IMPACT Magazine Summer Edition '18

IMPACT 2018 Summer Edition

Crossover Community Impact Magazine

2018 Spring/Summer Edition

Crossover Health Services:

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Crossover Community Impact

Family Fun Day

I M PA C T

Volume 1, Number 2 Summer Edition

EDITOR Rondalyn Abode, Director of Development

ART/DESIGN Janice Connolly, Director of Marketing & Design

BOARD OF DIRECTORS PHILIP ABODE DR. JOHN ABRAHAM K. MICHELLE BARNETT JEAN BARRETT DR. KENT FARISH TOMIKA GRAY CHAS HIGGINS JOHN HOLLIDAY, JR JUSTIN PICKARD SAM RADER O.C. WALKER RODNEY WATKINS

ABOUT US CROSSOVER is published two times a year: Winter and Summer.

Crossover Community Impact 940 East 36th Street North Tulsa, OK 74106 (918) 856-5377 www.crossoverimpact.org info@crossoverimpact.org

It is hard to believe that Crossover Bible Church just celebrated its 12th anniversary this past Easter Sunday. Ronnie and I moved to north Tulsa with the hope of being a part of a church that was going to make a tangible difference in its community. In 2012, that hope began to become a reality when we started Crossover Community Impact. What started as a 2nd grade tackle football team has now grown into a multi-faceted Christian Community Development organization that offers year-round youth sports, an award winning after-school program and summer day camp program run by high schoolers, a family medical clinic, a housing and economic development company, and a tuition-free all-boy private school!

One of the things that these past six years has taught us is that God does the heavy lifting! Getting to see Him do things that only He can do has made us even more committed today than we were when we began back in 2006. The amazing people that I have gotten to know both inside and outside of north Tulsa serve as a constant reminder that I get to be a part of something so much bigger than me.

I cannot think of anything else that I would rather do with my life than what I am doing now!

My hope is that as you read this current edition of our magazine, you will share my excitement for the amazing work that God is accomplishing in our community. When I look at everything He has done, there is no way that any of us can take credit for it. I am so thankful for the great team of folks we have who truly believe that God is up to something special in our community. I am excited about the new team members that have just joined our team. This year God has brought passionate and gifted people not only from around the country but from around the world to be a part of the Crossover family.

I want to thank you for partnering with us in this most important work. Your prayers, financial support, and volunteer hours have played a key role in the life of Crossover. The stories in this magazine are your stories too. Please be encouraged as we seek to restore our community through reconciliation, love and justice.

Grace and Peace,

FOLLOW US FACEBOOK facebook.com/crossoverimpact INSTAGRAM instagram.com/crossover communityimpact TWITTER twitter.com/crossoverimpact

Philip Abode Lead Pastor Crossover Bible Church

SAVE THE DATE Crossover Community Impact presents our

6 th Annual

RESTORING COMMUNITY Banquet

What’s Inside Features 4. 2018 Family Fun Day 6. Crossover Preparatory Academy 8. IMPACT Kids Program 10. StreetLeader Program

Our Guest Speaker: Steve Largent Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Former U.S. Congressman

12. Crossover Sports Association 14. Crossover Bible Church 16. Crossover Development Company

18. Crossover Health Services

20. Our Newest Missionaries Cover Photo: Intuitive Intellect Production

September 14, 2018 6:30pm The Church at Battle Creek 3025 N Aspen Ave, Broken Arrow, OK 74012

Crossover’s Annual Health Resource Fair

2018 Family Fun Day

by Rondalyn Abode

“On Saturday, June 9th, Crossover threw it’s 3rd annual Fam-

is “healthy individuals,” and the Family Fun Day is an easy way to make sure we tangibly IMPACT health outcomes in our community. ily Fun Day at Crossover Health Services (CHS)! Since its inception Health and well-being are vital to everything we do because within 2014, CHS has sought to provide north Tulsa and its surrounding out healthy individuals, you cannot have faithful families, peaceful area residents with a patient experience that rivals anything you’ll neighborhoods, or thriving institutions. We want to expose indifind elsewhere. This strive for excellence in care is in order to restore viduals in our community to the resources that bring about health, our community through the eradication of whether that is physical health, brain/ health disparities! Yay! There was a plethomental health, or spiritual health even! ra of opportunities to have fun as a family We have a number of partner organizawith jupiter jumps, obstacle courses, water ThefiFirst Component tions that are working to change statistics slides, food, balloon animal formations, of our vision of in our community for better health outface painting, baton twirling, music, gift “Restoring Our comes, and they were on display for the cards, youth sports physicals, and exotic Community,”;is community as well! and domestic animals! Yes, you read that healthy individuals.

