Rev. Jerlyn Smith-Hudson prepares to launch Bible study to honor her mother's legacy
Rev. Jerlyn Smith-Hudson remembers her mother, Bettye Jean Stephens, sitting at her dining room table at Oak Lane Villas introducing one person after another to her Lord and Savior.
“Different people would come by for her private Bible study,” Hudson said. “Some of them just wanted to learn how to study their Bibles, others were preparing for the ministry.”
Hudson would go back to her bedroom during these visits, but she could hear her mom at the table, gently guiding whoever was there through the word of God. Hudson would follow along in her own Bible.
“I didn’t know I was going to one day pastor churches. I didn’t know God was going call me,” Hudson said. “I was drawn to the word because of the seeds that she planted.”
Over the years she has seen the results of those seeds sprout in countless people her mother touched.
“I know that what she did was worth doing because of the truth I see today,” Hudson said. “Now I’m looking to continue what she spent her life doing.”
In May, Hudson plans to begin offering a free Bible study in her mother’s name in her home at 311 Cotton Street in Wrens.
“I envision this for people who really want to know the Bible who are not waiting for someone else to tell them, people who want to start a disciplined learning process so they can learn for themselves," Hudson said. "People can make up their own minds about who God is and what they want from a relationship with Christ. I’m not talking about any particular denominations. This is a place where we can sit, open our Bibles and study, keeping everything in context.”
Bibles will be provided on a first-come-first-served basis.
“We’re going to study the Bible from Genesis to Revelations,” Hudson said. “It’s the most interesting book I’ve ever read. I learned to be a pastor by watching my mom. Towards the end she pastored from a wheelchair. When she was sick, in a hospital bed at home, I watched her call in to her church, checking on people throughout the week. I told her she didn’t have to do that, that they would understand. I'll never forget, she told me, ‘That’s my flock and I’m their pastor.’”
Even in small towns where there are churches on nearly every corner, Hudson says she sees a need for more opportunities where young people and adults can learn how to study the word of God.
“I see children who don’t know who Jesus is, who don’t know the Lord’s Prayer,” she said. “I see teenagers I know seek out gangs for brotherhood or sisterhood, but there is church, and church isn’t outdated just because the times have changed. It’s still relevant. We see all this crime going on and it just hurts my heart because through vacation Bible School I met children who are now in prison or in gangs. I feel it’s because they were never given an alternative. So, when something comes along that seems to embrace you, you’re drawn to that because you don’t know about the love of Christ.”
Through the Bettye Jean Stephens Bible Academy Hudson hopes to acquaint people with the Bible itself so that they will not be misled into believing the Bible teaches things that it does not.
“I want them to go back to their churches and be better ministers,” Hudson said. “Doing ministry is just loving on people, providing what they need. The Bible says if they are hungry, you feed them. If they are naked, you clothe them. Hopefully after coming through this course they are able to see why Jesus is so important."
It all goes back to a desire to plant the seeds as her mother did.
Pastors Jeffery Leverett and Eric “Ken” Murray remember the influence Stephens had on them as children.
Leverett, the pastor of Spring Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Appling, said that he was very young when he attended Wrens Chapel AME’s Vacation Bible School under Stephens’ tutelage. It is where he first learned the song, Yes, Jesus Loves Me.
“I remember being moved,” he said. “I learned some things about Jesus that I never knew. I remember how joyous everyone was about Jesus. I hadn’t seen that perspective. I had always gone to adult church. In mine there wasn’t a separation for kids. It was new to me and it was exciting.”
Murray, pastor of Swint Spring Baptist Church in Tennille and Gum Hill Baptist Church in Milledgeville, said he cannot remember a time when he did not know Stephens. Their families were close.
“She was always working with the young people,” Murray said. “Anything that young people were doing, she was a part of it. She gathered us all together. She set an example for all of us. Just the way she lived, you could tell that she truly had a relationship with the Lord.
“The things she and my mom ingrained in us as children are the things I now see in my own life now that I’m an adult and a minister and serving others. A lot of that came from her and how selflessly she served us. She sacrificed a lot of her time to make us better.”
Hudson said her Bible curriculum is designed for children grades 5-12 and adults. Classes will meet every other Saturday, from 10 a.m. until noon, unless otherwise noted.
For more information about joining the Bible academy contact Hudson at 706-750-2985.
This article originally appeared on Augusta Chronicle: Pastor prepares to launch Bible study to honor her mother's legacy
