Calvin Hunt leads night of testimony, worship

Alabama Baptists celebrated the power of Jesus with music evangelist Calvin Hunt during a testimony-filled evening at Eastmont Baptist Church, Montgomery.
   
The sounds of hand-clapping, praises and testimonies to the power of God to change lives sounded through the air in the Nov. 16 evening session of the annual meeting of the Alabama Baptist State Convention.
   
Hunt, who is a member of the Christ Tabernacle Choir and a former member of the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir, was the featured speaker during a night of testimony highlighting the ability of intentional evangelism to reach people for Jesus Christ.
   
“My entire life was in this vial,” Hunt said in a video, holding a vial that used to hold crack cocaine. In the video presentation of his testimony, Hunt shared how he had a family, a home, a beautiful apartment in New York, yet wound up living in a doghouse behind a factory in Queens because of his drug addiction.
   
“I can’t imagine how I ended up there, I didn’t intend to,” he said. “I was tired, and I began to pray, ‘God, please make me clean.’ ”
   
Through the intentional evangelism efforts of his wife’s church, he became a Christian.
   
“He has washed and cleansed and set this captive free,” Hunt said. “Only Jesus has the power to do that.”
   
As he began to sing, Hunt encouraged the crowd to clap with him. “We’re testifying about the power of our God tonight,” he said.
   
Hunt’s story and the other testimonies shared are exactly what this year’s theme of intentional evangelism is about, said Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM).
   
“Intentional evangelism is built around three things,” Gilbreath said.
    1. Identifying a passion-driven ministry.
    2. Allowing that passion-driven ministry to build a relationship with an unchurched person.
    3. Allowing that relationship to provide an opportunity to share Jesus with the unchurched person.
   
The intentional evangelism theme is slated to be the emphasis for the 2005 and 2006 annual meetings, making it the first theme to last for three years. Gilbreath told those in attendance that the SBOM is available to help Alabama churches as they focus on this theme. 
   
“Every office of the State Board of Missions stands beside you to help you reach … the boys and girls, men and women of Alabama,” Gilbreath said. “May the next three years as we intentionally evangelize the state of Alabama be the greatest.”
   
During the service, various offices of the SBOM shared how intentional evangelism was present in many aspects of their ministries.
   
Former gambler Mike King shared by video how he became a Christian while in prison at Elmore County Prison.
Chaplain Ray Baker, an associate in the SBOM’s office of chaplaincy ministries, visited with King and got him involved in ministries during King’s prison sentence and after he was released.
   
“When I wanted to quit gambling, I would promise my mother, promise myself, but when I promised Christ and asked Him to take control of my life, I haven’t gambled since then,” King said.
   
Hunt was not the only singer of the evening. James Blakeney, associate in the SBOM office of Sunday School, introduced John Hall by way of a duet with Hall to the tunes of “In My Heart There Rings a Melody” and “Why Do I Sing About Jesus?”
   
Hall, who is minister of music and senior adults at Lucerne Baptist Church, Lilburn, Ga., originally became involved in church at Eastmont Baptist Church. His daughter attended Vacation Bible School (VBS) there and became a Christian. Church members visited the Halls’ home and as a result, the family became members of Eastmont.
   
Through the church’s Sunday School, Hall’s son Mark became a Christian and is serving as youth minister of First Baptist Church, Eagle’s Landing, in Atlanta, and is lead singer of the Dove award-winning band, Casting Crowns.
   
“Who knows who will be the Mark Hall 20 years from now if we’ll reach out and make VBS intentionally evangelistic?” asked Daniel Edmonds, director of the SBOM Sunday School office.
   
For Gene McDonald, member of Eastmont Baptist Church, Montgomery, VBS is the way he intentionally witnesses to senior adults in retirement and assisted living centers.
   
“They always rejoice when they know we can come and be with them, and it brings us joy to participate in this,” McDonald said.
   
Other testimonies focused on a cowboy fellowship in Albertville, a ministry that reaches college students by taking photos at football games and volunteers like Vernon and Kay Lee.
   
The Lees, who are members of White Springs Baptist Church, Rainbow City, volunteer with Alabama disaster relief through the Etowah Baptist Association.
   
Most recently, they worked in south Alabama responding to the Sept. 16 hurricane devastation.
   
“We had people saved in their automobiles while they were waiting in food lines, a trucker saved delivering food,” Vernon Lee said. “I receive a blessing every time I go out.”
   
He said he got into disaster relief when he took early retirement from his job. He and his pastor, Michael Yopp, prayed that God would give him something to do.
   
After that, Vernon Lee was asked to work with disaster relief in Altoona.
   
“It goes to show that if you ask the Lord for something to do, He’ll give it to you,” he said. “(My wife and I) get to go out and give a cold cup of water together in the name of Jesus.”