One of our partners and sponsors for right, for the first time, CHS had a petting this event, the Tulsa Health Department, zoo and an animal sanctuary on site! There -Rondalyn Abode had a panel on men’s health earlier in were guests witnessing turtles doing some the day and our own Philip (Abode) was sunbathing, others were walking around on the panel representing the intersection of faith and health! Who with tarantulas in hand, and there was even a gentlemen walking would have thought that when we made free physicals available to around with an albino boa constrictor around his neck. I don’t know the Crossover Lions in 2015, that it would grow to this?! I liken our that anyone does a Family Fun Day quite like Crossover!

Family Fun Day to what I imagine the Block parties of old were like, The first component of our vision of “Restoring Our Community,”

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almost like Family Reunions right in the heart of our neighborhood!

Years from now, I hope to see generations of people coming to the Family Fun Day expecting something new and exciting and telling their children about how they remember the first Family Fun Day when they were a Crossover Lion as they celebrate their own child being one of Crossover’s student-athletes!

We had some incredible partners who made this day possible. The Tulsa Health Department, AMC Mortgage, Coldwell Banker Select , Unite My City, Care First Pharmacy and Metropolitan Baptist Church were our sponsors and volunteers this year! We could not have had this event without their financial partnership and prayer support! Thank you does not say enough, but we are beyond grateful for all that they did. God is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine, and we saw a small reflection of the greatness of His grace in our third annual Family Fun Day!

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Crossover Community Impact

Rondalyn Abode is passionate about bringing God the most glory, and she believes that her role as the Director of Development for CCI is instrumental in her doing just that! She has been married to her “Honey,” Philip Abode, for 16 years, and she has the sheer joy of watching God transform him daily. She is most inspired by her two little people, Temple and Priest, and she often despises the “baby dog,” Rocky.

If you would like to learn more Crossover Impact, please go to http://crossoverimpact. org .

CrossoverPREP

God had revealed to me then, that He had stored up good gifts in me to give away to my students and to my colleagues. God causes all things to come together...”

-David Connolly

My Journey to Crossover Prep

by David Michael Connolly

I

It was the early 2000s on a weekend day, when Philip Abode, a mutual friend and I were talking about Crossover before it existed. I was a grad student at T.U., sad, and losing my closest friends as we were all about to go our separate ways. Some would leave for missions overseas, while others would go into education, business and local ministries across the U.S., and I would go into a visual arts ministry. All of us loved Jesus and wanted to serve him with our lives, and longed to do so together, even though we knew that to be a short-lived privilege.

During our conversation, I spent more time listening than talking. I was thinking to myself that it would be amazing if Crossover Prep existed – but how could it? Nobody does this, not in a city so bitterly divided by its horrible past, and an ensuing evolution of economic and academic inequality, and a powerful indifference it seemed to all but guarantee that Crossover would be a perpetual fantasy. I wondered if the concept had been tried before and failed, as to why it wasn’t already happening. A church, private school and community impact group in one, identified by how they love each other by meeting one another’s physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual needs intentionally, where all are regarded as Christ?

Little did I know God was going to do these things

and more, as Crossover continues to flourish as it expands, experiencing God’s favor in every area, where people share their talents, time and treasure all motivated by Christ’s love.

My journey to Crossover should start with the decision to move back to Texas around 16 years ago. In 2002 I would start my life in the visual arts, still thinking often about that “what if” question – what if Crossover Prep was real? In 2003, Janice and I married (and I will focus on my story here because she tells hers better than I can, and hers is too incredible to truncate). I became a visual artist, a college professor, and one of several art instructors at an esteemed K-12 college prep school that developed an award winning, top visual arts program for students headed to elite universities and colleges.

When I interviewed back in 2002, it was mid-year. I did not want to work at Trinity Christian Academy because I was once a student there, and it was not what I had in mind for my ministry. I had forgotten that I was joining Jesus in His ministry, and that He had built up a short lifetime of stuff in me to share with others. There was also a number of unreconciled things in my past I did not want to deal with - better yet, I wanted them to just be a part of the past. I worried I had made the wrong decision.

The interview was extraordinarily nerve racking. It was a February morning, where I would step into a po-

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sition vacated mid-year by someone who left big shoes to fill. He was a master teacher, a professor at a local college and famous visual artist, and a man I had known of since high school. He had taught one of my friends privately in the early 90s – someone who would go on to have a successful career as a filmmaker in New York. Alarmingly and unexpectedly, I would have to teach one of his classes on the spot, in front of him and my department chair. I was a green nobody full of zeal for Christ and a newly minted MFA with little teaching experience. I thought it had all the makings of a disaster, and I probably (to my relief – in my thinking just before I started) would not do well and not get the job, which I actually did not want. I started thinking of the bitter things of my past and thought, “What am I doing here?” I thought about all the prayers and requests of God’s Holy Spirit to guide me along the way, as I had given my life to Him and committed my plans to Him. I thought maybe I should have never come, because it would end up being painfully nostalgic. To my surprise, once I started teaching I was calm and instantly connected with the students. I knew it right then and there that it was what God had been preparing me to do. God had revealed to me then, that He had stored up good gifts in me to give away to my students and to my colleagues. I would also find out that God sent me back to reconcile with others and heal past wounds. He didn’t leave anyone or anything out. In the midst of everything, I thought, “God causes all things to come together”. God meets us along the way, all the while preparing us for destinations ahead if one is willing in one’s brokenness. And yet, I also knew I had a long way to go.

