This summer Southern Seminary students will have the opportunity to participate in an event that could change eternity for hundreds of people.
On June 20, the Saturday before Southern Baptists convene their annual meeting in Louisville, thousands of believers will participate in an evangelistic effort designed to blanket the city with Gospel witness. Known as Crossover, the event is held annually in the host city of the SBC annual meeting.
Charles Barnes, the coordinator of Crossover Louisville and a member of Hurstbourne Baptist Church, said Southern Baptists are depending on Southern students to participate in the effort.
“We need all the help we can get from students at
Southern and Boyce,” Barnes said. “And there’s plenty of opportunities.”
Crossover involves the efforts of several teams sharing the Gospel in different ways, and students can plug into any of the teams. Among the evangelistic opportunities:
— Door-to-door teams will take surveys in designated neighborhoods and share the Gospel as they have opportunity.
— Intentional Community Evangelism teams, coordinated by the SBC’s North American Mission Board, will work the week prior to the annual meeting to spread the message of Jesus in four strategic neighborhoods.
— More than 20 block parties will offer Louisville residents opportunities for family fun and hearing a Gospel witness.
— Follow-up teams will work with those who commit their lives to Christ, getting them plugged into local churches and discipled.
— An international festival will target all of Louisville’s ethnic populations while a second festival will focus on Hispanics, the largest ethnic group in the city.
— A church planting team has been working for a year and hopes six to eight new congregations will emerge from its efforts.
— A prayer team will provide spiritual support for all the other efforts.
— Kindness explosion teams will perform acts of service as an entrée to the Gospel in five locations. The primary kindness ministry will be distributing bottles of water with the plan of salvation printed on them.
— The Kentucky Builders, a team of trained craftsmen, will team with the New Dimensions Housing Corporation to erect a learning center for Louisville children in a low-income, inner city neighborhood. The center will provide after-school educational opportunities.
–Groups of teenagers known as Crossover Changers will perform repairs on at least 20 homes.
“Just what the Lord will do we really don’t know, but we think it’s going to be significant,” Barnes said. “Everything is directed toward sharing Jesus and having a lasting impact in that way.”
Anyone wishing to participate in Crossover should call the Crossover office at 502-635-2601 or Barnes at 502-523-1675.