An Alabama Baptist pastor’s call to serve Native Americans began with his family and has grown to include the entire congregation in prayer and service over the last 35 years.
Charles Spence, pastor of Indian Mounds Baptist Church in Moundville since 1990, said to his family at dinner one night in 1987, “I feel God wants us to do something in missions.”
He was pastor of Second Baptist Church in Uniontown at the time.
“He told us, ‘I can’t do it by myself; I can’t do it alone. We all have to be on board,” his wife Jean recalled. “He said, ‘No more vacations to the beach. No Dollywood.’
“The kids prayed about it together,” she continued, referring to Amanda, Elizabeth and Charlie, who at the time were 13, 11 and 8. “We prayed about it around the table that day, and then the kids said, ‘Whatever God wants us to do, we want to do it.’”
“It” became ministry to, for, with and among Native Americans.
Beginning the mission
Spence was given a packet of suggestions for short-term projects by the then-Home (now North American) Mission Board, but nothing panned out until he struck missions “gold” with Billy Barnett, pastor of Indian Nations Baptist Church in Seminole, Oklahoma.
That first weeklong missions trip, which also included the Davis family from Pine Flat Baptist Church in Hale County, involved maintenance on the Seminole church building and organizing the church’s library. At week’s end, Barnett invited the two families to do ministry the next summer at Indian Family Camp at Falls Creek (Baptist) Conference Center in Oklahoma.
The Spence and Davis families, accompanied routinely by other church members, have ministered every year since, with the pandemic-related exception of 2020.
“God just led us into [Native American],” Spence said. “We keep going back because we haven’t seen a stopping point. It’s a huge opportunity, an entire people group we’re not reaching. The need is very great and we want to do our part.
“We have formed strong friendships over the years with the wonderful Christian Native Americans,” he continued. “It’s a blessing, a great joy, to be with them.”
Last summer Indian Mounds Baptist members ministered at American Indian camps in Oklahoma, North Carolina and Montana. They’ve also served at camps in Florida, Minnesota and California, becoming known for ministry to children as well as skits written and performed by youth of the church.
‘The Sin Chair’
One, called “The Sin Chair,” involves a chair that looks deceptively comfortable. A girl has been warned by her parents to stay away from it. “I don’t think it would hurt to just see it,” she says. But she doesn’t just look — she sits down and somehow becomes stuck.
Her sister comes by and says, “I’m going to tell mom and dad.” Two friends pass by, saying they can’t associate with her because she’s in the sin chair. Her parents come by and say, “We really can’t believe you’d do this!” A church member passes by saying, “Can you believe it? She’s sitting in sin!”
But then a Christian comes by with a Bible. She kneels and shows the girl what the Bible says. The two pray, and the chair releases its captive.
Giving and going
The Native American ministry is just one of many fulfilled by Indian Mounds Baptist, which got its name from the 29 massive, flat-topped mounds, which were built by ancient Mississippian people. Some 3,000 residents now live in the town located along the Black Warrior River about 15 miles south of Tuscaloosa, but in the 1400s at the height of the Mississippian culture, it was the largest city north of Mexico.
Indian Mounds Baptist was started in 1990 as one of what is now eight Southern Baptist churches in Hale County. About 50 people attend Sunday morning services.
“We support missions through our giving and our going,” Spence noted. “All we have is from God. It’s a privilege to give back a portion. It’s an even greater privilege to serve Him by serving others in His name.”
The church focuses in-house on equipping members to be Jesus’ hands, feet and arms in the community and elsewhere, with a daunting list of ministries for a church its size.
“We want to teach our members what the word of God says, but also how to do what the word of God says,” Spence asserted. “If you don’t go out and practice what you’re learning, what good is it to learn it?
“Besides,” continued the pastor, who also is a farmer and recently retired as a manufacturing plant manager, “there’s a need for people in the community to see you have a heart for God. It’s a witness.”
Indian Mounds Baptist is located north of the town’s one red light on State Highway 69, and has a role in the community’s Ministerial Alliance to provide gas vouchers to travelers in need. Members also contribute and serve at another church’s food pantry, and yet another church’s thrift store.
Members provide a meal for the football team, cheerleaders and band twice during the season’s home games. In the fall they bake cookies for local first responders. Coats, blankets and personal items are gathered year-round for the homeless, distributed locally and by long-haul truck drivers.
There’s also “Pack a Purse” for homeless women, filled with toiletries and personal items. At least 25 backpacks stuffed with school supplies are given each September to Southern Baptist Appalachian Ministries, and about 35 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child are contributed each November.
Some 1,500 winter coats are gathered each fall (many donated from area schools’ lost and found boxes), cleaned (with quarters donated by church members) at a laundromat and sent to Navajo Reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.
As part of Moundville’s Ministerial Alliance, the church provides vouchers for needy travelers on nearby State Highway 69. Church members also provide a meal for the football team, cheerleaders and band twice a season; bake cookies for first responders; provide clothing for the homeless; participate in “Pack a Purse” for homeless women that include toiletries and personal items; stuff 25 backpacks with school supplies each fall for Appalachian ministries; serve at an area church’s food pantry and another’s thrift store; and pack about 35 shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child each November.
Some 1,500 winter coats are gathered each fall and sent to Navajo Reservations in Arizona and New Mexico.
“This all sounds like a lot, but we do it in small amounts,” Jean Spence said. “We’re a small church but we want to do what we can, where we can.”
Each Sunday morning worship service includes a “Children’s Mission March,” where youngsters bring their money to the front, with proceeds going, over the course of a year, to the Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes, Gospel for Asia farm animal ministry and Samaritan’s Purse.
“The children love the barnyard animals ministry,” she said. “We figure out how much money we have, and they get to choose the animal from a book. It’s fun and it gives children an opportunity to learn giving and being a part of missions.”
“The Great Commission says to ‘Go,’” Spence noted. “God led us here and to Native Americans. Our people enjoy getting out and becoming part of ministering to others, showing with their actions their heart for God and their love for the people.”
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