Like the millions of people who attended remembrance memorial services across the country, Alabama Baptists joined their fellow Americans in paying tribute on Sept. 11to the victims of last year’s terrorist attacks.
Numerous Baptist churches and associations held ceremonies across the state including a nondenominational event that featured members of Birmingham Baptist Association churches.
Through a joint effort between Birmingham Baptist Association, other area churches amd Birmingham mayor Bernard Kincaid’s office, an elaborate three-hour tribute was held at the city’s Boutwell Auditorium.
The patriotic event, which was aired live on Fox 6 television, drew an estimated crowd of 1,000 people. Members of various churches in the Birmingham Baptist Association served as ushers for the event.
Prior to the program, an ensemble of members of Valleydale Baptist Church’s choir sang a compilation of moving patriotic and Christian songs.
Keynote speaker for the service was The Birmingham News reporter Roy Williams, the brother of deceased Alabamian, Major Dwayne Williams, one of the 187 victims of the Pentagon attack.
William’s spoke to the audience about his family’s faith in God and how their religious convictions have seen them through their loss.
The crowd favorite and musical highlight of the program was Clearview Baptist Church’s presentation of the “Singing American Flag.”
Ninety-four members of the church choir performed on a multilevel, giant American flag constructed on Boutwell’s stage. Their musical presentation, “Let Freedom Ring,” was accompanied by an audiovisual presentation projected upon large screens hanging from the ceiling. The choir’s 20-minute performance was rewarded with a standing ovation from the appreciative audience.
Services Across Alabama
While some churches chose to participate in areawide events, others conducted services of their own, utilizing their Wednesday evening worship time for remembrance opportunities.
Some Alabama Baptist churches such as Birmingham’s Shades Mountain and Shelby Association’s North Shelby Baptist honored the day by performing musicals and multimedia presentations.
Birmingham’s Vestavia Hills Baptist Church added a unique touch to its service. Sheets of paper with names, ages, cities and countries of origin of 9/11 victims were passed out to members of the congregation. They were asked to choose a name and pray for the victim’s family and loved ones.
Dennis Anderson, administrator for Vestavia Hills said, “[Pastor Gary Furr] found the list on the internet. He felt that seeing all the names listed really showed the impact of how many people were affected.”
Anderson added that Vestavia Fire Chief Jim St. John, who is a deacon in the church, spoke about what the terrorist attacks meant to him as a firefighter.
“Hearing him gave a face to all those involved,” Anderson said. “That really brought home those that have lost loved ones who were trying to rescue others.”
Many of the churches that held remembrance services recognized members of either local or New York branches of the fire, police and sheriff’s departments, emergency medical personnel and members of the military.
First Baptist Church Mobile, took the meaning of its Wednesday night supper to another level. The church’s minister of education Howell Easterling suggested cooking not only for the church, but for the local fire station, as well.
Church Secretary Sheila Parish said the group that delivered the food reported the firemen’s appreciation. “Craig Brown said the firemen were really excited and appreciative, and they even had enough food that they wouldn’t have to cook on Thursday either,” she said.
Interdenominational meetings
Baptist churches also took part in the interdenominational services, Like First Baptist Church, Athens; Pleasant Springs Baptist Church, Huntsville; and First Baptist Church, Guin.
First, Guin, Pastor Scott Stokes said the noon interdenominational service held at the church was important to the Guin community because it showed a unified front between the community’s churches.
“I think it gave people more freedom to come because it wasn’t slanted toward any specific church,” Stokes observed.
“We had good representation from the community. It was a diverse group, not just people from the churches,” Stokes continued.
Pleasant Springs Baptist Church and First Baptist Church, Double Springs, chose to participate in services on days other than Sept. 11.
Pleasant Springs Pastor Larry Finch said his church and Union Chapel Missionary Baptist Church held a service on Sept. 10, because they chose to focus on personnel who answer the 911 calls for help every day.
“Our service was a tribute to those who answer the 911 call, and also a tribute to those who gave their lives answering the call and doing the job they do every day,” Finch said.
To that end, a doctor, fireman, police officer, sheriff’s deputy soldier and emergency medical technician led prayers during the service which was interracial as well as interdenominational.
“It was very uniting,” Finch said. “Our goal was that when you dial 9-1-1, you don’t think about [the attacks]. Instead, you’re getting in touch with the heroes who answer the call every day.”
First, Double Springs, commemorated the day on Sept. 15 with a countywide, interdenominational service.
Pastor George Whitten said there were three things that he and co-coordinator circuit clerk J.D. Snoddy wanted to accomplish with such a service.
“They were prayer, praise and patriotism,” Whitten said. “I felt like the best thing that could happen in the results of [the] Sept. 11 [attacks] would be that all God’s people got together and prayed for the nation.”
The service was held on Sept. 15 since the Winston County Commission declared the third Sunday of September a day for prayer, praise and patriotism.
The state’s Baptist colleges and universities also commemorated the event, with Judson College Holding a special opening chapel service Sept. 10.
President David Potts opened the floor to students and faculty wishing to share their thoughts or experiences relating to how the terrorist attacks affected them. Potts also asked that attendees leave the chapel silently in memory of the victims.
Brian Boyle, director of admissions at the University of Mobile, ran the bell of Lyon Chapel 11 times on the morning of Sept. 11. Boyle’s aunt Colleen Fraser, was on the airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania, so Boyle rang the bell at 9:37 a.m. Central time, the time of that final crash. The university later held a “Day of Remembrance” ceremony on the steps of Weaver Hall.
Samford University held commemorative services Sept. 10-12. On Sept. 10, Navy Captain John Pruitt, whose daughter attends Samford, spoke to students about the meaning of the terrorist attacks. Pruitt’s office was in the Pentagon at this time last year. The morning of Sept. 11, Samford held a memorial service and dedicated the U.S. and Alabama flags that were installed during the summer.
The flags were installed after students expressed interest in having flags displayed in a central area campus location.
On Sept. 12, Army Chaplain and Col Kenneth Brown spoke to Samford students about their responsibility to America after the terrorist attacks.
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