Crossover Community Center

COMMUNITY CENTER

by Philip Abode “The main thing on my mind right now is my dream to build a brand new communty center here in north Tulsa. I would love to see a state of the art facility that becomes the hub of the community.” I wrote these words in my journal on February 20, 2006. Thirteen years later, my dream has not changed. What has changed is how close this dream is to becoming a reality. As I write this article, we have raised more than half of the money we need to build the Crossover Community Center. Lord-willing, we will break ground later this year and begin the construction of a facility that will have a catalytic impact on seeing restoration in north Tulsa.

“Why a community center?” you might ask. From the onset, I wanted to see Crossover make an impact in our community that goes beyond how many people show up for a Sunday morning worship service. I firmly believe in the power of the gospel to transform people’s lives, but I also believe that same power can impact an entire community. When you want to see an entire community experience transformation, you have to think differently about everything, including the type of building necessary to see this dream fulfilled.

“Form follows function” is a well-known principle in architectural circles. It basically means that a building’s design (its form) should be determined by its purpose (function). Considering that north Tulsa faces a web of interconnected issues, it’s clear that interconnected solutions are necessary. We say that “we take a comprehensive approach to a targeted geographic area.” Our team sees this as the best way to address the various issues that families in our community face. Each of the previous articles in this magazine gave you a snapshot of each of the elements of our comprehensive approach. Now think of the impact that all of these elements could have on one family.

J’Ron attends Crossover Prep and played on Crossover Sports Association’s first football team of second graders. He participated in our IMPACT Kids Program, and it would not surprise me if he applies to become a StreetLeader next year. Honestly, if he becomes one of our college graduates that returns to live in north Tulsa, he will be a part of the community transformation that is possible for north Tulsa.

Since we’ve talked about the function, now we must consider the form necessary to see transformation occur. In my opinion, a community center with plenty of classrooms handles this perfectly! Most community centers are empty during the day because all the kids are in school. School buildings are empty after 3pm or when all of the extracurricular activities are done. Church buildings are empty all week. To build a facility that can bring all of the elements of our comprehensive approach to one centralized location will make it that much easier to have more J’Rons who get plugged into everything that Crossover does to see transformation in north Tulsa.