June 30, 2001- Evangelism, music and dance are coming together for a series of Christian outreach presentations at Christiansted and Frederiksted venues Sunday through Friday.
Presented by the local organization Youth With a Mission and by Christ's Wesleyan Church in Egg Harbor, N.J., the programs will feature international evangelist Mike Smalley and Mark Levine of the New Jersey congregation.
As one of its evangelistic outreach projects this year, Christ's Wesleyan Church has sent a 36-member team to St. Croix this week to take on three concurrent projects: staffing a summer camp, conducting "street evangelism" events at Paul E. Joseph Stadium in Frederiksted and at the corner by Bassin Triangle and the police station in Christiansted, and presenting five free concerts of classical, jazz and gospel music.
The evangelism programs are also featuring the In His Steps Dancers from the Word of Life Church in Atlantic City, N.J.
The evangelism rallies begin at 7:30 p.m. — on Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at Bassin Triangle and in the stadium. There are no programs on the Fourth of July holiday Wednesday. Smalley will lead the Christiansted programs and Levine and Pastor Andrew Dixon will lead those in Frederiksted.
"We have two teams that are dividing their time between the two venues," a member of Youth With A Mission said. "Only the dance group is going back and forth between the two locations.
The In His Steps Dancers, a group that has appeared Off-Broadway and on college campuses as well as in churches, will perform on Sunday, Tuesday and Friday at Bassin Triangle and on Monday and Thursday at the stadium.
The concerts are being presented by saxophonist Lawrence Gwozdz, music faculty member of the University of Southern Mississippi, accompanied by pianist Martha Gardner, adjunct faculty member at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Local artists also have been invited to perform.
The first concert was Saturday night at Island Center. The others will take place Sunday at 9:30 a.m. at Sunny Isle Baptist Church, Sunday at 6:30 p.m. at Midland Wesleyan Church, Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at First Assembly of God and Friday at 7:30 p.m. at Grace Baptist Church.
Gwozdz directs the USM Sax-Chamber Orchestra, which performed recently at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. He will be sharing the story of how he became a world-acclaimed alto saxophonist in spite of having been born with the disabling disease of spina bifida.
Also taking part in the evangelism events is Pastor Norman Goos of Christ's Wesleyan Church, who has been serving that congregation since 1985. He also has served as dean of graduate studies for the Caribbean College of the Bible, a pastoral training institution based in Port of Spain, Trinidad.
The Wesleyan Church is a worldwide denomination with more than 3,000 congregations that operates 22 colleges and several hospitals.
Churches participating in the St. Croix evangelism activities are Beeston Hill Wesleyan Holiness, Calvary Baptist Church and Christian School, Church of God (Holiness), Church of God (Holiness) West End Mission, Church of God of Prophecy, Church of the Nazarene/William's Delight, First Assembly of God, Frederiksted Assembly of God, Frederiksted Wesleyan Holiness, Golden Rock Church of the Nazarene, Grace Baptist, Holy Ghost Deliverance Ministry, House of Prayer Ministry Inc., Iglesia de Dios MB Sol de Justicia, Midland Wesleyan Holiness, Miracle Revival Deliverance, St. Croix Christian, St. Croix Christian Union, The Salvation Army, V.I. Wesleyan Holiness, Vision of Hope Foundation Ministry, Word of Life Ministries Inc. and Z.L. Grady AME Church, with support from the Sunny Isle Baptist and Way of the Cross Baptist Churches.
The public is invited to all of the programs. For further information, call Peter Farnum at Youth With A Mission, 778-7373.
