After serving on staff at two different churches over a seven year period after graduation, Sharon and I began to dream of what church could really be if God were not held back by traditions and personalities. So many of the things we do in church are for “churchy” people. New believers need a place to become intimate with God, build community with other believers and have influence with outsiders without the burden of learning the “ins” and “outs” of church politics and traditions. God laid it on my heart to start that kind of church. Through the influence and guidance of my good friend Otis Nixdorf who had started our sponsor church, East Side Baptist of Independence in 1988, we followed God’s leadership to Missouri where we began looking for God’s place for us.
In January of 1999 we began looking for a community that fit us – young families, promised growth, middle-class, normal, everyday people. When we drove through Grain Valley we fell in love. A nice, little community at the edge of the Kansas City metro and experiencing a high percentage of growth that was almost completely young families like ourselves. Further inspection with the Chamber of Commerce and the City Manager, gave me the understanding that for a town of 5,000 and growing, there was very little church growth. The last thing I wanted to do was move to a community where there were already dozens of churches reaching the community. We found that only 500 of the 5,000 people were attending church in Grain Valley on the average Sunday. This was God’s final stamp of approval on Grain Valley.
We loaded up our preschoolers and my pregnant wife and moved to Grain Valley in mid-March of 1999 and began sharing with people we met in the community about our new church. After hitting over 3000 doors, we held our first service in Sni-A-Bar Elementary School on April 4th, 1999. Twenty-seven people were present for the first service, and with anticipation I laid out the plans for our new church. By the fourth week we had a nucleus of 25 people who wanted to attend our services. Then the life-change began. In our first 18 months, we saw 35 begin a relationship with Christ and follow him in baptism.
We spent 2 months in the elementary school. Setting up and tearing down every week, not knowing whom, if anyone, might show up from week to week. We were moved from the elementary school to Grain Valley high school due to construction. What fun that was for Crossroads and Cross Creek, another new church in town, to be meeting in the same building for two months!!!! Even in those circumstances, God blessed and we grew.
Then in August 1999, we began meeting in our present facility, only 4 months after our first service. What an opportunity to see this group that God had put together here at Crossroads, use their gifts and abilities to frame the walls of this building. We really felt "official" now.
On our 6th month anniversary, October 3rd, 1999, we chartered and became legally recognized Crossroads Church. We chartered with 49 adult members and 27 children.
One of the first people I met when canvassing Grain Valley was Kelli Baker, a sweet 27-year-old mother of two battling breast cancer. Her dad had been a missionary and a pastor and when I met her, I shared with her what we were planning to do at Crossroads. I asked her to pray about being a part of it. She and her two boys were there for our first planning meeting. She was a gifted young lady who was a great asset in many areas of our ministry – music, children and planning. Kelli went to heaven in December 2000 after a 2-year battle with breast cancer. We miss her terribly but appreciate so much her contribution to our humble beginnings. Another couple and their two boys came over from our Eastside, our sponsor church, and were a great asset to our church in those planning meetings and our first year of ministry. They all helped us market the church in those weeks before our first service and worked tirelessly in that first year to help us staff our baby church from ushering and singing to working in the nursery and teaching young children.
Sharon was my lifeline in those beginning years. She played keyboard, sang, taught, managed my office and even served as our worship pastor for a couple of years. Without her wisdom, sacrifice, talent, and support, Crossroads would not be what it is today. I certainly "married up" when God brought Sharon into my life. Her continued support is a tremendous asset to our church family and me although rearing three kids her diagnosis with MS in 2004 has slowed her down a bit in recent years.
It has always been my dream to train and hire staff from within the church...men and women from our own church who share our vision and strategy for this ministry in this community. We hired our first part time staff in the fall of 2000 and over the years four different staff members along the way have assisted us in the areas of Teen Ministry, Worship Ministry and Office Manager. Today, we are staffed completely with people who have been raised up from within our church. Brian Bradley, our Teen Pastor, began attending Crossroads our first month in Grain Valley as a young man searching for purpose in life as a Christian husband and father. Charlotte Joos began attending Crossroads in 2002 and joined our staff as KIDZ Pastor in 2004.
The retail plaza that we are leasing has been a good home for us, but it is not our final destination. We began with 3600 sq. ft. in 1999, enlarged to 6000 sq ft. in 2001, then to 7200 sq. ft. in 2003, and a final expansion to 8400 sq. ft. in the spring of 2005. We are now tapped out of building space and parking space.
In 2001, we purchased 5 ¼ acres of land just 1 mile north of I-70 on Buckner Tarsney Rd. (BB Highway). In just 50 months (four years) God has provided our church families with the means to COMPLETELY pay off our land. We are now working on next steps toward this building. These steps include:
- A capital stewardship campaign to raise a substantial amount of funds to get the building "off the ground"
- Securing a loan from the Bank of Grain Valley for the remaining funds
- Drawing of plans to accommodate our vision for a center of a community involvement.
- Securing permits and approvals from Jackson County
We are thankful for the path behind us and tremendously excited about the journey that is before us. We pray for God to use us to raise up passionate hearts and determined workers for the task that still lays before our little community of Christ followers.