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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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Across ALL IN BULA LOCAL Down HEART MAX FIELD BURLS Riddles What's up with that Going around in circles Sunrise, sunset

By Don Moore, Resident of Harding Place, Searcy, AR No one has given a tag to this generation. What happened to shape their values and virtues? Are they unique? Facing some of life’s hardest challenges, their courage makes one wonder how these people came to be the people they are. They grew up in an era when there were no institutional provisions for the aged and infirmed. The elderly around them probably rotated from one child to another for their care. No government programs addressed their condition. People could save cash, but investment strategies and retirement programs were not possible for their parents or their grandparents. This may be the first generation to come to retirement sustained by their own resources rather than their children’s. Some of the conditions described in this article likely shaped their intentions and efforts to plan and prepare for their later years. Most of these people were shaped by WWII, since they were children during the war years. No family was spared military service, the rationing of essential materials necessary for war, and the loss of life. Large sacrifice was made by everyone during those years of uncertainty. Hand-me-down clothes met the need of growing children. Garage sales and the storage building industry had not been thought of. Shopping was many years away from becoming a favorite past time. How exciting do you think it was to order the children’s clothes for next year from Sears Roebuck and Montgomery Ward catalogues. Besides, many families did not have automobiles to travel to distant towns. The first shopping center had not been built. Their parents “made-do” with whatever was at hand. That may have come from older siblings or cousins. Though likely unaware of it at the time, they grew up in a time of deprivation, struggle, and limitations. Even in the area of nutrition, many families would today be classified in a “food desert.” For many, meat once a week would be common, with dessert only on Sunday. Even that would often be shared with the pastor and his wife. Again, something of these realities put DRIVE into the rising generation to work toward a better life. With the obvious physical and financial needs, and the uncertainty of the outcome of the war, it was common for faith to play a role in the lives of families during this period of our history. Life was simple. Needs were simple, and faith was simple. Human need and a gracious God needed to be joined together to make it through. The sophistication of education and technology seen in the church today would have been very strange in the stark, raw days of human existence. Though economic and domestic advances have been staggering and the standard of living elevated to comfort, pleasure, and leisure, the faith of the fathers has not been abandoned. With WWII ending in 1945, the wheels of progress and economic improvement went into high gear. Most of these people had a car, indoor plumbing, and electricity by the time they graduated from high school. Education became a chief goal of life. It was to help them get from a menial subsistence to self-sufficiency. By this time their mother and sisters entered the war time workforce. Family life would never return to the one-income nuclear family known earlier. Women became the work force in the rapidly expanding, consumer driven economy. Soon the small farm, family-oriented, mostly rural economy switched to movement into the suburbs where industry, manufacturing, and growth were happening. So those people learned early to ADAPT to change. A change of vocation might require a change of location. These people in the productive years were “all over the map.” A quick visit with a dozen people here will take you from Florida to Alaska and regions on other continents. The varied jobs they did--from common labor to highly-skilled tasks to Chief Executive Officers, you will find it all with these people. For whatever reason and certainly with hard work and divine favor, they have come to the stage of life where their efforts have paid off, and they are able to live with a wonderful degree of comfort and their needs met. The field of battle has changed. Physical limitations, wheel chairs, walkers, braces, heart attacks, strokes, cancer have all taken a shot at these people. Dependency upon someone else for nearly everything is now the scene. Pride and stubborn willpower does not carry much weight in this arena. Competition that once drove them has been left behind. Pomp and circumstance will not fit any occasion here. They have climbed all of the ladders they are ever going to climb. They have impressed all of the important people they are ever going to impress. Yet, they press on with determination, courage, and vigor. The remnants of “The Greatest Generation” and the lessons learned in very hard times must have fallen on them. Now driven by COURAGE , these people are the “Hardy Harding Gang.” "Life was simple. Needs were simple, and faith was simple." Read the full issue below.

