Back in the summer, during a mission trip to Uganda, the Lord revealed to us what the mascot should be for the Amy For Africa Christian School.

It is a rhinoceros, commonly referred to as the rhino.

So why the rhino? I’m glad you asked.

On one of my brother Tim’s fourteen messages on the trip in June, he did some teaching and preaching, and it directly led us to selecting the mascot. Let me explain.

Pastor Tim spoke from Matthew 16:18 when Jesus was talking to Peter about himself.

“He is the rock and on Him the church has been built. If you believe that He died for our sins and rose from the dead on the third day, the gates of Hell will not prevail against you too.”

Jesus said we are to CRASH the gates of Hell, knock down strongholds and bring people to Jesus. Our battle is not with people though, even those who violently oppose Jesus. Our battle is a spiritual one and we win that by loving God.

We are not to sit in our comfortable buildings but go into battle because “Hell will not prevail” against us. We have that promise.

Pastor Tim moved from that to an illustration about the rhinoceros, an amazing creature that can weigh as much as three tons. They are mostly gentle and peaceful in their behavior but are easily startled and are quick to charge at the source of their agitation. They also have a giant horn growing out of their snout and they know how to use it as a dangerous and damaging battering ram.

Even with their massive size, rhinos are said to be able to run as fast as 34 miles per hour yet cannot see more than 30 meters (100 feet). So, if a rhino is coming at you, do not count on him swerving to miss you. Just move!

Pastor Tim further educated us about what a herd of rhinos is called. He mentioned we have names for other animals. For instance: a flock of birds, a gaggle of geese or a pack of wolves.

But what about a herd of rhinos? What is that called?

His answer: “It’s called a crash.”

Amy Compston, the AFA co-founder, was listening intently. She knew at that moment the AFA Christian School should use Rhinos as the mascot because we want to CRASH! the gates of Hell by bringing the Good News of Jesus that people need. We do that through teaching the Bible to our students from day one, making fearless ambassadors for Christ.

The AFA school continues to build “rhinos” to do some crashing in the name of Jesus. Lostness is the world’s greatest problem. And we have the solution.

Go Rhinos!

Ron Reed, who coached area basketball teams on the high school and college level for a remarkable 48 years, died Thursday morning after a prolonged battle with Parkinson’s. He was 79.

I was privileged to know Coach Reed as a friend, as a coach who I interviewed many times and even as a parent when he coached Rose Hill Christian School for one season when my son was a freshman. What I always saw from him who was a man whose imprint was stamped on many young people in the area.

He was driven to teach fundamental basketball and taught it the only way he knew how – with what I would call compassionate toughness. He was straight to the point, did not play favorites and put up with zero nonsense. Ever. Some loved him, some hated him. He never strayed from his values. Unbreakable. But for those who loved him, they were loyal to him, and it showed on the basketball floor. Some jokingly called him “Bobby Knight Light” for his way of working players hard – extra hard some would say – but without the bad language.

In fact – and this is what impressed me most about Ron Reed – he was an unapologetic Christian. He was a believer who wore it on his sleeve. Now, I have seen him mad coaching – so mad he would almost shake, and his face would turn blood red – but even with that he never lost his witness for God. He called on me several times to speak at his Fellowship of Christian Athletes basketball camps that he worked all over the state.

He cut his coaching teeth on the football field with legendary Tom Sims at McKell High School where he was an assistant for those great 1966-68 Bulldog teams that featured Don Gullett, Tom Wright, and others. Ron was also a storyteller. Here is one from that first season when he was an assistant at McKell, the start of his nearly half century coaching odyssey that included basketball, baseball and football.

McKell was preparing for the season opener against Anderson County in the prestigious Recreation Bowl in 1966. Reed, a new assistant wanting to make an impression, asked Coach Sims if he wanted him to go to Anderson County and watch them practice for a scouting report. Sims agreed that could be valuable information.

Ron borrowed a press pass from friend David Reed (no relation), who was working for the Ashland Daily Independent as a sportswriter. Tiny Roberts, Billy Webb and one of their friends went with Reed to Lawrenceburg for a look at the opponent.

