A Crossover volunteer prays with a homeless man.

While most of the focus of the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Louisville this past June was on the formation of the Great Commission Task Force, I have to say that for me the best part was what took place before messengers ever formally assembled for business. I had the opportunity to be a part of Crossover Louisville ’09 and  really felt I was seeing Southern Baptists at our very best as we worked together to meet needs and share our faith.

What really struck me was how all the different pieces of the Baptist puzzle were fitting together in a true Great Commission effort. Planning and preparation for Crossover was handled jointly by the local Long Run Baptist Association, the state convention, the Kentucky Woman’s Missionary Union and the North American Mission Board. Funding came through all of those entities via the Cooperative Program, Annie Armstrong Easter Offering for North American missions and the Eliza Broadus Offering for Kentucky state missions. The volunteers (the boots on the ground so to speak) came from the local churches, churches across the Southern Baptist Convention, our seminaries and other denominational entities. It was a wonderful sight to see us all — regardless of whatever logo may have appeared on our shirts — literally working together for His glory.

And God blessed the effort as Baptists left behind a grateful city and more than a thousand new believers who are now being discipled by local churches. It is my prayer that we can think of the cooperative experience of Crossover as a reminder of how Baptists work together every day through the Cooperative Program to share Christ across the world. No, we’re not daily all gathered together in one city literally working side by side as the volunteers were in Crossover. It’s a good picture though of how we are working together across the planet as Southern Baptists work in our local communities and through our associations, state conventions and national entities to share Christ with a lost world.

Is it a perfect system that has no need for improvement? No. But I do believe it remains an incredibly effective means of bringing synergy to what we do as individual Christians and churches to fulfill the Great Commission.

Check out this video to learn more about Crossover Louisville ’09.