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Gospel Baptist Church to host deaf evangelist at revival
By LINDA M. LINONIS
POLAND
Video
Pastor Ron Royalty of Gospel Baptist Church reflected on how the tables will be turned when a deaf evangelist is featured at an upcoming revival. The “Signs of Love” event will reach out to the deaf and hearing impaired.
“The deaf preacher will be using sign language, and we’ll have a voice interpreter,” he said. At many public events, people have become accustomed to seeing someone signing what’s being said.
Pastor Royalty said the “church has mind to reach out to the deaf. We want to learn how to be effective.”
The pastor said the church did have a deaf member at one time. “We’re hoping to widen our opportunities,” he said. The pastor admitted he didn’t know if the deaf were being served in the religious community, but he said the church wanted to reach out. “It’s building a bridge,” he said.
The pastor credited Kate Hub with the idea for such a revival. And, she is teaching American Sign Language to members including youth of the church.
Hub, the wife of assistant Pastor Daniel Hub at the church, said she became involved in the deaf community while attending Crown College of the Bible in Powell, Tenn. She participated in a ministry for the deaf at a church there. “I just fell in love with how the deaf express themselves,” she said.
After the family came to Gospel Baptist Church about three years ago, Hub said she saw an opportunity at the church. She worked with the deaf adult son of a woman who attended the church and her interest in deaf ministry was revived. “The church also became interested in sign language,” she said.
Hub attended classes at Community Center for the Deaf in Youngstown to hone her skill in sign language. “What a wonderful resource the center is,” she said.
Hub said she believed that “God has given me a love for the deaf ... I have such respect for them.”
She continued that hearing people often take that sense for granted. For her, interacting with deaf people has given her a new appreciation. “No one in my family is deaf,” she said, adding she has learned about the deaf community. “Sometimes people see the limitations and not the potential.”
The assistant pastor’s wife said she hoped the revival geared to the deaf would reach out to the group that may be underserved. “I want them to know that Jesus loves them and know who he is,” she said.
Hub said the theme, “Signs of Love,” is about “the greatest sign of love ... Jesus Christ dying on the cross for us so that we may have eternal life. We at Gospel Baptist Church want to show signs of love to the deaf community and share with them the greatest sign of all ... Jesus Christ.”
Hub said she learned about Silent Word Ministries while in college. It is an evangelistic outreach that specializes in ministry to the deaf and helps churches establish deaf ministries. “Having a deaf evangelist here will bring a view of a culture that exits in America,” she said. “He will present a different view of how God works.”
She echoed Pastor Royalty’s comment about how the table will be turned. She said an interpreter will voice what Allen Snare, the deaf evangelist, will be signing.
The church has distributed fliers in the community about the revival.
Hub said the youth choir at the church is learning sign language. At the revival, they will sing and sign “Jesus Loves Me” and “One, Two, Three, Jesus Loves Me.”