Richard Weeks, a pastor from North Carolina, said it was the first time he had been with the group - but not likely the last. One group of about 25 volunteers got an early start June 11 with a four-day Inner City Evangelism (ICE) conference in Mesa, where street evangelism efforts resulted in 247 professions of faith. This year churches in other parts of the state will sponsor events June 21 in partnership with participating Phoenix-area churches. So I think it’s going to be as good for us as Strategic Focus Cities” (a major metro-wide outreach effort in 2000).Ī Crossover emphasis is held each year on the weekend before the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting. “Brown Road Baptist Church had their first block party, and they had 25 professions of faith. “We’re excited,” said Jerry Martin, coordinator of Crossover Arizona and director of missions for Valley Rim Baptist Association. While the focus was not necessarily on immediate results in many of the events, early reports indicate hundreds of new believers in Christ soon will receive follow-up visits from local churches on how they can grow in their faith.
The “living water” analogy also was part of an evangelistic television advertising campaign airing in Phoenix June 12-20. So we felt pretty good about it,” Besson said of the bottled water outreach. “It’s mainly a way of building bridges to the community, but also out of it we had a couple of opportunities to share. Other volunteers shared Christ door-to-door as opportunities arose during spiritual opinion surveys, or they simply walked through neighborhoods praying for the individuals who live there.
CORNERSTONE BIBLE FELLOWSHIP CHURCH BLOCK PARTY FREE
Various “compassion in action” events touched skate parks, a shopping mall and other venues, while block parties offered free food and fun in neighborhoods throughout the region. The water giveaway was one of 62 separate events scheduled for a June 11-22 Crossover evangelism effort involving 42 Arizona churches. Each bottle was marked with the church’s name and the text of John 4:14, in which Christ promises, “Whoever drinks the water I give will never thirst again.” Volunteers bestowed such blessings on more than 300 hikers. “Has this bottle been blessed?” quipped one hiker as she grabbed a bottle. “Would you like some water? It’s free, and it’s cold - I promise you,” said Clyde Besson, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church in Phoenix, as hikers came off nearby Camelback Mountain early June 14.
So when several thousand Southern Baptists shared the Living Water of Jesus Christ as part of Crossover Arizona, it made perfect sense to douse their message with the conventional hydrating variety. PHOENIX (BP)–Water is a big issue in the Valley of the Sun, an area known for its dry, hot climate.
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