April 23, 2024
COLUMBUS, Ga. – The Columbus Baptist Association is calling for volunteers to take part in a repeat of last year’s highly successful evangelistic outreach that resulted in more than 100 salvation decisions in a single day.
Associational Missionary Jimmy Blanton is inviting Georgia Baptists from across the state to take part on March 25 in what’s being dubbed CrossOver SouthWest Columbus. He's hoping to have 300 volunteers going door-to-door sharing the gospel with local residents.
“Southwest Columbus is an evangelistic mission field with many, many people who just don’t know the Lord,” Blanton said. “We have just a few churches in that area, and all of them are struggling. They need help from anybody who can come and walk the streets and share the gospel.”
Blanton said he’s heartbroken by surveys that show fewer than 10 percent of the people living in Southwest Columbus attend church, an indicator, he said, that perhaps 90 percent of residents are spiritually lost.
At last year’s CrossOver event, 260 people volunteered to come into the community to take part in front porch evangelism and to throw a block party for local residents. In gatherings after the event, volunteers said they were amazed at how receptive Columbus residents were to the gospel.
Blanton said people have shown an openness to talk about spiritual matters since the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided.
Across Georgia, churches have seen salvation decisions rise over the past year. That has been credited with churches returning as they returned to pre-pandemic activities, including revival services, community outreaches and block parties.
Georgia Baptist churches have reported 14,333 baptisms in 2022, up from 12,865 the previous year. The latest numbers account for only slightly more than half of the state’s 3,400 churches, so the total number of baptisms could be far higher.
“I believe the more we saturate a community with the gospel, the more good we’ll see, not necessarily that day, but in the months to come,” Blanton said.
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For more information, contact the Columbus Baptist Association at 706-322-7757 or info@mycba.org.
