With the theme “Forever Faithful,” the Alabama Baptist Conference of the Deaf (ABCD) celebrated its 50th anniversary March 6–8 at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center in Talladega.
“My hope is that the 50th anniversary celebration of ABCD would instill for those attending [an awareness] that God is always faithful to us, no matter how tough it could be,” said Chadwick Fleming, ABCD president and a member of Faith Baptist Deaf Mission of First Baptist Church, Oxford, in Calhoun Baptist Association.
Through workshops, worship services, fellowship and an anniversary banquet, nearly 100 attendees of all ages were able to learn more about spiritual growth and leadership at the conference.
“It’s about teaching, training and helping [the deaf] to become more mature Christians, to grow in their spiritual lives so they can learn to become leaders,” said David Richardson, ABCD founder.
And for people like immediate past president Cromwell Josey, that goal has become a reality. Josey came to the conference for the first time in 1986, one year after starting a deaf ministry at First Baptist Church, Andalusia, in Covington Baptist Association.
“I’ve learned when I leave here, I’ve been called to go and teach and preach at other churches. I probably would have never done that,” Josey said of the ABCD’s impact on his life. “I’ve learned from this place how to become a leader.”
In 1956, Richardson and his wife, Patsy, were appointed as Home Mission Board (HMB, now the North American Mission Board) missionaries to work with the deaf in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. The following year, the Richardsons decided to call Montgomery home and begin a more targeted deaf ministry throughout the state of Alabama. After seeing other states’ annual conferences for the deaf, David Richardson knew that was just what Alabama needed in 1959.
“There are not many opportunities for deaf people to train to become leaders,” said David Richardson, who is now retired but continues to serve the deaf at First Baptist Church, Montgomery, in Montgomery Baptist Association. But the deaf can come to the ABCD and “hear from deaf people and understand about how to become a good leader and can teach and train others.”
Carter Bearden, who helped pioneer deaf ministries for Southern Baptists, couldn’t agree more. Co-founder of the Texas Baptist Conference of the Deaf and a former field consultant on ministry to the deaf with the HMB, Bearden said the ABCD is one outlet that allows him to realize “the fruit” of his 48 years in the ministry.
Texas was the first state in which a conference of this nature was established, so to see 19 state conferences 60 years later “is thrilling,” explained Bearden, who inspired David Richardson to be involved in deaf ministry while they were in seminary more than 50 years ago.
“From my experiences, I realize there’s a great need to have all the churches that have deaf work to … get together for fellowship, for training and for the exchanging of ideas for the improvement of deaf ministry,” said Bearden, who in retirement is serving as interim pastor of Annistown Road Deaf Mission, Snellville, Ga.
“What’s happening (now) is the out-product. What you see here is the value of the organization in these people’s lives, for the deaf Baptists and for the workers for the deaf.”
For ABCD attendee Tracy Logan, who has served in deaf ministry with her husband since 2000, this year’s conference taught her how to express herself in worship through music, which is what she feels called to lead in her faith community, Tuscaloosa Deaf Ministry.
“I hope that I can show that anybody can be a witness. It doesn’t matter your gift or your skills,” Logan said. “Whatever God gives you, use it. That’s my skill — I love music. I can’t hear it. But I still love music. … It is important to just do and serve in your gifting.”
Linda Dennis, a hearing member of The Deaf Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, in Birmingham Baptist Association, believes the ABCD is important because “it brings the deaf community together from all over the state and brings Christians together from all over the state and focuses on one thing and that’s to further the gospel.”
For more information about the ABCD and other ministries to the deaf, visit www.albcdeaf.org or contact Jamey Pruett, an associate in the office of associational missions and church planting for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, at 1-800-264-1225, Ext. 220.
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