Arkansan of the Week: Ernestine Thomas|Channel 7 News

text size: A | A | A

Arkansan of the Week: Ernestine Thomas

posted 5:43 pm Fri February 15, 2008 - Little Rock

reporter: Scott Inman posted by: Katrina Dupins

tags: ernestine thomas • arkansan of the week

Channel 7 News - Arkansan of the Week: Ernestine Thomas

This week’s Arkansan of the week is the pastor of her own church, but she does much more than delivering sermons. Ernestine Thomas has dedicated her life to making a difference in her community. Call it a practical gospel. And she’s been doing it for more than three decades.

(Ernestine Thomas, Turning Point Ministries) "I knew God had a special calling on my life because something about hurting people always motivated me."

Ernestine Thomas has been motivated to say the least. She operated a mission outreach out of North Little Rock that has fed the homeless. She helped convicted felons just out of prison, and helped single mothers get an education. But eight years ago, she felt the pull to just pick up and move to Stuttgart.

(Thomas) "There was such a high rate of people living with HIV, and second and third time offenders returning to Arkansas County. We felt this was a good place to reach the destitute and those that were hopeless."

Ernestine has attacked those problems and added a few more, including teen pregnancy.

(Thomas) "The children needed to be educated. It was like a generational curse, if I could use that term that had been passed down on the children. That was all that they knew."

In addition to education, Ernestine offers the girls who are already mothers a support group to build self-esteem. Her efforts in all areas are paying off.

(Thomas) "People that have been on housing all their lives, now own their home. People who had no car, selling drugs for a living, are now working. And some are managers at the local plants here in Stuttgart…My goal everyday is to give the hopeless hope; to give the destitute a reason to want to live and to help dreams come true."

On top of all that, Ernestine and her husband have been foster parents to countless kids, including two right now.

Email To A Friend

Trouble Connecting With Your Kids? Click Here!

You need to be a registered member of
Channel 7 News to leave comments on news stories.

Not a member yet? Click Here to sign up.

Please leave your comments below:

Messages that harass, abuse or threaten other members; have obscene or otherwise objectionable content; have spam, commercial or advertising content or inappropriate links may be removed and may result in the loss of your posting privileges. Please do not post any private information unless you want it to be available publicly. Never assume that you are completely anonymous and cannot be identified by your posts.

The 'RUNNING MAN' icon is a registered trademark of America Online, Inc.