Ron introduced himself to the patrons at the local restaurant as a reporter for the ADI. He told them he was putting out a football preview and one of the area schools was playing in the Recreation Bowl. Anderson County was preseason ranked and had a veteran team, led by All-State linebacker Billy Ware. Reed and his crew went to practice and an assistant coach from Anderson County came over and asked what they were doing. Reed pulled out his press pass, and the coach unwittingly let them stay.

Ron said he and Tiny watched the offense and Billy concentrated on defense, all taking mental notes. On the ride back after the practice, Billy talked about Ware “being the real thing” and when it came to talk about the offense, Ron said the squirrely friend interrupted and asked the group, “Would this help?” and pulled out from underneath his shirt a plastic folder. It was Anderson County’s playbook that he found on the front steps of the school.

Ron gave the scouting report and playbook to an appreciative Coach Sims and the Bulldogs defeated Anderson County 9-6 in the 1966 Recreation Bowl.

Years later, David Reed became the sports editor for the Herald Leader in Lexington. He wrote a scathing column about the price of winning and knew of a coach in eastern Kentucky who used false press credentials to scout an opponent. Ron said David never mentioned the details, or culprits, of the scheme.

Ron was later an assistant basketball coach at Ole Miss under Bob Knight-disciple Bob Weltlich, known as “Kaiser Bob” because of his toughness on players including a memorably brutal practice on Christmas Day after a bad road showing. Ron was later the head coach at Milligan College and then coached Anderson County (football), McKell (baseball), Lawrence County, Raceland, Russell (boys and girls), Rose Hill in basketball on the Kentucky high school level and in Chesapeake and Minford in Ohio. He coached on the college level at Ohio University Southern and Kentucky Christian University, retiring in 2015 after 48 years of coaching. It is an amazing legacy.

While he did not win any state championships, what he did was far more important. The life lessons impacted his players not just for a season but for a lifetime. Ron Reed was more than a basketball coach. He was a life coach. Those who followed his advice have been successful long after their playing days.

I appreciated his Christian witness at all his coaching stops where I was involved as a reporter. He had the support of a loving wife, Joan, a beautiful person who had the job of consoling Ron after tough losses. He had a few and none tougher than the 16^th Region championship game between Russell and Ashland that went to double overtime in 1993. A referee waved off a last-second basket by the Red Devils in regulation that would have won the game that the Tomcats took 80-70. I am not sure he ever got over that one. He was not upset for his own sake, but for the players. It was always about the players who were like extended family.

Ron Reed had a fierce passion for God, family, basketball, and life. Make no mistake, wife Joan, their daughters Joan-Michael and Holly, and the grandchildren were the light of his life. But he loved seeing his players succeed after their playing days and many of them stayed in touch with him throughout their lives. On his 70^th birthday, Joan put together a birthday party and several members of his Anderson County team from the early 1970s showed up as did players from other coaching stops. They loved their coach, who was tough on them for their own good.

The “pukers” in Coach Reed’s preseason training are the stuff of legends. At Rose Hill, he ran the players hard and they had to “earn” their jerseys. But only three “earned” them by completing the “puker” runs. The “pukers” were suicide drills – 60 in 60 minutes. They ran 15 per quarter, where there was a break, and had timeouts that the team decided on together. If they missed the time, they started over. Players ran until they vomited, and he always said that he would mop it up (he was true to his word at Rose Hill).  My son was one of three Royals who made it through the gauntlet. But that was one season that Reed had to change his rule. Playing teams 3 on 5 would not have worked at Rose Hill. We had enough of a problem with 5 on 5.

We started three freshmen and lost more than we won (6-19 or something close). But I guarantee those who played that season remember Ron Reed fondly and those “puker drills” not so fondly. He was honest with his players. Before the Royals played Ashland in the district tournament, there was no David vs. Goliath story. He told them they were going to lose but could still play hard and leave with pride. They did lose and they did play hard. Attitude and effort were paramount in his coaching philosophy.

It was never about winning and losing, although he loved winning as much as anybody. Reed gauged how his players were improving and not just on the basketball floor. How were they improving as a young man? That is what mattered.

Ron Reed was an outstanding coach who prepared young men for life with lessons from the game. His life was full of adventures and his impact on young lives will last for generations. His was a life well-lived indeed. Keep his family in your prayers.

