Christian Entrepreneur and Wife Invest In Outreach to Missionaries
by Allie Martin
June 29, 2004
(AgapePress) - A Mississippi businessman who just returned from a trip to Armenia says hunger for the gospel is great in the former communist nation.Richard Headrick, a businessman from Laurel, Mississippi, and his wife Gina spent months at a time traveling the world, encouraging individuals working in the mission field. The couple recently got back from a trip to Armenia, where they say poverty and oppression are rampant.
Still, despite the adverse conditions in that country, Headrick says there is a desire for the truth of God's word among the people there. He tells the story of one man named Sorik. "About three months ago this young student missionary had been working, trying to lead Sorik to Christ," he recounts, "but Sorik was just against everything this young missionary could say."
However, in time the Holy Spirit began to work powerfully in Sorik's heart, the Christian businessman says, and eventually "not only did he [accept Jesus], but he began to lead his family to Christ." Then, he says, having no access to a baptismal font, the local missionaries got hold of a child's plastic pool, filled it with heated water, and baptized Sorik and the rest of his joyful and eager converts.
Headrick says most Christians in America have no idea how believers in other countries suffer for their faith. Living for Christ and encouraging other believers is part of what makes life an adventure for him and his wife.
The Christian entrepreneur, who oversees 13 national and international corporations, spends more than half the year carrying out this labor of love, traveling around the globe to visit with local Christians, career missionaries, and student missionaries, bringing them messages of greeting, support, and encouragement.
"Now these young student missionaries get over there in the Muslim countries," this friend to fellow Christians on mission fields all over the world. "They can't speak the language. They're alone, sometimes their mentors are not there -- They're in there by themselves, and they're lonely. That's when Gina and I come into play," he says.
It is a role they both love to fulfill. "We go over there and spend a day or two with them, just let them know that somebody over here loves them, and cares enough for them to come over and say 'Hey,'" Headrick says. The couple are planning several more trips before the end of the year.
