ST. LOUIS — Missouri Baptist leaders in St. Louis are calling thousands of Southern Baptists around the nation to partner with them in reaching the metro area for Christ during Crossover, a week of volunteer evangelism and service leading up to the Southern Baptist Convention here, June 14-15.
“Come help us reach the neighborhoods and the nations in St. Louis,” Jim Breeden, director of missions for the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association, said.
One of the most unreached areas in Missouri, the St. Louis metro has a population of nearly 3 million people, nearly 85 percent of whom are unchurched. Only one Southern Baptist church exists for every 7,812 people in the city, and some St. Louis neighborhoods are completely unreached, Breeden said. St. Louis is also one of the North American Mission Board’s SEND cities, which has a goal of starting 75 churches in the metro area over the next five years.
Additionally, St. Louis is a gateway city into the United States, where thousands of immigrants from across the world have come to reside—including nearly 70,000 Bosnians, mostly Muslims, who need a church to be planted in their midst.
During Crossover St. Louis, June 9-14, Southern Baptists will have the opportunity to use various skills to share the gospel throughout St. Louis, foster church planting and church revitalization, and transform communities. Churches and church plants, as well as partners within the community, will play a role in determining what projects Southern Baptists will take on during Crossover. But projects will vary widely, from medical clinics and evangelistic block parties to painting, landscaping, and doing door-to-door evangelism.
No matter what skills people have, they can help transform lives and communities within St. Louis through the gospel, said Tom Firasek, the ministry and partnership coordinator for the St. Louis Metro Baptist Association and coordinator for Crossover St. Louis.
Nearly 2,000 to 2,500 volunteers will be needed during Crossover St. Louis, he said. And, while many of these partners will serve only during Crossover, Firasek and Breeden said that they hope many churches—especially Missouri Baptist churches—will build longterm partnerships to encourage the work God is doing in St. Louis.
“We invite you to come both to reach the neighborhoods of St. Louis—some of which are unreached completely—and also to reach the nations, the peoples that have come to St. Louis,” Breeden told Southern Baptist messengers at the close of their annual meeting in Columbus, Ohio, last June.
“We have prayed … for laborers for the fields that are white unto harvest,” he added. “So we hope that you will come for a short time. And we pray that some of you will stay for a long time and help us both to plant and replant churches to the glory of God in St. Louis.”
To volunteer for or to learn more about Crossover St. Louis, visit the Crossover website at www.crossoverstlouis.com or contact Tom Firasek at 314.225.1384 or at TFirasek@stlbaptist.org.