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Crossover Scholarship Fund

These students are our future health professionals, social workers, teachers, policy makers, and military men—they are the future of our nation.

We must do more. And with your help we can. If you would like to learn more about the Crossover Scholarship Fund, please go to http://crossoverscholarshipfund.org.

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That first year, I committed to the Lord my desire for personal excellence and expertise; to become someone who contributed to the department. I also wanted to leave it better than I found it, which in my mind took God because of the incredible place it already was before I showed up. I would spend the next several years educating myself, becoming a homegrown historian, grammarian, theologian, art critic, apologist and visual artist. I spent some time at the University of North Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary, working on a PhD in art education, and a Th.M. in Media, Arts and Ministry. Without noticing at first that this time was a crucial maturation time – a time of refinement, a clarifying of my passions and gifts in the visual arts, communication, teaching and discipleship for Crossover Prep young men.

Along the way, I would come to discover how critical a diverse and media specific art education is for budding young minds. At my former institution, we built a program that mirrored a fine art program that most universities offer, but age appropriate, and progressively sequential towards a thesis show in an area of interest to the student. Students would have so much more than exposure to art and art making – they would be immersed in a program that would not only broaden their horizons in art but in life and thinking skills, inviting them to be critical contributors to contemporary art conversations and to be independent thinkers, communicators and problem solvers. This process takes a long time but establishes a readiness for college unique to itself, as they are equipped with an awareness of their own creativity, how they are made in God’s image, yet with discerning minds. I would have to agree with Francis Schaeffer who said that the Christian’s imagination should soar above the stars – our program would enable just that, making it possible for our students to have a taste of what it means to love God with all their minds.

In all the time I had spent working towards this end, Janice and I had many conversations about doing this in Tulsa. Providing young boys who otherwise would never have a S.T.E.A.M (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) education like this – would be a dream come true. While Janice and I were having these conversations, we also had been reading articles and been in conversation with friends about the wealth and education gaps in America, and how toxic inequality continues to ravage historic African American communities, with no way to close those gaps; unless people with means are willing to do things like relocate and use their skills and resources to help make that happen. We had known all along we wanted to be a part of that work. We then, together, felt a deep conviction to return to Tulsa to join Crossover in its work. Janice started work with CCI part-time last July. As of this summer, we are both full-time missionaries for Crossover.

My hope is that Crossover will become a prayerful, sober, and careful movement forward for children and families, a piecing together of a puzzle of excellence in talent, experience, intentionality, wisdom, love and a desire to see a reconciliation of God’s people in Tulsa, one child at a time, and I could not be more thrilled to play a small role.

Crossover Community Impact

David Connolly is a career minister, art educator and visual artist, with a passion for young men to know Christ, be reconciled to Him and find their strength and identity in His Spirit to become servant leaders for Christ among their friends, families, communities and the world, wherever God leads them.

If you would like to learn more about Crossover Prep Academy, please go to http://crossoverprep.org.

IMPACT Kids

Our After-School and Summer Enrichment STEM-based Program at Hawthorne Elementary School.

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y name is Jonathan Rogers, and I work for the Crossover IMPACT Kids program in north Tulsa at Hawthorne Elementary School as a College Intern. My experience so far working with Crossover has been riveting at every turn! I initially started as a StreetLeader, and after graduating from the StreetLeader Program and from High School, I returned as a College Intern. Mentoring the elementary age students, who all struggle in their own unique way, has caused me to learn a lot about myself, while I am simultaneously helping them evolve into the prosperous individuals they will someday be and are becoming!

At “the program,” we pride ourselves on not only teaching and tutoring kids through S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), sports, and social and emotional skills development but also with showing them what a relationship with Christ looks like. Closely connected to the IMPACT Kids Program is a program designed for high schoolers to take the next step of learning as they begin to teach our kids and get to wrestle with questions about faith and their next step in life. We call these high schoolers “StreetLeaders” because being from the “streets” does not mean that you are without amazing potential to influence others for good. After all, we are all created in the image of God. Having older students to look up to who look like them, serves as a powerful motivator for the kids in our program.

