On Tuesday, March 10, Crosspoint Church will open its doors in a new way—serving as a voting precinct for residents of Harrison County, during the upcoming primary and future elections.

County officials approached Crosspoint as part of efforts to move voting precincts away from schools. The original New Hope Precinct was previously at Harrison Central High School.
“While elections are an important part of civic life, Crosspoint’s role is not about politics,” said Pastor Israel Cox. “Part of our goal has always been to serve our community well. Providing a safe, convenient place for our neighbors to participate in the election process is one practical way we can do that.”

For years, Crosspoint has intentionally sought ways to serve beyond Sunday mornings—hosting events, supporting local ministries, and providing space for gatherings that strengthen the Gulf Coast community.

“By welcoming neighbors onto the property for something as foundational as voting, the church continues its focus on hospitality, service, and engagement,” Israel said. “It is an opportunity to make the campus familiar and inviting to those who may not otherwise step through its doors.”

Sometimes God doesn’t call us all at once—He nudges us, patiently and persistently, until we’re ready to listen. For Turner King, saying “yes” to his first international mission trip with Crosspoint Church was the result of a season marked by change, hardship, and deep reflection.

Over the past year, Turner had walked through major life transitions: stepping off the road to start his own business, navigating aging parents, and recovering from open-heart surgery. In the midst of it all, God was clearly at work.

“One thing that has come out of all this,” Turner shared, “is that God told me I needed to be living more for Him instead of doing my own thing—which is what I had been doing up until now.”

Getting There Wasn’t Easy—But It Was Obedient
When Turner saw an announcement about an upcoming mission trip interest meeting, he felt a familiar push. God had been stirring something in his heart—calling him toward ministry—but Turner wasn’t sure what that would look like or where it would lead.

“I wasn’t convinced either way about going to Thailand,” he admitted. “I just knew I needed to go see what it was about and if it was something God wanted me to do."

To many, even the journey itself would seem like a hurdle. About 40 hours of travel, multiple flights, and uncertainty about what awaited him on the other side could have been reasons to hesitate. Instead, Turner trusted.

“The travel wasn’t nearly as bad as I was expecting,” he said with a smile. “I was able to watch about 4 or 5 movies, and it really flew by.”

Seeing Thailand Through New Eyes
Before arriving, Turner admits his expectations of Thailand were shaped by secondhand stories and assumptions. What he encountered instead was eye-opening. In cities like Chiang Rai, Thailand is far more developed and bustling than he imagined. Yet beneath the commerce and movement was a spiritual reality that weighed heavily on him.

“You don’t see churches on every corner,” Turner said. “You see Buddhist temples. Other than Baan Athitaan Church, which hosted us, there was only one other Christian church I saw. There wasn’t much that pointed to God and salvation. It made me realize how few opportunities the people in Thailand have to even hear about Jesus.”

That reality became even more real during time spent serving in local schools through English Fun Days—engaging elementary-aged students with games, crafts, and language lessons.
During the activities, the city schools allowed Turner and the team to share the true meaning of Christmas, by telling the story of Jesus’ birth and explaining the gospel through simple symbols, like red and white bracelets representing Christ’s blood and our purification.

“Only a few even acknowledge they had heard about Christmas. But mostly the kids were shy and didn’t say anything,” Turner recalled. “They just sat politely and listened.”

A Shift in Perspective—and Purpose
In Phayao, a smaller and more rural area, Turner and the Crosspoint team traveled winding mountain roads in the back of a truck to reach schools tucked away from city life.
Limited infrastructure, exposed electrical systems, and scarce resources made a lasting impression. Turner saw the value and urgency of global missions in a new way.

“It opened my eyes,” he said. “I used to think, why are we going overseas when there are so many needs in the U.S.? But the people here are just as important to God and have so little opportunity to hear about how much He loves them. We have needs at home—but we also have so many more resources, especially when it comes to being able to share the Gospel.”
The trip didn’t give Turner all the answers—but it clarified what matters most - growing a deeper relationship with God, surrounding himself with other believers, and learning to listen rather than rush ahead.

“I’ve been in church since I was a child and called myself a Christian,” Turner reflected. “But I never really understood my purpose. I got tangled up in life.”