Services for Ron will be Tuesday at Fairview Baptist Church in Westwood with visitation at 11 a.m. and the service at 1 p.m.

Rob Barber is the most valuable invisible member of this Amy For Africa mission team. He is our videographer and uses his skills to tell the story of AFA in video form.

He hasn’t been on a mission trip with us since 2017 yet his work for AFA is something that has been seen in many churches in the U.S. over the past seven years. Rob’s video chops are incredible. He will take a few hundred photographs that Amy has collected and turn it into a video that will melt your heart. So kudos to her, too, for learning how to use the camera on the cellphone with expertise.

Since the beginning, we have not been shy about sharing images and using social media for good and as a way to communicate to the public. Among her one thousand other duties, Amy does incredible work there as well. When she wants a story written, she turns it over to me. And when she wants a video, we hand it over to Rob.

Rob has his own images – both still photography and videos – from this trip. That includes some drone footage of the AFA Christian Academy that is, in a word, stunning. He is not afraid of new technology and, in fact, embraces it. You may have seen some of his photo collections on Facebook the past 10 days. But Rob is also more than just a pretty face behind the camera. When Amy introduces him, she says that he is the one with a camera in front of his face most of the time. And that’s true.

However, Rob loves the people of Uganda and they love him back. He plays with the children through his lenses, showing them their pictures in the camera. His big personality comes out with anyone who comes in contact with him. And he has a strong spiritual side, too. Besides some mad photography skills, he’s a speaker that can teach and a good friend to have around. His morning coffee and Spanish omelets have been a hit for this team. And I do know this much: He misses his wife Suzanne terribly and speaks of her often and in glowing terms. I’m happy for both of them.

His speaking skills were on display for us on Wednesday morning when we visited the Bible study at the Threads of Hope, a group that AFA started in 2019 and has grown in every way the past five years. Women and some men are being taught marketable sewing skills so they can work and feed their families. The teachers at the school not only know their way around the sewing machines but they are also committed followers of Jesus.

We are so thankful for teachers like Susie and Betty who are training young women sewing skills but also mentoring them on the spiritual side. Mainly, they want to introduce them to Jesus. They have Bible study about three times a week and there is a spirit there that rivals any church. They worship and praise, share testimonies of victory, offer heartbreaking prayer requests and talk about how they are leaning on the Lord.

When mission teams are visiting AFA, Amy makes sure they have an opportunity to share a word with the men and women and it is some of the sweetest times here. They listen intently, even through interpreters, and they open tattered Bibles and look up passages. It becomes one of the favorite times for any mission team.

Rob’s turn came on Wednesday to share so he could not be in his regular place behind the camera. He did an outstanding job explaining the scripture he was using so it could be understood and used. I was a photographer substitute – a poor one – but wanted to make sure everybody at least knew what the man who has put together so many heart-wrenching videos for us the past 10 years looks like. It is important that people not only read about our story but see it as well. It brings it to life and this is real life here,

The saying that a picture is worth a thousand words certainly rings true with these videos and that is coming from somebody who tries to paint descriptions with the written word. There is a place for both and we are fortunate to have Rob with us. The AFA story continues to unfold before our eyes and the photos and videos from Rob Barber bring the story to conferences and churches as a visual aid for Amy’s inspirational speaking.

And through it all, we give God the glory.

Most of America could have cared less Tuesday was my brother’s 70th birthday.

But Uganda sure took notice – at least those Ugandans associated with the Amy For Africa ministry. They sure know how to throw a party.

There was some homework done to pull off one of greatest tribute birthday parties to a man who has spent more than half of those 70 years doing the Lord’s work. If anybody deserved a party, it was Pastor Tim.

Here’s how it went down.

After securing that Tim and I were going on this summer mission trip back in the winter, I might have told Amy Compston to “throw a little party together since it is Tim’s 70th birthday on June 11 when we will be in there.”

I should have known this: Amy does not do anything little (Have you seen the photographs of the enormity of the AFA Christian Academy?) But what she pulled off – Amy says it was all the staff’s planning, not hers – would rival any party in the USA. It was full of fun, fellowship and laughter as the Ugandans showed how easy it was to honor a friend with an unforgettable experience.

