Romans 10:17 says, “Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ.” But for those who can’t hear, how do they get to experience the Bible?
The answer is at Bethel Baptist Church with their Deaf Ministry.
Jerry and Diann Pearson and Robert and Carmen Stewart are the leaders of Bethel Baptist Church’s Deaf Ministry; Jerry is the pastor, Diann is an interpreter, Robert is the Sunday school teacher, and Carmen is the care leader. Diann is joined by Jennifer Crowe, another interpreter, so anyone hearing can attend with interpretation. Jerry, Robert and Carmen are all deaf.
They work together to bring faith to the deaf community in the Wiregrass.
Although the deaf church has been spreading the good word for 11 years, the story actually began 46 years ago, when a woman named Elizabeth “Liz” Brackin Edberg was the only deaf individual at Bethel Baptist.
She initially attended without an interpreter, but she helped teach two others at the church American Sign Language (ASL) so she and her also-deaf husband could attend services with an interpreter.
Now, Deaf Ministry is held every Sunday at 8 a.m., starting with fellowship. Sunday school is at 9 a.m. Zoom is also used for people who can’t make it. Reliably at least 20 people, both deaf and hearing, are in attendance every week. There’s even one deaf-blind person in their ministry who uses tactile signs. Plus, they hold Wednesday night Bible study at 5:15 p.m. All services are held in the Family Life Center at Bethel Baptist.
“It’s an opportunity to teach and pray in the church and sing sign songs,” Diann said.
Jerry said creating this opportunity was crucial to deaf people in the Wiregrass.
“It’s just more relaxed, an ability to understand (the Bible) in your own language,” he said. “Deaf people love fellowship with other deaf or any hearing person that wants to sign, and we have a lot of hearing people, too.”
Diann said deaf people can struggle reading the Bible, as ASL is a language in and of itself, and often a first language to deaf people; so deaf ministry often focuses on going verse by verse to understand exactly what the Bible is saying.
“When I do deaf church, I’m excited,” Jerry said. “I look forward to it, because I love getting involved in sharing the word with the community. I want to teach them. When I teach I see deaf people not understand what I’m saying, I know they don’t understand me. And then I go around a different way and explain it again, and when they understand it, that makes you feel good.”
He signed a lightbulb coming on by opening his hand over his head and widening his eyes.
He said he encourages questions during the service for those who want him to stop and explain. He uses PowerPoint presentations to visually depict concepts.
“That makes him feel good when they understand,” Diann said.
When Jerry was learning about the Bible, he found that he often struggled to understand the concepts; he had to work hard to learn more.
“God just gave him a hunger to understand the Word,” Diann said. “He’s got a whole notebook full of what words mean.”
Neither Jerry nor Robert considered themselves to be book readers years ago, but they’ve now learned to be diligent readers of the Bible.
Robert, the Sunday school teacher, goes into deep dives on the topics Jerry introduces, giving more information on the culture and history of the Bible using plenty of visual representation.
“I want to give more details and information about God’s plan,” he said. “From the beginning to the end, Genesis to Revelations. Especially most things from prophecy that have not been completed yet, but will happen in the future.”
Carmen said she knew Jerry and Robert were doing good work, especially with their dedication to Scripture.
“I really admire them because they’re so persevering,” she said.
Jerry and Robert have known each other since their grade school days, but they said they didn’t like each other back then (they described the animosity as thinking each was better than the other) — but today they’re great friends.
Now they’ve turned into the dynamic duo of sharing the Word of God with deaf and hard-of-hearing people in south Alabama, west Georgia and north Florida, working well together and working hard.
But they said the entire congregation of the deaf ministry works together each Sunday to put together the stage and chairs and set up the TV screens provided for them by Bethel Baptist.
“We’re thankful to Bethel Baptist Church for supporting deaf ministry through all these years, but also supporting Deaf Church and giving us an area to have it and support the things we need,” Diann said.
