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
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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-
Crossover Community Impact
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