Their efforts aren’t likely to win a convert or gain a single church member, but by hosting the Alabama Baptist State Convention, members of Eastmont Baptist Church in Montgomery got something else they wanted: another opportunity to serve.
“With our people it’s all about ministry,” said Ed Bowman, Eastmont’s minister of education, who coordinated the task of turning the indoor church facilities into a convention site. “They love to do ministry. They get nothing out of it, but they love to do it.”
More than a hundred volunteers served during the two-day convention. Bowman organized six main committees, including greeters, ushers, food service, parking lot, hospitality and technical teams to handle arrangements. “The biggest key to me in pulling this off is having somebody in charge of the teams that can take it and go with it.”
Many volunteers put in a 14-hour day Nov. 16, arriving at 7 a.m. to take up their posts and staying until 9 p.m. Others marked off shifts to get the job done.
Planning for the convention actually began six months before the event — and that was a late start, according to Bowman. Normally convention sites are scheduled months, even years, before the date. This year’s meeting was originally slated for the area civic center, but that building was undergoing renovations. Bowman said Eastmont had been the site of other Alabama Baptist meetings, but nothing this scale.
Getting Eastmont in top shape for entertaining required extra care, Bowman said. Workdays were scheduled so flowerbeds and lawns could be spruced up. Parking lots were re-striped. Volunteers came in the day before the convention to give each of the church’s some 30 bathrooms a thorough cleaning. More phone and Internet lines were installed to meet the technological demands. Because intricate displays in the exhibit hall required them, additional electrical lines were added. Off-duty police were hired to assist with traffic. Vests were purchased for parking lot attendants.
As host of the convention, Eastmont also provided meals for convention personnel, beginning with breakfast Nov. 16 through breakfast Nov. 17. The church set up a green room to provide refreshments for special guests, and Bowman set up a separate hospitality room where volunteers could go for a break. Bowman said he did not have to personally recruit volunteers because they responded when they heard the need. Bowman said training was the key to effectiveness. “We train them hard,” he said, noting that “one cranky person” can ruin a welcome. For example, when someone wanted to know where a bathroom was, a well-trained volunteer wouldn’t just point at it, but lead the person there.
Although hosting a convention entails extra costs, the church did not have to absorb those expenses. Bowman said the state convention would reimburse the church for expenses incurred. For example, the convention would pay food costs of meal preparations. Bowman said, however, that the church would absorb extras that the church might have normally financed, like some additional electrical lines.
Despite all the man-hours that went into getting the church ready for the event, everything was accomplished in a short time once the convention was imminent, according to Bowman. The church started setting up as soon as services were over that prior Sunday, and exhibitors set up after 1 p.m. Monday. Even though there were hundreds of guests on the premises, the church took it in stride, Bowman said, because members are used to sharing the facility with one another. “I don’t have anybody that says this is their territory.” Aside from some small Monday meetings, nothing was cancelled. Kindergarten and Mother’s Day Out went on as normal. The church also served the normal Wednesday night dinner to its own congregation following the end of the convention at noon.
Joe Godfrey, outgoing president of the Alabama Baptist State Convention, described the hospitality as “phenomenal. You couldn’t have asked for people to be more helpful. Volunteers were well positioned. It was a wonderful experience.”
Charleen Hobbs, who serves in the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions office of communications services, also lauded Eastmont for pulling off a well-oiled convention, especially with so little preparation time. “They did great.”
Bowman called it a tribute to the church’s genuine desire to welcome others. “The thing we serve up more than anything else is Christian hospitality.”
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