May 22, 2000
Church has new role in changing community
___By Ken Camp
___Texas Baptist Communications
___DALLAS--North Dallas Baptist Church and its surrounding neighborhood have been through plenty of changes, and Ellis Watkins has seen them all in his 70 years at the church.
___The 80-year-old chairman of deacons remembers when the area north of downtown Dallas and southeast of Love Field was predominantly Anglo. In recent years, large numbers of Hispanic, African-American and Asian residents have been added to the multi-cultural mix.
MICHAEL KIMBROUGH, associate pastor of North Dallas Baptist Church, takes "Jesus to the streets" at a block party for inner-city children and youth. (Photos by Ken Camp)
___As the neighborhood changed, many longtime members of North Dallas Baptist Church moved away. Attendance plummeted from 580 in the 1950s to 30 in the 1990s.
___"We lost a lot of the regular old-timers who resisted change. People don't like change," said Watkins, who was among those who moved from the neighborhood. But for more than 40 years, he has continued to make the drive across town to participate in the church.
___"I elected to stay here. I guess I egotistically thought it was where I could make a contribution," he said.
___One of his contributions was serving on the board of Crossover Ministry, an effort to bridge cultures and reach the community around North Dallas Baptist Church.
___Crossover Ministry is co-sponsored by Park Cities Baptist Church, Audelia Road Baptist Church, First Baptist Church of Carrollton and Wilshire Baptist Church, in cooperation with Dallas Baptist Association.
___Texas Baptists have helped support Crossover Ministry through their gifts to the Mary Hill Davis Offering for Texas Missions.
___"Crossover Ministry grew out of a desire to keep the facility open and to keep the ministry here going," said David Whitson, pastor of North Dallas Baptist Church.
___He came to the church "on a six-month commitment" in January 1996, after 33 years on the mission field in Tanzania. The previous pastor had died, and Whitson agreed to help "bring closure" to the grieving congregation. But once he arrived, he became convinced God still had a purpose for North Dallas Baptist Church.
___Through Crossover Ministry, the North Dallas Baptist Church facility became a beehive of activity. A Vietnamese mission of First Baptist Church in Carrollton meets in the building. So does Iglesia Bautista Ebenezer, a Spanish-speaking congregation that has grown to twice the size of North Dallas Baptist Church.
___At one time, an African-American mission also shared the facility. When that congregation relocated to Oak Cliff, a number of its former members chose to join North Dallas Baptist Church.
___The multi-cultural congregation is now about 50 percent Anglo, 30 percent African-American and 20 percent English-speaking Hispanic and Asian. Pastor Whitson is Anglo, and the associate pastor, Michael Kimbrough, is African-American.
PEDRO and Clemtina Cervantes of Iglesia Bautista Ebenezer in Dallas share the gospel with two inner-city youth.
___"We want to get people in the community on board. Our primary objective is to develop local leadership, and it is beginning to emerge," Whitson said. "There are no short-cuts. It takes a lot of nurturing, love, patience and growing in the Lord."
___In an effort to reach out to the community, Kimbrough organized a neighborhood block party at nearby Maria Luna Park April 15. He enlisted the support of numerous congregations, Dallas Baptist Association and Criswell College.
___Supporting churches included First Baptist Church of Richardson, Northlake Baptist Church in Garland, Calvary Baptist Church of Oak Cliff, and First Korean and Audelia Road Baptist churches in Dallas. Several churches of other denominations also participated.
___More than 500 residents--mostly children and youth--attended the event, which included soccer and basketball games and entertainment by illusionists, clowns and musicians.
___"It would take us months of going out knocking on doors to reach this many people," Watkins said.
___Volunteers painted faces, twisted balloons into silly animal shapes, gave away refreshments and shared their faith with anyone who would listen.
___ "Our main purpose here today was to see people snatched out of the devil's hand. We brought Jesus to the streets," Kimbrough said at a rally concluding the event.
___At least 15 people made professions of faith in Jesus Christ at the block party, and a resident at a nearby boarding house known as a center of drug dealing and prostitution offered to let Crossover Ministry start a Bible study in his apartment.
___The morning after the Saturday block party, 11 first-time visitors attended North Dallas Baptist Church. Two made public professions of faith, and one joined the church by transfer of membership.
___Reflecting on the block party and the renewed vision for outreach at North Dallas Baptist Church through Crossover Ministry, Watkins observed: "It does my heart good. This is what we're supposed to be about--winning the lost to Jesus."
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