By Julie Payne
A few weeks have passed since the West Jefferson Horse Whisperer event Oct. 7, but people in the community are still talking. In fact, while he was changing his church’s outdoor sign recently about 10 different people spotted Dennis Smith, pastor of Snowtown Baptist Church, Dora, and stopped their cars to get out and talk to him about it. “That’s how excited folks were — they were excited about what happened,” he said.
Four and a half years ago Smith was called to be the pastor of Snowtown Baptist in Mud Creek Baptist Association. It was not long before he realized the community was “splintered” because the 11 area churches representing five denominations did not associate with each other, he said.
Burdened about this division, Smith turned his concerns over to God and was inspired to bring the area churches together. He consulted with Doug O’Brien, interim pastor of West Jefferson Baptist Church, Quinton. “He (O’Brien) gave me the guidance” on how to go about it, Smith said. What resulted was a Thanksgiving dinner for the churches held in 2011 at the former West Jefferson High School, a renovated building that is now used as an event center.
Other events to bring the community together followed, and Oct. 7 marked a significant milestone when massive crowds flocked to the West Jefferson Horse Whisperer event that area churches helped to organize.
Smith and O’Brien began planning for the horse whisperer event many months in advance. O’Brien contacted Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM) office of evangelism director Sammy Gilbreath and began working to secure commitments from the churches.
The goal was to attract 2,000 unchurched people, and it required an “all hands on deck” effort from dedicated volunteers to pull it off.
According to Smith, many blessings leading up to the event occurred throughout the planning and implementation phases. Those blessings came in all forms like the 2,200 hot dogs donated by New Providence Baptist Church, Adger.
Three billboards about the event were displayed along Highway 78, banners were donated and approximately 2,000 flyers were distributed. “The word started really getting around [about the event],” Smith noted. In all 11 churches — many located within the community and even some from outside of the area — contributed their assistance.
And while a unified spirit among area churches had already begun to develop before the horse whisperer event, resulting in what is now known as the West Jefferson Alliance, this event marked the first evangelistic effort among the churches, O’Brien explained.
The free event was held at the former West Jefferson High School stadium, where volunteers worked diligently beforehand to pressure wash and prepare the stadium. As a crew put up the corral and teams made final preparations, Smith found himself a bit overwhelmed with emotion. “I got teary-eyed when I saw everything,” he remarked.
The gates were slated to open by 4 p.m., but people of all ages began arriving early and in droves. By 4 p.m. all the bleachers were filled, Smith said. By 5 p.m. many more had secured places to sit on the stadium lawns for their opportunity to watch the horse whisperer in action.
That horse whisperer was 21-year-old Chance Hill, who heads up SPURS (Submit, Peace, Understanding, Respect and Serve) Ministries.
In a two-hour period Hill gently worked with an untrained horse and related the horse’s struggle to man and man’s relationship with God. For instance, when the horse demonstrated stubbornness, Hill used parallels to share about man’s nature.
Smith explained that in order for Hill to receive the horse’s trust, the horse had to realize Hill was going to help him.
At the end of the event Hill placed the saddle on the horse and began riding around the corral. “They (the audience) were completely awed,” Smith said.
Following Hill’s demonstration, Gilbreath offered a gospel invitation to the crowd that reached somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 attendees. “People came pouring out of [the] stands,” Smith said. The corral was “packed with people wanting prayer, wanting to receive Christ, wanting to rededicate [their lives],” he recalled. “I couldn’t believe everything I saw down there.”
Volunteers collected information from about 50 people that day and it is estimated between 60 and 80 people came forward with decisions, Smith said.
“I was surprised, I really was,” O’Brien said of the number in attendance Oct. 7. “I thought 700–800 would be the best we would … get.”
He added that the event was “great for the area” and that “God really showed up.”
Smith said for those interested in planning an evangelistic event, one thing is certain. “The number one thing [is] you’ve got to bathe it in prayer,” he noted.
A prayer committee for the West Jefferson Horse Whisperer event was in place and pastors opened their sermons with prayer for the event three months ahead of time, he said.
“It takes a lot of coordination with a lot of people,” he added. “No one has given more support than the evangelism office at [SBOM].”
When Smith first shared his heart to see the different denominations in the area come together under the umbrella of Jesus Christ, there were people who told him there were too many differences and it could not be done.
“Never say ‘can’t,’” he concluded. “God is a God of ‘can.’”
For more information about events like this, contact Gilbreath at 1-800-264-1225, ext. 320.
Share with others: