Southwesterners witness salvations during Crossover

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary students and faculty participated in the annual Crossover evangelism initiative the week prior to the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting, partnering with other Southern Baptists to bring the Gospel to Dallas-Fort Worth.

Crossover, which began in 1989 and is sponsored by the North American Mission Board (NAMB), partnered the participants with local churches to engage Dallas, the host city of the SBC annual meeting, with the Gospel through door-to-door evangelism.

Working with other seminaries and colleges, Southwestern had 40 students and 10 faculty members participate. The Southwestern team knocked on 1,574 doors, had 272 Gospel conversations, and saw 43 professions of faith. The entire Crossover team knocked on more than 4,700 doors, partnering with 21 area churches.

Since 2018, Carl J. Bradford, dean of Texas Baptist College and associate professor of evangelism, has led Southwestern’s involvement with Crossover.

“The goal of Crossover is to provide students with an opportunity to engage in evangelism through the cooperation of our Southern Baptist churches and the North American Mission Board,” explained Bradford, who holds the Malcolm R. and Melba L. McDow Chair of Evangelism. “As a result, students are more likely to lead evangelistic efforts in their churches, develop an intentional rhythm of evangelism in their own lives, and immediately help our SBC churches engage their communities with the Gospel.”

Southwestern participants, including Joshua Okoye, a Master of Divinity student from Houston, spent the mornings learning effective evangelism strategies before going out with local churches to engage in door-to-door outreach.

Okoye said he was moved by a particular lesson Bradford gave one morning, speaking on the effects of sin and brokenness before coming to Christ, particularly focusing on losses within families. Okoye said that day he had interactions while going door-to-door that connected with that theme.

“I had a conversation with two teenage students for two hours as they had questions and were seeking to understand more about life and faith,” Okoye recalled. “They had experience in brokenness with one of them having been shot before and losing his older brother in the same shooting.”

After speaking with them, Okoye, with help from his teammate, Cruz Wilkinson, was able to lead both of the young men to trust Christ.

Later, after they had finished their outreach for the day and were debriefing on their experiences with the other participants, Okoye could not help but notice similar interactions team members had with people suffering from loss and brokenness, including a Southwesterner who spoke with a mother who had recently lost her son.

“I believe Dr. Bradford’s teaching could not have been timelier,” Okoye said.

Bradford himself experienced an interaction that he said could only be described as “divinely planned” as well. On Monday, he received an unexpected text message from Tony Mathews, a former trustee of Southwestern and senior strategist for missional ministries with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, asking if there were any Crossover events that Mathews could attend. Not replying to the text until Tuesday, when he was scheduled to take a team to Richland Hills, Texas, Bradford mistakenly said he would be evangelizing in Murphy, Texas, apologizing to Mathews it was so far away. But Mathews responded enthusiastically.

“Carl, I don’t know if you remember, I live in Murphy, Texas,” Bradford said of Mathews reply.

At first, Bradford just told Mathews of the mistake he had made and that they were really supposed to go to Richland Hills, but after a moment of consideration and prayer, Bradford felt called to go to Murphy instead.

Later that day, as they went door-to-door with a team of two Southwestern students, they met a homeowner who had gone to Mississippi State University, the same school Mathews attended. Striking up a conversation, Mathews discovered he and the man had a mutual friend from their college years, and even called him to catch up. After this, they offered to pray for the homeowner, at which point he invited the team inside

Bradford, Mathews, and the two students went into his home to pray with him. After looking at a prayer the man had already written in a notebook, the team learned he was struggling with alcoholism and Bradford led a prayer over him and shared his own testimony. The homeowner said he felt convicted to live a better life in order to earn his way to heaven, which led Bradford and his team to share a presentation of the Gospel and the gift of forgiveness.

“Eventually, Tony turned to [the homeowner] and asked, ‘Would you like to receive Jesus’ forgiveness today?’” Bradford recalled. “[The homeowner], deeply moved by the entire encounter, said ‘yes.’ He prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior.”

Mathews helped him connect with a local church and Bradford took his number as well to keep in touch. Bradford said he was amazed by the seeming coincidences that had led this man’s salvation that day.

“The group rejoiced, overwhelmed at how God had woven together every detail,” Bradford said. “From a delayed text response to a relocated outreach site, to bring about a divine appointment for one man in Murphy, Texas.”

While Crossover impacted the Dallas area with the Gospel, seminary participants also benefited from the experience as they prepare for future ministries. Okoye said he was amazed by the way students from across the country united to share the Gospel.

“I was greatly encouraged by meeting more students from Southwestern and the other seminaries and their eagerness to grow and participate in evangelism,” Okoye concluded. “Many were challenged past their comfort zone and grew in result. I am encouraged and hopeful to see what the Lord will do in the future.”