For me personally, the sports component of our programming is the most fun because I get to watch our kids compete and work hard with dreams and aspirations of being professional athletes. I am encouraged that we have the opportunity as StreetLeaders to help ensure that the kids succeed both on and off the field, by giving our kids the academic help that they need through the tutoring and homework help that are a huge part of the IMPACT Kids Program. I love it! We get to use the fun of sports to help the students enjoy learning as well, so that we can meet our goal of them becoming life-long learners! With the numerous sports teams and seasons Crossover Sports Association has, many of our young student-athletes come to me and say, “Mr. Jon I scored a touchdown!” or “Mr. Jon come see me play!” To be able to encourage them and even teach them the skills they need to continue doing what they love through sports is a feeling I am so grateful for, and I know that they feel supported and championed because of the big, earto-ear smiles on their faces.

Another critical aspect of working with both the kids and the StreetLeaders is the develop-

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we pride ourselves on not only teaching and tutoring kids through S.T.E.M. (( (( Science, Technology Engineering, and Math ))) sports, and social and emotional skills development but also with showing them what a relationship with Christ looks like.

-Jonathan Rogers ment of social skills. While working with the students, I try to remember that we all come from different backgrounds and experiences and that we all do not receive the same level of support from home. If there is one thing these kids have definitely taught me about myself, it is that I actually have some patience and maybe just a “touch” of humility.

Even when it seems like all the right words are pouring out of my mouth (at least in my mind), there will still be some 3 to 5 foot tall person, humbling me with a smirk so big I almost want to smack myself upside the head!

I am learning often that I am not as wise as I believe I am, and though I have a lot to learn socially, I do not have to learn these lessons alone. I get to learn them as I am teaching them to the students through mentoring, and I am often learning just as much from our kids.

Last summer I greatly enjoyed seeing all of the returning faces of the students I love from the previous summer, and I adored all the

Crossover Community Impact

new ones as well! With the summer enrichment program quickly approaching, I cannot wait to enjoy that level of engagement with the students and StreetLeaders again. This summer I had the pleasure of attending Kids Across America (KAA) with all the StreetLeaders, not as a camper, but as a Kaleo (or adult leader) for the first time. During this experience, I had to adjust to “adulting” and helping with the students rather than being the center of attention the way kids are at camp.

While there, I gained a deeper understanding of why it is our job to mentor well and to help develop the next generation of future StreetLeaders by helping our kids grow from where they are to becoming the young men and women that God wants them to be. And if we’re faithful to do that, we can truly make an IMPACT in the lives of kids in the program now and in years to come.

Jon David is an introspective young man that as his name suggests, is a man after God’s own heart and a good friend. He seeks to grow and develop, so that he can help those around him do the exact same thing. He is the first college intern to live in Crossover’s Intern house, and his love for learning and writing has caused him to be one of the college students that is giving back to his community through mentoring.

He continues his relationship with his mentors through Crossover, and his love for the students in both the IMPACT Kids Program and the StreetLeaders Program impact the way he leads them to use their talents and abilities for the development of the community.

If you would like to learn more about the IMPACT Kids program, please go to http:// crossoverimpact.org/impact-kids/.

StreetLeaders

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Mentoring our StreetLeaders

by Courtney Wright

Being asked to dance as silly as pos-

sible to a song about the multiples of 3 is not what I expected when I applied to be a StreetLeader for Crossover Community Impact (CCI). CCI’s IMPACT Kids, after school and summer enrichment program is a great way to get youth involved in the community by teaching and mentoring students at Hawthorne Elementary. I began working as a StreetLeader at Crossover my Junior year of high school. I showed up to the interview with no idea what to expect because I had never been interviewed for a job before. During my interview, I was asked to do something that was uncomfortable and seemed unnecessary, which was to dance as goofy as I could to a song that sang the multiples of 3. I did not realize how big of an IMPACT dancing to that song would have on my life and the life of the students I was mentoring. Crossover brought me out of my comfort zone to do some things I would not imagine doing, like hiking in the woods for 3 days with no bathrooms or showers, being an active member in my community, or even drinking coffee in the middle of the day. Lol, thanks Leah!

To be able to teach and mentor elementary kids is meaningful. A lot of them do not have a positive role model in their lives, and to be that person they decide to look up to feels honorable. Although a huge part of Crossover is to help the students grow academically and spiritually, this program not only has that effect on the kids but also on the StreetLeaders and staff as well. We benefit from this program in multiple ways. These benefits are not the traditional employee benefits a job might offer like paid vacation time or life insurance, but the benefits are much more valuable and useful for our future!

I think Crossover is very essential when it comes to a Streeleader’s high school career.

Jeremy Williams, the StreetLeader Coordi-

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Coming back to Crossover as a College Intern has opened my eyes to all the things Crossover has taught me throughout my high school years working as a StreetLeader.

-Courtney WRight nator, makes sure that every StreetLeader is signed up for the ACT exam, which is required for college. He also makes sure StreetLeaders have books and materials to study before they go in to take this vital test.

