At The Alabama Baptist, we have several missions. One is to give you helpful information for your walk with Christ, and another is to share stories that encourage you to know Him more.
A third is to help you find your passion and live it.
Several weeks ago, we were reminded of someone who did that well, right up until the day she died in November 2022 — Reva Hudson.
In 2001, TAB published a couple of articles about Reva and her husband, Rick, who spent their lives serving in ministry at their church and at Wind Creek State Park.
Rick worked as a bread salesman for Millbrook Bread Co. As he and Reva raised their children together, they served in a variety of roles at their church, Berney Points Baptist in Birmingham. They also had a big camping hobby.
Hobby turned ministry
“The first time we ever came to [Wind Creek] was in 1969. We borrowed a tent and went tent camping,” Reva told TAB in 2001. “We tent camped for a long time before graduating into a trailer.”
When Rick retired in 1991 and bought a fifth-wheel trailer, the couple’s camping hobby also became their ministry.
Soon after they arrived at Wind Creek State Park, the park ranger asked them to serve as camp hosts for a month, and they were happy to agree. That role included overseeing weekly worship services, and the Hudsons loved that. According to Reva’s obituary, both of them were devoted to sharing the gospel of Jesus with everyone.
They served in that role for one month, then another — and eventually they were asked to serve full time.
“The Lord really opened a door for us,” Reva said.
They decided not to take a salary. For nine years they served as volunteers. After Rick died in 1999, Reva kept going on her own until 2006, when she moved back to Birmingham and became a Sunday School teacher again at Berney Points. She served in that role until August 2022.
What about you? Have you found places where you can use your gifts and hobbies to serve? We pray that as you read stories about people like Reva or ministries like disaster relief or orphan care, you’ll find new areas where God might be calling you to serve.
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