As a primary partner in the launch of the North American Mission Board’s (NAMB) Send Relief initiative, a metro St. Louis church reintroduced itself June 11 to a couple thousand of its neighbors on a day that coincided with the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting evangelism effort, Crossover St. Louis.
“One of our primary goals was to tell the community, ‘We are here for you,’” said Joe Costephens, pastor of First Baptist Church, Ferguson, Missouri. “We wanted to show that we care and want to serve our local neighborhood. To see this day, with the launch of Send Relief … with volunteers from churches from Kentucky, Tennessee, Florida, Texas and Missouri — it was incredible.”
The day included the public launch of Send Relief’s mobile medical and dental clinics, a block party hosted at the church and another debut event, the Home Fire Campaign, an initiative with the American Red Cross and the Ferguson Fire Department to install smoke detectors in homes.
Preliminary numbers were still being reported at press time, but at least 200 gospel presentations were made that day with at least 20 professions of faith in Christ from reports of the more than 250 volunteers.
‘Cooperative nature’
David Melber, vice president for Send Relief, said, “I am incredibly thankful and humbled by what we experienced today. … The cooperative nature of the SBC and spirit of the volunteers to meet physical needs and help share the gospel brought true hope to the community.”
Meanwhile volunteers reported more than 556 professions of faith during Crossover events throughout metro St. Louis.
One man who made a decision for Christ had been considering suicide just a few days earlier, according to Eloy Rodriquez, a longtime Crossover volunteer, who serves as Hispanic pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church, Lutz, Florida.
Rodriquez said his team knocked on the door of the man’s house and asked if they could pray with him. As they were preparing to pray, the man opened up about his struggles.
“Last Sunday he closed his eyes while driving,” said Rodriquez. “He was willing to have whatever happen to him — suicide basically. Then he opened his eyes, he was in the other lane, but there was no one else there. He pulled over and just cried … because he realized he could have killed someone else.”
Rodriquez then prayed with the man to receive Christ.
That was 1 of more than 50 gospel conversations that took place through Sterling Baptist Church, Fairview Heights, Illinois, during the week leading up to its June 11 outreach efforts. Sterling Baptist also hosted a block party, a zip line and a soccer tournament.
(BP)
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