Grade checks are conducted throughout the semester which determines whether or not we can work; I think that is an important way to hold the StreetLeaders accountable to pursuing excellence. Leah Pickard makes sure that StreetLeaders use and are aware of every resource available to them. It’s clear that Crossover cares about the StreetLeader’s education, so much so, that they are very flexible when it comes to calling into work because of something school related.

Coming back to Crossover as a College Intern has opened my eyes to all the things Crossover has taught me throughout my high school years working as a StreetLeader. Crossover does an amazing job at teaching leadership skills and building character within each one of us. Crossover equipped me for college with basic skills that I did not learn elsewhere like the importance of stress management, punctuality, and organizational skills. I was taught to accept constructive criticism through monthly evaluations even.

Crossover has taught me to be the best version of myself to help others; especially the students in the IMPACT Kids program!

Crossover Community Impact

Courtney Wright is an inspiration in her own right. She has worked as an exemplary StreetLeader, and she has returned to work as a College Intern to encourage the current High Schoolers to mentor and tutor the IMPACT Kids exceptionally in the way she was trained. Her love for the students is evident in the way that she pushes them daily to be the best version of themselves.

If you would like to learn more about the StreetLeader program, please go to http:// crossoverimpact.org/youth-jobs/.

CROSSOVER

LIONS

Our commitment is to producing athletes that excel both on and off the field.

We are the Lions

by Tomika Gray

P

eople. Passion. Purpose. I became a part of the Crossover track team in 2014 because of the love that I have for the sport and because I saw a need for Crossover to grow and expand into new sports! Crossover had been very successful in football, basketball and baseball; my family has been involved in each of these sports as coaches and participants since 2012.

A track program is surprisingly expensive.

Each year we need approximately $10,000

to cover the cost of training equipment, travel, track meet fees, uniforms, lodging and food. Last year, I went into a very well known (and my favorite) boutique in Tulsa with the hopes of gaining a sponsor for our team! Toshia Wilson, the “Team Mom Extraordinaire/Team Manager� and I were going from business to business trying to get sponsorships for our team. We walked into the boutique praying that we would get a sponsorship; it was very hot, and

we had already been turned down several times. We shopped around a bit and began the conversation with an introduction about our team and what we were doing to the wonderful ladies behind the counter. As we were explaining our goal, we caught the attention of the owner. The owner walked over, and she began to ask us about the Crossover Lions!

We informed her that we were volunteer track coaches that have spent our last 4

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SPORTS we want to provide our kids with youth sports opportunities that are available in the other parts of Tulsa, and we wanted to make sure that we kept the costs as low as possible.

-Tomika Gray

summers developing student-athletes and leaders in north Tulsa! We told her that the Lions are a part of a community development organization that seeks to “Restore Our Community,” through any means (or passions) available to us, even track and field! We also mentioned that we want to provide our kids with youth sports opportunities that are available in the other parts of Tulsa, and we wanted to make sure that we kept the costs as low as possible, so that it was not a barrier to participate. We also mentioned that when we travel to the USA Track and Field National and Regional Championships that we use it as a time to educate our athletes and take the time to visit historical sites when possible.

She was so impressed by all that we were doing and the passion that we displayed that she asked me what we needed. I told her we needed about $7,000 to cover the rest of the registration fees for some of the families and to cover the costs for hotels rooms for Regionals and Nationals. Her response was, “Are you guys really going door to door to ask for sponsorships?” We said “Yes!” She replied, “I remember when I had to sell chocolate, and I ate it all.” She was so impressed that we were taking the time away from work to help get the sponsorships and even more impressed that we were going door to door.

After a few moments she said, I will give you the full amount!!!! Toshia and I began crying immediately! We were completely floored by her generous and gracious response! This reminded me that Galatians 6:9 says, “Do not grow weary in doing good for at the right time you’ll receive a

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harvest if you do not give up!” I was energized to come back to coach another year and to raise funds for our kids another year, and to sacrificially love the kids and the families on the track team another year as a result of this and many other experiences!

I will never forget her and her act of kindness. She told me after drying my tears, “You should have asked for a car!” I will go into this fundraising season asking for cars; watch out Tulsa!

Tomika Gray, “Coach T,” is a talented and resourceful woman that is able to diligently spin straw into gold. She loves people with a transforming love, and she shares this characteristic with her entire family that sacrificially cares for others. She is a member of the Board of Directors for CCI, and her family has been a part of Crossover Bible Church since 2006. She is all about developing people, and accordingly, she is able to “coach” people to greatness!

Crossover Sports Association has an array of sports offerings such as Track and Field, Football, Basketball, Baseball and Cheer. To learn more information about Crossover Sports Association, please go to http://www.crossoverlions.org.

