Carol Jones of Shiloh Community Church advises a seamstress on sewing machine maintenance. (Staff photo by Mary Alford)
CLARKSTON, Ga. – Eleven Arkansas Baptist women traveled last week, May 20-24, to Clarkston, Georgia, an Atlanta suburb that has become home to refugees from around the world.
Approximately 1.8 square miles in size, Clarkston represents more than 60 countries and more than 120 different people groups.
Once a largely white community, Clarkston is now home to people speaking over 100 different languages, and many of them can be heard in the multi-ethnic and multi-generational Clarkston International Bible Church (CIBC).
The group of Arkansas Baptist ladies was led by Arkansas Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU) Executive Director Debbie Moore, who worked with Susie Helton of the Refugee Sewing Society in Clarkston and Lorna Bius of the Georgia Baptists to plan the trip. The Refugee Sewing Society is a faith-based non-profit that serves refugee women by providing a safe community to build relationships, creative arts skills training, and an opportunity to earn an income through sales of products they create.
While there, Carol Jones of Shiloh Community Church in Fayetteville taught the Refugee Sewing Society women sewing machine cleaning and maintenance. The Arkansas ladies also helped CIBC staff prepare for summer camps, prayer walked local apartment complexes, had home visits with refugee women, assisted with an end of school party, completed a Refugee Loss Simulation led by CIBC Pastor Trent DeLoach and more.
“Going to Clarkston and working with Susie at the Refugee Sewing Society was an eye-opening experience. I knew it would be. I just didn’t know how much I would be changed by this experience. I loved seeing God at work in Clarkston through people like Susie, Pastor Trent and his wife, Elizabeth, and Lorna Bius. They work hard to care for the refugees’ needs and in doing so, point them to Christ,” Jennifer Booth of Park Hill Baptist Church said.
“I am grateful for the varied experiences we had on this trip. From helping prepare for summer camp, playing with refugee kids at an after-school program, helping cut fabric for sewing projects, and prayer walking, we were able to experience quite a few things.”
Booth said one of her favorite things they did was having tea in the home of refugee women.
“I was able to visit the home of an Afghan woman who was so gracious and hospitable. I loved being able to talk with her daughter and learn more about their family,” Booth said.
Laura Bramlett of First Baptist Church in Hope said she was convicted as she listened to a Middle Eastern woman share her testimony of how “Jesus found and chose” her. The woman said, “He didn’t choose me so that I would remain silent! I have to tell others about Him! If you love someone, don’t you want others to know about them?”
“She shared with us so much of what she went through to come to the U.S., and it was a lot! But the joy on her face was genuine and the light of Jesus shone so brightly through her,” Bramlett said. “I couldn’t help but cry out, “Lord, forgive me for all of the times I’ve been silent about You.”
Bramlett also loved watching and hearing from the different women who work with refugees in Clarkston.
“They’re all so passionate about what they do, and it’s clear they’re serving within their callings. They’re very intentional in their relationships, and they seem to make the most of every opportunity the Lord gives them,” she said.
Moore said the mission trip was an opportunity to learn what refugees go through, where they are in the states, what kind of work is available to them and more.
“It was an educational trip. It was for all of us,” Moore said, noting the addition of the Atlanta Ministry Center since her last visit five years ago to Clarkston. “That is the whole purpose of the trip. To learn, to better know about the refugee population in the United States but specifically in Georgia, and how to better serve and assist those that are living there and pray for them and for the refugees.”
Until she went on this trip, Booth said she did not know the strict processes refugees go through to get to the United States.
“I am grateful God is bringing the nations to us. We have no excuse to not share with those from other countries. We don’t have to fly around the world to take the Gospel to the nations. They are right on our doorstep,” Booth said.
If small church groups or families are interested in potentially planning a missions trip to Clarkston, they can reach out to Moore at [email protected].
“The world is in Clarkston. If you’re unable to get on a plane and fly internationally, God has made international missions so accessible. We have no excuses for not going and telling. God has brought so many from the “ends of the earth” to us,” Bramlett said.
Other Arkansas ladies on the trip included Sandy Kurosaki of First Baptist Church in Benton; Mary Alford of Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway; Gwen McCallister of Crossroads New Baptist Church in Little Rock; Susan O’Bryant of First Baptist Church in Hope; Marty Davis of Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock; Anniece Gates of Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock; and Diane Parker of Park Hill Baptist Church in North Little Rock.