Pastor Dan Hall shares his testimony during Convocation

Dan Hall led a charmed life, starting a normal day by getting up early, going to the gym and attending work meetings all by 8 a.m. However, in a split second, he became fully dependent on other people, and his “charmed life” radically changed forever. 

Hall, the pastor of Livingston Fellowship Church in Flora, Mississippi, spoke at the Oct. 21 Convocation, sharing his testimony of experiencing a pulmonary embolism that caused him to fall into a wall. The experience led him to become a quadriplegic. 

Hall started his message to Liberty students with a Scripture from Matthew 9:37-38: “Then he said to his disciples, the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” 

“Did you know that those of us in wheelchairs are the smallest minority in the disability community?” Hall said, “I am the smallest percentage … I’m just right at 2% of the population of the disability community … If you have a church of 100 people, there ought to be two wheelchairs in it. And in a church of 1,000, there ought to be 20 wheelchairs represented in it … That’s my community, and it’s the smallest.” 

Hall referenced the parable in Luke 14:21: “Then the master of the house became angry and said to his servant, ‘Go out quickly to the streets and lanes of the city and bring in the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’” 

Hall urged Liberty students to reach out to what he described as
“the largest unreached people group,” helping those within this group.

 “I’ve always prayed that God would let me touch the untouched,” Hall said. “And here’s the blessing. It is my privilege as a pastor that I’ve planted churches around the world. We have fed thousands and thousands … I’ve had the privilege of seeing the world, and yet right here in my own country, there is a great outreach.” 

Following his call to action, Hall gave some practical steps for students who feel called in their hearts to reach out to
his community. 

The list of steps included for students to assess their churches, engage in local organizations and visit www.joniandfriends.org. Joni and Friends is an organization whose mission, according to the official website, is to “present the hope of the gospel to people affected by disability through programs and outreaches around the world.”

Hall also provided his email address and encouraged students to write to him. 

“There is no greater picture of the gospel than the church to reach me and my community. We don’t have a whole lot we could give back, but you could change the trajectory of eternity,” Hall said. 

Freshman John Irwin said that he enjoyed Hall’s Convocation message and thought it was important for Liberty students to hear from him.  

“I found Convo to be interesting because as he said, it’s not something that people usually talk about,” Irwin said. “The community that he is a part of is often looked over, and I just thought it was really important for Liberty students to hear about.” 

Scott is a news reporter for the Liberty Champion