took in the surroundings of the room. It was clean and very kid-friendly. The couch gave everyone a place to sit, and along the walls were shelves lined with puzzles, books, and toys. There was a rocking chair where mommas could sit and rock their babies, and the couch was just right for snuggling and reading a book. It was a far cry from the sterile DHS office. It was a public place, but at the same time, it was private where biological families could spend time with their children. There on the wall by the door was a sign that read “Tricia Kauffman Visitation Room.” As she read it, Tricia felt her husband’s love for her and for their life together over the past 25 years. What a beautiful tribute and way to pay it forward to other families! Read the full issue below.

By Jennifer Webb Lance Hendrix paced his floor, August 30th, 2005, watching the devastation on his television. He knew that Hurricane Katrina was ravaging New Orleans, but this really hit home. They were using the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge to aid those affected by the hurricane. That was close — seven minutes away close. “You have to do something to help! God’s done so much for you” kept ringing in Lance’s head. But there were a million questions and “what ifs.” The hurricane had been bad, but Louisiana residents were no strangers to riding them out. This time, the levee broke and flood waters rushed into New Orleans. The news said 80% of the city was flooded. LSU became a triage center, and the campus was being overrun with refugees. They soon began asking local churches – including his church’s campus ministry facility, to take people in and shelter them. Within a couple of hours, the student center overflowed its capacity, so church members were called for help in taking flood victims into their homes. It was a big ask. ”I want to help, but bring displaced strangers into my home?” Lance considered. He had seen refugees on TV. In his mind, they were usually the poor and downtrodden. But what if people they housed were criminals? What if they had a drug problem? It could be dangerous to bring a total stranger into their home with his wife and kids. Still, the primary thought echoed in his mind, “You have to do something to help.” For “safety’s sake,” Lance sent his wife and their two children to stay the night at his mother-in-law’s house and got in his car. “This doesn’t make sense, Lord,” he silently argued as he drove to the LSU campus to pick up total strangers to bring home. He entered a long line of cars and waited. The more he saw, the more he understood why they had relocated the upcoming LSU home football game against Arizona State to Tempe. Things would have to be extremely dire to move a home game that brings in millions of dollars into the Baton Rouge economy. Lance and his brother, Blake Hendrix, who lived in Searcy, AR, had tickets to that game. When it was his turn in the line, three adult family members got into his car, and Lance took them to his house. They were exhausted, but otherwise looked fairly normal. He thought, “What is ‘normal’ anyway?” Everyone looks exactly the same – caked in dried mud, clothes sweat-stained, and faces haggard. They changed his previous idea about what a refugee “should look like.” They introduced themselves as Bobby, Tony, and Diane. As they ate supper, he learned that they had fled their half-million-dollar home. The flood waters came unbelievably quickly. Bobby pulled out a BlackBerry (the most advanced tech at that time) and explained that he was a lawyer. They had gone to a hotel for the night, but when Bobby stepped out into the hotel hallway and saw a man walking down the hall with what appeared to be a machine gun, they realized that things had gotten worse than they feared. He tried to call the hotel front desk, but no one answered. He dialed 911, no answer there either. New Orleans was under Martial Law, but there weren’t enough people to protect his family. It was up to him. They could either flee or spend the night in the hotel with the door locked. They chose to flee and catch a bus to Baton Rouge since they heard the LSU campus was taking in refugees. They slipped out the back and hiked through knee-deep water to the bus stop. It was dark. They saw snakes in the water and displaced fire ants rolled through the water in living balls. Fortunately, the family managed to avoid being bitten by either. They had backpacks, flip phones, the BlackBerry, and a couple of Ziploc bags with personal items in them. That was it. It was all they were able to grab from their home with only minutes’ notice. They made it to the bus station, and from there to the LSU campus. They were on their way