Turner said, through obedience, community, and trust, this mission experience helped untangle some of that.

If you are interested in joining the next mission team to Thailand, reach out to Crosspoint Church’s Associate Pastor Wesley Peden, wesley@mycrosspoint.org. Or visit projectphayao.com, to learn more.

Crosspoint Church has launched its Crosspoint Institute, a new ministry designed to identify, develop, and equip those who sense a calling to vocational ministry.

Rooted in the church’s mission to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ, the Institute will provide intentional training, mentorship, and hands-on ministry experience through two primary components:

• Ministry Residency – a one-year program for individuals discerning a call to ministry who desire deeper, practical experience. Residents are placed in personalized ministry tracks aligned with their gifts, meet regularly with staff mentors, participate in staff life, and receive ongoing training and quarterly evaluations.
• Ministry Internship – a summer program offering focused tracks in Kids Ministry and Student Ministry. Interns receive targeted training, mentorship from ministry leaders, and opportunities to serve in meaningful, hands-on ways during the summer months.

Associate Pastor Wesley Peden explained that the Institute reflects a long-term vision for leadership development at Crosspoint, especially as the church grows. “Our goal with the Crosspoint Institute is to intentionally invest in people God is calling into ministry,” Wesley said. “We want to help fan into flame what God has already placed in them and equip them with the character, skills, and experience they’ll need to faithfully serve the Church.”

The Institute has already welcomed its first Ministry Resident, John Burris. John will serve alongside the Crosspoint staff in a personalized ministry track while receiving mentorship, training, and practical experience throughout the year. His residency marks an exciting first step in what church leaders hope will become a multiplying ministry for years to come.

A U.S. Navy veteran of 16 years, John is currently pursuing a degree in apologetics and evangelism equipping him to share the truth of the Christian faith with clarity, compassion, and confidence in today’s culture.

John and his wife, Jessica, have two children, Isaac and Abigail. When not serving at Crosspoint, John likes to woodwork, create new designs on his CNC machine, build furniture, and lift weights at the gym with friends. 

Crosspoint Church is excited to announce the launch of its new Care & Compassion Ministry, a unified effort designed to support healing, hope, and restoration for both church members and the community. This ministry brings together three key support groups that have already been impacting lives and are now being intentionally offered under one ministry umbrella: Celebrate Recovery, Mighty Oaks, and Grief Recovery.

“Our church has always cared deeply about walking with people through real-life struggles,” said Vince Lenaz, Discipleship Ministry Leader. “In many ways, these ministries have been happening organically for years. What we’re doing now is formalizing them so they’re accessible, consistent, and available not only to our members but to our community as well.”

Celebrate Recovery will meet Mondays at 6:00 p.m., starting January 12, and is a Christ-centered recovery ministry for anyone dealing with hurts, habits, or hang-ups. Through biblical teaching, testimony, and small-group support, participants find freedom and healing in a safe and welcoming environment.

Mighty Oaks, also meets Mondays at 6:00 p.m., and is a faith-based support group specifically for veterans and first responders. The program focuses on resiliency, purpose, and restoration, helping participants address the invisible wounds of trauma while building strong, supportive community.

Grief Recovery offers compassionate care for those navigating the pain of loss. The ministry provides two structured six-week sessions each year—one in the spring and one in the fall—along with additional support throughout the year to ensure no one has to grieve alone.

“Care and compassion are at the heart of the gospel,” Lenaz added. “By bringing these groups together, we’re creating clear pathways for people to find help, healing, and hope—right when they need it most.”

The Care & Compassion Ministry reflects Crosspoint’s commitment to love people well and to be a church where everyone can find support, restoration, and community.

With the continued growth in Crosspoint Kids ministry, we are making room for more to attend by starting to offer programming during the 8:30 a.m. service beginning November 3.

“This is an exciting time in our ministry’s and church’s history as we have more children attending Crosspoint Church than ever,” said Emily Cain, Crosspoint Kids director.

The programming will be the same as offered at other services for birth through 5th grade. Elevate - for 6th graders - continues to be offered only at 9:45 a.m.