By Brandi Crossen In the heart of every community, there are behind-the-scenes heroes who stand ready to answer the call in times of crisis. One such hero is a long-time EMT from Antioch, Arkansas, who has dedicated decades of his life to serving others, Brandon Pruitt. With a background rooted in dairy farming, Brandon found his calling not in the fields, but out in the community, responding to emergencies and delivering critical support to those in need. Growing up in Antioch, he lived the quintessential life of a farm kid. In Brandon’s early twenties, a cousin and friend of his talked him into joining the local fire department. While working at the fire department, they began offering a class to train first responders. Brandon took the first step into his EMT career by signing up to take the class. Upon completion of this class, Brandon began running first responder calls for the fire department. In 1997 the fire department offered a class in training EMT’s (Emergency Medical Technician), and Brandon jumped at the opportunity. Once the class was finished, Brandon had to take a national exam to certify him as an EMT, and he passed. This was when Brandon’s career as an EMT took off. Brandon worked as an EMT first responder in Antioch for ten years while also working in a factory. Brandon finally decided to take the leap and put in an application with NorthStar EMS and was hired. He worked a little over two years at NorthStar as a part-time EMT before deciding to make it a full-time career. Brandon has now worked at NorthStar EMS here in Searcy for nearly two decades. Within those two decades, Brandon decided to further his knowledge by passing the test to become an Advanced EMT, which he has done for the last ten years. Brandon is also the lead field-training officer, Captain of NorthStar EMS’s honor guard, and a CPR instructor. Outside of his demanding role as an Advanced EMT, Brandon enjoys spending time outdoors, whether it’s fishing, hunting, or tending to his yard. At the heart of Brandon’s life is his family-wife, Kristen; his three sons, Brody, Eric, and Shane; his two bonus daughters, Ava and Alivia; and his six grandchildren, father, and mother and father-in-law. “It can be hard. With this job, you miss a lot of family moments most people get to experience. We miss a lot of holidays, birthdays, trips, and other things that most families get to enjoy. In this business, you have to have a family that understands what you do for a living and who are willing to adjust to life in EMS.” - Brandon Pruitt, Advanced EMT, Northstar EMS While Brandon has his family at home who are missed greatly when on shift, he also has a family at NorthStar EMS amongst his coworkers. For Brandon, one of the most rewarding aspects of being an EMT is the deep sense of camaraderie that comes with being part of the EMS family. “It truly is like having another family.” Whether it’s a routine call or critical emergency, the bond amongst EMTs is unwavering. “In this line of work, we always have each other’s back. If you have a good call or bad, there is always someone you can talk to and discuss what’s on your mind. We see things that normal people don’t, and it’s nice to have people who really understand what you do and see.” - Brandon Pruitt, Advanced EMT, Northstar EMS There were two things that Brandon wished everyone knew about to make EMTs’ lives a bit easier. The first was that when you see first responders coming (EMS, Fire Dept, Police, etc.), move over and let them by. Brandon went on further and explained the importance of not stopping on top of a hill due to the danger it opens up for everyone involved when they can’t see if anyone is coming from the other way. The second thing Brandon recommended was for the public to carry or have a list of medications, allergies, and medical history with you. In the event you need EMS services, having this information on scene allows them to help you in a more efficient and timely manner. “The quicker we can get any information on the patient and treatment started, is imperative,” Brandon emphasized. For those considering a career as an EMT, his advice is straightforward yet impactful; “If you are looking to get rich, this is not the job for you. People in EMS do not do it for the money. We do it because we want to be able to help someone in their time of need. You have to be a special person to work in EMS, and it’s not for everyone. It can be the best job you will ever have, but it can also be the worst. You see people in times of joy and times of pain.” Behind the sirens and flashing lights, there is love, sacrifice, pain, grief, loss, joy, hope, faith, tears, hurt, and fear, but most importantly, there are the people who are experiencing it alongside you. Thank you Brandon, for being one of the special people who wake up daily and choose to experience it with us. Read the full issue below.

By Pat Ferguson Music and Love . . . is there really a connection? Here is a wonderful love story that shows the connection is real! How music brought two wonderful people together . . . and how music helps them maintain their bond. Once upon a time there was a beautiful woman named Evelyn (Evie). She grew up in Arkansas, living in Little Rock for many years and later transferring with her work to Russellville, and then moving to Searcy after retiring. Evie’s first husband passed away in 2015, after 30 years of marriage. She loved to sing (soprano) and performed with groups at church and in concerts. She joined EdenSong Regional Chorale in 2003 and is still singing in the chorale today – 22 years later. EdenSong is getting ready for their Christmas concert in Searcy at the First Presbyterian Church at 6:30 p.m. on December 16th. Dee Spann was married and lost his wife in 2017 after 53 years. He grew up in North Little Rock and played high school football with Jerry Jones . . . yes, that Jerry Jones. Dee sang in the Ouachita Baptist University choir and in a number of church choirs before retiring to Searcy in 2002 – coincidentally the same year Evie moved to Searcy. While living in Fredericksburg, VA, he sang in a gospel barbershop quartet. Dee attended a performance of EdenSong in 2017 and immediately decided he would like to sing with EdenSong. Dee has a beautiful tenor voice. He was driving from Searcy to Heber Springs every week to practice for EdenSong and soon discovered that there was a carpool going back and forth for the weekly practices. He joined the carpool and found Evie. It sounded like it was love at first sight or first song . . . they both kept finding reasons to be together, in addition to singing together every Tuesday afternoon at EdenSong (Dee sat behind Evie in the chorale). In 2018 Evie asked for his help getting to a performance by her grandkids, and Dee was happy to help her; he also got to meet her kids. Later that year, Dee went to Ukraine to sing in a traveling choir and of course, brought her back some chocolates. In 2019 he went to Brazil to sing and face-timed with her everyday. It seems kind of obvious what was happening with these two love birds. Also in 2019, they went to a 50s party, where he asked her to go steady with him and actually gave her his high school class ring! How perfect! In October 2019 they went to a performance at Harding, and afterwards, they went out to a beautiful dogwood tree where he asked her to marry him. Guess what? She said yes. In December 2019 they were married in Searcy with 20 friends and family in attendance. They had a cellist play for the wedding, and Dee sang “I Love You Truly” to Evie during the ceremony. Music brought these two together in 2017, and today in 2025, music continues to bind them as they have Bible study together every morning and sing to each other. AND they both continue to sing in EdenSong . . . but now, they ride together as a couple. Please plan to attend EdenSong’s Christmas concert in either Heber Springs at Renew Church at 2 p.m. on December 14th or at the First Presbyterian Church in Searcy at 6:30 p.m. on December 16th to hear EdenSong’s Christmas concert and to meet these wonderful love birds. Music and love – the connection is real. EdenSong Regional Chorale, established in 1991, currently sings under direction of Dr. Tammy Burger of Heber Springs. The group is comprised of singers from Cleburne, White, and Van Buren Counties. Prospective new members are welcome to contact Dr. Burger for information (Call 501-206-8901). Read the full issue below.

Across 4. CHOICE 6. WORLD 7. TENOR Down 1. FAITH 2. SUMMER 3. KIND 5. EMT Riddles 1. Horseback Riding 2. Sailing The Seven Seas 3. An Afterthought