Christian camp helps refugees make ‘€˜Segue’€™ to life in United States

ROYSE CITY—Thousands of international refugees are being brought to Dallas to transition into new lives. A new program, Segue, is seeking young adults undergoing their own transitions to help with that process.

The program began last summer as Eddie Walker, the owner and administrator of Sabine Creek Ranch outside Royse City, sat on a plane returning from a mission trip to China.

“What I got on the plane ride home is that it’s crazy to make trips like this if I’m not doing more at home,” he said.

Not long after that, friends from Rockwall called to ask if Walker would go with them to an apartment complex in Garland to lead a couple of songs as a part of their ministry to Bhutan refugees.

While there, Walker heard the story of these Hindu refugees who had spent the last 17 years in a refugee camp in Nepal after fleeing the ethnic cleansing in their own country.

Walker was hooked and began to learn more of their story and their struggle. The United States is slated to accept up to 60,000 Bhutanese, and up to 4,000 a year come to the Dallas area. When they arrive, they receive four months of support; then, they are on their own.

“So in these four months where they start at absolute zero—they don’t even know what the thermostat on the wall is—they have to learn English, setup a bank account, find a job, get a driver’s license. It’s like throwing them into the deep end of the pool,” Walker said. “And they are clamoring for anyone to help.”

The opportunities for ministry are unlimited, he said.

“I’ve been active in ministry and missions for basically my whole life, and I never had a clue of the need,” Walker said.

He worked closely with North American Mission Board missionaries  who serve among the Bhutanese people in North Texas.

“It’s a massive flood of people, almost too much to handle,” Walker said.

So, he began to ponder how to plug people into this ministry.

“How do you get people involved? It’s very relational. It’s not programmatic, there’s nothing to build, no project to complete,” he asked.

And the Segue initiative began to form. Walker needed a team of people who could serve on a daily basis with the refugees so that relationships could be formed as a basis for sharing the gospel.

The plan is for about 30 young adults to live dorm-style at Walker’s Sabine Creek Ranch, doing the work of missionaries during the day—helping the families register their children for school, get to doctor appointments and whatever else is needed. The term will be for the typical school year of from September to May.

Prime candidates are recent high school graduates looking for a break before college or college graduates seeking a break before beginning graduate school.

The larger group will be broken up into teams of five to six people who will take on either a people group or an apartment complex. Other than the Bhutanese, there are also refugees from Somalia, Iraq and Burma.

“The thing is, we can’t take the gospel into these countries, but God is bringing these people to our doorstep,” Walker pointed out. “They’re still plugged into their families there, so you reach a guy here and he’s able to share with his family back there. It’s an opportunity a career missionary would literally die to see.”

Rob Matchett, who has a long history working with college students, will head the program. He said the Segue program was just what he was looking for when Walker asked him to consider overseeing it.

“We were looking to do something that involved living in community and something with missions and something that would involve our kids in that kind of environment,” he said.

He said he and his wife, Misti, were considering moving with their two young children to Slovenia to work with missionary children when this opportunity came along.

“We’re going to be training people in missions whether that is going to be their career field or not, Matchett said. We’re looking to find people going into business, medicine or whatever.”

The participants will need to find their own support, estimated to be about $850 a month, which will cover their room, board and training, Matchett said.

But the rewards will be great, Walker emphasized.

“There are families coming here every day, and they are trapped in apartments watching Hispanic television that they don’t understand a word of just because the people look more like them. These people will have the opportunity to show them a better life and the love of Christ,” he said.

“They will be developing relationships that just couldn’t happen in a short-term mission trip or a summer mission opportunity. Those things are important, and I would never say they are not, but this is a special opportunity,” Walker said.

Annetta Box, a graduate of Houston Baptist University and Southwestern Seminary, is one of the three team leaders already recruited.

“I tell people that there are three things that really pulled me to Segue: One, the fields are white unto harvest and the workers are few; two, you never have to question God’s heart concerning his will for the poor and needy; and three, I never want to do anything solely for the sake of money.

“I had been praying that God would give me someone to serve that couldn’t serve me back, and there is absolutely nothing these families can do for me. They struggle to buy a bag of rice,” Box said.

For more information about Segue, call (888) 382-9877.