Author: Tobin Perry

Crossover 25: Southern Baptists mobilizing to engage Dallas with gospel

DALLAS—Organizers of Crossover 25 are urging Southern Baptists nationwide to pray as preparations ramp up for this year’s evangelistic outreach on June 2-8.

Held annually in the host city of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Annual Meeting, Crossover brings churches together to share the gospel with residents during the week before the Annual Meeting.

This year, organizers are asking Southern Baptists to begin praying now — that God would prepare hearts to hear and respond to the good news of Jesus in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area.

“Around this time, the enemy tries to distract or discourage pastors — telling them they don’t have the bandwidth or capacity,” said J.J. Washington, the national director of personal evangelism at the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “Pray specifically for churches and the communities where the gospel will be presented, that the Lord would move and prepare hearts.”

Southern Baptists have hosted Crossover annually since 1989. NAMB co-sponsors the effort alongside local Baptist associations and churches. SBC churches from Dallas, Rockwall, Denton, Collin, Hunt, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson, and Tarrant counties will host this year’s events.

As of last week, Washington said 72 churches have registered to participate. Nearly a third of those churches are Spanish speaking.

Luis Gonzalez, the Spanish pastor of Lamar Baptist Church in Arlington, said his church is organizing a soccer tournament and doing door-to-door evangelism, followed up by a Harvest Sunday that weekend at the church.

According to NAMB, a Harvest Sunday is a church service designed specifically as an outreach Sunday for those who need to hear and respond to the gospel.

“Our goal is to involve everyone — adults, kids, youth, English speakers, Spanish speakers — in this evangelistic effort,” Gonzalez said. “It’s a great opportunity for the entire church family to share Jesus.”

Gonzalez is also heavily involved in mobilizing other Spanish-speaking Southern Baptist churches in the Dallas area to get involved. Some of the other projects already in the works include Vacation Bible School and block parties, including one such party where four small churches are partnering together.

“We’re trying to connect local pastors around the Dallas area to the resources available for outreach and evangelism,” Gonzalez added. “It’s the Great Commission. We have the truth of God, and we need to share the gospel every day.”

Ryan Jespersen, the executive director of the Dallas Baptist Association, believes the evangelism opportunities through Crossover can significantly help to revitalize Dallas-area churches.

Even though some think of Dallas as the “buckle of the Bible belt,” Jespersen said the city has significant lostness, where most of the population doesn’t have a relationship with Jesus Christ. He urged Southern Baptists not to think of Dallas as a “saved city” but as one where people need to hear and respond to the gospel.

“Crossover is an opportunity for churches to engage their communities,” Jespersen said. “NAMB has pretty much taken all the excuses out—there’s funding, there are volunteers coming. Just plan something.”

During this year’s Crossover events, Shane Pruitt, NAMB’s national director for next generation evangelism, will once again lead evangelistic student rallies to help engage youth with the good news. First Baptist Church of Rockwall will host a rally at 6 p.m. on June 6. Cross Church’s North Richland Hills campus will host another one at 4 p.m. on June 7.

Southern Baptist seminary students will be in the greater Dallas-Fort Worth area throughout the week, partnering with churches for door-to-door evangelism.

Specific service opportunities during Crossover will be announced in April. To learn more about Crossover, visit namb.net/crossover. To learn more about the Crossover student rallies, visit namb.net/crossover-student-rally.

This article was originally distributed by the North American Mission Board.

Christian forgives would-be killer, leads her to Christ

Editor’s note: Some names have been changed for security reasons.

When Ruth visited Fran in summer 2023, Ruth didn’t expect to end up in the hospital, fighting for her life.

International Mission Board missionaries Wade and Catherine Hampton have seen God work in Southeast Asia, but they don’t always see Him work through an attempted murder. This story is one they shared with Southern Baptists, asking for prayer.

Ruth met Fran at a park earlier that year, and despite Fran’s initial friendliness, their relationship became complicated when Fran discovered Ruth was a Christian. Raised in radical Islam, Fran grew up hating Christians, and she began avoiding Ruth.

However, Ruth didn’t give up. She still occasionally saw Fran, always trying to steer their conversations toward God. Eventually Fran invited Ruth to her home, an opportunity Ruth approached with caution and prayer.

While visiting Fran’s home, Ruth felt nervous, but her husband, Matt, encouraged her to pray and trust God. The visit went smoothly, and Ruth shared more about the gospel with Fran. Days later, Ruth and her family stopped by Fran’s for an evening visit. As they were leaving, Fran offered them tea. Ruth, not wanting to reject Fran’s hospitality, accepted.

Three hours later, Ruth awoke with sharp pains in her stomach that kept getting worse. The pain made her dizzy and she could barely walk. At daybreak, Matt rented a car and took her to the hospital. Before they left, he asked other Christians to pray.

The first hospital wouldn’t serve Ruth because she was a Christian. Same for the second. This is unfortunately common for Southeast Asians who are living boldly for Jesus in a region hostile to the gospel.

Ruth was unconscious when her husband rushed her to a third hospital. Thankfully, they accepted her.

After three days in a coma, Ruth woke up in the hospital to sounds of her family praising God. They didn’t think she would live.

“The doctor was confident I was poisoned,” Ruth said.

The type of poison they found in Ruth’s body is commonly used in murder among a local tribe. The doctor asked if they knew anyone who wanted to poison her.

“Jesus taught to forgive and pray for our enemies … God had forgiven me so I could show love to others.”

Ruth was shocked. That was Fran’s tribe. The tea—it had almost killed her. And the woman had even offered some to Matt and their 2-year-old daughter. The girl’s small body wouldn’t have survived had she accepted it. Ruth was filled with anger.

“However, I remembered Jesus taught to forgive and pray for our enemies,” Ruth said. “I knew God had forgiven me and saved me so I could show love to others.”

Ruth contacted IMB missionaries, asking them to pray for her and for Fran. They shared Ruth’s prayer request with Southern Baptists in fall 2023 through IMB’s prayer channels, and soon, people from around the world prayed for Fran’s salvation.

As Ruth recovered, she and Matt struggled with doubts about staying on the island. They experienced persecution before, but this was different. They prayed with other Christians and ultimately felt led to stay, trusting God would strengthen them and provide for their needs. Ruth forgave Fran, but it wasn’t easy.

“At times things are still hard,” Ruth said. “I have side effects from the poisoning that will last a lifetime.”

Ruth’s forgiveness came from her love for Jesus. Over time, she became increasingly burdened for Fran, asking God to grant her salvation so Fran would know God’s love. Ruth was confident that if Fran knew such a love, her heart would break for her sin.

Over a year later, Fran’s adult daughter reached out to Ruth and Matt, asking for prayer because her mom was sick in the hospital.

Ruth and her family spent two days with Fran and her family, sharing the gospel. Fran seemed different. She eventually admitted to trying to kill Ruth. Fran also acknowledged that God healed Ruth. However, Fran still didn’t choose to follow Christ.

The next day, Fran’s daughter texted Ruth, saying Fran wanted to be cleansed of her sin and darkness. She wanted to follow Jesus. Fran’s daughter asked if Ruth could return quickly and bring a Bible because Fran’s son wanted to read it.

Ruth and her family rushed to Fran’s bedside, eager to share the gospel one final time. On the way, Ruth asked Christians around the world to pray for Fran to trust in Christ once and for all. The Hamptons shared the request with their prayer partners.

Fran died the next day, but not before repenting of her sin and placing her faith in Jesus. Like the thief on the cross in Luke 23, Fran entered paradise that very day.

This article first appeared on IMB’s website.

Church planting missionaries who lost everything blessed by Southern Baptists

It’s pink and purple, it has a Bible verse on it, and it’s understandably a little rough around the edges. It is, after all, one of the only items Send Network church planter Ronnie Rentz managed to rescue from his girls’ bedroom.

“Back in September when Hurricane Helene came through, we got hit with three feet of water,” Ronnie says. “And the first time I came back to the house after the storm, everything we owned was floating.”

That’s when he found the picture—the pink and purple one with Romans 8:28 written on it. Ronnie, who planted Covenant Hope Church in St. Petersburg, Fla., in 2022, attached it to the dashboard of his car because for someone who’d been through what he’d just been through, a Romans 8:28-kind-of reminder seemed like a good thing to keep nearby.

“We lost about 90% of everything we owned,” he says. “Even now, our 2-year-old says, ‘I want to go home,’ about 10 times a day. It rips your heart out. But I know God is going to work all this together for good. And I know that because I’ve already seen it.”

An eternal optimist

Ronnie Rentz is a self-described “eternal optimist.” Maybe that’s why when Hurricane Helene hit St. Petersburg on Sept. 26, 2024, he was nervous, but not frantically so—at least, not at first. “We lived on a canal and it flooded all the time,” he says. “My wife and kids were out of town that week, but when it looked like the storm was headed this way, we spoke and I told my wife, ‘I secured all the doors. We’ll be ok. It won’t be that bad.’”

That was Sept. 26, but then came Sept. 27. “When I went back to the house the next day, I couldn’t even get in at first because all the water had picked up our furniture and jammed it against the door. And then when I finally got in, it was sobering. The fridge was flipped over, baby dolls were floating by—I just sat there for a while before I called my wife. And all I could say was, ‘It’s bad. What do we do now?’”

Even an “eternal optimist” like Ronnie could’ve never guessed how quickly the answer to that question would present itself.

This picture, colored by Ronnie’s daughter, was one of the few items he was able to salvage from his home.

Send in the cavalry

On Thursday, Helene hit. On Friday, Ronnie waded thru what was left of his home. And then on Saturday, the cavalry arrived.

“Small armies of people from our sending church, from our church plant started showing up,” Ronnie says. “They started grabbing clothes, toys, anything they could save. We had a crew in the backyard cleaning Legos. We had a lady who owns a jewelry shop take what she could salvage of my wife’s jewelry to get it professionally cleaned. They worked in shifts—morning, afternoon, and evening—it was amazing to see. Our church has always operated as a family and to see that in a real way was just a beautiful thing.”

News travels fast when you’re a Send Network church planter, and as Ronnie’s church family was in his backyard salvaging what they could of the Rentz’s possessions, a call for financial help went out to a much more widespread family.

“Our Sending Church reached out to NAMB and Send Network to see what could be possible,” Ronnie says. “And before we even knew what was happening, they took care of us. They supported us with half our rent for the home we’re staying in now. I really don’t know how we could’ve survived without that.”

Part of the family

Send Network, the church planting arm of the North American Mission Board, says they’re “a family united by a mission.” Ronnie never had any reason to doubt that was true. But now, he and his family have experienced “family” in an unforgettable, Romans 8:28 kind of way.

“With Send Network there’s always been constant encouragement and a real feeling of, ‘You’re not alone,’” Ronnie says. “And there’s always been financial support that we couldn’t survive without. But now I know for certain that I can pick up the phone and call brothers out there who will do anything they can to help us. It’s so amazing to be connected at every level with something greater than yourself. I mean, I’ve seen those NAMB luncheons every year where somebody gets blessed and it’s awesome. But now to be one of those people, it’s just a beautiful thing. We’re eternally grateful.”

George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism, Missions Sunday materials available

Each year, the Southern Baptist Convention invites its churches to celebrate African American and Black pioneers whose lives inspire the next generation to continue the work of solving the world’s greatest problem—lostness—by recognizing Feb. 2 as George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism and Missions Sunday.

