Faithful obedience shapes decades of ministry for Georgia couple

By JASON QUEEN, The Christian Index

Monday, January 26, 2026

ANDERSONVILLE, Ga. — For the past 32 years, Mack and Bebe Herrington have been faithful to what God has asked them to do and have found love for people they never expected to meet. A chance encounter with a local doctor in 1994 prompted a ministry that has taken them to Central and South America and beyond.

“I’m not going down there,” said Mack when the doctor asked him to go to Honduras in 1994. “I was a little nervous about it. We’d never been out of the country, and I was not in the military. I had heard things about Central America, and I didn’t speak Spanish.”

The doctor needed some equipment in Honduras, so Mack wrote him and offered the equipment. “He knew who I was," Mack said, "He was at the hospital that day and told my wife, ‘I am glad you all are going to Honduras with us. He worked on us for about a year and kept talking to us until we decided to go. And we have been going ever since. We fell in love with it down there.”

Between 1994 and 2008, they took several teams to Honduras and Costa Rica, and also went to Venezuela once.  Although those early mission trips were successful, the couple wasn’t able to get to know the locals because they were there for brief periods of time. 

That all changed in 2008 when God led them to Alaska. The International Mission Board was pulling its missionaries out of Central and South America, which left them without a local missionary to lead. 

Two or three times per year, the Herringtons did Bible school and construction in Teller, Alaska. In 2017, when they both retired from their jobs as RNs, God sent them to live in Alaska for two or three months, and they would come home for a month. They did this for about five years. 

Residents would come and visit with them and talk while they were in Alaska, some of whom were interested in the Bible for the first time. The Herringtons ministered to a lot of people who struggled with alcohol. The Herringtons gave those people books about being broken, and some read them, and thanked them for it. “It wasn’t anything we were doing; it was God doing it,” Mack said.

God helped them in so many ways, he said. “You run into a lot of issues, and you don’t know how you are going to handle it exactly. What equipment you are going to need. Every time, He took care of it.”

Mack told of a time when he traveled the 72-mile road from Teller to Nome, Alaska. It was raining and there was a little bit of snow on the road. Mack went into a store and asked God to clear the road, When he left the store, the sun was shining, and the snow had melted. When the missionaries needed things they didn’t have, “We’d pray to God, and it would show up,” Mack said.

At first, only the village kids would talk to the, not the adults, because past missionaries would come for one day, leave, and never come back. “They told us we were the first people to stay all night in that village," Mack said. "After about two years, the adults started talking to us and getting friendly."

"They weren’t scared of us," he explained. "They always think you want to take advantage of something or you want money. That is what a lot of them had done.  We didn’t do that. We got to know everybody. I know everybody in Teller, Alaska, but I don’t know everybody in the little town I live in,” he said as he laughed. Bebe loved the experience and said she would go back if she could. 

In 2015, they started Alaska Tundra Ministries, a non-profit 501c3, which helped streamline monies donated from Shema, Ellaville, and Shiloh Baptist churches, and others who were helping finance the trips. 

In 2022, they connected with an organization called God’s Appalachian Partnership in McDowell, Kentucky. Herrington and his team took coats and blankets, as well as food. “They were taking care of all the people who don’t have jobs because the coal mines shut down,” Mack said. They also serve nursing facilities and hospitals. The Herringtons regularly make trips to McDowell to help this ministry. 

Three years ago, the Herringtons changed the name of their organization to Across The Maps Ministries & Missions. “As Across the Maps, we can go anywhere and be recognized as we go all over.”

In 2023, in Ellaville, they opened a clothes closet store with donated clothes, baby and adult hygiene items, games, toys, household items, and food. “We give it out to those in need," Mack explained. "We see they have a problem, we sit down with them and pray with them. Some of them will say, ‘Nobody’s ever done that before.’” Mack said. “Every visit is different.”

Across the Maps also sends boxes to the Philippines. “The missionary we are working with tells us which village needs what,” Mack said. The missionary is the same man whom they helped in Alaska. They also partner with  Most Ministries in Ann Arbor, Michigan, by providing recycled eyeglasses, and Most sends them to people living in developing nations around the world.

In 2024, the Herringtons noticed that people would come into the store and say they didn’t have things for Christmas, so they began a Christmas presents ministry called “Christmas Joy.” “One lady came in and we had some Matchbox cars in a box, and she wanted to know if she could take those to a little boy because he didn’t have anything for Christmas," Mack said. "There wasn’t anything like that going on in Ellaville. It’s much needed.”

The Herringtons approached individuals and churches about donating toys and other items.  Mack said they weren’t sure they were going to get anything this year. They prayed, and things just started pouring in.

New and used toys are donated, and volunteers clean the used toys to make them look new. Different people from different churches come in and sort them out and clean them. The first Christmas Joy served 102 families and 300 children. The latest event on Dec. 13, 2025, had 40 volunteers from Shiloh Baptist Church in Americus, Shema Baptist Church in Ellaville, Ellaville Baptist Church in Ellaville, other members of Friendship Baptist Association, and local Hispanic churches as well.

In 2025, the ministry served 111 families and 280 children. During the event, attendees hear the Christmas story and hear the gospel. They are taken into a larger room to “shop.” Mack said, “We have people walk with them to help them pick out things for the kids.” 

Mack said that parents are given a little book of the Christmas story to read to their child at home. “We hope they draw closer to God by what they heard or saw.” 

The Herringtons hope the people who come to the store start attending a local church. “We have a lot of them say I believe in God or I go to the other churches down the street," Mack said, "but they don’t really go. They go sometimes.” 

Mack said God has guided them through the last 32 years.  “Without God, we couldn’t do any of this. Without my wife Bebe, I could only do half of what we get done.” When asked why they do it, they respond, "God loves us, and we love them."

Mack’s advice for someone who has been called to ministry is, "Do what you are comfortable doing and what God is calling you to do. If you see a need, and you feel it’s something you can provide, then do it. God will provide if you will just give in to Him.”

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Caption: Mack and Bebe Herrington. (Photo/courtesy Mack Herrington)