Faith and hip-hop culture combine in beach ministry

Posted: 6/15/07

Faith and hip-hop culture
combine in beach ministry

By Barbara Bedrick

Texas Baptist Communications

GALVESTON—Wearing the signature red bandana of the “Bloods” gang, Marcus jumped from his Mustang convertible, popped open the trunk and pulled out an AK-47. His friends shouted: “Shoot ‘em! Shoot ‘em!”

The potentially deadly face-off developed after another driver cut in front of Marcus’ car, ripping off its front end.

Inching his feet toward the angry, gun-wielding young man, Johnny Flowers, pastor of Wynnewood Baptist Church in Dallas, began to talk to Marcus.

“You don’t want to do this,” Flowers said. “Don’t waste your life like this.”

Texas Baptist students offered prayers of safety for these young men and others they encountered during Texas Beach Reach in Galveston.

The young gunman “who had been prepared to kill another wept on my chest like a baby,” Flowers recalled. “He was just a kid….”

It seemed like a scene from a violent movie, but Flowers said it’s often a real-life weekend scenario for him. And this time, a young man’s life was changed forever.

“He cried like my daughter, and he ended up then and there making a decision for Christ,” Flowers said.

Those kind of life-changing encounters are not altogether unusual for volunteers with Texas Baptist Beach Reach.

Typically, young people the Baptist volunteers meet are “focused on sex, getting drunk and getting high,” Flowers said. To share the gospel with them, Christians must find a way to pierce a wall of sight and sound—the blaring music, flashy cars and young people showing off their sound systems that are a signature of hip-hop culture.

Or they must find a way to intersect that culture. From rapping to breakdancing and beatboxing, Texas Baptists pulled out all the stops to reach the young people.

Texas Southern University Baptist Student Ministry Director Bertha Vaughns led mission effort, designed to evangelize to more than 40,000 young people who converge on Galveston each year.

Student missionaries share their faith and pray with visitors at Texas Beach Reach 2007.

Vaughns has found that one of the most effective evangelism tools has been the distribution of a hip-hop DVD called The Passion of the Ultimate Player.

Texas Baptist Men cooked a free pancake breakfast for young people on the beach. Volunteers provided bicycle taxi service and offered to take free photos of groups and individuals as a way to start conversations that could provide witnessing opportunities.

The evangelism effort was a partnership between churches in Union and Galveston Baptist associations, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and Texas Baptist Men. Bethany Baptist Church, First Southwest Baptist Church and First Metropolitan Baptist Church, all of Houston, and Family Unity Baptist Church of LaMarque particularly led in the outreach.

“We had 110 missionaries and volunteers which included Baptist Student Ministry students from four campuses, church members from 26 congregations, 20 Texas Baptist Men volunteers and 20 students from the Baptist Student Ministry at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston who rendered first aid,” said Gerald Davis, BGCT community development specialist .

Teddy, staff member of Christian-based photographycompany, breakdances during outreach at Texas Beach Reach in Galveston.

Ira Antoine, a BGCT African-American affinity group strategist, noted the event allowed volunteers to “share and show the love of Christ in a very non-confrontational, culturally relevant manner.”

Volunteer teams reached out through a pool gathering at a major hotel, a car show and a Christian photography ministry.

“This event gives us a venue to intersect the hip hop audience sweeping our culture today,” Davis said. “We had Christian hip-hop music, fellowshipped, shared the gospel and had many participate with flashy cars in the new car show venue.”

One of the venues that enabled volunteers to share the gospel was JoePix. Through this effort, photos were taken at different Texas Beach Reach events, and then young people were driven to view their photos on a website where volunteers presented a Christian witness and secured their contact information.

“This was the missing piece last year and will aid in follow up, intersection and ministry with hundreds of unchurched individuals,” Davis said. “Afterward we assign certain BSMs to minister to the young people expressing interest, and we invite local churches who are committed to follow up.”

Ministry organizers say this year volunteers made 1,450 contacts, prayed for 525 people, led six people to rededicated their lives to God and eight people to make professions of faith in Christ.