Crossover events prior to the Alabama Baptist State Convention annual meeting in Huntsville had a different focus this year.
Due to the more than 2,000 hurricane evacuees residing in the city and continued disaster relief trips to the Gulf Coast, area resources were stretched thin, said Rob Peavy, church and community development director for Madison Baptist Association.
“We have sent several teams south to work with hurricane relief, and we remodeled an old hotel to house people here. Right now, 60 families are living there,” Peavy explained.
Madison Association churches also took part in hosting the missionary appointees coming to Huntsville for the International Mission Board appointment service Nov. 15 (see stories, pages 1 and 13).
But despite the smaller number of churches and people able to host Crossover activities, a variety of events including fall festivals, door-to-door evangelism and block parties were held beginning in August as part of the effort. Nearly 700 decisions for Christ were made during the Crossover events.
Fellowship of Faith Baptist Church, Madison Association’s newest church, hosted a block party Nov. 12 — the final 2005 Crossover event, which drew 150 visitors. Block party leaders saw 29 decisions for Christ during the day.
Block parties were held throughout the Huntsville area during the months leading up to the state convention annual meeting.
Alabama’s block party guru Dick Thomassian of Whitesburg Baptist Church, Huntsville, in Madison Association, was on hand at Fellowship of Faith Baptist with his internationally known block party team.
Community members driving by were attracted to the activity happening at Fellowship of Faith. Cars slowed down as they passed. Some stopped and joined others already lined up at long tables filled with food or took seats and listened raptly to music, skits and puppet shows, punctuated by short presentations of the gospel.
“I thought this block party was extremely well done,” said Sammy Gilbreath, director of the office of evangelism for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions. “Dick Thomassian and Whitesburg do the best block parties of anyone I know. I have had them with me all over the world.”
Crossover is an important part of the annual state convention, Gilbreath said. “Crossover is an attempt to let us make an impact in the city where the convention is held,” he said. “It is planned and carried out by the local associations. As we move around the state, we get to work with different churches, helping them evangelize their communities.”
Troy Garner, pastor of Fellowship of Faith, said the 200 members of the 2-year-old church were excited to host the event.
Enthusiastic response
“We are tremendously blessed,” Garner said. “We thank God for Whitesburg partnering with us for the block party.”
Gilbreath said a Crossover event like the block party is especially valuable for young congregations like Fellowship of Faith.
“It’s a great shot in the arm for new churches,” he said. “The entire prospect list is turned over to the church for follow-up.”
Garner said the registration cards would be processed quickly. “We will follow up with all of them, beginning tonight,” he said. “We expect about half of the people who made decisions to attend our church.”
Because of the enthusiastic response of the people who attended, Garner plans to do another block party soon, possibly making it an annual event for the community. Most said they had never attended an event like this before.
Garner noted that part of the success was due to help from college students.
Students from Baptist Campus Ministries (BCM) at Alabama A&M University, the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) visited area neighborhoods and parking lots of nearby stores handing out fliers and inviting people to the event, Garner said.
Student Anthony Weaver reported a positive response from the people he approached.
Weaver, a member of Alabama A&M’s BCM, said, “I just want to see people recognizing that Jesus is Lord of Lords and King of Kings.”
Lisa Powers, outreach coordinator for Whitesburg, brought boxes of New Testaments for the 20-plus counselors to hand out to all who made decisions following Thomassian’s presentations of the gospel.
“We never know how many people to expect,” Powers said. “We just pray and see what God will do. We would do it even if only one person came.”
The kickoff Crossover event held in August brought the largest number of decisions from a single event.
“We had ‘Safe at Home’ inHuntsvilleat Joe Davis Stadium the day before school started,” Peavy said, noting that 11,500 people came and 474 made decisions for Christ.
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