Civic Dispatch: Inspiring a Community Through Faith
Jean O’Connor-Snyder intern Madi Duboise shares how gospel and faith can not only bring together a local community, but create connections across the country, as well.
When spending time in Walker County, Alabama you find a large focus of the community is on faith. Whether individual faith, the role of faith in families, or the reflection of faith within nonprofits in the area, faith is one resource this community is not lacking. For one local, faith has been at the center of his life for decades.
Marlin Shubert grew up in Jasper, Alabama, where he still lives today. Shubert grew up surrounded by faith in church and at home, and that is something that remains at the center of his life today.
“Faith has always been the biggest part of my life,” Shubert said. “It never was a question if we were going to church, we just were.”
Shubert’s faith is a reflection of the community in Walker County. Faith is at the core of a number of nonprofits in the area including Hope for Women, Mission of Hope, City of Lights, and more. With numerous churches in Walker County starting community outreach missions and supporting nonprofits, it is easy to see that in Walker County, faith means a lot.
Shubert shared that Southern Gospel music was an essential for his family growing up, every time there was music playing, it was almost always that soulful, Southern praise music. The Shubert family has been singing gospel music their entire lives, and in 1959 members of the family began singing as a group in the community.
Around 1969 Marlin said a gospel quartet, The Inspirations, started performing in and around Walker County. At one of their shows, The Shubert’s sang with the group. Afterward, The Inspirations piano player and manager, Martin Cook, asked for Shubert’s phone number.
Just a few months later, Cook called Shubert and asked if he would like to travel through Mississippi with them one weekend. At the time, The Inspirations’ bass singer was considering leaving, and just three months after their trip to Mississippi, Marlin got a call asking if he wanted the job.
From July of 1970 until September of 1972, Shubert was able to serve the Lord through his work traveling with The Inspirations. He shared numerous stories of being on the road with The Inspirations, they traveled across the United States, even traveling all the way to Alaska.
“The South is supposedly the Bible Belt but we took a trip all the way out to California and the people there enjoyed gospel music as much as I do,” Marlin said.
Shubert recalled his time traveling with the group with such passion and joy as they were able to spread the gospel while doing something they loved, singing music. In 1970, the group was included in a short CBS documentary on Southern gospel music. The program was on national news and the group was just overjoyed that Southern gospel music would reach people around the world.
While singing in the Smokies, a man from South Africa told Shubert that after hearing The Inspirations on the radio, he was saved through their music.
“It’s not about the individual, it’s about the music,” Shubert said. “It’s not about these guys that are a part of The Inspirations now, it’s about the message of the songs that we sing.”
Shubert’s story really came full circle when The Inspirations visited Jasper this summer. On June 17th, the new generation of The Inspirations came to play at the Bankhead House & Heritage Center in Jasper. The crowd consisted of community members and those that traveled, even some from out of state, as Marlin got the opportunity to sing with a new group of gospel singers as they continued the work he was a part of in the 1970s.
With lawn chairs lined up, microphones set up on the outdoor brick stage, and cars lining the road for blocks, faith filled the air.
The group sang many of the songs that Marlin recorded with The Inspirations. Marlin said getting to be a part of that was special to him, it was even more special that he was doing it in his hometown, Jasper.
“I don’t travel with them all the time now, but I still feel like I’m a part of The Inspirations quartet,” Marlin said. “It just thrills my heart to see young folks enjoying gospel music.”
The mission of The Inspirations reflects the mission of many in Walker County, to bring joy and hope to people through their faith. The presence of faith in this community is one that has given people the hope to make the change that has been seen in Walker County.
I am spending the summer as a part of the Jean O’Connor-Snyder Internship Program (JOIP) in Walker County, Alabama. My placement is with the Walker Area Community Foundation (WACF) focused on creating both outward and inward-facing content for the community foundation. I have worked closely alongside Cristy Moody, the executive vice president at WACF, who also happens to be Marlin’s daughter.
I and two other JOIP interns were able to attend The Inspirations concert at the Bankhead House & Heritage Center. Seeing the love the community and new Inspirations members have for Marlin truly shows how devoted Marlin is to sharing true Southern gospel music. I was honored that Marlin allowed me to interview him for this profile to share his story with a community that adores both him and the music he loves.
From Toney, Alabama, Madi is a junior at the University of Alabama, majoring in communications studies with a minor in civic engagement and leadership through the New College program.
This photo of Madi was taken by the Walker Area Community Foundation as part of the students’ internship with them over the summer.