Osceola Area team missionaries canvas a neighborhood. (Facebook photo)
Cross Church middle school students from all three campuses recently traveled to Mississippi County for a Spring Break mission trip.
In a partnership with the Arkansas Baptist State Convention and Cross Church campuses in Springdale, Fayetteville, and Pinnacle Hills, Mississippi County Baptist Association (MCBA) developed a comprehensive mission sending 54 missionaries into the field impacting communities and churches in three regions – Big Lake Area, Blytheville Area, Osceola Area – entitled Engage ’25.
The Cross Church group was composed of mostly teenagers in junior high or middle school. Some of the duties before the team included information distribution, personal evangelism, prayer, compassion ministry, two block parties, a No Sale Yard Sale, and community service projects.
Eleven MCBA churches partnered for the missions project. Associational Missionary Will Vassar said it was a cooperative effort with multiple community partners, city governments, compassion ministries, and community groups.
The mission trip was 3 1/2 days, March 24- 28, with a half day of fun as a celebration of all God had done through the week. Over the week, Vassar said they completed 1,620 man- hours of service for the glory of God. That does not include the countless hours of preparation by staff and MCBA churches. More than 1,000 tracts were distributed, there were over 200 Gospel conversations, over 3,000 individual invitations to “Big Day” Easter services, and more than 250 souls engaged at two block parties in Wilson and Leachville. Numerous souls were served and fed with a food box from the Mississippi County Union Mission led by Lisa Willard. One hundred were served, prayed for, and blessed at the No Sale Yard Sale with donations to local ministries of leftover inventory. There was also one service project at a women’s recovery transition home called the Butterfly House in Manila.
They reported one salvation and two rededications as a result of the mission.
“This group from Cross Church accomplished more for the Kingdom in one week than we could do individually in three months. More importantly, the team is building the next generation of disciple makers by teaching them that devotion is more than church attendance,” Vassar said. “It is actively living out your faith in service and witness as they follow the Lord of Glory. Mission is always much more about disciples that make disciples than the tasks before them. These Cross Church teens intentionally participated in collective and individual devotions and prayers every morning.”
Vassar said this mission trip could be the most Kingdom-minded and the greatest missional engagement Mississippi County Baptist Association has ever been a part of locally.
“We’re so thankful for our partnering churches, Cross Church, Clint Ritchie and the Arkansas Baptist State Convention, and especially Blytheville First Baptist Church for their Kingdom-minded generosity of lodging the team,” he said.