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Spread
the Word. That’s simply what she does — and has done for
40 years. Dorothy Hilton, who will soon be 92, spread
Bible-related materials wherever she could after making
her first audio recording on a seven-inch reel of tape
in 1969.
Some of the Bible teaching tapes, sent around the world,
became a perpetual-motion generator for her ministry. “I
would just pick up the phone and it would be England,
someone saying, ‘I found a reel tape in the attic, and
it’s fascinating. Do you have more?’”
Hilton primarily published the lessons taught at Lubbock
Bible Church by the Rev. Charles Clough in the 1970s,
under her ministry of Alpha Omega Tapes. There were
1,550 of the lessons, and she had the entire collection.
For the past 17 years, though, she has become a part of
the correspondence work done by the Lubbock-based Exodus
Prison Ministry, which sends its study books to
thousands of inmates.
She sometimes needs a walker to move to the copy machine
after suffering a fall three years ago, but that doesn’t
seem to limit her portion of the work in producing
55,000 books a year. The volunteers who staff Exodus get
no pay for publishing the Bible lessons, but no one
complains, least of all Hilton: “It means putting out
God’s word, and what a privilege. How much greater
privilege could you have than to share his word?”
She said her philosophy is based on the Bible, and
recommends it to others. “It’s really sad to be an
atheist and not have a hope,” she said. Carla Hilton
remembers watching her mother’s ministry while growing
up. “She lives for sharing Christ with whoever will hear
— that’s been her whole goal in life.
She added, “Another of her passions is Israel. She knows
that history circles around Israel, and that it will
culminate with what God is going to do with Israel.”
Joyce Hargis, director of Exodus, said Dorothy is the
most evangelistic person she has ever met. “She keeps us
busy. When Dorothy gets to heaven, they will no longer
call it a ‘land of rest,’ because she will put everyone
to work.”
Carla remembers that other work involved Child
Evangelism and teaching Sunday School. “But after the
tape ministry was established, she would spend hours and
hours counseling people in the tape shop when she wasn’t
running tapes. She would counsel people who were down
and out or discouraged, or were just wanting to know
about Christ.”
Dorothy thinks the prison ministry is proving effective.
“We get notes that tell us that it’s changed their
lives,” she said. “They always wind up, ‘Pray for my
family.’ They also want their family won to Christ.” She
sums up her faith this way: “It means eternal life. It
means the only hope that anyone has — to hope for
heaven, and to honor and glorify the Lord while you are
here.”
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