to stay with family in Louisville, KY. After sharing the meal and some stories with their newfound host, Bobby, Tony and Diane headed to bed, understandably exhausted. When Lance awoke the next morning, to his surprise, they were already gone. Their beds were made, and on the kitchen table was a note: “Sept 1, 2005 Dear Lance, Becky, Peyton, and Marylee, Your graciousness, warmth and charm have set the standard that we will aspire to and hope to emulate. We will pass on to others your sharing and care, and they may never know it started with you, and then they may pass it out to others. As terrifying as this experience has been, I wouldn’t give up the experience to have met people who on a moment’s notice give you their home! One never knows that what seems like bad news is really good news. And Lance, thank you for the special blessing last night. You will hear from us soon. We also never thought it could be so inspiring after going through Hurricane Hugo in 1989. I knew I would learn and grow from this experience, but I never expected to experience so much love, selflessness, and inspiration from one family. With great appreciation, Bobby, Tony, and Diane P.S. We never knew being a refugee could be such a positive experience. Becky, Peyton, and Marylee - we can’t wait to meet you in person.” Inspired by his brother’s experience, and the scripture “The King will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt 25:40) Blake Hendrix was moved to action in Arkansas, wanting to help as well. Blake had been a Louisiana resident for 17 years before moving to Searcy in 2001 to start his own State Farm Insurance Agency. He learned that Camp Wyldewood had opened up their cabins for Louisiana residents fleeing the massive destruction. 1.2 million Gulf Coast residents had been under evacuation orders - voluntary and mandatory. He also received phone calls from other agents in Louisiana asking him for help for their clients who had fled to White County. Three families that had fled were staying in a hotel in Beebe, AR. After several days living in a small cramped hotel room, the dads were going a little stir crazy and called Blake to help. Not only did he deliver their claim checks, he also took them to Searcy Country Club for a day of golf. “They just wanted to get out and do something ‘normal.’ I’ve never seen people so grateful to be taken for a round of golf in my life. It drove home the fact that many of the refugees were just like me.” – Blake Hendrix, Founding Member of the Wyldewood Golf Tournament The Hurricane had driven out over two hundred thousand people without prejudice. That round of golf got him thinking, “What can we do to help?” Blake had organized a golf tournament for Searcy’s Rotary Club for a few years and decided that a fundraiser was something that he knew how to run. Why not whip up a golf tournament and give the proceeds to the refugees for clothing, food, or whatever else they needed? He talked to Jim House, the owner of River Oaks Golf course, who agreed to let them use the course for a reduced rate. He recruited several ladies who he knew were influential in the Searcy community. Christine Faith, Betina Ramsey, Sherri Adcock, Michelle Davis, and Blake went to work, calling businesses, explaining what they were doing, and asking for teams and donations. Everyone they called gave something. Businesses and people gave $100 here and $200 there. Three weeks later, by the time of the tournament, they had raised over $23,000! Twenty years later, Blake reflects on how the people of Searcy came together to support people they didn’t know who needed help. “Looking back on that time, I really enjoyed getting to know and working with Christine, Betina, Sherri, and Michelle and the relationships we formed over those couple of weeks putting the tournament together. It was my first experience watching this community rally quickly to support those in need. It certainly wasn’t the first or last time, and I think that’s what makes Searcy such a special place.” The Wyldewood Golf Tournament was such a success, it went on to become an annual event. Now in its 20th year, it is one of the largest golf tournaments in White County. After Katrina, nearly half of the residents of New Orleans decided not to move back but relocated elsewhere. Eighty percent of the city was flooded, displacing the rich, the poor, and the middle class alike. They suddenly had nowhere to go, and their homes were gone or badly damaged. Katrina caused approximately $125 billion in damages and 1,833 fatalities, according to Wikipedia. But even the worst storms run out of rain . . . and hope, like the sun, will always shine again! Read the full issue below.

