Northern Neck Baptist Association, Inc.
" Partnerships: the Synergy of Ministry"
Baptist General Convention of Virginia
We are BGC…Bringing People Together, Growing Churches, and Changing Communities!
A Word From the Moderator
Matthew 18:19-20
The 2023, Northern Neck Baptist Association, Inc. 61st Annual Joint Session was a grand occasion indeed! We gathered at the Macedonia Baptist Church, Heathsville, VA where the pastor, Reverend Dr. Linwood Blizzard, II, and the church family were most hospitable. For 5 days (concert to banquet) we celebrated and embraced the call of Christ to "Occupy Till I Come". It was an old-fashioned convention with an old-fashioned crowd, a host of glorious presenters, honored guests, and inspired servants. It is veritably our job to continue the work of Christ until he comes.
We have neither slowed our pace nor lost any ground as we forge our way into a new dimension of service. As an association of churches, we have discovered and proven the words of the preacher. "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor" (Eccl. 4:9). Our new theme is: "Partnerships: the Synergy of Ministry". So often in scripture, we find that gifts and blessings are granted for the specific purpose of sharing with others. Partners in Ministry share in blessings and rewards, but beyond that, their product of service increases exponentially when coupled with others. The concept of synergy brings Partnerships to a new level, for synergy means the cooperation and assets of two partners combined to produce an effect far greater than the two individual products of the same partners (in other words 2 + 2 = 10 or even 100). This is indeed the product of Partnerships and ministry, thus synergy. Follow NNBA via our calendar of events, website, and social media as we pursue "Partnerships: the Synergy of Ministry" (Matthew 18:19-20).
We have neither slowed our pace nor lost any ground as we forge our way into a new dimension of service. As an association of churches, we have discovered and proven the words of the preacher. "Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor" (Eccl. 4:9). Our new theme is: "Partnerships: the Synergy of Ministry". So often in scripture, we find that gifts and blessings are granted for the specific purpose of sharing with others. Partners in Ministry share in blessings and rewards, but beyond that, their product of service increases exponentially when coupled with others. The concept of synergy brings Partnerships to a new level, for synergy means the cooperation and assets of two partners combined to produce an effect far greater than the two individual products of the same partners (in other words 2 + 2 = 10 or even 100). This is indeed the product of Partnerships and ministry, thus synergy. Follow NNBA via our calendar of events, website, and social media as we pursue "Partnerships: the Synergy of Ministry" (Matthew 18:19-20).
As an association, NNBA charges the churches to minister to all people using the model which our Savior illustrated during his earthly ministry. We encourage ministry to all people on all fronts. Jesus fed the hungry, healed the sick, and even raised the dead, but greater than that, he went to the people.... he met the people where they were. He touched lepers, He dined with sinners, He washed his disciples' feet, and He brought hope to the despondent. This is our charge, and the goal is attainable. "Occupy Till I Come"!
Congratulations Moderator Reed and Mount Vernon Baptist Church
Welcome back, Moderator Reed.
"10,000 Reasons Haiti"
On January 25th Gernard Reed, pastor, Mt Vernon, traveled with "Ten Thousand Reasons Haiti" on his 5th Mission Trip to the island nation of Haiti.
"Ten Thousand Reasons Haiti" of Warsaw, VA partnered with "Hope United Haiti" of Charlotte, NC in 2017, to build a school and Baptist Church in La Mer Frappe, Haiti. The Church/School located approximately 30 miles north of the troubled city of Port-au-Prince continues to thrive in the face of turbulent times for the nation.
The mission team delivered 500 pounds of clothes, food, and medicines for the students and village residents.
Haiti
Their ancestors were enslaved and forced to work in the fields. Now, one family hopes to help alleviate hunger abroad by drawing from generations of farming knowledge
By Chandelis Duster, CNN,2 days ago
- Northumberland County, Virginia (CNN) — Everyday when PJ Haynie wakes up, he prays to God for two things.
- “As farmers, we go out and as they say, we plant and pray,” Haynie said. “We plant a crop … we pray for rain; we pray for prices.”
