Similar to the biblical story of Esther, Rhonda Mann insists
God placed her family and the members at East Leesville Baptist Church in the
military community “for such a time as this.”
Similar to the biblical story of Esther, Rhonda Mann insists
God placed her family and the members at East Leesville Baptist Church in the
military community “for such a time as this.”
The seeds of Operation Embrace really began long before the
recent war against Iraq, when Mann and her family were living in Oregon. Mann
says she knew that her family would be moving to Louisiana and started to ask
God for guidance.
“I began to pray that wherever I was going, God would
give me a place to minister,” she recounts.
Located within 10 miles of Fort Polk, a military base in Leesville,
the church has more than 128 active military families.
“We knew the war was soon to start,” Pastor Gil Arthur
says. “We thought, we cant sit here and say that were in the
military community and not be prepared.”
When the deployment of troops began, the effect on the church
was massive.
“They began to deploy one-by-one, leaving their families
here in Leesville,” Arthur says. “Ministering to the families became
an urgent need.”
A group of leaders in the church began to think and pray about
how they best could meet the needs of those touched at home by the deployment.
Not connected to the military herself, Mann decided to get
counsel from those who would be more closely affected by the absence of loved
ones.
“We began to talk about what kinds of needs needed to
be met, and whatever they had suggestions for, we tried to implement,”
Mann explains.
Operation Embrace was born.
More than 53 families now participate in the ministries the
church offers for the families of military personnel.
The ministries of Operation Embrace range from monthly luncheons
honoring deployed church members to Bible studies to Mothers Day Out groups
to seminars giving helpful information on how to cope when a loved one is not
present.
One of the most successful ministries the group has started
is a family adoption program in which civilian families adopt a military family
where one of the members has been sent into active duty.
The civilian family invites the military family to dinner,
helps with child care and “just develops a bond” with them, Mann explains
of the effort.
Anita Lindsay is a church member whose husband was recently
deployed. She says the family adoption program has been a Godsend in her life.
After her husband went away, Lindsay says the thought of raising
young children on her own caused her to want to move closer to her parents.
Instead, she got involved in Operation Embrace and decided to stay in Leesville.
“I live about 14 hours away from my closest relative,”
Lindsay says. “But with the Adopt-a-Family program, it is like having a
grandma and grandpa right here.”
“We are so thankful for the men who have gone (overseas),”
Mann says. “We see it as our responsibility to take care of the wives and
families.”
The church also holds a special prayer meeting every Wednesday
night at 5:30 for the spouses or family members of deployed military personnel.
“The women can bring up any needs that they have with
their families or their husbands overseas and know that they will be prayed
for,” Mann says.
Such dependence on prayer has encouraged church members as
well as those they are praying for, she notes.
“It has really brought our church to its knees in prayer,”
Mann says. “This is all about him, and none of this would be possible without
the Lord Jesus.”
Operation Embrace also has ministries to aid the military personnel
who have gone away from their families.
The church has sent care packages to those overseas and has
a ministry aimed at praying for their safety while they are gone.
On the flag pole at the church, yellow ribbons are tied. These
ribbons have the name, rank, and deployment date of every military person known
by church members.
Audiotapes of Sunday sermons are mailed to church members on
active duty. A collection of Christian fiction books was taken and were sent
to a chaplain overseas in order to start a library for the troops.
“At that time, we couldnt send any theological books
because there was a ban on that,” Mann says.
Mann says she sees Operation Embrace as a way to commit everything
she has to God. As it says in Proverbs 16:3, she maintains that if one commits
his or her work to the Lord, the plans will succeed.
“We have been so blessed by so many things, especially
freedom, that we want to give back to the families and be like-minded in that,”
Mann emphasizes.
The church has been receptive to the work of Operation Embrace,
and many of the members have become involved in the ministry in some way.
“Our church is beginning to define its ministry as a mission
to Fort Polk,” Arthur notes. “And the military families are now looking
at our church as a home base.”
Despite the many church members who have been deployed, church
attendance has increased, Arthur points out.
“The growth has been increasing dramatically since the
fall, and some of those attending are from the military,” he says.
“We hope that this Operation Embrace is a launching pad
for ongoing ministry to Fort Polk even after the men come back.”