The Saturday evening carnival-like atmosphere brought attention to the young church sitting just off the four-lane highway in Jamestown, N.C.
Hundreds of people from the community stopped by to participate in the block party at Life Community Church (LCC), and at least 10 left with their lives changed.
“Harvesting lost souls is one purpose of the block party,” said Jesse Wilson, pastor of discipleship at LCC. “The other is to help people have a positive experience on a church property.”
And that they did, as did thousands of people across the Greensboro, N.C., area with Crossover Triad, held the weekend prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting June 13–14.
About 2,000 Crossover volunteers used an international festival, biker rally, rodeo, block parties, puppet shows and even sweet potatoes to get a hearing for the gospel.
By the weekend’s conclusion, Mark Gray, church planting director for North Carolina Baptists, predicted the goal of starting 19 churches would be met or exceeded.
At LCC, the event offered face painting, live music and inflatable moon walks, as well as a hot air balloon ride for winners of the hourly drawing.
Amid the squeals of laughter and temptations of sno-cones and cotton candy were Southern Baptists from across the nation mingling and sharing their faith when the opportunity arose.
“They started out at 8:30 this morning,” said Dean Mattern, pastor of outreach for LCC. More than 250 volunteers went out in groups of three or four to canvas the surrounding community. They invited everyone they saw to the block party, while also conducting a survey about what makes life stressful and how the church can make a difference.
Chris Murdock, pastor of Allen Memorial Baptist Church, Fort Payne, in DeKalb Baptist Association, was one of the volunteers.
“We saw one woman saved during our visits,” he said. “It was really great. She had tears running down her face.”
The team of volunteers from Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, in Madison Baptist Association, stepped up to front and center as they led five block parties in the triad area.
“It was fabulous,” said Beverly Dishman, administrative assistant to Minister of Missions John Crocker at Whitesburg. “We had 20 recorded salvation decisions at the five block parties and one street venue that we had.
“One lady came and accepted Christ on Saturday and was baptized on Sunday,” Dishman said.
“That’s the one that everyone keeps talking about.”
Six students from the Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) of Troy University, Jacksonville State University and the University of Alabama also participated in the event.
Some students went into downtown Greensboro, N.C., while others went to the University of North Carolina in Greensboro to do street promotion of a concert featuring the group Urban Sophisticates at Central Community Church, in inner city Greensboro.
“The purpose of the event was to introduce people to the church,” said Scotty Goldman, an associate in the office of collegiate and student ministries with the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.
Three Crossover events highlighted significant ministry directions for North Carolina Baptists—bikers, cowboys and internationals. Some of the 160 missionary church planters who work with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina are pushing to get new Baptist churches organized among each of the three groups.
On Friday, scores of Baptists sat or knelt around a whopping 44,000-pound mountain of sweet potatoes in a Winston-Salem parking lot as they bagged the potatoes for delivery later to people as a helping ministry. (Editors’ Network contributed)
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