- It’s a hot Saturday morning and Haynie is sitting on the porch of his family’s farming office in Heathsville, Virginia. For years, he has prayed over his enterprise of crops here and a large rice mill, Arkansas River Rice, that his family co-owns more than a thousand miles away in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
- The family’s ties to land in Northumberland County, Virginia – and to farming – stretch back generations; back to when their ancestors were enslaved and forced to farm to fuel the American economy.
- But now, Haynie said his family’s story has come full circle and he’s using those generations of agricultural knowledge to continue their legacy of feeding others, both at home and abroad.
- The weight of his ancestors’ sacrifices hit the 45-year-old farmer hard, as he spoke to CNN.
- “I teared up one day because I thought, ‘My ancestors came from Africa as slaves. I have been blessed with the ability to know how to grow crops and grow food here in America … and now we’re shipping rice back to Africa to help feed (the children) of my ancestors.’”
- “It was a very emotional moment for me,” Haynie said.
- According to the family, in 1867, Robert Haynie, freed from slavery, purchased 60 acres of land in Northumberland County, Virginia. That land has been passed down within the Haynie family for more than 150 years.
Part of the original 60 acres that Robert Haynie purchased in 1867 in Northumberland County, Virginia, as seen from above.
The Haynie family also has farming operations in Arkansas, where they grow rice, wheat, soybeans, and corn. And when an opportunity came to expand the family business by purchasing an industrial rice mill in the state, Haynie said he “stepped out on faith.”
In December 2021, PJ Haynie, along with his father, Philip (Ricky) Haynie II, and their business partner bought the Arkansas River Rice mill.
“My grandfather would be rolling in his grave if he could see what we’re doing now,” Haynie said. “The only option he had was hauling [crops] five miles down the road and selling it to Perdue Farms or Southern States back then.”
In December 2021, PJ Haynie, along with his father, Philip (Ricky) Haynie II, and their business partner bought the Arkansas River Rice mill.
“My grandfather would be rolling in his grave if he could see what we’re doing now,” Haynie said. “The only option he had was hauling [crops] five miles down the road and selling it to Perdue Farms or Southern States back then.”
An alternative food source
As many countries endure food insecurity – exacerbated by the war in Ukraine – the US has stepped up to meet the increased global need for agriculture products like rice, Daniel Whitley, Foreign Agricultural Service administrator for the US Department of Agriculture, told CNN.
“Whenever there’s a crisis, American agriculture is always one of the first to be called upon and one of the first to respond and this situation has been no different,” Whitley said.
“The war in Ukraine has led to an increase in food security concerns, and many of those countries are interested in finding alternative sources for products they may have gotten out of that region of the world.”
The Haynie family is hoping their rice mill can be counted among those alternative sources.
In 2022, the US exported $1.7 billion (2 million metric tons) of rice, according to the USDA. That grain is produced primarily in four regions, including parts of the Gulf Coast and California’s Sacramento Valley.
Arkansas, where the Haynie’s rice mill is located, produces the most rice of any state in the country and Arkansas River Rice is one of the few Black-owned mills in the US.
“Whenever there’s a crisis, American agriculture is always one of the first to be called upon and one of the first to respond and this situation has been no different,” Whitley said.
“The war in Ukraine has led to an increase in food security concerns, and many of those countries are interested in finding alternative sources for products they may have gotten out of that region of the world.”
The Haynie family is hoping their rice mill can be counted among those alternative sources.
In 2022, the US exported $1.7 billion (2 million metric tons) of rice, according to the USDA. That grain is produced primarily in four regions, including parts of the Gulf Coast and California’s Sacramento Valley.
Arkansas, where the Haynie’s rice mill is located, produces the most rice of any state in the country and Arkansas River Rice is one of the few Black-owned mills in the US.
By creating more export opportunities for farmers of color, Whitley said the USDA also hopes to boost inclusivity in its programs and reduce inequality.
Many Black-owned agriculture businesses and Black farmers, Whitley added, have not had the opportunity to export their products abroad on the scale the Haynie family has, which makes the Arkansas River Rice mill rare.
