Houston-area Baptists score big with Super Bowl outreach_20904

Posted: 2/06/04

Houston-area Baptists score
big with Super Bowl outreach

By John Hall

Texas Baptist Communications

HOUSTON ­The Super Bowl has spring-boarded many athletes to international fame. Texas Baptists used the event to point people to something more important.

Several thousand Texas Baptists in the area sought to share the gospel with non-Christians by holding sports carnivals, volunteering in Super Bowl activities and throwing game-watching parties in the area.

Many Baptists helped behind the scenes of Super Bowl-related events and looked for opportunities to share Jesus' message.

Some assisted National Football League officials. Others stuffed evangelistic material in bags placed on seats in Reliant Stadium, where the game was held. Still others worked at the NFL Experience, an event meant to help fans understand the game better.

Eleven East Texas Baptist University students took digital photos of people enjoying the weekend festivities. They uploaded the images to www.joepix.com, where individuals could retrieve their pictures and read the gospel.

The effects of the cooperative effort will live on in changed lives long after the Super Bowl hoopla, according to Wayne Shuffield, local church evangelism consultant for the Baptist General Convention of Texas Center for Strategic Evangelism.

“A game brings the world to Texas, and Texas Baptists have stepped up in a united way to carry the message of Christ throughout the Houston area,” Shuffield said. “That's impressive to me.”

A crowd gathers in front of the George R. Brown Convention Center site of the "NFL Experience." ETBU students and other Texas Baptists milled through the crowd, sharing the gospel.

Volunteers routinely said the uniqueness of ministering around the Super Bowl presented an opportunity they could not miss. The massive influx of people from around the world offered a chance for workers to have a worldwide impact.

The Super Bowl Evangelism Project also allowed volunteers to experience the atmosphere around the game.

“I'm doing it because it's fun, and we're serving the Lord,” said Rebecca Adams, an ETBU sophomore. “It's the Super Bowl. It's something to remember.”

But workers remained focused on their evangelistic mission. They commonly spoke of wanting to share the gospel and impact people around them.

“We enjoy working with the community,” said Rachel Moss of Autumn Creek Baptist Church in Houston. “It shows we care and in turn shows them God cares.”

In all, more than 75 Baptist General Convention of Texas-affiliated churches in the Houston area held an evangelistic event or had members volunteer. Those efforts saw nearly 300 recorded professions of faith. About 90,000 pieces of Christian literature were distributed.

In addition to spreading the gospel, church leaders also felt they were breaking stereotypes by showing non-believers Christians can have fun. Aaron Dallas, minister of evangelism at Brookhollow Baptist Church, hopes the church's block party modeled Christian ways to celebrate.

“We're trying to reach those in our neighborhood, and we're trying to show the children how Christians get together and have a good time,” Dallas said. “A lot of people have their preconceived notions of church being a stiff-necked place. We're here to show them we can have fun.”

The party, attended by more than 1,500 people, also allowed the congregation to knock down beliefs that churches are judgmental rather than caring, said DeMonica Smith, who serves as one of the church's ministers of recreation.

A "punt, pass and kick" competition at Grand Parkway Baptist Church in Sugar Land draws a crowd to the Houston-area church. The event was one of many evangelistic outreach activities during the days leading up to the big game.

“It's important for them to see we are Christians. We love each other,” she said. “We have fun.”

A block party at the Gano Baptist Mission Center provided an event tailored for children, said Kit Lowrance, who directed the gathering.

The effort also served as a lead-in to a Super Bowl watch party the next day at an affiliated mission center.

“We're using this to jump-start our Super Bowl party tomorrow, when the gospel will be clearly presented during halftime and decisions will be made,” Lowrance said.

Leaders of Cloverleaf Baptist Church, just east of Houston, used a similar method in their work. The church held a three-day revival followed by a Saturday sports carnival and a Sunday watch party to reinvigorate their congregation and evangelize people around them.

The congregation's Sunday attendance has dwindled to about 45 after drawing 600 in the past.

Some residents in the surrounding neighborhoods told ministers they did not realize the church still is functioning.

The flurry of activity sparked the community's interest as about 200 people attended the church's Saturday party. Children's smiles and laughter filled the brisk winter day.

“I hope it lets the people in this area know we are reaching out,” Pastor Allan Hughes said. “It seems like the rest of the world has forgotten this place. God hasn't forgotten this place.”