Tennessee deaf church reaches across the state and beyond

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (BP) – All are welcome to attend Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church. Be warned, though. You’re going to be able to hear the worship well before you enter the sanctuary.

“Everything we do is voice-interpreted, which is for who we call the ‘signing-impaired,’” Pastor Aric Randolph told Baptist Press. He’s referring to guests or others who hear but may not know American Sign Language (ASL). “If you visit us, everything is still voiced for you.”

The gospel is for everyone, and thus, a message everyone should be able to access. That can be difficult for deaf people, though. Many of BBDC’s attendees and members drive from considerable distances. The only other deaf churches in the state, Randolph said, are in Memphis, Knoxville and Clarksville.

The start of Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church goes back to 1984, when Brentwood Baptist Church began an outreach for the Deaf. That grew into a congregation the following year. In its own building on the east side of the BBC campus, Brentwood Baptist Deaf Church will celebrate its 40^th anniversary in 2025.

For visitors and others who aren’t deaf, worship at the church can be heard and even felt from the hall.

“The worship is quite different,” said Randolph. “It’s led in ASL, but we use a huge bass system to keep the beat, so it can be very loud. It is very rhythmic, usually in counts of three. We repeat counts of four with a repetition of three times in a row, so you would sign three times in a row.

“There are differences in how the music and poetry look, feel and sound.”

Overall, though, there aren’t that many differences in this church and others. BBDC has Sunday School, preaching and discipleship classes. There is a youth group and mission trips. Local missions include not just a food pantry, but delivering food to families and renovations at the homes of senior adults.

His family has experienced the misunderstandings that can come from interacting with a Deaf culture. Randolph is deaf, but his two sons hear.

“They attend a private school in Texas,” he told BP over the phone through an interpreter. “When we pray, we keep our eyes open so others can understand the prayer. When my son Jordan was in kindergarten at a hearing school we got a call from his teacher. He would not close his eyes during prayer time, and she took offense to that.

“We needed to explain what life was like at home. If my son were to lead prayer and his dad closed his eyes, it would be like you turned the lights off and took him out of the room. She understood, and so everything we do is with our eyes open, but with respect.”

The church has developed a heavily requested ministry through its Deaf Camp. Each camp is designed to meet the needs of three groups in particular – deaf children, siblings of deaf children and children of deaf adults (CODA).

One request came from First Baptist Church Pearl City in Hawaii, stemming from a partnership between the Tennessee Baptist Mission Board and Hawaii Pacific Baptist Convention (HPBC).

Deaf ministry isn’t just for deaf people, but for the entire family. Deaf children, for instance, usually have hearing parents. As such, there is a family dynamic in play for camp leaders.

“We were told there were no services for deaf children in the Honolulu area,” said Beryl Corey, BBDC member care minister. “So, it was a unique opportunity to reach an entire community. Deaf Camp allows us to reach the larger community of hearing parents that you don’t find otherwise.”

A video produced by the HPBC shared the activities of deaf camp and impact it made on participants and leaders alike.

Memphis Deaf, Church Knoxville Deaf Church and Middle Tennessee Deaf Church all assisted in providing resources for the camp, said ASL interpreter and BBDC member Cheryl Bruffey.

“If … we can meet them the way that Jesus met people, and feed their souls and their hearts, then they come to know Christ, there’s nothing that will stop them,” she said.

The outreach that began 40 years ago is now actively helping others take root. Deaf camps have been common at BBDC for some time now and are getting requested elsewhere. One is in the works for March of next year in Riverside, Calif.

The prayer in Hawaii is for a Gospel ministry one can hear – in whatever form that may take – but also feel.

“We hope, indeed, that one day a deaf church will rise up out of this ministry,” said First Baptist Pearl City Pastor Sterling Lee, “that they would be able to grow their own community of faith.”

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This story was first published by Baptist Press.