This special Sunday recognizes the life and work of these pioneers, and so many more:

  • George Liele, who many acknowledge as the first overseas missionary from the U.S. in 1782
  • Lott Carey, who organized African American missions in the 1800s
  • S.M. Lockridge, who was a faithful preacher of the gospel in the 20th century
  • Sid Smith, one of the first African American Southern Baptist denominational leaders in the modern era
  • Fred Luter, who was elected as the first African American president of the Southern Baptist Convention

We invite you to learn more about the namesake of George Liele Church Planting, Evangelism and Missions Sunday by taking a video journey with Quintell Hill, IMB’s African American church mobilization strategist. In this short documentary, Hill goes to First African Baptist Church in Savannah, Ga., to visit the church that sent Liele to the mission field.

More free, downloadable resources to learn about and celebrate this special Sunday can be found at imb.org/george-liele/. Resources include videos featuring IMB missionaries, background information, a prayer guide and more.

 

Crossover registration available for prospective host churches, volunteers

DALLAS — Registration for Crossover Dallas is live.

Crossover, which will run from June 2-8, 2025, is the annual evangelistic emphasis preceding the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting in the host city. Events such as block parties and personal witnessing opportunities have become ingrained in the outreach effort.

Churches and groups can register through the Crossover site, which is also available in Spanish.

Participation happens two ways. The first is hosting a Crossover event. Churches in the counties of Dallas, Denton, Collin, Hunt, Rockwall, Kaufman, Ellis, Johnson and Tarrant are eligible to host, in an effort to make an indelible mark on their community.

One option for hosting is partnering with students and faculty from Southern Baptist seminaries for door-to-door evangelism. Churches can also host a multi-day event such as Vacation Bible School or a block party outreach limited to one day. Another single-day event, Harvest Sunday, would take place June 8.

The second track for Crossover registrants is to serve at an event. Southern Baptists both in the target area and outside of it are welcome to serve with local churches.

The North American Mission Board will report the number of Gospel conversations, salvations, volunteers and other figures to messengers at the annual meeting. More than 185 people responded to the Gospel delivered by more than 1,469 volunteers during Crossover Indianapolis in June.

“We would like to encourage churches in that target area to host an event and individuals and groups, especially if you are already coming for the annual meeting, to serve alongside these host churches,” said JJ Washington, NAMB national director of Personal Evangelism who is overseeing Crossover’s planning.

Benefits for host churches include learning evangelism best practices and using the event as a catalyst for establishing an evangelistic culture in the congregation. Volunteers will gain experience in starting an evangelism movement in their own church as well as the experience of partnering with other Southern Baptists.

Washington said NAMB is working with leaders from the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention and Baptist General Convention of Texas as well as regional and state networks. Local Baptist associations—Dallas, Denton, Collin, Hunt, Kauf-Van, Ellis, SW Metroplex and Tarrant—have also featured prominently in Crossover’s planning.

“This is truly cooperation at its finest,” he noted.

Luis Antonio Gonzalez, Spanish pastor for Lamar Baptist Church in Arlington, is helping mobilize other Spanish-speaking churches in the area.

“We are providing resources and encouraging them to participate,” he said. “Our prayer is to develop an evangelistic culture in the churches and bring a fire to fulfill the Great Commission.”

First Baptist Garland, where Greg Ammons is pastor, will host a Harvest Sunday and door-to-door evangelism.

“We’re looking at having a block party as well,” said Ammons, who is also helping mobilize churches in the area. “JJ and [NAMB Vice President for Evangelism] Tim [Dowdy] led evangelism training last week. We had a good turnout and are now signing up churches for hosting.

“We’re hoping to see a lot of people come to Jesus, to plant a lot of seeds. We want to establish an evangelism culture.”

Plant ‘in the middle of nowhere’ battling darkness, claiming territory for Christ

BROWNSVILLE—Gifts to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering helped James Martinez plant and grow Ecclesia Community Church in Brownsville, Texas. Now, the congregation is giving back in a big way.

According to church planter James Martinez, Brownsville is a border town like no other. “It’s in the middle of nowhere, and it’s a world that’s neither Mexico nor the United States. It’s like its own country with its own culture,” he says. “And everybody who leaves Brownsville says, ‘I’m never going to come back.’”

