When I attended college at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, there was one man that you always wanted to stay on good terms with.
\nNow granted, there were a number of people like that.
\nYou always wanted to have a good relationship with your professors, Dr. Bradley, Dr. Loutherback and of course the president himself, Dr. Bawcom.
\nBut one man always stood out.
\nThis man not only enforced the law set by the previously mentioned, wonderful, fabulous administration, but was also the man who had the power to dismiss those annoying parking tickets.
\nThis man was also in charge of those annoying police officers whose only mission in life is to keep students from having fun.
\nOK, so maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not really their goal.
\nBut when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re a crazy college student who wants to pull a prank, like hanging a Chet Edwards, D-Waco, sign upside down on Heard Hall, or filling Richard Muskee\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s car with confetti and old smelly cat food, the campus \u00e2\u20ac\u0153po-po\u00e2\u20ac\u009d were no fun.
\nAnd UMHB Police Chief Gary Sargent was the man in charge..
\nHis authority made students shake in their boots.
\nBut fast forward almost a year and your opinion of a man can easily change.
\nDon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell this to any UMHB students, but even with 17 years on the police force at Baylor University and six years with the UMHB force, Gary isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t as tough as you may assume.
\nHe has a real heart of gold.
\nAfter moving one of his daughters to Alabama and marrying off his youngest daughter last year, Gary and his wife Dianna, a nurse at Sparta Elementary looked at their empty nest and began to make plans to enjoy the rest of their lives.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153After we moved my youngest daughter to Houston, I knew what I was going to do for Spring Break this year,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I began making plans to head to Disney World.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nWhile Gary was looking forward to a relaxing spring break in Florida, he began to get a different tug on his heart.
\nNot knowing where this tugging was leading, he began to consider seminary and he and Dianna enrolled in a Christian Leadership course at UMHB.
\nThen in February, Sargent found his passion.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was scrolling through the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) website looking at various opportunities and I finally came across an article for Mission Corp Volunteers and their work in Harlan County, Ky.,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I saw the story of a pastor who had given up a six-figure income to return to Lynch, Ky. and work in one of the poorest cities in the state, with no guarantee of a salary. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when God began to lay the people of Lynch on my heart.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nLynch was once one of the wealthiest cities in Kentucky until the coal mines closed down and left the town broke and busted. Today Lynch is one of the poorest cities in Kentucky.
\nHarlan County is one of the most severely distraught counties in Kentucky. 13,000 of the county\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s 36,000 live in poverty. Unemployment and poverty rates are 150 percent more than the U.S. average. In the 50 county area of the Appalachian ministry, 51,097 households have an annual income of less than $10,000 with 48-percent of those incomes less than $5,000 a year. 16,691 housing units have no water source; 25,885 households do not have vehicles; and 26,116 can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t afford a telephone. The absence of transportation and the physical isolation create serious accessibility problems for health care and emergency situations. The fight for survival has left many exhausted, bitter, and hopeless.
\nWith a new direction, Gary and Dianna began 10-8 Ministries.
\nThe ministry takes its name from code used by police departments across the county.
\n10-8 simply tells dispatch that the officer is in service and ready for further directions.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re still learning about God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s direction each day,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But above all, we want to tell God, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcWe\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re in service waiting for further directions.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAfter contacting the missionaries serving in Lynch, Gary and Dianna knew their plans for Spring Break were to be changed and they began planning a needs assessment trip.
\nAnd last week, with the donations from Immanuel Baptist Church in Temple, Academy First Baptist and UMHB, Gary and Dianna packed up their Explorer and a trailer full of food and headed to Lynch.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I was worried we wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be able to fill our Explorer,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But we had over 1,800 pounds of food.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nThe Sargents were also able to provide a bullet-proof vest for the town\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s chief of police as well as a check for $1,000 from the donations.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In Lynch and Harlan County you see pure hopelessness,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153But with a little ray of hope you see amazing rays of change.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nGod also laid a vision on his heart for the community of Lynch.
\nOn Feb. 2, Gary wrote in his journal that he felt God calling him to raise $100,000 to help with community revitalization.
\nNot only was Gary to raise $100,000, but he felt God instructing him to raise it $10 at a time.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The idea of raising $100,000 didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t seem like a simple task,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153And the idea of raising it $10 at a time was an even larger task. But I believe this is God\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s way of proving that He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in control and I can trust Him wherever He leads.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nOther visions that the Sargents have laid on their hearts, is to purchase a house for missionaries working in the area. They also hope to be able to provide computer equipment for the local teen center along with software to help with literacy and computer training.
\nGary said he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t take anymore than $10 from any one person.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a huge task, but God will provide,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153If people choose to donate more it will go towards the purchase of the house, food or other needs. Otherwise the $10 will go directly to the $100,000 goal for community revitalization.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nGary and Dianna are planning another trip to the area this summer and hope to bring another load of food and computers with them.
\nWhile the Appalachian people are heavy on their hearts, Gary doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe 10-8 Ministries will move them to the Kentucky Mountains.
\nHe believes the ministry will help raise funds and awareness for other ministries around the country, like the Mission Corp Volunteers. He says he hopes to duplicate the plan and results in other areas around the county like the Texas Rio Grande Valley.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153As a police officer, one of my favorite sayings is \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIgnorance of the law is no excuse,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Gary said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153God told me, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcIgnorance of the situation in Harlan County is no excuse. Do something!\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAnd now you know too.
\nDonations to 10-8 Ministries can be brought to the UMHB Police Dept. or mailed to 10-8 Ministries, P.O. Box 1755, Belton, TX 76513.
\nFor more information on Gary\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s ministry visit:
\nwww.10-8ministries.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I attended college at The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, there was one man that you always wanted to stay on good terms with. Now granted, there were a number of people like that. You always wanted to have a good relationship with your professors, Dr. Bradley, Dr. Loutherback and of course the president himself, … Continue reading Ignorance of Law is no Excuse<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-29","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-t","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}