Wilma Hart’s husband, Bill, has to drag her away every night. He’s had to since she started it back in 2004.
“It” is the annual Bible Reading Marathon in Ozark, held around the clock for 90 hours in the several days leading up to the National Day of Prayer, which was May 7 this year. The event and the one it inspired in Troy — held simultaneously each year since 2007 — require a long string of vigilant volunteers.
In Ozark, Hart is the one who makes sure the people who sign up to read actually show up and makes sure nothing goes wrong. She’s that committed to the process.
The first night of this year’s marathon was no exception. It had been a hectic day. Folks from Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Ozark, where Hart’s husband serves as pastor, were there early. Most were little children and teenagers. They helped get through the stories of the Creation and the fall of man.
But then they left and there Hart was all alone for about 45 minutes, thanks to all the dark skies and warnings and watches. She bent over the big King James Version on the podium and pushed the rest of Genesis through the microphone and out over the empty Dale County Courthouse lawn.
Things had only gotten under way at 3 p.m., and by late afternoon, they were just a little past Noah and the Flood. So the rainbow that appeared across the Ozark sky — the most gorgeous she’d ever seen — seemed appropriate. It appeared just after two new members of the Dale Baptist Association church showed up in the middle of the storm to take the baton if it needed taking.
And it did. Because truth be told, Hart had technically stopped reading the Bible and had instead started praying into the microphone for peace, safety and the Lord’s will.
“I was really upset,” she said. “It was bad weather. The wind was blowing and the rain was coming and there I was just talking to the Father, and God sent this couple of new Christians from our church. They just happened to come up and I was just saying, ‘God sent you. God sent you.’”
And then there was light.
And then, would you believe it, another rainbow. Two rainbows. You could see them both end to end.
The storms came in Troy, too. But just like in Ozark, volunteers kept showing up to read the Word.
“Our intention in doing it is to bring attention to the Bible,” said Averyt Walker, director of missions for Salem-Troy Association. “We claim that promise from God that ‘My Word will not go out and return to Me void,’” Walker said. “We realize that in the wee hours of the morning there may not be anybody there to hear or to listen.”
But if the Bible is read out loud, and no one is there to hear, it still makes a sound, Walker said. “God’s Word is God’s Word.” It isn’t about a series of words being broadcast for 90 hours. It’s about the meaning behind the words — God’s words.
“We do it because of the fact we have the freedom to do it and want to honor God’s Word,” said Kenneth Hale, director of missions for Dale Association. “But we also want to share God’s Word with folks as they come in and out of the courthouse.”
Hale tells the story of a man who was watching the readers from across the street during last year’s event.
“He really just started listening, and I had an opportunity to lead him to the Lord that night,” Hale said. “It’s just a privilege to be able to do that.”
Hart agreed. “Every year, we’ve been able to lead somebody to Jesus.”
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