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Issue 6 2025 Across 2. NOTHING 6. FINDING Down 1. FOUNDED 3. TWENTIETH 4. NATURE 5. FAITH Riddles 1. Try To Understand 2. Afternoon Tea 3. Two Eggs Over Easy

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By Jennifer Webb On Thursday after a short practice, each player gets his jersey and takes a poker chip. They place their chips somewhere they know they can keep track of them, since they will need them the following day. On one side is the word HARD, which is an acronym. The other side simply reads “All In.” A few players go home, but most stay to attend FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes). They look forward to it because with FCA comes a home-cooked dinner. (For teenage guys who burn 3,000 calories a day, food is a high priority.) They listen to an inspirational message delivered by a local church pastor as they eat, and then go home with the poker chips in their pockets. The acronym HARD stands for Honesty, Accountability, Relentless, and Disciplined. Each player learns them by heart because each word is a weekly theme that repeats. The message in FCA always coincides with that theme. It gives them something to think about the day before and the day of the game. The game of football itself is hard. Each player spends more time practicing than they do on the field. Life is also hard, but head coach Zak Clark does all he can to invest in his team at Searcy High School — both as football players and as young men. The players bring the poker chips with them the next day. When it’s time to get on the bus to go to the game, they turn them in, symbolizing that they are “All In” for game time. Head coach Zak Clark strives to be as all in as he asks from his players. Originally from Northwest Arkansas, Zak attended St. Joseph private catholic school until the 6th grade. His dad was a Razorback baseball coach, and his Mom was a public school teacher. Growing up as a coach’s kid, he remembers being on the road with the team but still making it to church for mass on Sunday mornings, no matter where they were. Growing up in that environment gave him a solid foundation. He hopes that his walk in life shows his faith. “We need as many people of high character and faith as we can get around our kids. It gives us hope. The kids aren’t perfect. I’m not perfect, but I hope they catch something I say or that how I treat them positively impacts their lives.” - Coach Zak Clark, Searcy High School Lion Football He likens being a coach to being a parent. He knows that he’s not perfect and makes mistakes from time to time. Likewise, the kids on the team are not always perfect and mistakes happen from time to time. When they do, he does his best to balance accountability and consequences for their actions with grace . For his own mistakes, he endeavors to go back and tell the kids, “I didn’t handle the situation as I wish I had. If I had it to do over again, I would have . . .” In doing so, he models reflecting back, taking responsibility for one’s actions, and learning from mistakes. “It’s important for us as coaches to stand there as a man and tell these young men our faults and what we wish we should have done differently. With them, that’s a big part of the maturation process. Modeling ‘we’re not perfect and we don’t have to be perfect, but let’s be honest with ourselves,’ is a great way to model growing as a person.” - Coach Zak Clark, Searcy High School Lion Football In the five years that Coach Clark has been at Searcy, he’s continually blown away by the support of the community and from the parents of his players. He is also quick to recognize his assistant coaching staff. They are also all in, and often the players feel more comfortable coming to the assistant coaches than to him as the head coach. Thanks to the spirit of cooperation that they cultivate between not just the players but also the coaching team, things often run much more smoothly. “Before I moved here, I didn’t know much about the community of Searcy. I only knew a handful of people, but I had heard good things. I’ve been blown away by the support from the community and from parents. This really is a wonderful place to live and raise a family.” - Coach Zak Clark, Searcy High School Lion Football Read the full issue below.

By Jennifer Webb “What are you going to do to make my son grow in his relationship with Christ? How are you going to disciple my son?” Coach Ashley Henley’s friend, the parent of one of his football players, asked him. The truth was, he didn’t know. When he started seeking the answer, it changed both his life and his coaching career. Ashley had grown up a preacher’s kid. He’d been around church people and a Christ-centered environment his whole life, but to him it was mostly routine. He went through the motions, but it wasn’t something he was on fire about. At that point, he’d been coaching for a good number of years. He and his wife, Alyssa, married after college and spent most of their lives in Oklahoma. They had two sons who both played football. But that question from his friend stopped him dead in his tracks. It was something that he had never thought about before, and frankly, he was a bit confused as to what his friend meant. It was a challenge to invest in his players personally and to strengthen his own walk with Christ. He struggled personally at first, but with some guidance, he learned what a real connection with Jesus was and what it meant to pursue it. As he grew spiritually, it became important to him to share it with others and to encourage it in his players. Since his coaching career has been in private schools the last six years—first at Shiloh Christian in Springdale, Arkansas, in 2019, and finally to Harding Academy in 2025—it has given him a unique opportunity to speak freely and openly to his players about their spiritual walk. His biggest hope is that kids who grew up like he did in a Christ-like environment would realize the importance of developing their own personal walk with Christ and not simply go through the routine/motions. He encourages his players to find time to read the Bible on their own and to pray. He tells them, “it’s something that becomes a secret to life, when we shift our focus to following Christ more closely.” “I don’t walk with Christ perfectly, but when I do, I’m a better person. The blessings come back tenfold when we bear fruit like that.” - Coach Ashley Henley, Harding Academy Wildcat Football The game of football itself is a great teacher. It’s hard. It takes a huge commitment from the players, putting in much more practice time than is actually spent in the games. The players spend the whole year preparing for 10-14 games per year. He talks to the players often about living with urgency every day, including spiritually. He tells them that every day is a gift from God and challenges them with, “How will you attack it?” That includes pursuing a relationship with Jesus and being transformed by the process. Their philosophy is to “develop champions—academically, athletically, socially, and spiritually.” “I feel strongly that once you make the personal connection to God, intimate time with Him becomes a true need and He becomes easier to seek. Once you make the connection, you understand how special it is.” - Coach Ashley Henley, Harding Academy Wildcat Football He would love to see the environment and the culture continue to grow so that athletes are pushing athletes to not only excel on the field but also with spiritual growth and life as a whole. He wants his players to be authentic, honest, and very real with one another and to support each other. He realizes that the world is tough and that kids today face unique challenges. He wants them to know how to apply the Word of God in their lives. A support system is an integral part of the culture that he is trying to develop. He and Alyssa have started hosting high school players for dinner in their home once a week. One week they host the seniors, the next week are the juniors, and the third week are the sophomores. Then they repeat. It creates an uplifting environment where the players get to know one another and their coach better. It creates strong bonds where the team is not playing together simply to win, but to support each other in love. “My hope would be that every believer’s life would look different than the average person in the world.” - Coach Ashley Henley, Harding Academy Wildcat Football Following more closely after God translates to the team’s performance on the field. It removes the pressure of comparison to other people and shifts how the players identify as people. There is a peace that comes with growing through challenges. The reality is that a player’s worth is not tied to their performance on the field. They play to honor God and not to honor themselves. “God is love and we play out of love for each other. It means a whole lot more than if we are doing it for ourselves.” - Coach Ashley Henley, Harding Academy Wildcat Football Coach Henley is the first to admit that some players get more out of it than others and attributes what they get out of being part of the team to what they put into it. If it changes one person, then he feels like it’s worth it. Read the full issue below.

