At an apartment ministry event, sno-cones are a big hit.Tim Rice, Acts 1:8 strategist for the missions mobilization group of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, has many goals built around a three-part strategy to reach people for Christ in South Carolina. One of those goals is for 100 churches this year to adopt a school and partner with it. Two others are reaching internationals and working in multi-housing ministry.
Recently Rice became aware of a new church plant in Bluffton – Crosspoint Church – making an impact in all three areas.
Bonnie Galloway serves as “Connections” minister at Crosspoint and shared information about the church’s outreach efforts.
School partnerships
A group of college students help Crosspoint paint at a school.Crosspoint works with Bluffton Elementary. In many cases, church plants meet in schools and have an obvious relationship. But Crosspoint meets in a movie theater.. “No strings attached” service projects drive this ministry. They have done several painting projects, and a mission team helped build outdoor sports storage closets at the school. Crosspoint has an outdoor trailer and a “bounce house” they have used at the school’s open houses to serve popcorn and sno-cones to the children, parents and staff. The church sponsored an end-of-the-year block party in June and will sponsor a “wish list” in August for church members to gather needed supplies for the new school year to help replenish classrooms. “We do this to help build relationships and to let the community know that we care about them – with no strings attached,” said Galloway.
International ministries
Crosspoint is intentionally multicultural and multigenerational. VIDA Church is a part of Crosspoint and ministers to Hispanics. A staff minister, Ruben DeJesus, leads this ministry to the growing Hispanic population. “Eventually VIDA will launch, possibly this September. For now they are a part of our small-group ministry,” Galloway said. “We often have scripture passages and sermon notes on the screen periodically in Spanish as well as English for our members and guests who speak Spanish.” Coastal Village Church, which has a ministry to bikers, is also affiliated with Crosspoint.
Multihousing ministry
The Crosspoint bounce house at an apartment ministry cookout.The outreach trailer and bounce house are great tools to use for ministry in apartment complexes. Crosspoint worked with three other churches in the Serve Bluffton project to feed the hungry. As a result of an outreach event held recently in apartment complexes, Galloway said, “the managers of two large complexes have asked us to come back this summer, and we are planning to go into three or four other communities this summer.” Crosspoint will also work with the North American Mission Board this summer as PowerPlant teams will come to help in the apartment ministry and the Hispanic ministry. Galloway said multihousing ministry will be a “big focus for us this summer.”
Rice said, “Partnering in these three areas helps to make the church relevant to the community and impacts the lives of church members and those being served.” He said resources for churches are available at www.scbaptist.org/missions, including three video podcasts related to school partnerships.
Rice hopes churches that are serving schools will share their story on the website under the School Partnership article. For more information: timrice@scbaptist.org or 803-765-0030, ext. 3822. – SCBC