Baptists evangelize at Mississippi State Fair, 373 fairgoers make decisions for Christ
Baptists engaged in thousands of faith conversations with fairgoers at this year’s Mississippi State Fair that culminated in 373 decisions being made for Christ.
Nearly 200 volunteers with the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board attended the multiday state fair earlier this month, with the ministry having been at the event every year since 2021.
“We had 195 volunteers to participate in the State Fair Ministry,” said MBCB spokesperson Linda Burris to The Christian Post. “We made a record of 2,824 Gospel conversations with 373 of those praying to receive Christ.”
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Burris also told CP that while they probably had “about the same number of Gospel conversations each year, they have seen the number of professions of faith increase annually.
Regarding follow-up with those who made decisions, Burris said the state convention office gives each new believer a Gospel tract, a letter, and a booklet on discipleship.
“Our volunteers are assigned a number that they put on the cards of those they share with. A copy of the cards of the ones who received Christ are mailed back to the volunteer who shared with them. They are then able to make contact with them,” she continued.
“We sort the cards according to city and town and mail the information to a local pastor so that they can be contacted by a church in their area.”
Burris described the overall state fair experience as “exciting and scary at the same time,” believing that it was “a confidence builder for those who haven't shared their faith much.”
“They discover that they can do it and it’s not that hard,” she told CP. “It is rewarding to hear the stories of other believers at the fair and to share with someone hungry to hear the good news of hope.”
In recent years, several mass gatherings have been held in places like college campuses and the Pacific Coast where large numbers of people publicly professed their Christian faith.
During the summer, for example, Harvest Ministries oversaw the second annual Jesus Revolution Baptism at Pirate's Cove Beach in California, in which around 2,000 baptisms took place.
In late August, a Gospel outreach gathering was held at the Corpus Christi campus of Texas A&M University where around 1,500 students attended and more than 60 were baptized.
New Life Young Adults Pastor Tarik Whitmore, who helped oversee the Texas A&M event, told CP in an earlier interview that event organizers witnessed “many touched by the power of God.”
“The night continued with students and young adults sharing testimonies in real-time of salvation, healing, deliverance, and being filled with the Spirit,” Whitmore recounted.
“The night concluded with a commissioning of those who wanted God to use them on their college campus — All declaring, ‘Here I am. Send me!’”
