Mark Wood’s face looked a little weathered after two days in the sun canvassing neighborhoods just north of Indianapolis.
"It’s different soil here than in Birmingham," said Wood, senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Fultondale, in Birmingham Baptist Association.
But he said it with a smile — a downpour that drenched the city and flooded other parts of the state of Indiana actually might have softened that soil a bit for volunteers from First, Fultondale, despite canceling a number of other Crossover activities planned for June 7.
After Wood’s church members passed out more than 1,000 fliers in the rain-soaked area surrounding Oak Spring Church, Westfield, Ind., about 120 showed up to partake in the block party the two churches were putting on at Oak Spring.
"We just moved the inflatables right into the sanctuary since the ground was so wet," Wood said, noting that they had face painting, hot dogs, hamburgers and carnival-type snacks available, too. "It went great; everybody on the team pitched in."
And because the event was moved inside, Robbie Roberts, pastor of Oak Spring, got to introduce people in the neighborhoods to the church and gather them in the sanctuary for the gospel presentation.
"We’re a new church — we’ve only been here about three years — so we’re trying to get the word out," Roberts said. "The block party was great. We have some prospects already."
One of those is Cara Jefferson, who lives in a nearby apartment complex with her family. "The church passed out fliers about the block party. We’ve been trying to find a new church home, and I met the pastor and he seemed really nice," Jefferson said. "I decided to bring the kids and give it a try."
Across the Indianapolis area, 2,621 people attended 17 block parties as part of Crossover.
Three groups of volunteers also did door-to-door evangelism work.
All total, 500 volunteers saw 759 professions of faith during Crossover.(TAB)
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