Super Bowl’s biggest winners not the Patriots

In one evangelistic effort, 253 salvation decisions recorded.

By Bonnie Pritchett

TEXAN Correspondent

HOUSTO–The New England Patriots took home the Super Bowl trophy Feb. 1, but the real winners were those who gave their lives to Christ because of hundreds of volunteers involved in the Super Bowl Evangelism Project. The project was a joint effort of the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, dozens of Texas churches and the North American Mission Board.

In one evangelistic effort alone there were 253 salvations recorded, project officials said.

The ICE Team (Inner City Evangelism Team) of eight people from San Antonio canvassed Houston streets in the days prior to the big game. Tourists and locals flocked downtown, the site of nightly block parties organized by the Super Bowl Host Committee of Houston and private enterprises. Looking for fun, many revelers found something much better–a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.

Game day featured “Watch Parties” in churches and homes in the Houston area, supplanting beer and car commercials with taped interviews of Christian members of the NFL’s Houston Texans. Former NFL players like Derrick Harris of the Rams and Chargers and Tyrone Smith of the 49ers testified of their experiences as professional athletes and as Christians. At least 26 salvations were reported in just three of the “Watch Parties.”

Roy Guel, volunteer coordinator for the project, said the ICE Team helped converts report their decision to accept Christ as savior. The names and addresses of the individuals will be placed in a data bank, Guel said, and sorted according to where they live. Area churches will be notified of the new believers and asked to follow up on them. LifeWay Christian Resources has also committed to sending discipleship literature to each person.

Churches also had party participants register their attendance and those individuals and families will be contacted by the church or mission center if they have no church affiliation.

Kids and families gathered at Joy Fellowship, a Baptist mission center in southeast Houston, to watch the game on a 12-foot projection screen. The center hosts Kids Clubs activities throughout the week and many of kids attending the party are regular visitors to the center. Brothers Wilber and Alejandro Amoro, ages 12 and 10, said they enjoy the playtime they get during the after-school club. They also said the Bible studies were fun.

The boys and a few dozen other kids and adults watched the game and the specially produced “Watch Party” videos. Houston Texan football players and team owner Bob McNair gave their testimonies in 120 second increments–just enough time to run during commercial breaks. During halftime, adults and children watched athletes explain the plan of salvation via video. Pastors and party organizers supplemented the message to make it personal to their audiences.

At U.P.T.O.W.N. Fellowship in southwest Houston, Derrick Harris spoke to the crowd of 100-plus following the halftime video presentation. For years he said he had been asking God to work for him–to get him on a pro team, to keep him there, and provide him with career opportunities. But once cut from the Rams–a season in which they made it to the Super Bowl–Harris said he realized the life of a Christian wasn’t about what God could do for him, but how he should be serving God.

That message was given to kids and adults who had come together for free food, the game on a projection screen TV, and good-natured competition.

U.P.T.O.W.N. Pastor Sammy Lopez said although there were no obvious decisions made during the party, the event served a good purpose. He said the party was a success in that it helped introduce visitors to the church and, he hoped, would draw them into the congregation and a relationship with Christ. The 2-year-old, multi-cultural congregation is about to outgrow its use of the chapel and will soon be meeting in the church gym, Lopez said.

One of the major goals of the Super Bowl Evangelism Project is to plant seeds and help churches learn how to reach out to their communities. One such church is Cloverleaf Baptist Church. Once a neighborhood of Anglo families living and worshipping on the outskirts of Houston, the 62-year-old church was on the verge of shutting down just months ago. The neighborhood has changed dramatically and is now primarily Hispanic and lower income. But the church stayed predominantly white. With few, if any, new members from among the new neighbors, Cloverleaf Baptist Church was dwindling in number and aging in membership.  As of last fall there were no children attending the church.

But sponsorship from Sagemont Church in Houston breathed new life into the congregation and bi-vocational Pastor Alan Hughes is very pleased with the results.  The children’s worship hour now has 18 members with eight of them making a profession of faith.

The Super Bowl project gave the church, with assistance from Sagemont, the occasion to reach out to the community.  Revivals were held Jan. 28-30.  A children’s carnival drew kids and their families from the neighborhood Jan. 31.  And a “Watch Party” underneath the big top of the carnival tent capped off the week for the members and volunteers at Cloverleaf.

Hughes said, “As a church it challenges us.”  He said it gets members involved in ways that they might not have otherwise.  “I’m excited about this because we want to give back to the community.”

On the northern reaches of Houston, the Farrington Mission Center opens its doors every Wednesday to the teens and young adult men who would otherwise be out on the streets, possibly getting into trouble, said center director and pastor of Farrington Baptist Church, Jerry Smith.

Smith said in addition to the one salvation Super Bowl night, barriers were also torn down.  During the half-time video gospel presentation, Smith said some of the young men got up from their seats and began playing around in the back of the gym.  The pastor wanted them to pay attention to the message and approached.  He told the group many people went to a lot of trouble and spent about $2,000 on the party just for them.

A few minutes later, the group returned to their seats and were much more amicable with the pastor and others for the remainder of the evening.

“I think that impressed them,” Smith said.  Realizing that strangers troubled themselves for their sake, Smith said, had an impact.  “That attitude change is going to make a big difference.”