When James left Brownsville to go to college, he was one of those people who never intended to return to his South Texas roots. But during his college years, James heard the gospel, was saved, and watched God rewrite his story. Now, two decades later, James finds himself in Brownsville again—but this time as a church planter.

James describes Brownsville as a “spiritual yet dark place” that’s influenced not only by cultural Catholicism but also by witchcraft. “People have left a pig’s head on our church property. We’ve been in apartment complexes, door knocking, spreading the gospel, and they’ll come out and cut chickens’ heads off and pour blood all over wherever we walked,” James shares.

It should be no surprise, then, that Ecclesia Community Church’s origin story is full of the unexpected and unplanned. When the world shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic just a month before their planned 2020 launch, the Martinezes partnered with a local nonprofit. Together, they started serving their community through gospel-focused food distributions. That’s how, more than a year later, when it was finally time to publicly launch the church, they’d already built a strong network of prospective members.

It turns out that a church that was built largely by showing generosity to its community ended up with generosity in its DNA. Ecclesia Community Church began with many new believers, and when James introduced the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to them, he was overwhelmed by the church’s response. “We explained that we exist because of the generosity of other churches giving to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering to fuel church planting,” James says. “And when the money started coming in, I thought, ‘Wow, this is crazy.’ We’re meeting our goal for the Annie Offering, and people are excited about it.”

All of Ecclesia Community Church were enthusiastic about a chance to give back—from new believers in the congregation who committed to setting up a recurring gift to the elderly single women and the kids in the children’s ministry. Now, the church has committed to giving more to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering each month than they did over the entire previous year.

“I’m a church planter in one of the poorest counties in the nation, and when we surpassed our offering goal, I just thought, ‘Look at what God is doing through this little bitty church,’” James says. “God has been generous to us and now we can be generous and sacrificial back to Him. I love that.”

 

Hispanic volunteers share a story that changes lives

Editor’s note: During Hispanic Heritage Month, the IMB is highlighting the contribution of Hispanics to global missions and celebrating the growing number of Hispanic churches committed to reaching the nations. Resources about Hispanic church missions efforts are available through the IMB.

“We did not go to work. We went to see God at work, and praise God that He used us beyond what we could do for His glory,” Annel Robayna said. 

Robayna, who serves as IMB’s Hispanic church mobilization strategist, recently traveled with church leaders and members of Hispanic churches in the U.S. to serve alongside Hispanic missionaries Adam and Janene Rios. The Rioses serve with the IMB in Southeast Asia.

During their two-week trip, 130 people heard the gospel, and 57 decided to follow Jesus.

In the Hispanic community, most people won’t sign up for a volunteer trip simply because they see it listed on a website, Robayna said. Personal connection is what motivates people to serve.

Robayna connected over a phone call with one of the volunteers on the trip to Southeast Asia. He met two other volunteers at an event in Texas and already had a relationship with another.

The perspective Robayna seeks to instill in churches and church members is a mindset of “What can I do?” “What can I bring to the table?”

He tells leaders and church members they can bring their “yes” to the table and then “be ready to see God at work.”

Stories that change lives

“Let me tell you about a story that changed my life, and it’s changing other people’s lives too.”

The Rioses, national pastors and other Spanish-speaking missionaries began conversations with this invitation, and the volunteers followed suit. After hearing the story, listeners were given the chance to respond.

In addition to national believers who translated, several missionaries from Spanish-speaking countries translated directly from Spanish to the local language for the volunteers who only spoke Spanish.

An older Muslim man with a military background was one of the 57 people who made decisions of faith.

He had trouble understanding God’s forgiveness because of his military background. He killed people under the orders of his superiors. Robayna shared about the forgiveness Jesus gives, no matter someone’s history.

After Robayna finished sharing, the older man rose from his chair and, with some effort, walked across the room and grabbed Robayna’s hand in a posture of respect. As tears flowed, Robayna and Southeast Asian believers prayed for him. His daughter-in-law also decided to commit her life to Christ.

