Carpenter says cross ministry critical

JACKSONVILLE (FBW)—To say that he carries his cross is an understatement. The fact is he dangles several small, wooden “mirror” crosses over his walker, distributing them—along with a hearty smile and the Good News—to all who are fortunate enough to cross paths with him.

Woodrow Connors, 92, a deacon at North Jacksonville Baptist Church for 60 years, has made more than 20,000 of these reminders of Christ to give away. He said people tend to be astonished that their gift, often accompanied by a gospel tract, comes without a price.

“The Gospel is free,” he told the Florida Baptist Witness. “Jesus didn’t charge anything. How can I?”

The crosses open doors to ministering, Connors said. For instance, kids and parents encouraged by his donation of crosses draped them on beds at a children’s hospital once.

“Wherever I go, I carry a sack,” said Connors, who is also fond of leaving crosses at restaurants and hotels.

Connors said he was introduced to the idea of making crosses by the late Dan Crawford, a member of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Jacksonville, during a meeting of the “Jax Woodworkers Club,” to which Connors had invited his friend. Connors, a founding member of the club, drew the blueprint for Crawford’s idea.

Years of friendship and cross making ensued.

A batch of 300 crosses initially was assembled and then distributed by a retreat group in Jerusalem. Before losing his bout with leukemia, Crawford left 6,000 to 7,000 crosses to the world.

Connors had to quit making the crosses when he sold his home, along with his woodshop. Fellow members of his church have now chipped in to manufacture the crosses assembly-line style to ensure Connor and Crawford’s vision lives on.

 Ed Claxton and families who live in Callahan and Yulee, according to Connors, deserve the credit for keeping the ministry going. North Jacksonville Baptist member Howard Wilson paints the crosses with urethane, Hardie and Lyla Thomas affix the heart-shaped beads, and cabinet-maker Ken Spaulding furnishes the wood.

Frank Nessler, a deacon at the church, orders 2,000 crosses at a time while another long-time deacon, Wesley Moseley who is affiliated with Amazing Grace Ministries, sends crosses, literature and clothes oversees to India, South America, the Philippines, and other far away destinations.

The church, Connors said, has given several thousands of the crosses to Franklin Graham, who has used them in evangelistic efforts to Asia. Karl Russell, a member of Southside Assembly of God, Jacksonville, has taken crosses to the Ukraine and Romania.

Before he meets Jesus, Connors said he intends to create other cross-making hubs around the country to carry on the mission. His vision includes sending crosses and blueprints to Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis, Tenn. (where Southern Baptist Convention Adrian Rogers recently retired) and Charles Stanley’s First Baptist Church of Atlanta. Florida Baptist churches that Connors has tried to recruit include Idlewild Baptist Church in Tampa.

Building bridges to a variety of other cultures is another one of Connors’ cross-making goals. He said he would like churches of all cultures and ethnicities to begin woodworking clubs.

Commemorating Connors’ memories is a scrapbook of thank you letters, family photos, and pictures of his woodworkings.

Besides replica crosses, his constructions include toolboxes, stools, coffee tables, and clocks. Building has been in his family for three generations.

“I love to make things,” said Connors, a retired contractor who built Sunday School and church buildings across the country with his brother.

Connors said he accepted Christ when he was 12 years old at the former Woodstock Park Baptist Church in Jacksonville. The same preacher who baptized him, married him to his wife, Miriam, over a decade later. They have been married for 68 years.

“I gave the minister $5,” Connors said, calling it the best investment he ever made.

Connors and his wife, whom he called “a real gem,” have two sons and a daughter. Their eldest son, Tracy, is a retired Navy captain who resides in Gainesville; David is a controller at a company in Jacksonville; and Eva works for the school board in Jacksonville.

“They all grew up in a Baptist church,” Connors said.

Passing on words of wisdom, Connors pointed to a tapestry on his wall, which depicts Jesus with some sheep. Connors said the sheep, which resembles humans all too well, is “the most stupid animal in the animal kingdom” and is obviously in need of shepherding.

His crosses are good for guidance, too. If people hang them on their rearview mirrors, he said, and they do not stay upright, they are probably driving “too fast.”

For a copy of the “mirror” cross blueprint, send a large, self-addressed, stamped envelope to Woodrow D. Connors, 2020 Park St., Apt. 1008, Jacksonville, FL 32204. For information on procuring the crosses, please contact North Jacksonville Baptist Church at 904-757-3000.