By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (LBM) – A variety of evangelistic efforts preceding the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting produced saving knowledge of Jesus in 1,077 new believers.
According to the North American Mission Board, 554 churches participated in Crossover in Orlando, which took place June 5-7 in the city. The events had 3,940 volunteers who shared the Gospel with 19,905 people.
Throughout the weekend, efforts included sports tournaments, prison outreaches, student rallies, block parties, door-to-door witnessing, compassion projects and more evangelistic events.
Seventy students and professors from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (and Leavell College, its undergraduate college), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (and its undergraduate college, Judson College), and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (and its undergraduate college, Texas College) participated in evangelism classes each morning and in the afternoon shared the Gospel door-to-door around the city.
NOBTS and Leavell College had 17 students and evangelism professors Preston Nix and Jeff Farmer. By the end of the week, NOBTS team knocked on 1,366 doors and had 161 Gospel conversations that resulted in 28 decisions to follow Christ.
“For me as an evangelism professor, it is a thrill because our students are applying what they have been taught and some have either never led someone to Christ or not done it in a long time,” NOBTS Professor of Evangelism and Evangelistic Preaching Preston Nix told the Baptist Message. “They catch it and want to take it back to their churches.”
Among the most memorable moments for Nix was when a NOBTS team led six people to Christ as they were making their way from their “drop off” spot to the neighborhood where they were assigned to visit door to door.
“The students kept sharing with people and seeing a number of those people accept Christ,” Nix said. “I tell students to be aware of people around them who are outside when they are doing door to door evangelism. What a joy it was to see our students apply what they learned from my class and having some of them overcome their fear of sharing the Gospel. They are answers to my prayers because they are laborers for the harvest.”
For his part, Congressional Pastor Mike Mitchell and seven other members of New Life Church, DeRidder, on June 6 helped canvass a neighborhood of 1,000 homes in Alturas where Calvary Baptist Church, Winter Haven, is planting a church that is expected to launch within a year. The following day they served at a block party and Mitchell preached a message at Calvary Baptist’s main campus.
Mitchell enjoyed serving with members of Calvary Baptist’s Winter Haven campus, where his brother, Shane, serves as pastor.
“From a personal note, being able to see my brother have a successful event and be able to bless and support him in a time when there is so much work going on was a lot of fun,” he said. “This local church that was overwhelmed three years ago is now excited about reaching this massive group of people moving into an area that is rapidly growing.”
