By Message Staff
BATON ROUGE – Istrouma Baptist Church has released details for a memorial service honoring long-time Baptist Message freelance writer Mark Hunter, who died on April 24.
The church will host the service at 11 a.m. on May 5 with visitation scheduled to begin at 10 a.m.
The church’s Facebook page reported Hunter, who has written for the Baptist Message since January 2011, suffered a cardiopulmonary event while worshipping at Istrouma, where he is a member, Sunday morning. Medical personnel in the worship service came to the aid of Hunter and emergency personnel were immediately called to the church.
Jeff Ginn, pastor of Istrouma Baptist Church, said in an email Hunter lived a life that honored Christ.
Ginn said in addition to his love for serving Christ through writing faith-based articles appearing in the Baptist Message and Baton Rouge Advocate, Hunter was passionate about men’s ministry at Istrouma and throughout Baton Rouge.
“Mark died as he lived,” Ginn said. “One moment he was singing a song of praise by faith in our Sunday worship service, the next moment he worshipped by sight in heaven. I remember the last words he shared with me. The day before he died he had written an article about a mission effort of our church. I shot him a “thank you” email for the compelling job he did in penning that story. His reply? “To God be the glory!” That’s how he lived and that’s how he died – to the glory of God.”
Hunter used his writing and multi-media skills to promote countless men’s events in the community. Among those were conferences sponsored by Gulf South Men, a Baton Rouge-based organization that helps coordinates events such as Promise Keepers and Iron Sharpens Iron.
Mark Lubbock, CEO of Gulf South Men, said Hunter had a gift of sharing the gospel and living out his faith through service to those in need.
“Mark believed in men getting together to work out the daily details and challenges of being a true disciple of Jesus,” Lubbock said. “He invested in his own spiritual life participating in the weekly men’s studies and encouraging others to do likewise.
“Weekly he would drive all of the way downtown to pick up a 70-year-old man who did not drive, take him all the way to southern Baton Rouge just to participate in a men’s Bible study, then took him back home again, every week, year in, year out,” continued Lubbock. “This is the Mark I came to know and to love.”
In addition to his involvement with men’s ministry, Hunter also drove a van with Louisiana State University Baptist Collegiate Ministry students on mission trips, including most recently for disaster relief work in Colorado. LSU BCM Director Steve Masters called Hunter one of the best chainsaw operators he has known and used his skills to teach college students the proper way to use the equipment.
“Mark had a real desire to help other people and used his gifts and abilities to serve the Lord,” Masters said. “He was so good with people that it was like having another minister along with us on the trip. Whenever he was with people, whether they lost a home or had damage to their house, he was so compassion and kind.”
