CENTER POINT, Ala. (BP)–Sixteen-year-old Jonothan Smith admits he was “really nervous” when he knocked on the first door.
Smith had traveled to Atlanta with 35 other youth choir members from First Baptist Church, Center Point, Ala., to participate in Crossover Metro Atlanta, an evangelistic sweep of the host city for this year’s Southern Baptist Convention.
The Crossover assignment for the Alabama youth involved survey work for Westside Baptist Church, Lawrenceville, Ga., going door-to-door in the community surrounding the church and asking residents to fill out a brief questionnaire to determine their spiritual needs.
While making his way up the driveway for his initial encounter Saturday, June 12, Smith prayed for strength and boldness in sharing his faith. Later, he would note that although only five people agreed to take the survey (out of 33 homes visited), his prayers were answered right from the start.
“A little girl, maybe 9 or 10 years old, answered the door,” Smith recounted. He then began to share with her from a tract and then helped her pray to receive Christ.
Randall Hall, minister of music at the Alabama church and leader of the youth choir, said Smith is one of about 15 kids from the church who have been called into the ministry or to the mission field within the last two years.
Many of those decisions have come through their involvement in evangelistic opportunities like Crossover, Hall said.
“We had a good experience in Salt Lake City [Utah] last year,” he said. “So we altered our plans to come to Atlanta and participate this year.”
Hall encouraged other Baptist churches to get involved in future Crossover activities, noting the difference it has made in the lives of his youth. “It helps them understand the importance of evangelism,” he said. “It makes us step up and do what we need to do.”
Jennifer Coker, 17, another of Hall’s students who witnessed in Atlanta through Crossover, said although there were “some doors slammed in her face” while doing the survey work, she understands that God will bless their efforts and can soften those hard hearts through his mysterious ways.
“I know we’re still planting a seed,” she said.
