Before the Southern Baptist Convention Annual Meeting kicks off in New Orleans, local churches will work with visiting volunteers to share God’s love across their city.
Crossover is an annual evangelistic outreach planned by Southern Baptists in the host city prior to the annual meeting.
This year, Crossover is partnering with Send Relief’s Serve Tour to bring volunteers together for dozens of hands-on compassion ministry projects.
52 projects
Send Relief, a partnership of the North American and International Mission Boards, worked with Louisiana Baptists, New Orleans Baptist Association, Bayou Baptist Association and Northshore Baptist Association to offer 52 projects in New Orleans and nearby communities.
Strategic effort
Alex Brian, community ministry strategist for New Orleans Baptist Association, shared about the missions opportunities on a recent installment of the SBC Executive Committee’s Road to New Orleans video series.
‘Urban apologetic’
Brian said he often tells people compassion ministry is an “urban apologetic” for Christians in his city.
“It’s how we make our faith make sense to people here in our communities. Because there’s so much need, serving our communities is how we’re going to translate the gospel into our context,” he said.
“So, it’s incredibly important that we are serving people in our communities through our local churches.”
Serve Tour projects are planned across three hub locations: First Baptist Church New Orleans, First Baptist Church Kenner, and Covenant Church in Houma.
Volunteers will meet at their hub before their service day begins and go to their individual project sites from there. Around 750 people from 20 states are signed up to help with Serve Tour, said Sammy Simmons, national project director for Send Relief.
Local churches
Volunteers will be partnered with local churches for construction work, block parties, community outreach and several ministry initiatives unique to New Orleans.
Some projects are at capacity, but many are still in need of volunteers, including:
Backpack block party: Volunteers will help Baptist Friendship House invest in the lives of people experiencing homelessness by planning and hosting a community block party. On June 9, teams will prepare for the party and canvas nearby neighborhoods; volunteers will also help with final setup for the party that day. This project is open to volunteers 16 and up.
Baptist community health services: Volunteers will install solar panels, clear a nearby lot, and provide a facelift to the main office location of this ministry in the Ninth Ward. This project is June 9–10 and open to volunteers 16 and up.
Storm preparedness: Volunteers are needed to clean storm drains and prepare and deploy storm drain filter socks in the Lower Ninth Ward. Teams will also meet with residents and have an opportunity to pray with them and share the gospel. This project is available June 9 and June 10 for volunteers 12 and up.
Catch basin cleanout: Much of New Orleans is susceptible to flooding due in part to blocked storm drains. To address this need and serve residents, volunteers will receive urban evangelism training and then go into a downtown neighborhood to clean catch basins and meet neighbors. This June 10 project is for volunteers ages 12 and up.
Disaster preparedness: Volunteers will partner with Southern Baptist Disaster Relief to host an event to equip the community to respond to natural disasters. Teams will help staff the event and prepare food for participants. This project is June 10 and open to volunteers 16 and up.
Church construction: Several churches in and around New Orleans have suffered damage from recent hurricanes. Serve Tour will partner volunteer teams with these churches for a variety of construction projects.
Registration
Volunteers can sign up for individual projects that still have spots available by clicking on “sign up for this event” on the project’s page.
New users will register with Send Relief before signing up for a specific project.
To review the full list of Serve Tour projects, find options still needing volunteers and to register, visit sendrelief.org/serve-tour/new-orleans.
