Missionary-in-residence Robert Pinkston serves as a resource for missions at Ouachita. While Pinkston’s primary role is to promote missions to students, he has several other responsibilities on campus.
“I try to get to know missionary kids so I can be a source for them,” Pinkston said. “I also assist Campus Ministries in what they do.”
Pinkston serves as an assistant soccer coach for the Tigers as well.
“I think [coaching] is a good opportunity to influence students,” Pinkston said.
Before coming to Ouachita, Pinkston and his family served in Quebec as a student strategist and church planter, starting churches and ministering to local schools. They work with the International Mission Board (IMB), and come back to the U.S. every four years for “stateside assignments.”
“A lot of people think that it’s a break or a vacation, but it’s not,” Pinkston said. “We come back to the U.S. to speak to churches, etc. People need to hear what’s going on in the world.”
Moving his family around every four years is a sensitive part of Pinkston’s work.
“[Relocating] is the delicate part of it,” Pinkston said. “There’s a lot of prayer and a lot of talk about what’s good for the family.”
After the kids accepted and approved the change, Pinkston and his family made the transition from their home in Canada to Arkadelphia. Arriving only a short time ago – July of this year – he notes differences in culture and changes in climate.
“It’s an interesting transition,” Pinkston said. “First of all, from French to English. But the weather is different too; Canadian summers are mild, so for us [Arkadelphia] is very hot.”
Having been a missionary kid himself from the Ivory Coast, Pinkston isn’t exactly new to the mission field. He recalls the intrigue of coming back to the U.S.
“I came to visit Arkansas when I was a missionary kid,” Pinkston said. “I remember going to Wal-Mart and looking at all the stuff that America had that we didn’t have in Africa. I told myself that one day I was going to come back to the U.S. and have all the stuff too.”
Pinkston’s attitude changed around the age of 12 at a local village during one of his father’s sermons.
“I don’t remember a thing about what [my father] said,” Pinkston said. “But I remember God speaking to me and asking if I really wanted to go back to the U.S. when there were people right here who would never hear his name.”
That revelation became the turning point in Pinkston’s aspirations.
“I decided that I wasn’t going to chase after those things anymore, so I surrendered to missions,” Pinkston said.
Pinkston attributes some of his decision to his childhood.
“[The decision] wasn’t because I was a missionary kid, but it influenced it,” he said.
Pinkston is not only familiar with missions, but with Ouachita as well.
“My wife and I both went to Ouachita and graduated here. I in 1987 and her in 1989,” Pinkston said.
Pinkston and his wife have served with the IMB since 1995. They started in Mali (West Africa) in 1996 and ministered for four years. They’ve been stationed in Quebec since 2000.
“Starting churches has definitely been a highlight: two in Mali and two in Quebec,” Pinkston said.
In Canada, where universities have restrictions against ministering on campus, Pinkston has found alternate methods of spreading the word.
“I’ve been coaching soccer there as a way to be on campus,” he said. “That’s one of the highlights I’ve had in Canada – seeing soccer players come to know Christ.”
Pinkston reveals some statistics about Christians in Canada.
“French Canadians are the 12th most unreached people group of the world, more so even than some Africans,” he said. “That means that less than 1% of Canadians are Christians.
Pinkston and his family will only be at Ouachita for the semester, but their contribution through ministry and leadership by example remains inevitable both here and across the globe.
