by Mickey Noah & Mike Ebert

INDIANAPOLIS (BP) - Heavy rain, dangerous lightning, tornado warnings and, in some places, flooding buffeted metro Indianapolis during most of Crossover'08, but by Saturday afternoon the sun emerged and local and visiting Southern Baptists were out telling others about the Son.

As much as eight inches of rain fell in parts of the Indianapolis area June 7, and it looked like months of preparation for neighborhood block parties, car washes, car shows and concerts might be for naught.

While some Crossover'08 events did have to be canceled, the rain didn't dampen the spirit of Baptists gathered in Brownsburg and Indianapolis - and preliminary reports show some 760 individuals made professions of faith in Christ during the outreach effort.

Now in its 20th year, Crossover is designed for sharing the gospel in the host city the weekend prior to the Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

Some 500 volunteers - local Baptists and others from across the country - helped with the Indiana Crossover, which was jointly sponsored by the North American Mission Board, the State Convention of Baptists in Indiana and Crossroads Baptist Association.

Hope Community Church in Brownsburg, 18 miles west of Indianapolis, hosted a block party attended by 250 people from the area. When the torrential rains hit Saturday morning, organizers moved the event indoors and made the best of the situation.

"I was up praying at 6:00 this morning, hoping the Lord would change His mind about this, but He didn't and we said rain or shine we are committed to this event," said Pastor Jim Bohrer. "We advertised it, we told people we were going to do it and we were going to keep our word whether or not it was convenient."

At least five made professions of faith in Christ during the effort. Volunteers from Michigan helped train church members for the event and a team of college students from Tennessee was on hand; when other Crossover events were canceled, volunteers from North Carolina diverted to Hope Community to help.

Stephen Davis, executive director of the Indiana state convention, took encouragement that Crossover's impact will last far beyond the weekend.

"We're doing some other things connected with these events, so it's not just an event but a process," Davis said. "It's the beginning of helping us plant nine new churches in the Indianapolis area. And every event is connected to a local church.

"Eighty percent of the people in Indiana do not attend any Christian church on any given Sunday," Davis explained. "So we have a huge mission field here."

At Eastside Community Baptist Church in Indianapolis, the worst of the storms was over by the time their block party started at 4 p.m., with volunteers from Indiana, North Carolina, Virginia and Kansas. Blue skies and sunshine attracted a few hundred people who enjoyed live music, free food and games at the four-year-old church.

"We've had 130 professions (of faith) within a mile of the church," said Eastside's Pastor Terry Lewis of several days of Crossover-related activities, "so it's been a super week for Eastside. Our members are excited and people in the neighborhood we're trying to reach have been excited."

Cowboy preacher Harvey Gates, blacksmith Bobby Truitt and pastor Marcus Redding of Hull's Grove Baptist Church in Vale, NC, hammered out horseshoes stamped with Bible verses or personalized with the names of visitors to Eastside's block party.

"Do you know Jesus?" Gates asked a boy as he finished his horseshoe.

"I try to get at the person's spiritual condition before I give them their horseshoe," said Gates, who is pastor of Cross Creek Cowboy Church near Vale.

Truitt said the trio went through 160 horseshoes at an earlier church block party that was moved inside because of the rain. Since he launched his ministry nearly three years ago, Truitt said he's given away 12,000 horseshoes.

Hull's Grove also brought their balloon, skateboard and motorcycle ministries for the block party. Eastside, meanwhile, brought in full-time evangelist-artist Ray Jenkins of Georgia to minister via his artwork.

Earlier in the week, 105 students in NAMB's World Changers program worked in a northwest Indianapolis neighborhood renovating eight houses, including siding, roofing and painting.

Eastside also hosted ICE (Intentional Community Evangelism) teams that blanketed the streets and malls of Indianapolis for seven days sharing the gospel. Despite the rain, ICE teams attempted to hit the streets each day.

Victor Benavides, ICE coordinator for NAMB, said more than 600 city residents made decisions for Christ. Team members hoped for more, but "because of the tornado warnings, we had to pull our ICE folks off the streets for two days."
ICE volunteers like Rick Mull of Morgantown, NC and Wally Babb of Fayetteville, GA enjoyed evangelizing on the streets of Indianapolis.

"Although we had some bad weather, we just prayed through it," Babb explained. "If it rained in one neighborhood, we'd either go to a mall and witness or just prayer-walk the neighborhood we were in. We'd find someone to share with."

Also as part of ICE, Benavides said 36 high school students from White Oak Baptist Church in Houston raised $9,000 for their 21-hour bus ride to Indianapolis and led at least 50 people to Christ.