By Jennifer Webb Ten-year-old Chuck Carr could hardly contain his excitement. He and his buddy, Robbie, had recorded the 1987 Super Bowl on the VCR. Their favorite team, the Broncos, were playing. They stayed up all night, watching it play-by-play. They stopped and reviewed the footage along the way, discussing everything. They were heartbroken that the Broncos lost to the Giants, but when the morning sun came, they were out in the yard running every route they thought the Broncos should have won. They both simply loved the game. Robbie’s parents drove him to Heber Springs to attend school so that he could play. Chuck’s parents had to work long hours, so he rode the bus with his brother and sisters to Rosebud Schools. Much to his dismay, they did not have a football program at the time. Chuck never saw the field as a high school football player. He graduated in 1994, joined the United States Navy in 1995, and got married when he and his wife were 18 and 19. After four years of marriage, they had been blessed to add three kids to their family. Chuck still loved football, but he felt God tugging on his heart. By the time he was 23, they were getting heavily involved in church. He felt the pull and call to be around young people outside of the church. He wanted to be around kids whereever they were. He started with a peewee football team and loved it. He told the head coach at Siloam Springs High School one day that if he could do anything for the rest of his life, he would coach football. The coach’s first question was, “Where did you play?” With a sinking heart, Chuck answered that he had never played at all. “You’ll never coach.” He went on to explain that at the time, football coaches were hired based on who they knew, and often hired only former players. “There are other ways you can get involved.” After that conversation, Chuck decided that it was more important to work with kids than coach football, putting his coaching dreams on a shelf. By the time Chuck was 29, he pursued a degree in ministry, surrendering to the call. In 2006, he landed a job in Senath, MO, as a youth minister. “This is it,” he thought, “ I have a desire to serve the Lord and take care of my family. Football was just the way that it got started.” In 2009, they moved to Texas when he was blessed to accept an associate pastor position. He sat down with the superintendent of the local school and asked, “What can I do to help?” Chuck’s son played football, and he continued to be involved as a parent. The associate pastor position moved into a senior pastor position. His heart was always about reaching the kids and the parents through the kids. By 2017, the church where he worked had grown to around 200 people. On the outside, everything seemed to be going right. But on the inside, something was gnawing at him. Pastoring didn’t feel right anymore. “Should I leave the pulpit?” The question would not leave his mind. “Can I talk to you?” the elementary school principal asked him one day. “I hope you take this the right way, but have you ever considered being a teacher and coaching at the high school level?” There it was, God was giving him the answer to the question that he had not dared to voice to anyone. A few months later, he told his friend, Evan, over the phone, “I think it’s time. I don’t know how much longer I can preach. I can’t shake this idea that I’m supposed to be coaching.” “How serious are you?” his friend asked. “Totally serious.” “See you in Buffalo at 3 this afternoon. They are looking for a new football coach.” Chuck sat across from Brandon Houston, the head football coach. He laid it all on the table, with the faith that he was too puny to mess up God’s plan if it was meant to be. “I have zero experience,” Chuck confessed. “But I’m a good learner, hard worker, love kids, and I love football . . . but have never played.” When he got the call that he was hired, Brandon told him, “I can teach you football, but I can’t teach what you’ve got in your heart.” And just like that, God gave Chuck the job that others told him was impossible to get. He told a mentor of his, “I can’t imagine doing this.” It was a dream that had come full circle. “I can’t imagine you NOT doing this,” his mentor replied. “ God put this in your heart 20 years ago, and the door’s opened to you, not because you’re a great football guy, but because of the way you ministered to a family, and it meant enough to them that they wanted you to minister to the kids in their community.” That first year in Buffalo, TX, they set a school record for victories and made it to the third round of playoffs. In the next six years, he coached teams in several schools, consistently making the playoffs. Those schools included Searcy High School with Coach Clark for two years, then he went back to Texas to help a struggling team for two years, before finally settling at Riverview in 2024. “These kids come from where I came from. I love them and call them my riverbottom kids. These guys