Missions & Partners

Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition

The Central Missouri Stop Human Trafficking Coalition is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 2008. Human Trafficking is the second largest and fastest growing crime worldwide.

The coalition provides free educational presentations about human trafficking, raises funds to assist survivors with unmet needs, supports survivors in their healing and community integration, and collaborates with other organizations to prevent and stop forced labor and sexual exploitation. The Central Missouri Top Human Trafficking Coalition thinks globally and acts locally in the fight against modern slavery.

City of Refuge

City of Refuge is a non-profit organization created to help refugees navigate a new way of life. Refugees face many obstacles, including language barriers and culture shock. We work hard to meet basic needs, listen and advocate, and connect them to resources in the community in the context of deep friendships they can count on. 

Columbia Women's Ministry

The goal of the Columbia Women's Ministry is to minister to women who need someone to walk through a difficult time with them. CWM creates an environment where non-judgmental listening, sharing, encouragement, and prayer support can take place. Staffed by volunteers who have received training in lay counseling, the center offers free counseling for women. Our volunteer mentors guide hurting women towards God’s abundant love and wholeness through Jesus Christ through scripture, a listening ear, and God’s healing power.

Cor

Cor is a non-profit organization that provides male student athletes in Columbia with educational, experiential, athletic, and relational support. Our hope is that through quality resources and caring relationships, Cor will give young men hope for the future and a way to a productive and redemptive lifestyle.  

Coyote Hill

Coyote Hill is a foster care ministry in central & northeast Missouri. Coyote Hill exists to give children in foster care a safe place to be a child. We strive to be the hands and feet of Jesus for children in foster care in our communities.

Cru City Neighboring

Chris and Elizabeth McKinney hope to bring the gospel to neighborhoods everywhere through winsome, loving & intentional relationships. They want every neighbor to have the chance to be part of the community and grow into a relationship with God. Whether it’s through a table discussion, sharing a meal, a party, or a simple act of kindness, they want to see believers love their neighbors with gospel intentionality. They serve as associate staff with The Crossing as a Neighboring resource to small groups.

Cru at Mizzou

Cru’s focus is to make the message of Jesus to all college students at Mizzou, Stephens College, Columbia College, and MACC. They train students to share the basic message of the gospel with others. Weekly gatherings are on Thursday nights, with small group Bible studies throughout the week. 

Faith Maternity Care

Faith Maternity Care focuses on serving women who are facing an unexpected pregnancy. The mission is to provide the necessary life skills to empower mothers to succeed and become self-sufficient whether they parent or place for adoption. Mothers can find a safe place to live in the FMC resident home in Fulton, MO, or access a program for non-resident support. FMC hopes to encourage families to discover or renew a relationship with Jesus Christ. 

Fellowship of Christian Athletes

The mission at FCA is “to present athletes and coaches, and all whom they influence, the challenge and adventure of receiving Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, serving him in their relationships and in the fellowship of the church.” As Regional Director, Scott oversees the four C’s of FCA ministry (Campus, Coaches, Camps, and Community) in 17 counties of Mid Missouri, including athletes at the University of Missouri. At Mizzou, there is a Tuesday night weekly meeting, and Bible studies specific to each sports team. 

The Food Bank for Central & Northeast Missouri

The Food Bank distributes free food to 138 elementary schools through the Buddy Pack program, sending backpacks full of food home to low-income families. The Food Bank also partners with 135 food pantries, shelters for the homeless and abused, soup kitchens, low-income children’s programs, and senior programs in 32 counties in central and northeast Missouri. It’s one of the few food banks nationwide that does not charge for the food it provides.

Granny's House

Granny’s House is a safe, nurturing place where public housing kids can come each day after school to see values, manners, and God’s love in action. We provide loving arms, a safe place to play or do homework, and an atmosphere of hope and calm in a chaotic world. 

In2action

In2Action’s mission is to provide Christ-centered residential recovery services to individuals recently released from prison in the Columbia/Boone County area. Support includes safe and drug-free housing, supported employment, intensive case management, discipleship, and provision of basic needs. 