The trip to Southeast Asia was the first mission trip where Andrea, from Louisiana, didn’t know the language and where she shared the gospel with mainly adults, many much older.

At one point on the trip, a flood of anxiety and fear poured over her, and negative thoughts swarmed in her mind. “Why would older and wiser people struggling with difficult things want to listen to me share the gospel?”

As she pondered that thought, Andrea prayed for the Lord to use her according to His will. She soon realized God can use even the smallest things in life for His plan. It didn’t matter how old she was to tell people what God did in her life and how He changed her.

“There’s no age limit to go out and share the gospel,” Andrea said. “All those people needed was for someone to come and plant a mustard seed, and God will handle the rest.”

God used her testimony to lead someone to place their hope in Christ. Andrea said the Lord empowered her to share the gospel in ways she never could have without Him.

From relationships to partnerships

Every time Robayna takes a volunteer team to places where IMB missionaries are working, the hope is for the volunteers to discover the needs, explore opportunities for partnership, learn about the IMB team’s strategy and return to mobilize their churches to take trips individually.

The next step is partnerships. Robayna is there to help, but the idea is for them to work directly with the IMB missionaries once the churches have a connection. A relationship with a missionary overseas has the potential to improve the partnership. Robayna explained if there isn’t a relationship, they will look elsewhere.

One woman on the trip had no previous connection to the IMB. She’d been praying about how to get involved in missions. After the trip, the Lord confirmed He wanted her to return to Southeast Asia to serve. She’s making plans to return to serve with the Rios family.

Carlos, a pastor and leader among Louisiana Baptists, said he’s been on trips to the country before, but this trip was the most productive, largely because of the missionary presence. His church had been searching for missionaries to partner with, and after meeting Adam and Janene, they decided this was the partnership they’d been waiting for.

A leader from Texas was discipled by the Rioses and will return this fall on a volunteer trip.

Robayna said, in general, ethnic churches focus on ministering to their ethnic groups. His prayer is for more churches to catch the vision for international missions, go beyond cultural preferences, and be open to taking the gospel to places where they don’t speak the language or know the culture.

Some names have been changed for security.

Short-term trips meet long-term strategies during Olympics outreach

“We can’t control the results, but we can measure our faithfulness,” said Jason Harris, team leader for the International Mission Board’s Paris team, explaining its strategy for gospel outreach during the 2024 Summer Olympic Games.

Part of that strategy includes facilitating and mobilizing more than 300 short-term volunteers to hit the streets of Paris sharing the gospel.

The team Harris leads in Paris is young and growing. No team members have been there longer than a few years. They are united around a common vision to make Christ known among Europeans and a long-term goal to plant five churches in Paris over the next five years.

Harris explained that short-term volunteers are vital to sharing the gospel broadly and making connections that will catalyze their local church-planting strategy and lead to longevity.

Each week of Olympics outreach, volunteers are focused on sharing the gospel within specific geographical and cultural segments of Paris. They are using a number of creative strategies as entry points for evangelism and have invited local French churches to work alongside them.

“My prayer has been that the outreach for the Olympics would be a launching point for church planting in the city,” Harris said.

Ultimately, the harvest is in God’s hands. They have already witnessed God drawing people to Himself through volunteer efforts this summer.

Zach Beasley, campus minister at Alabama State University and Tuskegee University—two historically black colleges in Alabama—led a team of six students to join a week of pre-Olympic outreach to Paris in May.

One thing the students didn’t expect was the spiritual darkness they felt almost immediately on arrival in the “City of Light.” Beasley said more than anything this trip has motivated them to pray for missionaries and their long-term presence on the mission field.

“We realized to really make a lasting impact, you have to be there for years,” Beasley said. “It takes years for boundaries to be broken down and relationships built.”

The team from Alabama spent eight days passing out water bottles, prayer walking, distributing flyers and doing spiritual surveys.