and girl that we coach want to be a part of something—something positive, something they can reach and dream for. I feel like that’s why God chose here and now. He has a message of this dream that He put in my heart and others told me was out of my reach. I continued to be faithful to God everywhere He put us, and He’s continued to honor that.” - Chuck Carr, Head Coach, Riverview Raiders High School Football Chuck always comes back to the “why.” He’s always been a passionate person, and his players know that he won’t ask them to do something they can’t do. They may not realize they are capable when they start, but each mark along the way builds their confidence. They buy into his belief in them. It’s an approach that Chuck believes is a biblical approach to raising young men and women. Many of Chuck’s friends have asked him if he wanted to wait for a better opportunity to open up. For Chuck, there is no better place because this is where he feels like God led him, and he says he’s here to stay. He has a big heart for the kids and wants to see them walking around campus with their chests puffed out a little bit because they are proud of something they have accomplished. His story is just one more example of how God makes a way when others say a dream is impossible. One person can make a huge difference when he or she seeks what the Lord desires. Read the full issue below.

By Jennifer Webb Cody Sparks had always wanted to be a head coach, and this year, that dream came true. He came to Beebe High School as an assistant coach out of Henderson State University in 2021 and discovered that the town was a great place to live and raise a family. “I learned a lot of what I am now as a coach from Coach Maxfield at Henderson State. He was tough on the kids and looked tough on the outside, but what people didn’t see was how much he loved the kids and breathed life into them. That’s what I want to do with our players.” - Cody Sparks, Beebe High School Football, Head Coach He had grown up playing football but was not competitive enough to play on the college level, so he chose coaching instead. He learned a lot about life through playing football in junior high and high school. The game involves a lot of discipline and attention to detail. His coaches always encouraged him to be a good person, as well as a good player. He wanted to pass that on. “The impact that coaches have on young people is second to none.” - Cody Sparks, Beebe High School Football, Head Coach To invest in the program and in the kids, he came up with three core values: Honesty Treat People with Respect Protect the Team He believes that these values, rooted in biblical principles, encompass nearly every situation. Honesty - He wants his players always to tell the truth, even when it’s hard. He wants them to know the value of a good day’s work, and to grow into young men who take responsibility for their actions and follow through on their promises. Treat people with respect - We all have people over us. We ultimately answer to God, but as citizens, we also have to respect our laws and law enforcement, as well as our superiors at work and school. But it’s not just those in authority that we have to have respect for. Treating people with respect goes for everyone. Even if you disagree with someone, mutual respect goes a long way in resolving difficulties. Protect the team - This value encourages selflessness and thinking of others. It’s often been said that there’s no “I” in team. Protecting the team means the players realize that their actions affect not just themselves, but others. It also helps to build an atmosphere of “we’re all in this together” and of helping each other improve. On Thursday nights, a local church feeds the team. They also share a meal sponsored by a local business on Fridays before the games. After the meal, they listen to a short uplifting message. Coach Sparks hopes that it gives them something positive to think about during the game. After a message on persevering, Coach Sparks found himself thinking about it as the team struggled to pull off a win during a tough game. Success on the field is a measure of growth, and it’s a statistic that matters, but Coach Sparks also feels rewarded off the field when he sees his players growing physically, spiritually, academically, and socially. He admits that his current players have been through a lot with three head coaches in as many years, but he hopes that his efforts to impact them will continue to show. Coach Sparks holds his players accountable for their actions not only on the field, but also for their conduct off the field. He is involved in the Beebe Football program not only at the high school level but also at the junior high level. He hopes that his efforts will continue to impact the players’ lives and encourage them to develop into good people. Those are lessons that will stay with them far beyond football. Read the full issue below.

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