Pastor Tim is somewhat new to Amy For Africa, at least as it relates to Uganda, with this being his first trip to the country. He has been a supporter and fan of the organization for a long time. A seasoned pastor with 43 years of experience until retiring last May, he admitted having doubts at first about the sustainability of AFA. Skeptical may be a better description. But since I was so heavily involved, especially at the outset, he kept his judgment to himself and cheered for us to make it.

Like everyone else who has experienced this ministry on first-hand level, now he’s a believer, too.

Pastor Tim has become a counselor and confidant for the ministry to Amy, who isn’t shy about seeking help as she guides AFA. When she needs wisdom, he is one of her go-to people. I keep him abreast of what’s happening in AFA and we both stand amazed at how God has built this mission, sustained this mission and grown this mission with prayer being the fuel.

The Ugandans on staff probably had never heard of Pastor Tim until we arrived last week. But Amy knows how to use a good horse. You ride them. She scheduled Pastor Tim to speak or preach on 14 different stops in our visit from June 4-18. Several times he has prepared something for twice in the same day. He has preached in churches, led staff Bible studies under trees and in impoverished areas, spoken at Threads of Hope sewing ministry, another growing AFA product, did a chapel service at the school for nearly 400 children and counseled and prayed with many others.

By the way, he’s not the only one on the trip even though it may seem like it. Chris and Amy’s two sons, Bear (plus his girlfriend Presley) and Jarek, Robbie VanHoose and Rob Barber have joined with me for a quite good team with a variety of skills. But like the Ugandans, we all sure do love Pastor Tim.

The day started at Threads of Hope where Pastor Tim was serenaded by a couple of the women as soon as we got off the van. Then they sang Happy Birthday three more times before our Bible study was finished. The Lord even provided a monkey for us to watch swing from tree to tree, something Amy said she could not remember happening. Maybe he liked the singing.

Seventy can be one of those tough ages to accept but he was reminded time and again about his new age. VanHoose graduated from Ashland Blazer with Tim in 1972 but he doesn’t hit the milestone until August. You can pretty well guarantee he won’t be anywhere near Uganda after Tuesday’s party.

Amy sent out a small warning to Tim that he “maybe should bring a change of clothes” because “sometimes they pour water on people with birthdays.” We envisioned bottles and cups. They brought tubs and basins. There were about 20 guilty parties who participated in the near water board experience. As Tim came around the corner on the top level of the massive school, he was hit with all that water – and singing. He looked like a drenched rat, soaking wet from head to toe, smiling and laughing the entire time.

Then they ushered him into a decorated party room where a beautiful cake was sitting on the table. Osborne David, an energetic music teacher, was the emcee for the party that included about 20 members of the AFA staff. This group had already fallen in love with Pastor Tim and could not wait for the celebration.

Uganda does a lot of things right and birthday parties may well top the list.

The emcee had a game to play. He passed around a cup with questions about Tim inside. They started the music – loud, because it always is here – and when it stopped, whoever had the cup would have to answer a question or face the consequence. The only correct answer was “What is the name of Tim’s brother?’ They knew that one but none of the others.

Several of them had to dance for Tim, one had to frog hop around the room, another was told to jump up and down, and Chris had to sing Happy Birthday (maybe the sixth time Tim had heard). Rob VanHoose, Amy and myself were asked to say something about Tim. Rob and Amy were great and even danced for him, too. I was too emotional to say much but did release my inner “Gorilla Dance” that has been doormant since 2017. So there was that.

Five of us, including Tim, cut into the cake and Jarek unleashed a spray of whipping cream all over us. So now Tim was not only wet, but a little sweet.

It was an incredible day but Amy had more for us. We stopped for a service at Word of God church where guess who was preaching? When we settled in there, they had a surprise up their sleeve too! Another round of cake and Happy Birthday where the second verse in Uganda goes, “How old are you now? How old are you now? You look like a baby, how old are you now?”

Tim didn’t need a reminder. He was 70 years old, even if he seemed like a kid enjoying multiple birthday parties on the same day. He told the Ugandans, “This is my best birthday party ever!”

Wednesday he will be back in “The Ghetto” preaching a service at Jinja Hope Fellowship and then we have a few more days before heading home. It would not surprise me if he comes back to Uganda one day – and Amy would sign him up today if she could – but it’s safe to say he won’t come anywhere near his birthday.