Restoring our community by making disciples while loving and serving our neighbors.

Crossover Bible Church

by Caleb Long

N

orth Tulsa is big. Spanning some 50 square miles, more than 40,000 people call the north side home. Even as Crossover expands its efforts to “restore our community,” we realize it will take a network of like-minded organizations, individuals, and churches to realize this dream. Imagine a web of community-focused, gospel-centered churches celebrating the assets of the community and responding to the needs of every north Tulsa neighborhood.

But why more churches, you may ask, when there are already so many around? Not to mention the fact that Crossover is only about 200 members strong; why would we plant another church? The stark reality is that only 16% of my particular neighborhood believe it’s important to attend religious services. That means at least 84% of my neighbors aren’t connected to a community of faith week-to-week. We believe that the local church is God’s instrument for kingdom extension and discipleship (or helping people become more like Christ). If we desire to restore our community, we must plant churches that make disciples.

In 2018, a core group of friends and neighbors from Crossover and partner churches will launch New City Fellowship. Our mission is to glorify God as a community of reconciliation that loves and serves our neighbors and makes disciples of Jesus.

Even as we have begun building the vision and core group, God has provided opportunities to love and serve our neighbors. In the northeast corner of our focus area sits an apartment complex of some three hundred units. Surrounded by high fences and security cameras, folks living here deal with an intricate web of economic challenges. Through a series of circumstances, I had a chance to sit down with ShaRita Yabrough who runs the complex community center. In a few short meetings, she has thrown open the gates to New City Fellowship! She’s invited me to come lead a Bible study with residents, opened up the center for our core group meetings, and extended opportunities to serve the children through tutoring, outdoor activities, and music. In short, she’s invited us into the life of the neighborhood.

We’ve also seen unique opportunities to make disciples. A few weeks ago, I got a text from a friend who lives around the corner from me. Early on in our friendship, he let me know that he was sympathetic to Christianity but was agnostic about the existence of God. I’ve been praying for him for about a year and a half, and then my phone starts buzzing with text messages from him stating: “I realize the reason my life hasn’t been going my way is because of my separation from God, so I really want to fix that.”

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Even as Crossover expands its efforts to “restore our community,” we realize it will take a network of like-minded organizations, Individuals, and churches to realize this dream.

-Caleb Long I believe that God uses our prayers to get His agenda accomplished, but I’m always amazed when he shows up like this! Over the course our conversation (via text and in person), it became clear to me that God was doing a special work in my friend.

There exists a deep need for gospel-centered, community-focused churches in our community. Pray that New City Fellowship would faithfully carry forward God’s vision for north Tulsa.

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Caleb Long is a young man with a rich family history of zeal for the Lord, God’s people, and communities of faith. He and His gorgeous wife, Katie, moved to north Tulsa from St. Louis when she was pregnant with their first child, Merry, and welcomed their second baby, Jimmy, less than two years later. His musicality and love for God impacts those who meet him, and it is clear that God is doing a big work in and through him.

Go to the church’s website: http://crossoverbible.org, to learn more about Crossover Bible Church and its emphasis on church planting.

What do you must update today ?

by Charles Wilkes

Otas quo volorrovit alitiaspid magnimus ad ex excersp edicae nonsequis assit et iusamllame laborepero occusam, cus aliquame liquiue ra core exerov.

My name is Charles Wilkes, and I am

the Operations Manager for Crossover Development Company. In the short amount of time that I have been a part of this amazing organization and notable group of people, I have experienced some great moments! I started in January of this year, and I have already seen substantial change.

At Crossover Development Company, we develop homes in the Hawthorne district of north Tulsa. We then sell these homes to first time homebuyers, as well as some of our own employees. We get most excited when we are able to help an employee become a first-time homebuyer! We use our Faith and Finance class to help prepare the first-time homebuyers, so that they are thoroughly ready to purchase their home. We also employ members of the community as a part of our job development efforts. Our employees are developing their skill sets by learning carpentry skills amongst many other skills, and they

have the opportunity to gain certifications to take with them everywhere they may want to go.

when you see Crossover Development Company, you see a change agent in action.

In my time with the company, I have learned that we are not just in the business of building homes, we are also in the business of building people. As we reach out and connect with community members, they see our remodeling efforts; I believe we are re-instilling hope in them. It’s amazing to watch something go through a process and come out on the other side renewed and restored. Crossover’s mission is to help restore north Tulsa physically, mentally, and spiritually. Through comprehensive practices and strategies, and various “Godsent” connections, we intend to enact change as proficiently as possible.

So, when you see Crossover Development Company, you see a change agent in action. I am humbled to help lead this process of restoration and transformation in my community.

-Charles Wilkes

Charles Wilkes is a gentlemen who serves others from a heart that longs to see his community developed and restored. His efforts allow Crossover Development Company to expand and to grow in efficiency and effectiveness. He is a team player that is able to create change by being a servant leader.

