By Brian Blackwell, Baptist Message staff writer
ORLANDO, Fla. (LBM) – Evangelistic efforts that preceded the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting resulted in 1,077 new believers, topping 2025 Crossover Dallas, where 711 first-time salvation decisions were recorded.
It was the first time that Crossover salvation numbers exceeded a thousand since 2018, when 1,015 salvation decisions were documented (another 3,214 salvation decisions were recorded in 2018 during a related Harvest America Crusade by Greg Laurie).
CROSSOVER TALLIES
2024 – 185 (Indianapolis)
2023 – 336 (New Orleans)
2022 – 574 (Anaheim)
2021 – 176 (Nashville)
2020 – pandemic
2019 – 364 (Birmingham)
LOCAL OUTREACH
According to the North American Mission Board, 554 churches participated in 2026 Crossover Orlando, June 1-7, with 3,940 volunteers who shared the Gospel with 19,905 people. Evangelistic efforts included sports tournaments, prison outreaches, student rallies, block parties, door-to-door witnessing, compassion projects and more.
LOUISIANA PRESENCE
Seventy students and professors from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (including undergraduates with Leavell College), Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (including Judson College undergraduates), and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (including Texas College undergraduates) participated in evangelism classes each morning and in the afternoon shared the Gospel door-to-door around the city.
The NOBTS combined contingent had 17 students along with evangelism professors Preston Nix and Jeff Farmer. By the end of the week, the 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,” 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 group led six people to Christ as they were making their way from a “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, Mike Mitchell, associate pastor, New Life Church, DeRidder, worked with seven other NLCD members to help canvass 1,000 homes in Alturas, Florida, where Calvary Baptist Church, Winter Haven, Florida, is planning to launch a congregation in the next year. The following day Mitchell and his team served at a block party, and Mitchell preached to the CBCWH congregation, whose pastor is Mitchell’s brother, Shane.
“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.”
