Chills ran down her spine and a tear streaked her cheek. With great intensity, both her heart and her lips sang the words “Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship You,” echoing praises to the Lord.
More than 600 choir and orchestra members from 19 primarily Birmingham-area churches participated in “God for Us” April 30 at the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Bartow Arena.
“You could feel the Holy Spirit just permeate through the choir,” said Pam Strickland, a member of Valley View Baptist Church, Leeds. “It strengthened my faith to see so many Christians coming together.”
Brett Hilley came from Anniston to attend the celebration. “It’s what needs to happen to God’s kingdom here on earth — a coming together, a worshiping of Him as one body,” he said.
Lisa Brown, a member of Huffman Baptist Church, was one of about 4,000 members of the congregation. She said, “(The experience) was wonderful — glorifying to God.”
Worship for all seasons
The program, subtitled “A Worship Experience for All Seasons,” included “Great and Mighty is the Lord,” “Mighty Is Our God,” “Awesome God” and the hymn “Crown Him with Many Crowns.”
Randall Hall, minister of music at First Baptist Church, Center Point, directed the choir and was the backbone of the event. He said the first organizational meeting was held in January, and four mass choir rehearsals were held.
A highlight for many who participated and attended was a time of testimony. Five people shared experiences in their lives in which they knew God was for them.
The first testimony was that of Carol Ann Hall, the pastor’s wife at Valley View Baptist Church, Tuscaloosa. As a minister’s wife and the mother of four, she found herself in the midst of depression.
Now the mother of six, she said, “God has crowned my life with love and compassion. He is for me, and He is delighted I am His child.”
The second testimony was that of Melissa Keeling, a member of First Baptist Church, Center Point. She received Christ only a few months ago after a neighbor invited her and her husband to church. For anyone toying with the idea of receiving Christ, she said, “Don’t fight it. Just do it.”
Dale and Jena Forehand, members of The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham, shared with the congregation the problems they faced in their marriage.
“Our love for each other really did die in that home,” Forehand said.
The couple found themselves in divorce court where Mrs. Forehand said they “ripped one another to shreds.”
“We were standing there with nothing but life’s broken pieces,” she said.
The couple remarried about a year later.
“God’s still in the business of keeping marriages and families together,” Forehand said.
The final testimony was that of Chip Gillette, a police officer from Fort Worth, Texas, and member of Wedgwood Baptist Church.
Because his home is only 150 feet from the front door of the church, he was the first officer on the scene Sept. 15, 1999, when a gunman entered the church during a See You at the Pole rally.
Gillette entered the church with another officer who came on the scene. He shared stories he had heard about children accepting Christ in public school classrooms as Christian students and teachers shared of the love of Christ following the incident.
He reported that in the first four weeks after the shootings, 2,500 people in the area made professions of faith.
“There wasn’t a tragedy at Wedgwood Baptist Church,” Gillette said. “There was a victory.”
Narrators for the evening were James Spann, a member of Hunter Street Baptist Church, Hoover, and a weather man on ABC 33/40, and Leon Westerhouse, a Southern Baptist evangelist from Birmingham.
“Our prayer was that God would use this as a ministry event for the entire city of Birmingham,” Hall said. “I really think God visited. He was there.”
Program personalities were Whitley and Fran Curry, a member of The Church at Brook Hills and news anchor at NBC 13.
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