By Jeff Herring, Executive Editor • Baptist Trumpet
The BMA of Arkansas Missionary Committee voted Thursday, June 18, to approve Randall Chronister as a new full-time state missionary to the Russellville area. His official start date will be July 1.
Bro. Randall was recommended by West Park Baptist Church in Ozark, where Russell Threet serves as pastor. West Park will serve as the sending church, or Mother Church, for the new mission work, providing prayer, encouragement, oversight, and hands-on partnership.
BMA of Arkansas State Missions Executive Director Paul White said the Russellville area is an important place for continued gospel work and church planting. While Grace Baptist Church has faithfully represented the BMA in Russellville for many years, White said the city has grown to approximately 30,000 people, and more gospel-preaching churches are needed.
“Over the years, there has been a lot of conversation about the Arkansas River Valley area and the need for good, God-honoring churches,” White said. “With several schools in the area and the increase in the size of the city, we feel more are needed.”
White also noted that three mission churches have been planted in that corridor in recent years, pointing to the continued opportunity for State Missions work in the region.
White also expressed appreciation for West Park’s willingness to serve as the sending church for this new mission work. He noted that, in BMA missions, churches plant churches, and State Missions comes alongside churches as they help establish new works.
“The Great Commission is our marching orders,” White said. “Realizing that the return of Christ seems imminent, more perhaps than ever before, we must be about the Master’s business.”
Danny Paul, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Russellville and moderator of the United Association, said he was excited to meet with Bro. Randall and other United Association pastors at the building the mission will be using.
“It was exciting to hear the vision and for us to pray together for this,” Danny Paul said. “I want to see what God is going to do through Randall and this mission.”
Bro. Randall and his wife, Brittany, have five children — Forrest, Lydia, Jeremiah, Joanna, and Eleanor. He was born and raised in Hector, was saved and began preaching at age 22, and has pastored churches and served as an itinerant pastor and evangelist in Arkansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma.
Most recently, he served for almost two years at Parthenon, more than an hour from his home, helping a church on the verge of closing. Threet said that only Bro. Randall’s family and one elderly lady attended his first Sunday, but by the time he left, the church had been reestablished with a couple of dozen people.
Threet said he has personally known Bro. Randall for about five years and has seen his love for the church through his willingness to serve wherever there is a need.
“Bro. Randall preaches with power and gravity,” Threet said. “You can tell his heart burns for people to know and believe the truth.”
He also said Bro. Randall’s faithfulness in preaching, his willingness to serve churches in need, and his “godly, down-to-earth, blue-collar demeanor” gave West Park confidence in recommending him as a state missionary for the Russellville work.
The Russellville opportunity first came to Threet during a pastors’ lunch when Bro. Randall mentioned a building that was available. Threet said Bro. Randall wanted the oversight of a good church before undertaking the work.
“I believed it was an opportunity for our church to step more deeply into active mission work, so we began praying,” Threet said.
West Park has already begun supporting the church plant financially and through prayer, but Threet said the church is especially excited about providing hands-on support.
“Whether it be through helping them get the facility ready or perhaps assisting with outreach events, we want to be hands-on partners in this work,” he said.
Bro. Randall shared with the committee that his burden for ministry in the Russellville area began before the building opportunity developed. After spending about 15 years in the natural gas industry, he made the difficult decision a little over two years ago to leave that career path and trust the Lord’s direction.
“I just knew what the burden of the Lord was,” Bro. Randall said.
Since then, he has continued preaching and serving as opportunities opened. During that time, his burden for the Russellville area continued to grow.
“I think we need more gospel right here,” he said. “We need more gospel preaching. We need more faithful churches right here in this area.”
Bro. Randall lives in the Hector area, not far from Russellville, and said his desire is to work among the people of his own community and the surrounding area.
The new mission work has access to a building in Russellville that has been vacant for some time and will need cleaning and preparation before regular services begin. Bro. Randall and others have already begun work on the building, and West Park and other area churches are expected to provide volunteer crews and other practical support. A significant part of the arrangement is that, when the church is organized, the building will become the property of the new congregation.
Bro. Randall said he has seen God’s providential hand throughout the process, including the way the building became available and the way needs related to the facility have begun to be met.
“The building is not — I mean, that’s wonderful,” Bro. Randall said. “But I think all of us in here would agree that a building is just a building without the body of Christ.”
Bro. Randall said the early foundation for the new work is built around three simple truths — Word, Witness, and Worship.
“Our desire is to develop strong Christians, and that is to be done by living and worshiping according to the Word,” Bro. Randall said.
Wednesday night Bible studies began the first week of June. Bro. Randall said about 14 have gathered for the first three Wednesdays, with groups for older students and younger children. Another young couple has joined them to help during the summer.
Threet said Bro. Randall is in a unique position as a new church planter because he already has a facility and a group meeting. At this stage, he said churches can pray and consider financial partnership to help fund ministry operations.
“Please be praying for opportunities for Bro. Randall to connect with more people in the area and continue sharing the gospel,” Threet said.
White told the committee that State Missions is financially able to support the new missionary. He thanked Arkansas BMA churches for their faithful giving and support, noting that Bro. Randall will make eight missionaries currently serving through the BMA of Arkansas State Missions.
White said adding another full-time missionary is a testimony to the sacrificial giving of God’s people and their love for the lost and hurting.
“God’s people express their love for those lost and hurting to support this ministry, often through sacrificial giving,” White said.
After the Missions Advisory Committee’s recommendation was presented, a motion was made and seconded to approve Bro. Randall as a full-time missionary and church planter beginning July 1. The committee voted to approve the recommendation.
Following the vote, those present gathered around Bro. Randall and his family for a time of prayer, asking God to bless the new work and provide what is needed as the ministry begins.
West Park is also praying that the partnership will strengthen both the new work and the sending church.
“West Park is excited to partner with Bro. Randall and his family as they begin this work in Russellville,” Threet said. “We believe this work will not only be a blessing in Russellville but also bring excitement and blessing to our church. We are praying for God to do great things.”
White encouraged BMA churches to call Bro. Randall and his family by name in prayer, invite them to share the work with their churches, and give faithfully so that missionaries have the means to go.
Please pray for Bro. Randall, Brittany, their children, West Park Baptist Church, BMA of Arkansas State Missions, and the new Russellville mission work. Bro. Randall specifically asked churches to pray that they would be empowered by God’s Spirit, that God would send the right help for the ministry, and that the lost in the Russellville area would see Christ glorified and run to Him.