To learn more about Crossover Development Company’s revitalizing work, go to http://crossoverimpact.org/housing-development/.

In Process

Before

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Crossover Community Impact

We’re happy to offer prenatal care as one of the many ways Crossover seeks to combat the health discrepancies seen in north Tulsa.

-Dr. Sarah Janssen, DO

We are committed to living out Christ’s compassion, dignity and healing in our community through Healthcare.

Crossover Health Services

by Dr. Sarah Janssen

“I

love my ultrasound!” It turns out that statement can be interpreted in different ways. What I meant to say was, “I love my ultrasound machine!” Let me start over.

For those that don’t know me, I’m the newest doctor at Crossover Health Services; I joined the team last September. One of the things I was most excited about was bringing prenatal care to Crossover. An important (and fun) part of doing OB care is doing ultrasounds, and we quickly realized the need for an ultrasound machine. However, they can be quite expensive. Shortly after I started working at the clinic, God provided!

Through the generosity of a grant from the Butterfield Foundation, God gifted us with a

fabulous ultrasound machine just months after I started.

We’re happy to offer prenatal care as one of the many ways Crossover seeks to combat the health discrepancies seen in north Tulsa. An ultrasound aids in quality prenatal care by first providing an accurate dating method. The date of a pregnancy determines the course of care to a large extent. For example, many medical conditions ranging from gestational diabetes to preeclampsia, require an early delivery that’s based on the dating of the pregnancy. A first trimester dating ultrasound in particular is more accurate than later ultrasounds. As many of our patients have difficulty with transporta-

tion across town or present (start to show up for appointments) later in their pregnancy, it makes a big difference to have access to an ultrasound at our location in our community.

There are also times patients come to the clinic because of pre-term contractions, bleeding, or decreased fetal movement. An ultrasound is a key component of ensuring the health of the baby in all these cases. Again, without an ultrasound in our office, our patients had to get a ride (often via an ambulance) to a hospital anywhere from 5-16 miles away, not to mention spend hours being evaluated at the hospital. When safe to do so, we now have the tools to evaluate patients ourselves!

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Finally, providing prenatal care is a great way to build a loving relationship with a woman. It’s an exciting (and stressful) time in her life where we are able to come alongside her with Jesus’ love. Doing our own ultrasounds provides better continuity of care. To see the baby for the first time together is a bonding experience like no other; it’s an incredible privilege. We’re grateful for God’s gift of a tool that helps us serve and love our patients at Crossover and pray for more growth of our prenatal care in our community.

Dr. Sarah Janssen is a missions minded, multi-talented young woman that has given her life to the work of making God famous, sometimes through song! She and her husband Dr. Elliot have moved into north Tulsa with the hopes of seeing the community transformed by working to develop the community as their labor of love. Medical missions is her heart, and she is indeed helping to reduce the health disparities in our community one day at a time.

Crossover Health Services

If you would like to learn more about Crossover Health Services, please go to http://www.crossoverhealthservices. org.

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Crossover Community Impact

Our newest Urban Crossover’s Team Expansion

by Rondalyn Abode

G

od seems to give us the desires of our hearts. Seriously, I know that if you’re like me, you’ve heard that a million times, but I really believe that God puts certain desires within us that blossom and bloom according to His timetable! I have been praying for 12 years that a family would come to Tulsa to help with Crossover. I have envisioned a “Worship Arts” Ministry, and I was convinced that they were the ones that could bring this ministry to our community. I had no idea when I started praying this prayer that God had their family praying a similar prayer that they would go wherever God deemed to bring Him the most glory through their particular gifts and experiences! This guy helped teach my husband to love and obey God, and he and his family were faithfully teaching others to do that very thing in Frisco, Texas through art. God was preparing him and his family to come to Tulsa and to bring all that they are to help develop this community- the community where she grew up! She is a gifted Graphic Designer and Photographer, and she has longed to always be able to use her skills, abilities, and resources for God’s glory. God answered the prayers of both of our families!

I’ve also been praying another prayer for 5 years, that God would bring back this couple that had an amazing impact on Crossover through dance who I believed that we had lost to Georgia. I mean, who gets a degree in Recreation Administration? Who comes from Texas to attend ORU because God had created this desire in her heart as a teenager to run a community center in an under-resourced community? Her husband is no light weight either, we have created jobs to try to bring him back as he is a Gates Scholar himself. God answered our prayer by bringing them back as we get prepared to see another answer to prayer, the Crossover Community Center, come to fruition, if the Lord says the same.

