During this football season, the Tift County School System has experienced a growing problem of young kids running unsupervised around the Brodie Field stands during Tift County High Blue Devils games.

Tift County Schools Athletic Director Rusty Smith met with the Tifton Grapevine to explain the policy.

He says the policy really isn't a new one; it just never was fully enforced until now.

Internationally renowned Christian author and minister Henry Thomas Blackaby, 78, who was missing for 29 hours from his metro Atlanta area home, was found disoriented last Friday night, Sept. 20, in Tifton.

 

After being taken to the hospital and undergoing extensive tests, Blackaby had quadruple bypass heart surgery on Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Albany and is recovering well, his family says.

 

Blackaby was on his way to pick up his wife Marilynn from an appointment Thursday afternoon, Sept. 19, when he suffered a heart attack and became disoriented while driving. Without a cell phone or his diabetes medicine, he apparently drove about 170 miles from his Henry County home near Jonesboro, according to the Baptist Press. 

 

Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers searched for him, and Atlanta TV stations noted his disappearance.

 

Police finally located Blackaby in Tifton after he used his credit card to buy a bottle of water at a convenience store. He had earlier used the card to buy gas in Perry and a Coke in

Fitzgerald, according to WXIA-TV in Atlanta.

 

Because he did not have insulin with him for his diabetes, "his blood sugar rose and his kidneys began to struggle as well," his family said in a statement. "Hundreds of volunteers, many from his church at First Baptist Church Jonesboro, drove all over the city looking for him."

 

Blackaby is a co-founder of Blackaby Ministries International and the author of the bestselling book "Experiencing God," first published in 1990 and selling more than 7 million copies in 45 languages. 

According to the Christian Post, Blackaby's family reported that his "surgeon indicated the quadruple bypass surgery could not have gone better. Henry has been living with blocked or 70 percent blocked arteries for several years. The doctor claims he will feel much better once his recovery is complete. Please pray for his recovery and that there will be no complications."

  

In a statement posted online, his family said, "We believe God has some special tasks remaining for Henry to do and we know he will be eager to undertake them as soon as he is better!"

 

Blackaby is retired from the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board but has continued to lead prayer and spiritual awakening conferences internationally. His ministry began as a pastor in his native Canada. He later became president of the forerunners of the Canadian Southern Baptist Seminary and College and the Canadian National Baptist Convention.