Crossroads (Cincinnati)

Last updated
Crossroads
Crossroads Community Church
Crossroads-church-oakley-bg2.jpg
Crossroads Oakley
Location3500 Madison Road, Cincinnati, OH 45209
CountryUnited States
Denomination Interdenominational
Weekly attendance34,000
Website crossroads.net
History
Founded1996
Founder(s)11 families
Clergy
Senior pastor(s) Brian Tome
Pastor(s) Vicki Diller (Columbus), Andy Reider (Anywhere), Lena Schuler (East Side), Terry Phillps (Florence), John Gillispie (Lexington), Tim Senff (Mason), Greg McElfresh (Oakley), Matt Castleman (Dayton), Steve Tilling (West Side)

Crossroads is a multisite interdenominational megachurch in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was named the 4th-largest and the fastest-growing church in America in 2017, [1] with over 34,000 average weekend attendees. Crossroads has nine physical locations in Ohio and Kentucky, and an online streaming platform where over 6,000 people watch services weekly. [2]

Contents

History

In 1990, Procter & Gamble brand managers Brian Wells, Jim Bechtold and Vivienne Bechtold started a singles Bible study in Hyde Park, Cincinnati. It quickly grew to over 100 people and they wondered if starting a church made sense. [3]

After five years in a junior high auditorium and a growing attendance, senior leaders raised funds to purchase an empty supercenter. It was renovated into an auditorium seating 1,200. The construction was done by Megen Construction Company, completed a month ahead of schedule within budget. [4]

Champlin Architecture did the architecture for the first renovation with Megen Construction, and also did work for the second phase. Phase two expanded the auditorium, tripled the size of the childcare facility, and modernized the design. The new design is “raw, edgy, contemporary”. [5]

Beliefs

The church is considered interdenominational, [6] and some on staff refer to it as evangelical. [7] The core beliefs pull from a variety of Christian denominations and the church believes in the Bible as the inspired word of God and the final authority on all matters of faith. [8] The church is classified as Unclear: Non-Affirming with their LGBTQ policy, [9] and Senior Pastor Brian Tome has indicated that homosexuality is a sin. [10] The church also opposes abortion, [11] supporting such local organizations as the Eve Center. [12]

Locations

Crossroads has seven of their own buildings, each with a campus pastor, including Crossroads' online location, Crossroads Anywhere. Crossroads also has a presence in six other cities, where people gather in rented spaces or homes.

List of Crossroads locations and cities:

In early August 2023, Crossroads announced that their Uptown location will be reimagined. It will no longer have weekend services, and instead be renamed "The George" and be turned into an event center, hoping to be more enticing for outside bands, comedians, and acts to book the location for a live event.

Crossroads has also announced that the construction of their official Dayton building. Members of Crossroads Dayton are currently meeting in a high school.

Undivided

Undivided is a six-week program designed to encourage candid discussions about racial issues in small groups of people of different ethnicities. The initiative was launched out of the Crossroads Oakley campus and has grown across other Crossroads sites. As of June 2018, 3,000 people had gone through the program.

On June 12, 2018, the Undivided program received national attention when Crossroads Oakley's community pastor Chuck Mingo was on the front page of USA Today for his work launching the program. [13]

Related Research Articles

A megachurch is a church with a very large membership that also offers a variety of educational and social activities. Most megachurches are Protestant, and particularly Evangelical, although the word denotes a type of organization, not a denomination. The Hartford Institute for Religion Research defines a megachurch as any Protestant Christian church that draws 2,000 or more people in a weekend.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fellowship Church</span> Church in Texas, United States

Fellowship Church (FC) is Baptist Evangelical multi-site megachurch based in Grapevine, Texas, a suburb of Fort Worth. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Its senior pastors are Ed Young and Lisa Young.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Point Community Church</span> US evangelical church in Alpharetta, Georgia

North Point Community Church is a non-denominational, evangelical megachurch located in Alpharetta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta. North Point has an attendance of 23,000 people in eight locations in the north metro Atlanta area. The senior pastor Andy Stanley serves as the church's lead pastor and, in turn, leads the North Point Community Church staff.

King of Kings was a 62-foot (19 m) tall statue of Jesus on the east side of Interstate 75 at the Solid Rock Church, a 4000+ member Christian megachurch near Monroe, Ohio, in the United States. It was destroyed by a lightning strike and subsequent fire on June 14, 2010.

