Ministry at The Crossing is financed by the Operating Fund and our budget can be broken-down into four broad categories:

1. Staff

Our staff team, by God’s sovereign blessing, is a very important asset in accomplishing our mission of moving hearts and minds to believe the gospel more and more and treasure all that God is for them in Christ. We have an approach to hiring that we think builds a united ministry team that performs with excellence. Excellence means requiring pastors to be seminary trained, requiring ministry and administrative staff to prepare and sometimes even over-prepare for classes and events, and paying staff for a level of professionalism and dedication that is expected in any effective organization.

2. Facilities and Operations

The Crossing is not a building. It is a community of believers joining together, being devoted to one another, serving together to help each other battle our unbelief, and encouraging one another to live by the promises of Christ in the gospel (Rom 12:3-10). For years we met on Sunday mornings in a school, so we know well that we don’t need a building to have a church. Yet God chose to have more people join our community than can be accommodated in a school. He’s chosen us, at this time, to be stewards of highly visible property in Columbia and an excellent facility on that land. So we have a responsibility to cultivate and develop these blessings. Who knows what our building will be used for in 50 or 100 years from now. But right now it is the visible footprint of The Crossing in Columbia. And on the horizon we have a view to expand and grow our facilities to do more ministry among our growing community of faith and in our city and the surrounding area.

It is obvious how we use the facilities to these ends when you attend a large event or you see thousands of people there on Sunday morning. What is not obvious are the costs associated with keeping the facilities running, the lights on, the 45,000 square feet clean, the climate comfortable, and the office machines and computers running. Everyone finds it more motivating to give to support a national speaker coming to The Crossing than to be someone who gives to pay the property insurance for the building and land. Who wouldn’t? But in truth, facilities and operations are the environment and means of effective ministry at The Crossing. So when you give, you are equipping us to maintain our facilities and fund our operations and pay our staff and equip our volunteers—all as God’s blessing and tools to change lives.

3. Ministry Programs

Almost every ministry program and event has two goals: 1) to foster the building of relationships, and 2) make known the gospel in a greater and deeper way. All of our ministries run weekly or as special events throughout the year. Your giving funds these events in a way that allows us to always keep them fresh, appealing, and something to which our congregation always wants to invite new people.

4. Missions & Outreach

The extent to which we believe the gospel really is the greatest need of a lost world is reflected by our individual and corporate giving to missions work. That is why The Crossing supports missions and our local neighbors in need with 11% of our general operations budget. Visit our missions web page to see the list of missions projects we support. Although we work closely with many of the international missionaries, take special note also of the local outreach missions. These missions partners have an important, well-articulated vision that we want to help move forward with financial and other resources. You are always giving to missions when you give to the Operating Fund. These are your missionaries and your outreach to your community. Perhaps you may want to read some of the information and pray for these missionaries we support and for their current outreach efforts.