Terry Long says it was two flat tires that led to one big miracle June 8 during Crossover Birmingham.
Long, who serves as associational missions director for Choctaw Baptist Association, and Roy and Becky Adkins, members of First Baptist Church, Oak Grove, in Adger, had just knocked on their second door and gotten no answer when they noticed a car on the shoulder of the road at the end of the driveway.
Bob and his wife, Jean, both in their mid 70s, were just finishing up changing two tires on their daughter’s car. As the team began to talk with them, both were ready to receive Christ, and they prayed together.
“It’s no accident that you were here,” Long told them and asked them what they thought about what had just happened in their lives.
Bob exclaimed, “I think I’m going to heaven now.”
Long told him he could know for sure that he was. His wife, Jean, said she was sure she was too.
“It was a real God appointment,” said Long, who also serves as south Alabama strategist for the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions (SBOM). “We had such a sweet conversation with them.”
His team had four of those conversations that day. The group had been one person short — that’s why Long, who was serving as site coordinator at First, Oak Grove, had jumped in with them. They only had time to knock on 12 doors that morning, but they saw four people give their lives to Christ.
And all across the city, teams saw similar stories happen as they went out doing door-to-door visits as part of Crossover, an outreach event held annually in the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) annual meeting host city. Volunteers gathered from across the state and nation to be involved, some who couldn’t stay for the SBC meeting but wanted to be a part of reaching Birmingham with the gospel.
Teams fanned out in the neighborhoods around eight local hub churches — First, Oak Grove; First Baptist Church, Mount Olive; The Baptist Church at McAdory, McCalla; The Church at Brook Hills, Birmingham; First Baptist Church, Pelham; First Baptist Church, Moody; Mount High Baptist Church, Warrior; and First Baptist Church, Trussville.
A ninth church — Sixth Avenue Baptist, Birmingham — served as the host site for a free medical and dental clinic for the community.
“We maxed out the dental and medical clinics,” said Sammy Gilbreath, SBOM director of evangelism, noting that even though the site was supposed to close at 4 p.m., the dentists worked into the evening with people who had already registered.
People met Jesus there too — one while sitting in the dental chair, led to faith by the dentist. And while the adults had medical needs met, a team from First Baptist Church, Prattville, did Vacation Bible School (VBS) with the kids.
“All day long Crossover was an unbelievable, enthusiastic, passionate event,” Gilbreath said. “Thunderstorms didn’t hurt the effort. There were contacts made, Bibles left, people who accepted Christ, and we’re celebrating every single one.”
Rodney Parker, minister to students at The Baptist Church at McAdory, said it was “great to see youth involved in sharing the gospel with others” during the event.
Scooter Kellum, who serves in student ministry with the SBOM and at Eastern Hills Baptist Church, Montgomery, agreed — one of his students, Joseph Higbee, had asked to participate in Crossover for his 14th birthday, so his whole family had driven up for the day.
“His heart is just on fire for the Lord,” Kellum said, noting since Higbee had given his life to Christ at a youth camp last summer, he had spent hours reading the Bible, organized his school’s See You at the Pole event and a Bible study group and was constantly looking for other ways to share his faith.
“It’s been amazing to watch,” Kellum said.
In the week leading up to June 8, teams of college and seminary students did prayer walking, served in local churches’ VBS and made door-to-door evangelistic visits.
Final numbers from Crossover Birmingham will be shared Tuesday, June 11 during the North American Mission Board report at the SBC annual meeting.
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