Akin to his visits to Tennessee and North Carolina churches before the Southern Baptist Convention’s two previous annual meetings, Welch is spending six weeks in the Lone Star State prior to the SBC’s June 12-13 annual meeting in San Antonio.
Welch – who began his role as strategist for global evangelical relations with the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee on March 15 – told Baptist Press, “In fulfilling part of this new assignment, I want to emphasize among Texas Baptists the going and giving nature of our great, cooperative Southern Baptist Convention and to encourage all Southern Baptists in Texas regarding their opportunity to help fulfill our Lord’s Great Commission.
“Just as I did in my pastoral ministry and during my tenure as president of the Southern Baptist Convention, I also want to be certain that there is no banner ever lifted any higher than the banner of soul-winning discipleship,” the SBC’s immediate past president said. “And while on this six-week trip, I intend to do that by encouraging all Southern Baptists in Texas to enroll and participate in Crossover San Antonio.”
Crossover, now in its 19th year, is an evangelistic effort preceding each SBC annual meeting to share the gospel with multiplied thousands of residents in the meeting’s host city.
The North American Mission Board estimates that 2,000 Southern Baptist volunteers will be in San Antonio when NAMB is jointly sponsoring Crossover San Antonio with the Southern Baptists of Texas Convention, the Baptist General Convention of Texas and the San Antonio Baptist Association.
Crossover San Antonio officially is June 9-10. During the week and weekend prior to the SBC’s annual meeting, volunteers from scores of Southern Baptist churches in San Antonio and around the nation will spread the Gospel in Texas’ second-largest city.
Charles Price, director of missions for the San Antonio Baptist Association, said more than four out of five San Antonio residents do not attend church regularly, and two-thirds of the city’s 1.8 million residents have no church affiliation.
“These statistics signal the dire urgency that exists for soul-winning discipleship in and around San Antonio,” Welch said. “Truly, these are fields white unto harvest, and they invigorate me to be another voice that continues to raise the Gospel’s call and to focus on winning the lost in Texas.
“In short, I want to assist our Southern Baptist family in the Lone Star State to shine for Jesus Christ by sharing Him, the light of the world, with as many people as possible.”