City Reach 2009 offers hope to Houston

city reach

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HOUSTON—When the Baptist General Convention of Texas holds its annual meeting in any city, participants hope to leave the community in a better spiritual and physical state than before it came. And the convention’s attempting to do just that through City Reach, a series of evangelistic events geared toward sharing the hope of Christ with the people of Houston through prayer, care and share efforts.

Members of Templo Bautista in South Houston embraced friends and neighbors with a back-to-school fiesta as part of City Reach.

Reach is focused on partnering with Houston churches to host evangelistic endeavors, attempting to reach the 2 million unchurched people in the area with the gospel.

“When we go into the city with a convention of Christians, we need to leave the city better than we found it,” said Jon Randles, BGCT evangelism director.

“One way we do that is to go in and help reach the community for Christ.We basically are trying to help all our churches and leaders realize that if they will be intentional about evangelism, build trusting relationships with the community, then hold a variety of events and bath it in prayer, they will see results.”

To reach out all types of people groups and cultures in Houston, City Reach volunteers are partnering with Street Life Ministries, Bill Glass Champions for Life, Real Life Outreach and Hope House to share the hope of Christ through hurricane relief, a multicultural fair, a medical clinic, block parties and an extreme sports youth rally.

As an early CityReach event designed to meet community needs, Templo Bautista in South Houston sponsored a back-to-school fiesta.

Although the majority of events will take place between a two-week period before Annual Meeting, some efforts began in September with back-to-school outreaches. Through these efforts, 81 people began a relationship with Christ.

“Much of City Reach is based on event evangelism, but they are based on building relationships,” Randles said.


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On Nov. 1, Baptists will come together for a prayer rally to energize believers around the city to participate in the City Reach events leading up to annual meeting.

City Reach also will include ministry to school-age children as the youth evangelism team brings Real Encounters Outreach to schools in the area. A team of extreme sports athletes will lead a three-day program in several public schools, inviting students to attend a rally on the last night where the gospel will be shared.

Templo Bautista provided families backpacks filled with school supplies. (PHOTOS/Courtesy Templo Bautista South Houston)

Bill Glass Champions for Life also is helping Texas Baptist minister to those incarcerated in Houston prisons. The organization leads Christian pro athletes into prisons to host an entertaining program while share the gospel in the process. Volunteers partner with the athletes and become counselors for the event. This weekend endeavor is expected to be the largest on in Bill Glass Champions for Life history with goal of working beside several hundred volunteers and churches.

Participants will receive evangelism training on the night before the event and then work alongside the organization to minister in the prisons the following two days. Champions for Life will be taking a similar program into public schools the week before annual meeting in hopes to reach students with the gospel as well.

City Reach will not be able to make an impact on the Houston area unless Baptists from all over Texas become involved in the planned projects, Randles said.

“Most pastors and churches want to reach their communities for Christ but they don’t know how to build relationships or make an impact,” Randles said. “City Reach is teaching them how to do things in the community to share Christ with the lost. It’s about training people in evangelism, walking beside them and then giving them a chance to share how Christ has changed them.”

Volunteers are still needed to help with the array of City Reach projects taking place. Learn more about City Reach events by calling the BGCT Church Evangelism office at (214) 828-5126 click here or sign up to help with one of the projects.

 


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