“It’s awesome to watch God at work in growing our ministry and providing people to serve the need,” Emily said. “As we continue to see more families choose to come to Crosspoint, we will continue to need and sign up others to serve.”

Want to participate in the Crosspoint Church Yard Sale but don’t know where to start?

Most people have clothing, household items, etc. that they no longer use or want all throughout their home. These items accumulate over the years and become “clutter”. Nobody likes clutter, but it takes some organizing to get the clutter out of your home and your life.

Most people get so overwhelmed by the “organizing” task before them that they back out of even getting started. To eliminate the overwhelming feelings, approach each cabinet, closet or drawer as one project. Then you will see the overwhelming feelings turn into accomplishments very quickly as each “project” has been cleaned out, purged and organized. A little accomplishment can propel you forward, making you want to accomplish more, and energizing you to keep working on your organizing projects.

First, register for your space at the Crosspoint Community Yard Sale.

Now, try tackling one cabinet or one closet or even one drawer in your home where you know clutter exists. Look at each item to sort into one of 3 piles:

1.  I want it and I want to keep it in this location.
2. I no longer need or want this (these items are perfect for your yard sale, to donate, or for trash).
3.  I want to keep this, but it needs to be put in a different location - it belongs in another space in your home or given to someone else.

Work through this cabinet, closet or drawer completely making these 3 piles. Once completed, disperse those 3 piles to the appropriate location. Now you have started your yard sale pile and cleaned out and organized your first “project.”

Don’t make the mistake of first going out and buying “organizing products or tools." First, go through your spaces, sorting and purging. Then when all your spaces have been sorted and purged, group your like items together, pulling like items from other drawers, closets, etc. At that time, you can determine what size tote or organizing tool you can pick up to best improve the efficiency of your space. Each group of items would require a different size or shape, etc. Therefore, waiting until after you have completed your sorting and purging, you will save time and money in finalizing your spaces with the proper organizational product.

While downsizing is not easy, the benefits are well worth it:

• freeing feeling of getting rid of excess,
• finding things under, behind, or just hidden by excess items, and
• not as much stuff to clean, repair, find a place/home for, keep track of.

Should you have any other questions on how to get started organizing your home and for the yard sale, feel free to contact me and I will help you get over your particular stumbling block. Have fun and see you at the yard sale!

A group of Crosspointers recently teamed up again with Eight Days of Hope in areas of North Carolina, following Hurricane Helene. While her parents, Vince and Katrina Pachel are veteran servants with Eight Days of Hope, Anna Marie Martinez shares through her words and photos about her first-time experience in this mission field.


Eight Days of Hope partnered with Longs Chapel located in Waynesville, N.C. The majority of the time spent serving was in a small town nearby called Clyde.

The first day, the whole team gathered at a local church serving as a distribution center. The first part of the day was working to reorganize the supplies in the shed, trailers, and inside the church. The contributions were overwhelming. We worked primarily with a woman named Rinda Green who oversaw the entire operation, also a volunteer. Throughout the time we spent there, we probably helped 50% of people unload supplies and the other 50% were needing assistance with supplies. We gave out a variety of supplies including clothes, food, water, toiletries, blankets, and heaters.
As people came in, the primary goal of the ministry was to get their story and get to know them while also praying with them and sharing the gospel. No one said no to prayer, many weeping and saying they hadn’t been prayed with yet in the month since the storm. It was a special opportunity to serve as we not only got to help people coming in who had little to nothing but we also got to serve the church volunteers that were overwhelmed and hurting alongside their community, giving up hours and hours of their days to serve at the church.

As the week continued with much of the same for a few of us still at the church/distribution center, part of the team left from serving a week prior and a handful continued with other service opportunities. This included “mucking out” houses which basically meant shoveling heavy mud out of homes and into sleds to drag outside. Demolition was also a key part of this process once the mud was removed: this included taking years worth of ruined possessions out to the curb, ripping out soaking wet carpet or flooring, and tearing out inches of mold covered sheetrock.

