Shortly before the Wednesday evening service began April 6, a line formed in the hall outside the sanctuary of First Baptist Church, Eulaton, in Anniston. A diverse group of 21 candidates waited for their turn to join interim youth pastor Jim Usher in the baptistry. In the sanctuary, nearly 300 people crowded in to witness the decisions.
“What a day,” Usher proclaimed as he stepped into the baptistry water. “It doesn’t get any better than this.”
Ten years ago, attendance was low at First, Eulaton. The Calhoun Baptist Association church had only a handful of children who came regularly. One Wednesday night an adult caught one of the children snooping in the refrigerator. When she asked the boy what he was doing, he admitted he had not had supper and was looking for something to eat. Church workers found the boy something to eat and made a decision that night to start feeding whoever came on Wednesday night.
Longtime First, Eulaton, member Frances Vinson remembered that in the early days of the food ministry, church members prepared food at home.
“We had better desserts back then,” she said with a laugh, prompting Usher to ask if there were brownies left over from that night’s meal. Turning serious, Vinson said the boy’s need had opened the church’s eyes to both the spiritual and physical needs in the community.
Full souls
“We are so blessed to be able to see that these children and youth are fed at least one hot meal a week besides their meal at school and then learn of Jesus’ love for them,” she said. “The time spent here at church, they are in a safe environment where they have their stomachs filled as well as their souls filled with the love of Jesus.”
And the way First, Eulaton, was able to provide meals to children in the area was through the annual Alabama Baptist Hunger Offering. One-hundred percent of every hunger offering dollar goes to relieve hunger, according to Jim Swedenburg, state missionary for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM), who is responsibile for promoting, soliciting for and securing the annual offering.
The ministry at First, Eulaton, shows how meeting physical needs is connected to meeting spiritual ones, said Kristy Kennedy, associate in the office of associational missions and church planting at SBOM.
Every time a church or association requests hunger funds, Kennedy is in charge of reviewing and granting appropriate requests.
“It is very exciting to see the impact that hunger funds can make on a church and a community,” Kennedy said. “What began with feeding a few hungry children has grown into physically and spiritually feeding whole families. Lives are being changed.”
The church’s most recent report to SBOM tells part of the story. The church served 673 meals between Oct. 1, 2015, and Feb. 29, 2016. Each Wednesday night, 40 volunteers work in the kitchen, teach or assist in classes, drive the buses to pick up and drop off children or help with the ministry in some way. And an average of 200 students attend consistently.
The other part of the story is that the attendance remains steady even in the summer, said Gary “Butch” Hathorne, who heads the midweek ministry. The students themselves are the biggest recruiters. “They talk it up to each other in school, and we go to the school to pick kids up after their practices and activities,” Hathorne said, who estimates that the church’s van ministry picks up 50 or more students every Wednesday.
Reaching parents
The impact of Wednesday nights is felt on Sundays too. More and more students are bringing their parents and the church is growing.
“The kids are reaching their own moms and dads,” Hathorne said. Many of those parents, grandparents and friends were at the baptism service, and Usher did not miss the opportunity to share the gospel with them.
As he called those gathered to make a decision to follow Christ, dozens came to the altar to pray. By the end of the night, 20 more had accepted Christ and indicated a desire to be baptized. Like those who were baptized earlier, those at the altar included teens and adults, parents and children, brown faces and white faces — all committing their lives to Jesus.
Pastor Randy Huddleston excitedly said, “That’s what I’m talking about,” as people came forward. “We think too small, but we have an amazing God with a mighty plan. We’re going to do this every Wednesday night.”
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