First Baptist Church-Eldon Missouri

The purpose of Royal Ambassadors is to teach our boys missions as a lifestyle. We use weekly meetings, lessons, games, camping trips, sports, crafts, special events and projects to accomplish this. Each boy earns badges and awards for their efforts, along with a sense of accomplishment and self-esteem. Some people describe RA's as "Baptist Boy Scouts." This is a fairly accurate description, although there is much more to the program than just camping, hiking and crafts. We use these events as tools for our higher purpose: leading young men to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and encouraging them to share Jesus Christ with others. Our activities are designed to attract and keep boys and their friends interested in the RA program and regularly attending chapter meetings.

We try to achieve a balance in all of our activities. It may sometimes seem that we focus too much on activities other than missions or mission education. The Royal Ambassador program, from its beginning, has included many different activities. We believe that by combining missions study and missions activities with sports, games, crafts projects and camping trips, we can reach more boys in our church and in our community, many of whom do not attend church regularly. No matter what activity we are involved in, we are always looking for that "teachable moment" or some spiritual application to share with our boys.

The name "Royal Ambassadors" is taken from 2 Corinthians 5:20, where the Apostle Paul tells us that "we are Ambassadors for Christ". Therefore, we teach the boys the importance of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ and of living according to the principles found in God's Word. We learn about the activities of Southern Baptist Home and Foreign Missionaries, including those currently in service from our church.

RA's meet every Sunday night during the school year from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. parents are welcome to attend these meetings and take part in shaping young men's lives. We encourage parents to participate in the RA activities. We believe it is especially important for dads, step-dads, or the child's father figure to participate in our weekly and special activities.