Many homeowners were involved in the process, especially looking for sentimentals. Despite the mud, there were a few victory stories of finding anything from lost diamond earrings to $1,000 in cash. These opportunities were unique as the volunteers would get to know the homeowners over potentially several days, depending on how long the task would take. All homeowners were invited to share supper with the Eight Days of Hope volunteers and many would show up to attend. The homeowners were “interviewed” after supper, telling their emotional stories from the storm, what the volunteers had done, and expressing sincere thanks for everyone being there.

It was amazing to see God at work in a variety of ministry opportunities. We heard many hard stories of the trauma some had experienced: losing a 7-year-old daughter in the river, people losing everything and trying to figure out where to begin in the recovery, or spending many 30-degree nights either in a tent or car. But, we also heard many stories of HOPE. Prayer over a missing nephew that had been gone a week after the storm, found 2 days later. A woman washing and returning a missing quilt made by someone's mother to them. Relief tangibly showing on faces when basic needs were met with warm clothes or a heater. People showed up for each other in the community but also from all over the country.

There were over 30 states represented at Eight Days of Hope in the time they were serving the area. The original cap for the rapid response volunteers was originally at 60 people but over 140 people showed up at one point.

The experience of serving alongside other people who were also giving up their time was uplifting, one volunteer even accepted Christ while serving in the laundry trailer while doing laundry for the volunteers. The verse that came to mind constantly during the week was Luke 10:2, “And he said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”

Please continue to pray for the regions of the country that were affected by both Helene and Milton. It is hard to return home knowing so many are in need, including those serving in the community that haven’t had a day off since the hurricanes hit. Many people said that the only reason they have been able to get by day to day was because of local churches. Specifically pray that the Lord would be shown to everyone in the hurting communities and the Gospel would continue to be shared.

God is always at work building His people, and He is surely at work within Crosspoint as He continually allows us opportunities to serve locally and put hands and feet to the Gospel near and far.  

Local Missions
Helping Hands ministry stays ready to serve others within Crosspoint and our local community.  Currently, a small crew is working on a flooring project to help out a church member.   Volunteering locally is a great way to meet people, serve others and learn new skills.  Find out more by emailing Rick Bostick.

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Regional Missions
Crosspointers Rick Bostick and Michael Amarante recently returned from helping with Eight Days of Hope Mass Feeding and Rapid Response teams in Perry, Fla., and Canton, N.C., following Hurricane Helene.  Over the next few weeks, Eight Days of Hope will serve hundreds of displaced families with hot meals, clean clothing and shower facilities in the midst of the natural disaster wreckage.

Soon the work of clearing the debris will begin to make way for rebuilding efforts. Crosspointers of all ages regularly serve with Eight Days of Hope efforts, going as far back as the response after the tornado in Smithville, Mississippi, in 2011.  If you’ve never experienced the work that God is doing through this organization, there are plenty of opportunities to get involved.  Skilled or unskilled alike are welcome, accommodations and meals are provided, and seeing the LORD at work in every direction is free of charge.  

Eight Days of Hope is already serving  in Valdosta, Ga., and Perry, Fla., in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Learn more about the organization and what they are doing or register to volunteer.

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International Missions
Thailand
It is a busy time in the life of Crosspoint overseas missions.   Crosspoint will send a team to Thailand, December 9-19, to support the full-time missionary efforts on the ground there. This includes educational English Fun Days in schools, where we are able to share the story of Christ through teaching language and games, as well as supporting their community outreach activities such as the annual Christmas block party.

Crosspointers Doug and Paulette Piper, now full-time missionaries in Thailand, are working hard on learning the Thai language and helping to grow the Northern Thailand Impact Ministry in Chiang Rai, Thailand. See more of what God is doing there at www.pipersinthailand.com.

Honduras
What started in 2019 as a support project of simply sending school supplies through Backpacks for Honduras, has grown into a growing relationships with Sowers4Pastors and families in the mountain community of Naranjitos in Lempira, Honduras.  Plans are in the works for the  3rd annual missions trip  to Honduras, March 8-15, 2025. These trips focus on the children and families, providing school supplies and meals, as well as vacation Bible school.  Before that next trip though, a group of Crosspoint men will be traveling to Naranjitos, October 26-November 2, to pour into and disciple the men in this community.