AM24: Crossover Houston leads to salvations on eve of SBTC Annual Meeting

Crossover Houston team members pose at Sagemont after a long morning of sharing the gospel within a five-mile radius of the church on Saturday, Nov. 9. SUBMITTED PHOTO

HOUSTON—The team of four knocked at the door of a home a few streets from Sagemont Church and waited. A Hispanic woman peered cautiously outside and saw Sagemont members Y Tran, Ca Tran, and Giselle Higginbotham—accompanied on this particular Saturday morning by Tony Mathews, senior strategist for Missional Ministries at the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention.

“Sorry, Español,” the woman at the door said. Three team members glanced immediately at Higginbotham, standing at the rear and the sole Spanish speaker in the group.

“I was hiding in the back and everyone looked at me,” Higginbotham said. “I was only supposed to be praying. I am very timid. I had never shared the gospel.”

Higginbotham embraced the challenge and shared Christ in Spanish with the woman.

“I was praying about being a little more comfortable and bold about sharing the gospel with people, and I think God has a sense of humor putting me in a spot I couldn’t get out of,” Higginbotham said.

The Hispanic woman didn’t come to salvation, Higginbotham noted, but the group did offer to pray for her and extended an invitation to attend an upcoming Sagemont En Español church service. “We are hoping that God will work in her heart,” Higginbotham said.

Y Tran—a college student and Vietnamese speaker like her high school-aged sister, Ca—shared with a Vietnamese man in his own language that day, as well.

Getting ready

The quartet was one of 10 or so teams representing a dozen area churches participating in Crossover Houston on Nov. 9. The event was held in conjunction with the 2024 SBTC Annual Meeting starting Monday. The Houston initiative was patterned after Crossover events held prior to the national Southern Baptist Convention each year.

“It’s a great opportunity for us to join efforts in spreading the message of hope and redemption to folks in the Houston area,” said Mathews, adding that the SBTC worked with Ben Niscavits, Sagemont’s executive director of missions, to coordinate logistics and volunteers.

Participants met at Sagemont’s youth building Saturday morning for training in the 3 Circles method of evangelism led by Carl Bradford, Southwestern Seminary’s assistant professor of evangelism and dean of Texas Baptist College. Bradford also serves as an SBTC evangelism consultant.

Bradford described the 3 Circles as “emphasizing practical steps for starting a conversation and guiding it naturally toward the gospel.”

At the end of the training, teams equipped with the straightforward, powerful-yet-adaptable evangelistic tool headed to area locations to share Jesus with the lost.

“Ben [Niscavits] identified several potential areas for witnessing including malls, parks, and neighborhoods. He also knew places presenting opportunities to engage with Buddhists, Hispanics, Muslims, and Hindus,” Mathews said, adding that these places included at least one mosque.

Launching out

Crossover teams were composed of a mixture of males and females with as much language diversity as possible, Bradford said. In addition to 25 from Sagemont, individuals from a dozen churches registered for Crossover, Mathews said. Several SBTC staff members participated, as well.

Team members approached homes and introduced themselves, asking if there was anything they could pray with them about.

“[Prayer] becomes a segue into other conversations,” Bradford said. A prayer request about a wayward child, for example, might become a conversation about the brokenness of the world and ultimately about Jesus, the solution.

Bradford noted his Crossover team appreciated the opportunity to “go the extra step” when people said they were Christians. Spiritual conversations ensued as team members asked people to describe their faith journeys.

“Some had never gone out and done anything like this before,” Niscavits said. “It was a pretty great growth opportunity for them.”

Tony Mathews (far right) poses with (from left) Y and Ca Trans and Giselle Higginbotham, who shared the gospel during Crossover Houston on Nov. 9. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Ice cream, rocks, and Jesus

Sagemont member Jamie Moreno accompanied a team to a nearby park where two little girls were walking around selling decorative rocks.

“We had the opportunity to share with them about Jesus being the rock of salvation, and they allowed us to pray for them,” Moreno said. “They were so sweet.” Moreno even bought their rocks for a dollar.

Software consultant Chad Porter from Pearland, also a Sagemont member, along with his Crossover partner Martin, headed for a nearby flea market just off I-35, where they encountered vendors and customers of multiple ethnicities.

The pair struck up a conversation with Pepe, who was selling ice cream.

“He looked disturbed, like he was going through something rough,” Porter said. “We asked if we could pray for him.” Pepe agreed and the men took the conversation further, asking about Pepe’s ideas of heaven. He admitted he had never thought about the subject. The men shared their faith, and Pepe gave his life to Christ.

“You could just see his whole [countenance] kind of changed. He had joy in his heart,” Porter said. They invited Pepe and his family to Sagemont.

Pepe was not the only one changed. Chad and Martin were moved emotionally, too. “We were shaking,” Porter said.

“Oh man, it was a great day,” Mathews said. “We are just so happy that we all went out in diverse groups and the Lord really blessed.”

By midday, when Crossover concluded with a debriefing and praise session back at the church, the numbers told the story: Teams engaged 224 people, had 114 spiritual conversations, presented the gospel 72 times, and saw three people give their lives to Christ.

A great day, indeed.

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