(upbeat music)
(engine revving)
- [Theron] When I figured out where everybody lives,
I began to go out and reach them
the best way I possibly could.
And I'm not going to wait on the crowd
to come to reach people,
so I want to reach them with the gospel
and give them a place to worship in their own language.
- As I look at Theron Hawkins, he's truly a missionary.
He doesn't look at sitting and waiting for people
to be in the doors of the church.
He's thinking, "No, I've got to get out to where they are."
- No, no, no, I'm not Haitian.
I was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
The Lord just somehow, in his creativity and humor,
allowed the Haitians to come into my life.
(Theron speaking Haitian Creole)
- He came to work with us as a catalyst
with Alabama Baptist.
(Theron speaking Haitian Creole)
He and his wife moved to be where the people are,
and less than two years ago,
they started a church that today runs over 300.
- It's in my DNA to be a starter, a missionary,
and to reach people for the Kingdom
and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I will plant this church
and I will plant another one afterward.
I will plant another one afterward.
End goal is to build the kingdom.
It's up to us to take those opportunities and say,
"Could this be a Bible study?
Could this just be a relationship?
Or could this be a church?"
- We have the Myers-Mallory mission offering,
and a good piece of that
goes into starting new churches.
- Those offerings help support that planter
and make sure that that church
can be self-sustaining in the end.
That's the end goal and the end game.
I would like to say to them thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
We're so grateful for your partnership.
We're so grateful for you investing in us.
Also, we have a support network of coaching.
Those relationships, they are very important and vital,
but it feels good to know that I was obedient
to the call of God
and I'm in the right place at the right time.
Everybody's not going to go to your church,
and so we have to realize
that there is lostness all around us.
- So yes, church planting, do we need it? Yes.
Pockets of Alabama, spaces in Alabama
do not have the gospel.
- I'm on mission for Jesus,
and he gave me the Haitian people
because he know that I would care for them like he does.
(upbeat music)