ST. PAUL, Minn. (BP) — The Hmong International Freedom Festival, one of the largest gatherings in the world of the formerly agrarian people with roots in Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, took place the weekend before the Fourth of July. And thanks to a strong Southern Baptist Hmong presence at this year’s festival, dozens of attendees responded to the gospel.

Last year, 37,000 attended the event at the spacious Como Regional Park. This year, more than 57,000 were onsite to take advantage of sporting events, vendors and other resources.

“I felt like God’s plan was fulfilled,” Mary Her told Baptist Press. She organized the first-ever joint praise and worship sessions at this year’s festival. “The Lord parted the skies that weekend. It had been raining almost every day for two weeks. A few days before the festival I prayed to God, ‘Lord, You promised me the weather would be beautiful and that You would protect it from the rain and I trust that Your will be done.’

“It rained Friday night. Saturday and Sunday were dry, and it rained again on Monday morning,” said Her, a member at One in Christ Hmong Baptist Church in Hudson, Wis. “The Lord told me, ‘I have gone before you, I will be with you and protect this [event],’ and He was very present. He fulfilled His promises!”

Not unlike the Independence Day celebrations days later, the Hmongs celebrate freedom at the festival, Her said.

“Before we came to America as refugees, our people were supporting the Americans in fighting the war in Vietnam and the secret war in Laos,” she said. “As a result we experienced oppression and genocide.”

The idea for a joint praise and worship team came to Her at last year’s event, where various Christian churches had a presence but were disjointed.

She said the Holy Spirit prompted her to bring the churches together in a show of unity.

“I prayed and I fasted for six months before I finally had the courage to fulfill God’s calling for me,” Her said. “In December I took Mee Vang, the president of the board of trustees of the International Hmong Freedom Festival, to lunch at a Chinese restaurant called Tea House in St. Paul. I shared my vision with her and she was very excited about it. She wanted it [the festival] to be inclusive because the Hmong community is very diverse.”

Festival organizers agreed to allow the group two hours each day on the main stage.

“I literally had two months to organize the two, two-hour services and organize the Hmong Baptist National Association’s display booth,” Her said. “I prayed and fasted, and the Lord’s hand was all over this. ‘I am with you,’ He would tell me. ‘I have gone before you. Do not be discouraged.’”

Her is the Women’s Ministry director for the Hmong National Baptist Association and is a senior clinical supervisor for the Amherst Wilder Foundation’s school-based mental health program that serves 30 schools in St. Paul. Fifteen years ago, Her started the first culturally-specific, school-based, mental health program for Hmong children in the U.S.

“But I had never done anything like this before,” Her said. “I prayed and fasted all year. After I got permission, I put together a steering committee of local Southern Baptist Hmong pastors and church members to plan these events to praise, honor and worship God, and to send a message of hope to the Hmong community.”

She invited other evangelical Hmong churches to collaborate in the program, which included local church groups providing Hmong and English-language songs, with preaching done by Southern Baptist pastors: Pastor Vameng Pha from One In Christ Hmong Baptist Church in Hudson, Wis.; and Pastor Tswvfwj Muasnumtuam from Cornerstone Hmong Baptist Church in Oakdale, Minn. 

An internationally known and popular Hmong vocalist, KB Xiong, who lives in Georgia, also performed during the prime time — midday — services.

“I had so much joy over it,” Her said. “Many times our churches are so siloed we don’t even know how to worship God together. Several people came up to me and said thank you for hosting this worship session, and many people who didn’t know God would come and listen.”

There’s more. 

In addition to the two services, five Hmong evangelical churches had their own display areas, including one by the several local Southern Baptist Hmong churches in metro St. Paul, which stretches to nearby Hudson, Wis. That booth focused on evangelism and prayer.

As a result, volunteers for the Hmong Baptist National Association helped lead 60 people — kids and adults — to come to faith in Jesus and to profess what Jesus did for them. And 302 youngsters heard the gospel.

Gideons International donated 2,100 pocket-sized New Testaments in English that about 60 volunteers — including Southern Baptists from Texas, Wisconsin and North Carolina — helped distribute. The Minnesota Wisconsin Baptist Convention gave 55 full Bibles in English, which were passed on to those who made professions of faith.

Hundreds of people requested prayer.

“We had a lot of children come to ask for prayers for themselves and their parents, who they said are struggling,” Her said. “Adults were asking for prayers for physical, mental and spiritual health as they deal with life. We also dedicated time on an open mic for anyone who wanted to sing songs of praise and worship at our display booth.”

The Hmong International Freedom Festival’s executive director has already expressed interest in a repeat event next year, Her said. The two women are to meet again for lunch in August to discuss the future of a concerted evangelical presence at the Hmong Freedom Festival.

“We had more than 57,000 people attend, 20,000 more than last year,” Her said. “We were basically praising God amongst all those people. We had 60 people volunteer to help, with five Baptist, two Christian Missionary Alliance and two Assembly of God churches participat[ing], and everybody who was involved was very thankful. It was [a] very powerful experience for them.”

(EDITOR’s NOTE — Karen L. Willoughby is a national correspondent for Baptist Press.)