This year, my faith and my resolve to pray without ceasing have been strengthened, and I’ve learned that prayer truly is the work of the ministry. I’ve been praying that God would develop the team needed for Crossover to do exactly what it needs to do in our community. We need everyone to bring their resources (their skills, talents, abilities, relationships, gifts, experiences) to drop at God’s feet and say, “God, do what you please.” I’ve seen Him do that. Our philosophy of ministry calls this, “Redistribution,” where everyone uses whatever they have in their hands for the development of the community. We have a guy coming from China to work for Crossover. He saw a job description for a Latin teacher and he just happens to be skilled at ACT prep. His wife has spent almost a decade learning about Christian Community Development work- the very type of work that we are doing, and to top it all off, she is from Tulsa! I honestly can’t say anything more than, “God does exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever hope or imagine” or as Philip often puts it, “God does the heavy lifting!” He has been building out this dream team since before the creation of the world. In every position filled and

prayer answered, God has been bringing people that He has handpicked to play their role in seeing our community transformed. These are the good works He has prepared in advance for us to do, and I pray with everything in me that we are faithful to walk in those good works.

This is quite the adventure, and I literally cannot wait to see what God does! And as you can imagine, I will be praying!

Will you join us by praying and financially supporting us as we continue to pursue partnerships to see this great work continue and expand? We are so grateful for the ways you have partnered with us, and we would love it if you got even more involved in this work of transformation!

Please come out for a tour, so that you can see restoration for yourself. Call me at 918.856.5377 x106 or email me at rondalyn@ croosoverimpact.org.

Grateful for Grace, Rondalyn Abode Director of Development Crossoverimpact.org

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Missionaries New FACES OF CROSSOVER David and Janice have been best friends for 25 years and married for 15 years. Together they have a rich background in Education, Missions and Visual Arts. David has a BFA and MFA from TU and is working toward his PhD in Art Education from UNT, and has completed hours towards a Th.M. in Media, Arts and Ministry from DTS. He will be teaching English his first year while creating a Visual Arts program for Crossover Prep Academy as well as within the community. Janice has a Graphic Design degree from Auburn University and an MBA with a concentration in Human Resources. She served in the US Air Force for 10 years, where she developed the love for graphic design, public affairs and missions. She has been the part-time Director of Marketing and Design for CCI since July 2017. With the relocation from Frisco, Texas, she is now working full time for Crossover Community Impact. The Connolly’s have 20+ years of experience in education, visual arts, design, photography, videography and marketing. They love sharing their gifts through Missions and volunteer work. David and Janice have 3 children, Hannah (13), Catherine (11) and Joshua (7).

David & Janice Connolly (Frisco, TX) Chasten and Janet served in ministry together long before they were married or even a couple through dance as the founding members of Urban Sent while students at Oral Roberts University. Chasten received a BA in Pastoral Studies with an emphasis in Youth Ministry and a MA in Curriculum and Instruction from ORU, and then went on to join the Teach for America corp. Shortly after the completion of this program, Chasten became the Children’s Pastor at Lighthouse World Outreach Center in his hometown of Monroe, GA. He has made it a priority to teach the truth passionately and keep the gospel of Jesus Christ at the center of it all, and he will continue to do this as the Student Ministries Director for Crossover Bible Church and the Director of Discipleship for Crossover Prep Academy. Janet has a degree in Recreation Administration and an MBA. During her studies, she worked to gain the experience needed to become a successful director of an inner-city community center. She will be an Academic Coach at CPA during her first year but will transition to be the COO of the Crossover Community Center. As a couple, their desire is to pour out their lives for the glory of the Lord. Chasten and Janet have one daughter, Janai (3).

Chasten & Janet Hendricks (Monroe, Georgia)

Matthew and Ruth Whiteford have been married for 9.5 years. Matthew holds degrees from ORU’s Graduate School of Theology & Missions. He has been an educator in Tulsa and internationally for the past 10 years. He has a special heart for mentoring young men, for teaching Latin within a biblical worldview, and for mastering standardized tests, so he is pleased to return to Tulsa to work in these exact areas with Crossover Prep and the StreetLeader Program. Interested in CCD before she knew it had a name, Ruth grew up in Tulsa and has an undergraduate degree in Economics. Ruth has been a fulltime graduate student in Biblical Literature for the duration of their marriage, having just graduated this May with a Ph.D. from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis. The Whiteford family has spent the last five years overseas in Kuwait, China, and Taiwan where their attention was occupied with the birth of a dissertation and two children, Jacob (2) and Vera (1). As such, do not be surprised if they don’t know what is going on, and please bear with them as they re-acclimate to an America vastly different to the one they left.

Matthew & Ruth Whiteford (China)

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Crossover Community Impact

Our Vision for 36th S. North

Our Dream for the Future...

When you invest in the vision, you do more than touch individual lives... every contribution ripples outward to create “social return” —the positive impact on north Tulsa and the entire Tulsa community.

For more information: (918) 856-5377 x106 www.crossoverimpact.org