“The work we did with the local church was very familiar to our students. It’s the same thing we do on campus, going out and sharing the gospel,” Beasley said. “We collaborate and build the local church, and I loved seeing that reiterated here for our students.”

At the end of the week, Beasley and his team were excited to see many people they had given flyers to show up for an outreach event at a local church.

“We were praying they would come, and they actually did,” Beasley said.

IMB missionary Diane In came to Paris from a nearby country where she lives to help with the Olympic outreach. She joined a group of 90 volunteers partnering with local Chinese-French churches. On their first day, they handed out more than 1,000 portions of Scripture in French, had 300 gospel conversations, and saw several professions of faith.

The missionary shared how she has seen God provide divine appointments for the gospel. At the end of one day, In and one volunteer—a Chinese pastor from the U.S.—sat next to some members of the Chinese press on their way back to the hotel. The pastor gave one of the men a custom-designed pin and shared the gospel with him. On their way out of the station, they ran into two more members of the Chinese press—a man and a woman—who were lost and asked for directions. As the pastor gave directions to the woman, In pulled out another pin and shared the gospel with the man.

Brant Bauman, a digital engagement strategist for the IMB, gave an exciting update on the first round of virtual volunteers and their strategy to extend on-the-ground evangelism. Bauman said digital responders around the world are getting exactly the kind of interaction they have been hoping and praying for. Volunteers are serving on a week-long virtual mission trip where they’ll be on call to answer chat requests.

“It’s a strange thing to say, but the volume on my computer is turned up and there is a little chime that goes off roughly every 30 seconds,” Bauman said. “Normally that would drive anyone mad, but not tonight, because that is the sound of new people responding to our online ads and reaching out to us. Better yet, it’s the sound of doors being opened and the gospel being proclaimed by so many digital responders scattered all over the world.”

Bauman added that despite challenging discussions, team members are excited and bold in their interactions. “We have already seen countless prayers responded to, quite a few spiritual conversations and gospel shares, and some that have expressed a desire to meet up face-to-face and find a church.”

Harris asked for prayer as their team begins to follow up with new contacts in Paris.

“The number of connections made could be really challenging to follow up with effectively,” he said. “Pray that, ultimately, people become disciples of Jesus and don’t just hear the gospel once.”

SBC 2024: National Hispanic Baptist Network workshops focus on women’s ministry, missions, evangelism

INDIANAPOLIS—The National Hispanic Baptist Network (NHBN) organized a day of workshops for Hispanic Baptists gathered in Indianapolis for the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Pastors, lay leaders and women had 19 different breakouts to choose from covering missions, evangelism, church planting and children’s education, and for the second year running, the NHBN offered a workshop track specifically designed for women.

Led by Clara Molina, director of the network’s ministry to women, the women’s general session started with worship led by Nelly Juarez, followed by a short devotional shared by Diana Puente and a biblical message conveyed by Molina. The message, titled “United at the Vine with a Sound Doctrine”, encouraged women to pursue sound doctrine to shape their lives in the likeness of Christ. The women were led in prayer by Aleyda Muñoz before splitting up for breakout sessions. The sessions included a children’s education track, serving in the church, personal devotional life and an evangelism tracks.

Besides the women’s program, there were another 15 workshops to choose from. The Logos Bible software presentation was one of the best attended sessions. Led by Jose Chicos, the workshop modeled for pastors how to use software that facilitates access to various Bible versions, languages, historical context and more. Lifeway’s Carlos Astorga led a session on the Baptist Faith and Message, which those in attendance found refreshing and useful. David Perez shared from his book the 7Ds of Prayer, International Mission Board’s Annel Robayna session talked about being a church on mission, Send Relief’s Jonathan Santiago’s shared with pastors how Send Relief comes alongside local churches to help their communities in times of disaster and open doors to share the gospel.

