For members of the Alabama Singing Men (ASM), the Ministry Tour 2014 was an opportunity to do more than just sing Christian music, Keith Hibbs said.
Hibbs, who has served as ASM advisor for about seven years, said, “The tour itself is an opportunity for us to use our musical gifts to share about God’s love to people we talk with and sing for.”
And that’s exactly what the 40 men on tour were able to do April 22 at The Lovelady Center in Birmingham — share God’s love.
Doug Wood, current ASM president and minister of music and education for Bay Springs Baptist Church, Dothan, said the more than 200 women and children at the concert gave one of the “greatest responses” ASM has ever received with “shouting and spontaneity.”
“They related to what we were singing and they were so enthusiastic. I mean after every song, even the quiet songs, (the response was) boisterous applause,” Wood said, an ASM member since 1995.
The Lovelady Center is a program for women and children “designed to restore hope and rebuild lives” by offering access to medical services, counseling, life-skills training, parenting classes, job training, housing and post-secondary education, according to its website. Several Alabama Baptist churches support the center in various ways.
The 2014 tour (April 21–24) also made stops at Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover; Simmons Middle School in Hoover; The Baptist Church at McAdory, McCalla; Brookdale Place at University Park in Birmingham; Samford University in Birmingham and even a Birmingham Barons game at Regions Field, where the group sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
Every three years the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) sponsored singing group alternates between two in-state tours and one out-of-state, or even international, tour. In the past the group has traveled to Michigan, Wyoming, Indiana, Korea and Spain, among other locations.
Since 2013 there has been a “paradigm shift” in the tour schedule, Wood said.
“In the past we’ve traditionally sang more in churches, especially while in-state, but when we went to Michigan in 2013 in the greater Detroit area we scheduled our days fairly full … of non-church venues. We really liked that we were more missions-minded,” he said.
Hibbs, director of the office of worship leadership and church music for the SBOM, has been an ASM member for 33 years and said he most appreciates being a part of leading the “worship opportunities” on tour at churches and at places like The Lovelady Center.
“[Music is] the vehicle that we use in order to do ministry,” he said.
But ASM also serves as a ministry of sorts to the very men who make up its membership.
Frank Jones, who celebrates his 30th year as ASM accompanist this year, said ASM is a “great support group and a great group of friends.”
“We share each other’s joys and we have walked through the valleys together,” Jones said.
The group also seeks to impact younger generations interested in music.
Johnny Arnett, associate pastor of music and senior adults for Linden Baptist Church, said he enjoyed visiting Simmons Middle School and singing for the choral students.
He explained how he got his start in music during elementary school and how those experiences, concerts and mentors throughout middle school and high school inspired him to pursue music ministry as an adult.
Originally organized in 1976 to include full-time ministers of music, ASM has expanded its membership to include bivocational music ministers, laymen, pastors, church staff and music faculty from Alabama Baptist colleges and universities. ASM has about 80 members this year, Hibbs said, with members ranging in age from 25 to 83.
For more information on ASM, visit www.alsbom.org and click on the “ministries” tab at the top, then the “music” tab and scroll down to find “Alabama Singing Men and Women.” Alabama Singing Women (ASW) is made up of women across the state who are active in their church’s music ministries.
More information about ASW can be found on the same website.
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