Crossover reaches diverse North Carolina Triad

Photo by Eva Wolever

Milton Hollifield (l) and Bobby Welch (c) speak with a visitor.

GREENSBORO, N.C. (BP/FBW)—Whether the person was a kid in tennis shoes, a motorcycle rider in leather, a cowboy in boots and jeans or a Native American in traditional headdress, the message of Crossover Triad 2006 was clear: Jesus Christ.

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Door-to-door visits and prayerwalking in the tri-city area of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point, took place simultaneously with a motorcycle rally and ride, a cowboy rodeo, an international fair, sports clinics and a series of evangelistic block parties. More than a thousand Southern Baptists took part in Crossover Triad which preceded the Southern Baptist Convention’s annual June 13-14 annual meeting at the Greensboro Coliseum.

Ninety-eight churches took an active part in hosting the events sponsored jointly by the North American Mission Board, the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina and the 200 SBC churches of the Piedmont, Pilot Mountain and Central Triad Baptist associations.

Early reports indicate at least 500 decisions for Christ were reported by Intentional Community Evangelism (ICE) teams who shared their faith in Greensboro in the week proceeding Crossover and another nearly 300 salvation decisions were reported at 30 or so Crossover events, with additional numbers still coming in.

Door-to-Door

Photo by Eva Wolever

Steve Clemons (l) listens as Rusty Gibbs (center) and Spencer Clemons invite a Greensboro man to church while walking door-to-door in the neighborhood. The group was part of a team from Lake Talquin Baptist Church in Tallahassee.

Spencer Clemons, a 15-year-old from Lake Talquin Baptist Church in Tallahassee, traveled 12 hours by van with his father, Steve, pastor Milton Harrington and two other men from the church, Rusty Gibbs and Bill Ludlow, to participate in Crossover with dozens of volunteers from Cornerstone Baptist Church in Greensboro.

The group trudged up and down hills June 10 in a neighborhood of large colonial homes surrounded by trees. Gibbs occasionally patted Spencer on the shoulder.

“I got a lot of experience talking to people,” said Spencer, who was participating in his second door-to-door outreach. “I’m not afraid to talk in front of people any more.”

Spencer’s father, Steve, said he thought Crossover would be a good chance for the teen to become more comfortable sharing the Gospel with strangers.

“After the second or third house we went to … [Spencer] said, ‘I’m doing this,’” Steve said. “From there he was on. He did a lot of door knocking after that. It was very uplifting to see him do this.”

The group said they spoke with many who said they are Christians but also two Muslim women and a man who claimed to be an agnostic. “We were really able to get some good contacts for [Cornerstone] to follow up on,” Harrington said.

The Tallahassee group also assisted Life Community Church in Greensboro with a block party later that afternoon. Nearly 1,000 people attended the party, which included a rock-climbing wall, hot-air balloon ride and several inflatables. Children of all ages ran around the grounds as people shared the Gospel on a stage and inner city evangelism teams mingled in the crowd.

Harrington said the party drew a young man, his wife, and three young children. The man claimed to be a Christian, Harrington said, but had not attended church in years. Harrington said he was able to introduce the family to an associate pastor and hopes the family will get connected with the church.

“Block parties are very important to really soften families up for future contact and for future ministry to them,” Harrington said.

Photo by Eva Wolever

Barrett and Connie Lampp, from Thomasville Road Baptist Church in Tallahassee, drove nearly 12 hours non-stop to get to Crossover.

Barrett Lampp, 73, and his wife, Connie, of Thomasville Road Baptist Church in Tallahassee, drove 12 hours to Crossover, stopping once for 30 minutes, Connie said. After arriving at midnight and only a few hours sleep, the couple joined one of more than a hundred teams which spread out over the community in Life Community’s outreach.

“He’s very committed to Crossover,” Connie said of her husband, adding that they have participated in all but one Crossover since the emphasis began in 1989. She herself underwent surgery to implant a heart pacemaker three weeks earlier.

Christian Motorcyclists

Photo by Eva Wolever

Bill Brothers (left) and John Tinsley from Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka prepare to end Bike Day during Crossover Triad in Greensboro, N.C., June 10.

“When you’re ministering to bikers, it’s different from other segments of the population,” said Mike Young, coordinator for the Carolina Faith Riders, a group of 350 Christian motorcyclists. “If you’re a Christian, they want to make sure your walk matches your talk, or they won’t have anything to do with you.”

More than 200 bikers — some Christians but most not — drove into a parking lot near Greensboro’s Koury Convention Center to sign up for the ride benefiting Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina, to hear live Christian music and testimonies and to enjoy some good food.

And not all the bikers on hand were from North Carolina. Bill and Kathy Brothers rode 14 hours from Palatka, a town 55 miles south of Jacksonville.

“We try to go to a major Christian motorcycle event each year,” said Brothers, assistant director of the Peniel Baptist Church Motorcycle Ministry. How do he and wife Kathy witness to fellow bikers?

