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Help Meet Needs for the Decatur Campus
Where do you like to tell people about Jesus and His love?
By Jimmie Harris,
Houseparent at Decatur Campus
Some folks like to witness at church, at the break room at work, or even a special room in their home. I have a preacher friend who likes to carry people fishing on his boat. When he has them fishing in the slow moving current, he shares his testimony and the Gospel.
Sometimes at the Decatur, Alabama, campus of Alabama Baptist Children's Homes & Family Ministries, I like to refer to the swing in front of mine and my wife Martha's cottage as the best place to witness for Jesus Christ. All of our girls love to swing with me - even our dog Sallie loves that swing. People say it's because I love to swing high. I have found that this one-on-one play therapy can break new ground and allow the child to freely talk about anything and everything.
Slowly and cautiously, I get go share how Jesus Christ loves each of us. Through general talking without any pressure, I've had the privilege of leading many children to personal relationships with our Lord.
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home > Homes for Children > North Alabama > News
Making A Difference Compassionate Harrises instill discipline in Tubbs
By Bob Murdaugh
 Delana Brown Tubbs says the extraordinarily organized closets in her home today are proof of the positive impact her former houseparents Jimmie and Martha Harris had on her life at the Decatur campus.
The discipline Delana developed at Alabama Baptist Children's Homes has resulted in her maintaining a 4.0 grade point average at Wallace Community College in Hanceville. She was one of only 40 Wallace students recently inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. In May, she will graduate with two associate degrees. She lacks only two semesters for her associate of medical assistant degree.
She has accomplished all of this while remaining a devoted wife to husband Mark and full-time mother for their two small children!
"The Harrises have been by my side the entire time," Delana acknowledges. "They've been there whenever I've gotten an award and at every baby shower. When I was living at the Decatur campus, Martha even went to the prom with Mark and me."
Against her rebellious will, Delana came to the Decatur campus in January 1995 at age 16. She left a changed person two years later.
 "I was real revengeful and had been through several homes before coming to the Baptist Children's Homes," Delana recalls. "I was often the eldest among the children in the homes where I stayed, and I was determined at first that I was only going to be in the Harrises' cottage temporarily." Jimmie, who nicknamed Delana "Rooster" due to her stubborn behavior, describes her as an "extremely determined perfectionist."
"Delana spent much of her time in her room studying, and she eventually graduated from high school with academic honors," Martha recalls. "The punishment for Delana was to make her watch TV."
There was little trust between Delana and the Harrises at first, but soon that changed when Delana realized how much her houseparents really did care about her. The Harrises showed compassion, not scorn, toward the troubled teen when a fight between her and another girl at school resulted in probation for Delana.
"She was scared to death at the police station and very apologetic," Martha remembers. "Delana's behavior gradually began to change, and she started to take more interest in the other girls at the cottage, especially the younger ones."
Jimmie says another turning point came when he arranged for Delana to attend her sister's graduation. "She wasn't allowed to go to graduation because she was on probation, but I took her. She thanked me all the way."
Delana is grateful for the quantity and quality of time the Harrises spent with her and the other girls when she lived at the Decatur campus. "We went to church every time the doors were open, and that set a routine in me that Mark, our children and I continue today," Delana says. "The Harrises hardly ever had time off until they were required to take it, and that made living at the Decatur campus more like a family. Mr. Harris let me drive him everywhere in the car - I learned to be flexible with his elevator music, but not by my choice."
With Jimmie and Martha's encouragement, Delana is closer to her biological family than she's ever been, Delana said. "But the Harrrises will always hold a special place in my heart." |
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