That is something PJ Haynie said he takes pride in, and he hopes to pass that pride down to the next generation of Haynie farmers.
Arkansas River Rice can process 22 metric tons of rice in an hour, which Haynie told CNN is the equivalent of an 18-wheel tractor trailer filled with rice. A year after opening, the company secured two contracts from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to export rice internationally for humanitarian aid, he said.
Arkansas River Rice has shipped hundreds of metric tons of rice to address food insecurity in the Central African Republic and Kyrgyzstan this year.
Many Black-owned agriculture businesses and Black farmers, Whitley added, have not had the opportunity to export their products abroad on the scale the Haynie family has, which makes the Arkansas River Rice mill rare.
That is something PJ Haynie said he takes pride in, and he hopes to pass that pride down to the next generation of Haynie farmers.
Arkansas River Rice can process 22 metric tons of rice in an hour, which Haynie told CNN is the equivalent of an 18-wheel tractor trailer filled with rice. A year after opening, the company secured two contracts from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service to export rice internationally for humanitarian aid, he said.
Arkansas River Rice has shipped hundreds of metric tons of rice to address food insecurity in the Central African Republic and Kyrgyzstan this year.
The Haynie family co-owns Arkansas River Rice, a rice mill located in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
Employees at Arkansas River Rice prepare a shipment for USAID.
As he thought about the impact his family’s grain would have on countries around the world, PJ Haynie recalled a moment with his 21-year-old daughter, Colette, when she first visited the mill.
“She said, ‘Dad, this is pretty cool. We could help feed people with this thing.’ And that was an emotional punch to the stomach that I wasn’t expecting,” he told CNN.
“She said, ‘Dad, this is pretty cool. We could help feed people with this thing.’ And that was an emotional punch to the stomach that I wasn’t expecting,” he told CNN.
Harvesting ancestral knowledge
Long before they were captured and sold into bondage, Haynie’s West African ancestors grew a variety of rice in their homeland called Oryza glaberrima.
Commonly known as African rice, the grain, ranging from a reddish-brown to black or purple hue, was domesticated more than 3,000 years ago, UCLA geography professor Judith Carney told CNN.
Carney, who has studied African ecology and food systems for more than 35 years, traced the journey of rice from West Africa to the Americas in her book “Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas.”
Commonly known as African rice, the grain, ranging from a reddish-brown to black or purple hue, was domesticated more than 3,000 years ago, UCLA geography professor Judith Carney told CNN.
Carney, who has studied African ecology and food systems for more than 35 years, traced the journey of rice from West Africa to the Americas in her book “Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas.”
Her research shows Oryza glaberrima was the first rice brought to the Americas.
“African rice likely led the way for the plantation system based on the crop in the Carolina colony,” she told CNN. “By the end of the 17th century, planters were accessing rice occasionally left over from slave voyages to plant and contacting ship captains requesting seed from Asian rice societies.”
When enslaved people were brought to the Carolina wetlands, they were forced to clear dense forests to grow rice, as well as their own food. Carney said White enslavers appropriated the knowledge curated by African rice growers and forced them to plant new, higher yielding varieties of rice brought from other countries.
To meet demand for the crop, enslaved Africans milled the rice by hand in a wooden mortar with a pestle until the mid-eighteenth century when mechanical milling devices were invented, Carney said.
“African rice likely led the way for the plantation system based on the crop in the Carolina colony,” she told CNN. “By the end of the 17th century, planters were accessing rice occasionally left over from slave voyages to plant and contacting ship captains requesting seed from Asian rice societies.”
When enslaved people were brought to the Carolina wetlands, they were forced to clear dense forests to grow rice, as well as their own food. Carney said White enslavers appropriated the knowledge curated by African rice growers and forced them to plant new, higher yielding varieties of rice brought from other countries.
To meet demand for the crop, enslaved Africans milled the rice by hand in a wooden mortar with a pestle until the mid-eighteenth century when mechanical milling devices were invented, Carney said.
Long before the transatlantic slave trade, farmers grew Oryza glaberrima across the African continent.
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