“It’s an individual, one-on-one thing. We look for the opportunity, plant the seed and let the Lord go from there. It’s an opportunity to enable people who are not affiliated with a church — and most bikers aren’t — to hear the Gospel. It’s a way to use this toy [his motorcycle] as a tool for Christ.”

During the benefit ride, bikers stopped at Harley-Davidson shops along the way. Benny Reynolds, pastor of Peniel Baptist Church in Palatka, said at each stop they tried to share something about Christ with the people there.

During the bike ride, Reynold’s wife, Cara, said she was able to witness to a stunt rider. After she shared the Gospel message with the man, he asked to keep a tract. Cara said she plans to follow up with him when she returns to Florida.

“Some really personal witnessing went on,” Benny Reynolds said. “We don’t see the results, but we’re planting seeds that may bring results.”

Four girls from the Baptist Children’s Homes of North Carolina attended, getting rides from the bikers and stunt team and enjoying the attention.

“I love motorcycles,” 16-year-old Amber shouted.

“It was awesome,” 13-year-old Vicky added.

Brenda Gray, executive vice president of development and communications for the Homes, said the day was a wonderful experience for the girls, all of whom have accepted Christ.

“These kids’ lives have been changed because other people care about them,” Gray said. “The [biker] group has just embraced them.”

Bobby Welch, president of the Southern Baptist Convention and co-pastor of First Baptist Church in Daytona Beach, also attended the event, sharing a brief message to the bikers emphasizing the need for Jesus in their lives in order to change their lives.

To those who claim to be Christians, but whose lives haven’t changed, Welch issued a challenge:

“If you ain’t had a life change, you need to rethink whatever you did,” Welch said. “Your life has gotta change when Jesus comes in.”

Welch prayed, urging the bikers who had not surrendered to God to do so.

Photo by Eva Wolever

David Burton, evangelism director for the Florida Baptist Convention, chats with a Christian stunt rider in Greensboro during Crossover.

“Don’t ever be ashamed to stand for the Lord,” Welch told the bikers. “The big and baddest guy on the block is the guy that’ll stand up for Jesus.”

Cowboy Stampede

About 15 miles south of Greensboro, it was horses — not Harleys—that were the feature attraction.

“Cowboy Stampede” was the idea of Cowboy preacher Jeff Smith, a North American Mission Board national missionary who used a rodeo to spread the Word to about 750 people in a livestock arena in Archdale, N.C.

Despite the heat in the arena, it was hard to tell which rodeo feature the crowd liked more — the bull riding, barrel racing, pole bending, mounted shooters or the “Harvest Cowboy Band” bluegrass group who performed between events.

In all, it took two dozen rodeo performers and 50 volunteers to put on the rodeo, sponsored by NAMB, North Carolina convention and the Cowboy Church Network of North America.

“It was a block party for cowboys,” said Smith, who after the rodeo’s dust and gunsmoke had cleared, preached a 20-minute sermon from the middle of the arena. After his message — describing Jesus as the ultimate “trail boss” — Smith asked the crowd to make decisions for Christ. Dozens of hands went up, Smith later reported.

Carrying on the “cowboy” theme, Bobby Truitt drove two hours from Vale, N.C., to bring his new “horseshoe” ministry to Crossover in Archdale. Truitt and his team stamped John 3:16 on horseshoes — along with the person’s name — and gave them out free. They handed out some 1,400 of the horseshoes.

Smith, who said he personally has planted 25 cowboy churches, described his congregations as 25 percent cowboys, 50 percent “country” people and 25 percent city-slickers.

International Festival

BP photo by David Lema

Children careen around inside an inflatable at an International Festival June 10. The multicultural event was part of Crossover Triad, a series of weekend evangelism activities conducted June 9-10 in the tri-city area of Greensboro, Winston-Salem and High Point in North Carolina

The largest Crossover event was the International Fair at Greensboro’s Ben L. Smith High School. By mid-Saturday afternoon, a few thousand people had come to sample the cuisine of 14 different countries, including China, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, India, Mexico, Laos, Cambodia, as well as Native Americans.

Each ethnic group had a booth highlighting their culture and colorful dress. As the aroma of the ethnic food filled the gym, children of the participating countries sang familiar Christian hymns in their native languages. And 200 Crossover volunteers — many from local ethnic churches — shared the Gospel.

“We hope that if we get 3,000 registration cards, we can turn that into a prospect list for local ethnic churches,” said Jason Kim, a NAMB evangelism associate. Kim said their ultimate goal is to plant nine new churches in primarily ethnic areas of Greensboro.

North Carolina’s “Piedmont Triad” area includes about 1.5 million people in Greensboro, Winston-Salem, High Point and surrounding areas. A Crossover 2006 goal is to plant 19 new churches in the region.

“We invested heavily in resources to help our churches take advantage of this volunteer power,” said Milton Hollifield, executive director of the North Carolina convention. “The Saturday events exceeded our greatest anticipation. As thrilled as I am with the saturation presence of Christian witness in this area today, I’m even more excited about the changed lives that will result from new congregations forming and affecting their communities.”