Southwestern students witness salvations during Crossover in Orlando

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and Texas Baptist College (TBC) sent 26 people to participate in Crossover, an evangelistic initiative held in the city hosting the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting and sponsored by the North American Mission Board.

Led by Carl Bradford, dean of TBC, associate professor of evangelism, and Malcolm R. and Melba L. McDow Chair of Evangelism, the Southwestern team knocked on 913 doors, had 393 engagements, 117 Gospel conversations, and saw nine professions of faith. The entire Crossover effort included nearly 70 participants partnered with 10 area churches, knocking on 2,972 doors and seeing approximately 56 people come to Christ.

For Southwestern students, the week included daily morning instruction and practice before they went out with local churches to neighborhoods, parks, and other public spaces to engage with people through the Gospel.

For Rebecca Torres, a Master of Divinity student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, the trip came together quickly. She said a friend who had participated in multiple Crossover trips mentioned the opportunity only a couple of days before the registration deadline. She later spoke with Bradford and signed up.

“It was providential,” Torres described.

The students spent the first day traveling, settling in, and getting to know one another. Torres said this was an unexpected blessing of the trip, particularly as she spent time with younger students from TBC and Southwestern.

Torres, 50, spent years serving alongside her late husband in youth ministry, and said she was encouraged by the theological depth and evangelistic passion of the students around her.

“It is totally amazing to me how theologically sound and how passionate they are,” Torres said. “They really mean what they say. They know the Gospel and have a passion for outreach and seeing people come to the Lord.”

Bradford said the week’s informal theme could have been “flexible.”

“Many students shared that the lectures, discussions, and morning practice sessions frequently mirrored the very types of encounters they would face throughout the day,” Bradford said.

That was true for Torres as she spoke with people in different settings across Orlando. Some conversations were encouraging and others were challenging. She said some people did not answer their doors, while others were willing to talk, ask questions, or receive Gospel materials.

On one occasion while looking for opportunities to share the Gospel in a park, Torres said she heard Christmas music coming from an ice cream truck.

“’We should probably stop at this ice cream truck,’” Torres remembered thinking.

The conversation that followed became one of the most impactful moments of the week. After sharing the Gospel with the young woman working inside the truck, Torres said she had the honor of leading her to faith in Christ.

“I was giddy,” Torres recalled. “I don’t know why I should be shocked, but she said, ‘Yeah, I want to receive.’”

In one neighborhood, Torres and her ministry partner discovered that another group had already distributed materials on the same street. Instead of becoming frustrated, they continued looking for opportunities. This led to her ministry partner, who spoke Spanish, sharing with a young Hispanic man they came across, leading him to the Lord.

Torres said both of their most significant Gospel conversations came in ways they could not have planned. The young woman at the ice cream truck reminded Torres of her daughter-in-law, motivating Torres to continue praying for her own family. Her ministry partner told Torres the young man he spoke with reminded him of his brother.

“The Lord used that to help me keep praying,” Torres said.

The trip also gave students an opportunity to learn from Bradford in the field. Torres said she was able to accompany him in what she described as a more challenging area and observe his experience in evangelism firsthand.

“He’s a master at this,” Torres said. “It was helpful to be able to learn from a really experienced evangelist.”

Torres said the experience was convicting because while many Christians are willing to pass out flyers or invite people to church events, they are not always actively sharing the Gospel.

“If we believe this is the best news ever, which I do, and we do, then why wouldn’t we share?” Torres said. “It was super convicting in the best way. … It was invigorating.”

The team’s need for flexibility continued even after the ministry week concluded. Students were scheduled to fly back to Texas on Saturday evening, but thunderstorms delayed and eventually canceled their flight. They were unable to leave Orlando until early Sunday morning.

Torres, however, saw the delay as just another lesson.

Torres recalled some travelers around them complaining about the circumstances, but the Southwestern team gathered to pray and remind one another that believers should respond differently. Torres said the group tried to approach the situation with joy, even treating the unexpected overnight stay like “a slumber party sleepover in an airport.”

“Our attitude affects everything,” Torres said. “Even that was part of the lesson for the trip.”

Reflecting on the week, Torres said the trip strengthened her desire to continue sharing the Gospel and to participate in Crossover again.

“There were a lot of salvations, which is amazing,” Torres said. “There were a lot of people that we had great conversations with, and left materials for them to read, and asked the Holy Spirit to do what He does with them. It was a really, really wonderful trip, and I’m ready to go the next time.”