Crosswalk Ministries is a divine accident. There’s no other
way to put it. Having played three years in the Atlanta area
at local churches & teen centers, we decided in 1995 to take
the show on the road. With a meager budget and a fervent
prayer, we embarked on a 22-day journey to the Pacific
Northwest with a tour scheduled for churches, camps, and
youth groups that spanned some 8000 miles. We never intended
to play in juvenile correctional facilities but God had
other plans, and before that trip was over, He had placed us
in four of them to proclaim through music His message of
grace to kids who so desperately needed to hear it. By 1996,
we heard the call loud and clear, and “Get Out of Jail Free”
was born in YDC’s throughout 15 cities that summer including
Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Nashville.
In 1997, our format expanded to include drama as well as
music. We also began our pen pal program that year when we
received hundreds of letters from kids whom we had met on
the tour. God’s vision for this ministry was becoming more
and more obvious. By 2005, a decade after we started, we had
played at juvenile correctional facilities in 47 states and
returned for a second and third time to many of the places
we had visited in earlier years. Tour themes such as “The
Missing Piece (Peace),” “Wipeout,” and “Out of Control,”
were developed using music, drama, and personal testimony to
reach troubled kids with the message of hope in Jesus
Christ.
In January of 2007, Crosswalk launched fulltime ministry. In
retrospect there is no doubt that the past fifteen years
have been leading to this decision. This has enabled us not
only to continue the summer tours, but also to work on a
regular basis with local facilities in Georgia and Texas,
and partner with churches to provide trained volunteers to
mentor kids who are incarcerated. Programs are being
implemented that we never dreamed of when we started, and an
arts-based mentoring center is projected to open in north
Henry County in spring, 2009. We need more financial support
and more volunteers to expand this ministry into all the
facilities that want us to work with them. God has only just
begun the work He has planned for us. Please join us as we
“proclaim freedom for captive hearts!” |
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