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Citizen Choice Awards: Triangle Baptist Church

By Lisa Mumma
Citizen Journalist

Editor’s note: The following is the fifth part in a six-part series of profiles on our Citizen Choice Awards honorees. Citizen Choice Awards is an award ceremony that recognizes people who exemplify what it means to be a Garner citizen. This week, we honor Triangle Baptist Church for patriotism.

As the cars snake along Garner’s Old Stage Road during last Tuesday’s rush hour, Triangle Baptist Church member Ronna Jones added another row of chairs in preparation for that night’s Homeland Heroes meeting. She hoped to ensure ample seating because the parking spaces outside were filling quickly.

Homeland Heroes is a way Triangle Baptist can help community members cope with loved ones serving in the military. BARRY MOORE, GCNT

“Triangle Baptist Church has many veterans, and we wanted to support our soldiers, and we thought the best way to do that was to take care of their families at home as our skills allowed,” Jones said. “We felt there were many military families in the Garner area so we did our research and started to reach out to the public to identify these families and help them connect to this group.”

Homeland Heroes, an outreach ministry serving military families of Garner and surrounding towns since 2005, fulfills the church’s mission of opening hearts to God and opening its arms to others.

Wife, mother and grandmother-to-be, Jones said that while Garner may not have an obvious military base presence like neighboring Fayetteville’s Fort Bragg, the number of soldiers is much larger than people are aware. Populations stem from local army reserve units as well as the state’s National Guard headquarters in Raleigh. She said many parents of soldiers live in Garner.

“Garner people are very patriotic and supportive,” Jones said. “They will often donate resources to assist the families and care items to send to our soldiers.”

The Rev. Ronald Poythress credits Jones’ passion for this particular community in spearheading the flourishing ministry and coordinating a solid volunteer team to implement the many facets of the program.

“I have learned much from Ronna about all sides of the issues and the phases related to deployment,” Poythress said. “The program embodies the teachings of Jesus Christ, without quoting and preaching.”

Both Jones and Poythress say the ministry is a way that church members give part of themselves to those in need with no expectation of getting something in return.

“Small churches can do very big things, especially when a member has a calling to move mountains,” Poythress said. “It only takes a handful of them to get things accomplished.”

“We learn to lean on God and his word for direction, prayer to meet the needs of these families and love and compassion to reach out to this hurting population in our midst,” Jones said. “We’ve learned to pace ourselves and not to take on more than we can do in a quality manner.”

Program participants, who range in age from 20 to 60, are spouses, parents and relatives of active and reserve military personnel, but the group welcomes anyone who may benefit from the camaraderie and support.

“Triangle Baptist Church is a safe place to give voice to their struggles because they’re among friends who aren’t judging,” Poythress said. “We don’t preach to them because that’s not what they’re here for. They are lonely, grieving and stressed. This is a unique way for us to be the body of Christ.”

Jones said participants, who are not required to join the church, also learn from each other and benefit from the shared experiences.

“Their total health — mental, physical, emotional and spiritual — improves,” she said. “Their outlook is more positive. They become stronger and more confident. Their stress is reduced by having someone to lean on, the support and the education. These are new skills they are proud of. They get the encouragement that ‘I can do this’ because they know someone is going to help them and that they are not alone.”

According to Jones and Poythress, part of the success of the ministry rests with tools and resources within the greater Garner and Triangle community. In addition to receiving assistance from other area churches, the ministry enlists the help and expertise of outside military and veteran organizations and agencies, such as the USO, that are better equipped to handle more specialized issues.

“It’s a great gift from God when you see the families you are trying to help smile, laugh, gain confidence, an education and finally stand on their own and much stronger after receiving the love and encouragement from people who truly love and care from them,” Jones said.

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