Don’t say small churches can’t do big things.”
Olber Roblero, associate pastor of South San Filadelfia Baptist Church, San Antonio, saw it happen for his small church when Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, helped with a block party during Crossover San Antonio June 9.
The block party, held at a local park, attracted several hundred people with hot dogs, a live band, face painting and entertainment provided by Whitesburg and other Baptist churches. Several accepted Christ during Whitesburg’s presentation, and others became familiar with local churches.
“This has been a great victory,” Roblero said. “Everything is possible with God. We have been praying for this for three months.”
His church is a mission church of Victoria en Cristo Baptist Church. Victoria en Cristo Baptist’s congregation has about 20 older Hispanic members and was another block party site for Whitesburg’s team.
Jaime Masso, pastor of Victoria en Cristo, said the block party there was also successful.
“We tried [having a block party] before and only three people came,” Masso said. “We couldn’t do this without the [Baptists who helped].”
Masso’s and Roblero’s churches were two of four Baptist churches in San Antonio that Whitesburg helped with block parties that day. Whitesburg followed up with a children’s service at South San Filadelfia Baptist the next morning.
“[Crossover has] been incredible,” said Sarah Buffaloe, 17, a Whitesburg member. “What I’ve seen today is that everywhere we go, God goes before us. To not have enough sleep and to be running on prayer and faith, we see how much we rely on Him.”
The Whitesburg team grew as a result, as did the churches it helped, said John Crocker, minister of missions at Whitesburg. “There were 50 decisions for Christ at our sites during Crossover — to God be the glory, to God be all the glory,” he said. “We were part of a big Crossover team effort, and God allowed us to see precious souls saved.”
Crossover, a week’s worth of outreach events held prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting, drew 6,913 people to hear the gospel at sites scattered across San Antonio. More than 950 made first-time decisions for Christ.
The last time the convention was in San Antonio — 1988 — Crossover didn’t exist. The next year, it was held for the first time. This year, the number of decisions exceeded the number in attendance in 1989.
“Crossover will be a catalyst for other things to come,” said Steve Payne, Crossover coordinator for San Antonio Baptist Association. “[It] made churches realize what they can do in the future. They can do door-to-door evangelism and block parties on their own time schedules. … The churches can say, ‘Hey, we did it once for Crossover; we can do it again on our own.’”
Payne said more than 55 San Antonio Southern Baptist churches participated in Crossover 2007.
Mount Gilead Baptist Church, Dothan, was another Alabama Baptist congregation that helped boost a San Antonio church’s local evangelistic efforts. Twenty-three members of the church — mostly youth — linked with CrossBridge Community Church to pass out 720 bottles of water and tracts at four area parks June 9.
“We love being able to be a part of something bigger than we are and to share Jesus,” said Gina Jones, a member of Mount Gilead Baptist. “We want the youth to be challenged in their faith and to grow; then go off and share Jesus.”
Jim Coskrey, student minister of Mount Gilead, said the group made 900 contacts and had the opportunity to lead one person to Christ.
“The students did a wonderful job handing out the water and talking with people. For many of them, this was their first time to approach people and share,” he said.
With a backpack full of water bottles, Rusty Thomaston, pastor of First Baptist Church, Lanett, similarly set out on the streets of San Antonio the same day with his wife, Amy, to help reach people in the neighborhoods surrounding Medical Center Baptist Church in San Antonio. In a nearby park, they ran into a family who “had just moved into town and was very open to talking,” Rusty Thomaston said.
“We were able to give them literature on the church,” he said. “[The father] said we were very nice and that they would look into the church. Who knows, that encounter might have made the difference.”
In another part of town, Allan Murphy, pastor of North Shelby Baptist Church, Birmingham, and his wife, Mary, led a young woman to the Lord.
“She was having a hard time because her parents were going through a divorce,” said Allan Murphy, who was doing door-to-door evangelism June 9 for Eisenhauer Road Baptist Church, San Antonio. “We knelt and she unhesitatingly prayed. It was a sweet, quiet experience.”
Norman and Dee Rich, members of First Baptist Church, Muscle Shoals, also helped out with efforts at Eisenhauer Road Baptist.
At Crossroads Baptist Church, San Antonio, Brad Bakane, pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church near Cullman, played to the interests of local residents with basketball. He and teenage sons Jacob and Joel held a basketball clinic at Crossroads Baptist as part of its sports clinic Vacation Bible School (VBS) kickoff June 9.
“I’m trying to get my boys involved in ministry and both love basketball so this was a perfect way to get them involved in missions work,” Bakane said. “We had a good response — many registered for VBS — and we gave out water bottles with the gospel printed on them and encouraged them to take them home and read them.” (BP contributed)
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