St. Paul CME in Gordonville hosted the Central High School Lions Baseball Team on Feb. 11. 

The event was a part of their first annual Labor Of Love program.

The program was planned to show love to community members and help them understand that God is love, highlighting the fact that when people show love to each other they are revealing God to the world.

Church leaders are floating plans to showcase the campaign every year and began the effort with Sunday’s event.

The program consisted of a church service along with games and activities such as painting and a foot-washing service for those interested. 

Miriam Hill, St. Paul CME member and exhorter, described the importance of the church giving back to the sports teams, youth groups and organizations of the community. 

“We wanted to show the baseball team that we love and support them so today was a fitting day for them to come. The purpose was for us to be able to not only give a monetary donation but to let them know that, as a community, we are behind them and whatever they need, we will make sure they get the support all the way around,” Hill said. “Oftentimes, a lot of sports [teams] and some of our kids don’t always have the resources for the things they need, and we pray that the donation we gave will help them in any aspect it can.” 

Dorshanni Kelly organized the collaboration, partnering the school and the church. She hopes that introducing student-athletes to churches will lead to more support for the team. 

Kelly said that the entire purpose was aimed at giving the team exposure while helping them learn an important lesson. 

“We want our boys to get out there and be exposed to the community but while doing that, we want them to know that you can’t do anything without God. We’re trying to not only help them stay on the right track, but we also want them to have a relationship with God and the church,” Kelly said. “We want our community members to actually know who the team is and come to the games to support these young men. “

“I think that going from church to church builds their morale and it shows the team that sometimes you have to give your time back to the people that help you. I don’t want the team to think it’s okay to expect people to continuously give to them when they aren’t giving a bit of their time to thank them.”

Kelly hopes the team can start doing community service in the near future as another way to give back to the communities they are a part of. 

Hill said the church is not only the center of the community but is also extremely important in upkeeping the area so many people consider home. 

“The church is the heart of the community and most of the people who live in the community attend one of the local churches,” Hill said. “If we don’t care about the people of the community then the community is going to die then the church is going to die. If the members of the community don’t feel the love and support of the church, which is what God wants us to do. If the church isn’t playing its part, then how can we get people to come to the Lord and how can we be the sheep that’s going out to get more sheep.”

According to Kelly, the program is all about sharing God’s love.

“That’s why we do things like this at St. Paul. We aren’t just doing it to eat and have fun, there’s always a message behind it,” she said. “Our message is to make sure that we are sharing God’s love, making sure everyone knows who God is, and hope that a seed will be planted then people will be able to say they know who God is because we participated in the events that the church down the street hosted. That’s why we try to stay active, and we thank God for leading us in that way.” 

Those interested in learning more about the church are encouraged to visit the St. Paul CME Gordonville Facebook page. 

St. Paul CME currently holds service on Sundays at 8:00 a.m. at 3558 County Road 17 in Hayneville and guests are more than welcome to attend.