Brinley Blake to compete at Arkansas State Fair

By Ethan Nahté

Brinley Blake competed in the 2023 AR/OK State Fair Pageant in Fort Smith on Sept. 23. Blake, a senior at Mena High School who carries a 4.2 GPA, won the Arkansas NW Region Fair Queen.

Blake said, “The pageant in Fort Smith for my NW Region Fair Queen title was an opportunity of a lifetime, competing against multiple other girls for the chance to compete for state scholarships and a new title that would make a huge impact for not only me, but our little county.”

The title qualifies her to compete in the Arkansas State Fair Queen competition in Little Rock for 2023. She competes Tuesday

Oct. 17, for the opportunity to move forward to the final competition on Saturday, Oct. 21.

Although, she and other contestants can advance another way with the participation of the public, who has the ability to vote for their favorite contestant. Voting is now open and one lucky contestant from the Fair Queen division will advance each night to the Top 4 by being the Audience Favorite. The winner is not announced. Votes can be made by using the PayPal link https://www.paypal. com/paypalme/arstatefair. Monies raised from the votes goes toward scholarships.

If someone places a vote, for example, please add the contestant’s name, Brinley Blake, and her ti - tle. Arkansas NW Region Fair Queen. Votes are $1 each, with a minimum $5. Contestants added as county/district/ regional winners are announced.

Blake discovered on Saturday she won’t be able to compete this year in the Miss Polk County Pageant, stating she can’t hold two titles. They would eliminate her from competing in State on Oct. 17. The Little Rock explained it being a “bigger,” more prominent, title than just winning Miss Polk County. Polk County is part of the state fair in Little Rock except for the pageant.

Blake will also be accompanied by her princess, Drexley Beck. She is the daughter of Andrew and Kayla Beck of Hatfield. Blake paid for Beck’s expenses. It will give Beck an opportunity to get into pageant practices and a young experience with fair queens. She will also attend a princess party with Blake at the Arkansas State Fair.

Blake also models for boutiques, works at Myers Cruizzers Drive-In in Mena, coaches and referees soccer games, and does a lot of volunteer work in the community. She is the daughter of Matt Blake and Kayla Weaver.

By Richie Lawry

I recently received a phone call from Vicky Warren. A mutual friend gave her my phone number and told her we might have mutual interests. Vicky has a passion for missions, and I have a passion for writing about my experiences using spiritual principles. As we talked, she told me she was the CEO of a parachurch organization, MissionNext. MissionNext is a church mobilization organization that connects ministry leaders and missionaries to service opportunities in over 200 countries.

Vicky’s passion for missions was evident as we visited. Her particular passion is for the unreached areas of the world. She takes the gospel commission very seriously. “Go and make followers of all people in the world. Baptize them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach them to obey everything that I have taught you, and I will be with you always, even until the end of this age.” Matthew 28:19,20 (NCV)

Vicky made me aware of some things that I had never realized before. A large portion of the world has no Christian presence at all. Twenty-nine percent of the world, just over one out of every four people on this planet, live in areas where they have never heard of Jesus. They have no chance of hearing the good news of Jesus Christ because they have no access to the gospel: no Bibles in their language and no churches or believers nearby who might tell them about Jesus.

Like most Christians, I thought we were doing a pretty good job of spreading the gospel. To be presented with evidence that shows we have so much room for improvement was disheartening.

On the YouTube channel Radical, I watched a video titled “The Great Imbalance.” There, I learned that there are 7.75 billion people in our world,