For Margene Todd, 30 years of ministry began with an unusual answer to prayer.
Steven Cromer, pastor of Ocean View Baptist Church, Myrtle Beach, presents a gift to Margene Todd, director of the church’s deaf ministry.Shortly after moving to Myrtle Beach in 1969, she began to feel a call to minister to the deaf. The only problem was, she didn’t have any training or know any sign language. In fact, she didn’t know one deaf person.
“I knew God’s calling on me, and I said, ‘Lord, if this is what you’re wanting me to do, you’re going to have to bring a deaf person to me,’?” said Todd.
The next day, a man knocked on her door and handed her a card that read, “I am deaf. Please give me money.”
“I pulled the man into my house and wrote a note on a piece of paper, ‘Will you teach me sign language?’ I knew God had answered my prayer.”
Todd and the congregation of Ocean View Baptist Church celebrated 30 years of ongoing ministry to the deaf during services on May 27. The celebration included recognition in the worship service, visitors from other deaf ministries in South Carolina and the return of many who had been involved in the ministry over the years.
“When God called me to this ministry, he also called this church,” Todd said. “I am grateful for the support this church has provided over the years.”
Steven Cromer, pastor of Ocean View for the past 13 years, said the ministry fits with the heart of Ocean View Baptist.
“This church has a history of missional emphasis.” Cromer said, referring to partnerships with several church plants as well as with ministries in Mexico and Lynch, Ky., and with Myrtle Beach Primary School. “Missions is in their DNA.”
While Todd said the knock on her door nearly 40 years ago was a confirmation of God’s call, that man was only in the area a short time. Soon after that meeting, she met Eleva Cooper, a woman who lived near her. Cooper became Todd’s sign language tutor.
“I would go to her house and take her shopping,” Todd recalled. “I would point to things, and she would show me the sign for it.”
It was nearly a decade after those initial encounters with the deaf that the church began its ministry to the deaf, with Todd interpreting the worship service on May 23, 1982. That Sunday, Eleva Cooper was the only deaf person to attend.
“I was afraid because I was going after something I knew nothing about,” Todd said. “I just kept trusting God. I had a confidence in my heart that he was going to lead me.
Soon after that first service, Cooper invited two other women who became part of the early core group. Today, Todd continues to interpret the morning service, participates in a Sunday school class for the deaf (which is led most weeks by deaf teachers) and hosts a monthly Bible study outreach in her home.
She has also provided for other needs of the deaf – taking people shopping, to the doctor, counseling and helping with business and legal issues.
“Margene’s ministry has become very intense,” said Cromer, adding that the church made her part of the paid staff several years ago. “The people depend on her for a lot of things. She is on call all the time.”
George Adams, who was introduced to Jesus Christ as a young man by a deaf pastor in the Washington, D.C., area, has been teaching Sunday school classes at Ocean View for more than a decade. He is one of four teachers in the class, three of whom are deaf.
George Adams teaches a Sunday school lesson at Ocean View Baptist Church.“The deaf are more comfortable if they have a teacher who is deaf himself,” Adams said through an interpreter. “Some deaf people don’t want to be around hearing people. We need a ministry so that they can learn about Jesus Christ and give their hearts to him. It is inspiring when a deaf person wants to accept Jesus Christ.”
Jerry St. John, who served for more than 20 years with the South Carolina Baptist Convention as director of language programs, said getting deaf leaders is the key to successful ministry.
“Margene has done a great job getting leadership,” said St. John, who said there are more than 30 deaf ministries and another five deaf churches in the state convention. “She has done a lot of training.”
For Todd, 30 years of ministry means that lives have been changed forever, and there are people in heaven today because they met Jesus through a church that shared the love of Jesus in their language.
She says she is looking forward to continuing the ministry for years to come and said God is still answering her prayers.
“Every time, before a service, I pray, ‘Lord, I’m your vessel. I’m doing this for you. Please speak through my hands,’ ” she said.