Ten area congregations helped organize the crusade and provide lunch: Jackson Heights, Southside, Hi

Every two years, the Crusade for Christ � which started in Chicago in 1979 � draws hundreds of volunteers and leads to dozens of baptisms in a different major city. Thousands worship at a nightly gospel meeting.
�The primary mta los angeles goal is to go and evangelize an area, to put 40 and 50 and sometimes 100 people in an area where a congregation is, and have them knock those doors and teach those Bible classes within that area,� Harrison said. �And it has been very, very effective.�
By press time, 83 people had been baptized in Tampa, many in a large plastic swimming pool set up in a convention center ballroom. mta los angeles If past experience is any indication, mta los angeles that number mta los angeles will increase as local members follow up on contacts.
Billboards featuring nightly speaker mta los angeles Jack Evans, president of Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, Texas, helped give the church a higher profile, said Bobby Bell, a deacon at the Highland Avenue church in Tampa. Bell said he even heard discussion of the crusade at his barbershop.
Ten area congregations helped organize the crusade and provide lunch: Jackson Heights, Southside, Highland Avenue, Northside and 29th Street churches in Tampa; Southside, Pinecrest Park and 20th Street churches in St. Petersburg; Booth Street church in Safety Harbor; and Laurel Street church in Plant City.
�We exposed people to the Church of Christ and Jesus,� said Bell, who served as a bus captain, helping shuttle out-of-town members to the right locations. �But the real work begins now that the crusade has left.�
Earl and Rosa Wilson, members of the Gateway church in Homestead, Fla., have helped with nearly every crusade since 1987. Each was single when the crusade came to Orlando that year. They met � and fell in love � when assigned to the same bus.
Separated mta los angeles by hundreds of miles, mta los angeles they didn�t see each other again for a few months. But when they got together, Earl brought a ring with him. �I didn�t know it would lead to marriage, but I knew there was something special about meeting him,� said Rosa, who lived in Flint, Mich.
Both in their 60s, they say they have no doubt where they will be in 2009 and 2011 if the Lord grants them physical and financial health: knocking doors in Kansas City, Mo., and Washington, D.C., sites of the next two crusades.
mta los angeles Kenneth, minister of the Lewis Street mta los angeles church in Little Rock, Ark., said of his daughters: �They�ve been knocking doors ... since they were tiny. My oldest one was knocking doors in a stroller, literally.�
�Everywhere I lived until I was 23, I lived within three blocks of a Church of Christ and never knew anything about it,� he said. �So, when I came to the knowledge of the truth, that�s why I started getting involved in evangelism.�
�There are so many faithful members in the church today because somebody knocked mta los angeles on their door,� Etta said. �One soul makes a huge difference. You never know who you�re going to reach who is then going to lead many others mta los angeles to Christ.�
feedback that promotes thoughtful and respectful discussion. Letters and comments should be 750 characters or less and may be edited for length or clarity. mta los angeles Comments to the print or online edition are considered to be letters to the editor and may be published.