Arkansas Galileans Meet

By Anthony Hoke, Historian

Arkansas Galileans held two meetings over the past few months. The first was the annual Fall Fellowship at Camp Beaverfork and the other was the Basketball Tournament Retreat at Central Baptist College.

Fall Fellowship

The Arkansas Galilean Fall Fellowship was held at Camp Beaverfork on Dec. 2-3, with three churches represented: Antioch in Conway; Grace, Russellville; and Village Creek, Mabelvale.

The theme for 2022 was “Faithful Through the Fire” (Dan. 3:17-18), with sub-themes for each of the three camps during the year:

• “Through Temptation” (Genesis 39, I Cor. 10:13),

• “To the Gospel” (II Cor. 11:24-29, Acts 5:40-42) and

• “Through Trials” (Acts 6-7, Daniel 3).

The speaker for this meeting was BMA of Arkansas State Missionary Jake McCandless. Jake is also the executive director of Stand Firm Ministries (standfirmministries.com), a ministry devoted to helping believers stand firm to the challenges of their faith. Bro. Jake’s message was from the book of Ezekiel. He gave us a picture of what heaven would look like and also the millennial kingdom. On Friday morning, we had time to ask him questions.

We elected our 2023 state officers. The following 2023 state officers were elected: President Austin Herring (Antioch), First Vice President John Ellington (Grace), Second Vice President Alex Hoke (Grace), Secretary Ethan Nichols (Village Creek), Historian Anthony Hoke (Grace) and Song Leader Riley Sellers (Antioch).

Basketball Tournament

The Galileans also held their annual Basketball Tournament at Central Baptist College on March 2-3, with three churches represented: Antioch in Conway; Grace, Russellville; and Village Creek, Mabelvale.

Our theme for 2023 is “Love God (Joshua 22:5) exclusively (Matt. 6:24), with everything (Deut. 6:5), including your actions (John 14:15; I John 3:16, 18).” “Love God” serves as the main theme and the three sub-themes will be the focus for each meeting — “exclusively” (spring meeting), “with everything” (summer meeting) and “including your actions” (fall meeting).

Chris Vines was the speaker for Friday night’s service, with Riley Sellers leading in the worship. Bro. Chris’s message was from Luke 7:36-48, and he challenged each of us to remember all that we have been forgiven and to let that be what guides us in our relationship with God and others.

After the message, Chris joined the sponsors for the annual Sponsors vs. Sr. Galileans basketball game. The Sr. Galileans pulled out a narrow victory over the Sponsors with a 25-23 win.

Saturday morning began with a devotional from President Austin Herring. He read from Joshua 22:5, and challenged us to love God by pursuing a daily relationship with Him, being obedient to Him and holding fast to Him.

After breakfast, we had the Galilean Tournament, where we were split up into three teams:

• Team 1 — Riley Sellers, Will Miller, Alex Hoke and Mason Brandon;

• Team 2 — Anthony Hoke, Carsen Hoke, David Portillo and Isaac Paul; and

• Team 3 — John Ellington, Luke Paul, Ethan Nichols and Adam Carnahan.

Riley Sellers played exceptionally well, and it paid off as Team 1 held on to win in the championship game by 2 over Team 2.

During this meeting, candidates were interviewed for Arkansas Mr. Galilean. Will Miller, from Village Creek in Mabelvale, was selected as Mr. Galilean. He will represent Arkansas at the National Galilean Camp for a chance to be selected as the National Mr. Galilean.

The other officers and I hope to see a group of boys and men from your church at our next meeting! Here are some upcoming events to put on your calendar for the young men in your church:

• National Galilean Camp will be June 23-26 at StoneRidge Baptist Camp in Smithville.

• Arkansas Galilean Summer Camp will be July 28-30 at Ponca Bible Camp.

• Arkansas Galilean Fall Fellowship will be Dec. 1-2 at Camp Beaverfork in Conway.

For further information, contact Arkansas State Promoter Dan Williams at dwilltwelve@gmail.com or (501) 336-4586 (call or text).