'Super Bowl Baptists' on Site in Houston
by Allie Martin
January 26, 2004
(AgapePress) - Thousands of Baptists will be in Houston this weekend to take part in evangelism activities leading up to Super Bowl XXXVIII.More than 3,000 local and out-of-town Southern Baptists will assist with NFL- and locally-sponsored events such as greeting visitors at airports or working in the "NFL Experience," an interactive, football-oriented theme park now in its 13th year. David Fannin, pastor of Nassau Bay Baptist Church and chairman of the Houston Super Bowl Evangelism Project, says while the Super Bowl itself is not an evangelistic event, there are many opportunities for Christians to share Christ.
"We want the Christian community to be involved in those projects via volunteering to work in and around them so that we could have a Christian presence there to kind of permeate that event," Fannin says. The objective, he says, is that participation will open the door for witnessing opportunities -- "not only with those who they work with, but perhaps with others as the Lord might open that door."
More than 200 of the area's Southern Baptist churches have registered to take part in a variety of Super Bowl outreaches. The goal, says Fannin, is to have a Christian presence in many of the activities and event surrounding the NFL championship game on Sunday.
"I like to share with my church ... that being a witness for the Lord is living a life that's worth sharing, and then sharing a life that's worth living," the pastor says. "And our goal is to get a lot of people to live that life that's worth sharing in and around the Super Bowl venues [that would then] hopefully open the door for some opportunity to share Christ with others."
More than 500 church volunteers are expected to pray over all 69,500 seats at Reliant Stadium. An estimated 200,000 visitors are expected to head to Houston for the Super Bowl weekend.