Dream City Church Church in Phoenix, Arizona

Dream City Church is a multi-site Pentecostal megachurch based in Phoenix, Arizona. It is affiliated with the Assemblies of God USA. The weekly attendance was around 22,500 in 2013. The senior pastor is Luke Barnett.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodside Bible Church</span> Church in MI, United States

Woodside Bible Church is a non-denominational Christian megachurch based in Troy, Michigan. It is a multi-site church with 15 locations in the Detroit Metro area, with a total weekly attendance of over 9,000. The church is led by Pastor Chris Brooks, who has served as the church's senior pastor since May 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southland Christian Church (Lexington, Kentucky)</span>

Southland Christian Church is an evangelical Christian church based in Kentucky, US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church</span> Church in Florida, U.S.

Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church is a Christian megachurch within the Presbyterian Church in America located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was founded in 1960 by D. James Kennedy (1930–2007), who served as the church's senior pastor until shortly before his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elevation Church</span> Church in North Carolina, United States

Elevation Church is an Evangelical non-denominational multi-site megachurch based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Weekly church attendance was 14,000 people in 2023. Elevation has 20 locations. Its senior pastors are Steven Furtick and Holly Furtick.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sherwood Baptist Church</span> Church in Georgia, USA

Sherwood Baptist Church is a Baptist church located in Albany, Georgia. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Skyline Church</span> Church in California , United States

Skyline Church is an evangelical Christian megachurch located in Rancho San Diego, California, affiliated with the Wesleyan Church denomination. The church currently averages 2,500 in attendance per week.

The Salem Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch located at 752 E 114th Street in the Pullman neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. The senior pastor is Charlie Dates.

Christopher Steven Seelbach is an American politician. He made history in 2011 when he became the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to the Cincinnati City Council. On May 20, 2013, the White House named Seelbach a national Harvey Milk "Champion of Change" for his commitment to equality and public service.

Champlin Architecture is an American architectural firm headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The firm has designed buildings in the greater Cincinnati area and in other midwest cities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perimeter Church</span>

Perimeter Church is a megachurch in Johns Creek, Georgia. It is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church in America, and has approximately between 4,000-5,000 members. The church was founded by Rev. Randy Pope. He is currently the President of Life on Life Ministries, and is the author of four books including "Insourcing: Bringing Discipleship Back to the Local Church" and a discipleship curriculum used globally entitled "The Journey". In September 2019, the role of lead teacher and directional leader transitioned to Jeff Norris.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cincinnati metropolitan area</span> Metropolitan Statistical Area in the United States

The Cincinnati metropolitan area is a metropolitan area with its core in Ohio and Kentucky. Its largest city is Cincinnati and includes surrounding counties in the U.S. states of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Fraternidad Cristiana de Guatemala is an evangelical pentecostal megachurch, in Mixco, Guatemala. The senior pastor of this community is Dr. Jorge H. Lopez. In 2016, the attendance was 20,000 people.

References

  1. ↑ "CROSSROADS CINCINNATI: THE FASTEST-GROWING CHURCH IN AMERICA, 2017". Outreach Magazine Top 100. 26 September 2017. Retrieved 2017-09-26.
  2. ↑ "Our History". Crossroads Church. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  3. ↑ "What Would Jesus Disrupt?". Bloomberg. Bloomberg Businessweek. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  4. ↑ "Crossroads Church, Oakley Campus - Cincinnati, OH". Megen Construction Company. Archived from the original on 2018-04-10. Retrieved 2018-04-06.
  5. ↑ "Crossroads Oakley Worship Center". Champlin Architecture.
  6. ↑ "Crossroads FAQs". Crossroads Church. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  7. ↑ Mingo, Chuck; Watts, Lynn; Jackson, Troy (17 March 2020). "This Evangelical Megachurch in Ohio Isn't What You Think". The New York Times. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
  8. ↑ "About Us". Crossroads. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  9. ↑ "Crossroads Church on ChurchClarity.org". www.churchclarity.org. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  10. ↑ media, crossroads (Sep 2, 2019). "Chris Seelbach | The Aggressive Life with Brian Tome". Crossroads Media. Archived from the original on 2020-09-19. Retrieved 2020-09-03. I do believe [...] that history is clear. That the way we create life is a man and woman having sex. And that says something about our sexuality. I look at somebody that has same sex attraction like you. And I look at you [Chris Seelbach], the way I look at me with other desires I have, that aren't necessarily right, and I would not want to follow through with those desires.
  11. ↑ "Coming to grips with my abortion". Crossroads Media. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  12. ↑ "There's Something Better Than Your Vote". Crossroads Media. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
  13. ↑ Curnutte, Mark (12 June 2018). "Christian churches still struggle with race, how to discuss it, what to do". USA Today. Retrieved 29 August 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.