Raul Santamaria led a church planting workshop; Ronald Vides focused on revitalization of churches; Prison Fellowship’s Karin Arango shared how churches can come alongside families affected by the imprisonment of relatives; Angel Jordan with the Billy Graham Evangelism Association facilitated an evangelism workshop; Corporate Chaplains of America’s Cesar Brito’s session highlighted the ministry of chaplains; Apartment Life’s Rey Matos shared how apartments can be a missionary field and Luis Soto from the Southern Baptist Convention of Puerto Rico taught on personal discipleship.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary’s Fabio Castellanos session focused on Bible translations; Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Ricardo Sanchez’s session focused on leadership training and manuscripts and Rafy Gutierrez from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary taught about Biblical paternity.

Following workshops, state representatives for the NHBN met for fellowship and to discuss ministry in each of their regions. The NHBN’s board of directors met for a business meeting where they unanimously passed the following resolution: We serve the Hispanic churches of the Southern Baptist Convention and as an organization affirm the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

Jesus film entirely in sign language is historic first for Deaf community

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (BP)—When Joseph Josselyn of “Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film” lost his hearing as a toddler, life became “a little painful at times” as he grew, accepted Jesus and worshipped God in the hearing world.

As the only Deaf member of his family, and despite his parents’ best efforts, only at Gallaudet University was he exposed fully to the Deaf culture and began to grow in his walk with Jesus, Josselyn told Baptist Press through the use of an interpreter.

“A lot of Deaf people don’t know Jesus as well,” he said, “and that’s a big issue … that need for them to meet, know and follow Jesus. And that’s been a big role of Deaf Missions, is to create media and resources to help get the awareness out there of Jesus.”

Communicating with the Deaf community in its heart language is a key concept of Jesus: A Deaf Missions Film portraying the story of Jesus entirely in American Sign Language (ASL), billed by Deaf Missions as the first-ever ASL adaptation for the silver screen.

The film removes all barriers Deaf people face when viewing spoken-language films with subtitles, a standard that Josselyn says makes it difficult for Deaf viewers to experience the emotions critical to any given story.

“Having an experience where Jesus is Deaf, is signing, and a Deaf cast where they’re all signing, so they could see all the emotion, they could see what was happening,” is what Josselyn sees as critical to the production. “There wasn’t anything they had to detach from. There were no barriers. They didn’t have to go through an interpreter … or a second party to get that information. To me, that’s why this is so important.”

Showings are scheduled in at least 275 theaters in the U.S. June 20 and 23. Deaf Missions recommends early ticket purchases and group attendance to encourage theaters to expand the schedule.

Deaf Missions made the film primarily for Deaf audiences, but included elements such as English subtitles and a soundtrack to accommodate a hearing audience. Also, Deaf people can experience music by feeling the bass.

“We felt it would be beneficial for hearing people to come and partake and to view the movie as well,” Josselyn said, “because most Deaf have children and parents. Or you think of relatives or siblings of the Deaf, or friends of the Deaf, so that they have access to the movie as well. Just as hearing folks give me access to their films, then we wanted to do the same thing for hearing folks.”

Josselyn, who produces and directs the film along with Deaf producer Michael Davis of GUM Vision Studio, faced unique challenges in the production, spanning the mundane of securing a boat for the scene of Jesus walking on water, to the creative element of portraying Jesus’ last words on the cross.

“Jesus is on the cross where He says certain things which I want people to watch, to see. How do we get Jesus to say those words while He was on the cross?” Josselyn shared, declining to reveal his solution. “That is part of the mystery of it all, is how did that scene take place. Thank God for His provision, for working all the details out.”

Deaf Missions, a ministry to Deaf people in more than 100 countries encompassing more than 60 denominations, hopes the film will draw unbelievers to Jesus and help believers learn more of Jesus and grow in faith.

“It’s been a true joy to see people’s response to the film,” Josselyn said, referencing recent red-carpet events where the film was shown. “The people watching were moved to tears. They were sitting speechless, deep in thought. And that is what has been the biggest encouragement for me.

“For folks to see the movie in their heart language has been the greatest reward.”

This article originally appeared on Baptist Press.