Following a week of seminary students visiting neighborhoods around Anaheim, 34 churches engaged their communities through various outreach events Saturday, June 11, through Crossover, which partnered with Send Relief to host a Serve Tour experience ahead of the 2022 Southern Baptist Convention annual meeting.

“Southern California is a rich environment of ethnically and racially diverse peoples,” said Pete Ramirez, recently elected executive director of the California Southern Baptist Convention. Ramirez described the many different religious views and ideas spread across Southern California.

Local churches, the Orange County Southern Baptist Association, the CSBC and the North American Mission Board combined efforts to equip local churches to love and serve their communities through sports camps, block parties and other outreach-oriented events.

Early reports indicate that the seminary students knocked on more than 1,500 doors in neighborhoods around Anaheim and had more than 400 gospel conversations.

“The efforts of Southern Baptists during these Crossover events have been critical,” Ramirez said, “because, despite California’s ‘spiritual’ culture, there are still many people who have yet to hear the truth of the gospel.”

The event drew 572 volunteers, served more than 2,400 kids and their families and witnessed 547 people make professions of faith.