K-Life

K-Life is a community-wide Christian ministry of discipleship and fellowship for students and their families. Their various activities include: weekly clubs, small group Bible studies, mission trips, ski trips, and monthly events. They learn that following Christ is the most exciting adventure of all and that they can count on friendship and support from leaders and peers who care.

Life Network of Central Missouri

We are a life-affirming agency that provides medical diagnosis and confirmation of pregnancy, education on abortion and alternatives, education on lifestyle and relationships, and education on sexual health. Formerly known as Open Arms, Life Network has offices in Columbia. 

Love Columbia

Love Columbia brings Christian churches together across denominational lines to help the poor by meeting immediate needs, such as food and clothing, to longer-term responses through relational ministries such as life skills training and transitional housing. Love Columbia operates a clearinghouse where we receive requests for help from individuals in need. The mission is to mobilize churches to transform lives and communities in the name of Christ. 

Mobility Worldwide

The mission of Mobility Worldwide is to provide mobility for those in greatest need and with the least resources in underdeveloped countries. 60+ million people worldwide are leg disabled due to polio, landmine injuries, birth defects, and other circumstances. Without help, they crawl in the dirt. Volunteers build mobility carts, and Mobility Worldwide partners with in-country ministries to distribute carts free of charge to those in need. There are many opportunities to volunteer as woodworkers, welders, assemblers, packers, truck loaders, and office workers.  

Navigators

Bill Penkethman serves with the Navigators in their Church Discipleship Ministry. Bill helps with building discipleship ministries in local churches and helps Larry Glabe lead the local Navigators Business & Professional ministry called The Business Advantage. Bill and Chuck Worstell also help churches throughout Guatemala—assisting them in developing an intentional disciple-making process, and meeting with men one on one to help them personally in their spiritual growth. 

Reformed University Fellowship (RUF)

RUF works with college students at the University of Missouri. Through Bible studies, mentor relationships, conferences, and retreats, they seek to help students develop the kind of faith that lasts a lifetime. 

St. Raymond's Society

St. Raymond’s Society supports mothers who have chosen life for their child, taking particular care to continue support after the baby is born. They provide resources families need to become self-sufficient and prepare them to give their child the security of a stable home.   

True North

True North is a comprehensive domestic and sexual violence victim service program. The services provided are designed to empower those who have been battered or abused by an intimate partner, enabling them to begin the healing process and work towards regaining control of their lives again. The goal of True North is to provide all victims with safe housing, advocacy, and support. Advocacy and support provided may include continuous counseling, protection, housing assistance, and appropriate legal guidance.

Welcome Home

Welcome Home works to restore veterans and honor lives. We provide transitional and emergency shelter, permanent housing, employment assistance, and wrap-around supportive services to at-risk and homeless Veterans.

Young Life

Young Life in Columbia is part of a worldwide organization for teenagers. YL staff and volunteers enter the world of kids, focusing on what matters to them—fun, adventure, friendship, and a sense of significance. In doing so, we earn the privilege of talking to them about something that we think matters most of all—the truth of Jesus Christ. 

Vitae Foundation

The Vitae Foundation is a non-profit, educational organization focused on creating a culture of life by using research-based messaging and cutting-edge media to inform women facing an untimely pregnancy. 

Athletes in Action, University of Wisconsin

The Wenigs are on staff with Athletes in Action (the sports ministry of Cru). Primarily serving at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, they especially focus on ministering to the Badgers athletes, coaches, and athletic department support staff. Each summer, they have an opportunity to join other college athletes & coaches by sending them around the world to use their platform through sports to share the gospel. 

Big Horn Ministries

Big Horn Ministries operates from a family-owned ranch in the mountains of southwest Colorado where pastors, missionaries and their families are offered a place to unplug from the daily grind of ministry. BHM provides a safe environment to process ministry experiences and their impact on faith and family. The mission at BHM is “helping people take their next step” in hopes that their next step will be part of a journey closer to Christ. Relationships and recreation in God’s creation are the context BHM provides for growing closer to Christ. In these ways, BHM helps those in vocational ministry continue to serve God from a place of fullness. BHM also offers retreats for missionaries and relief workers serving in various parts of the world. 

Campus Outreach - Ohio State University

Dyan and Kat Wright serve through a ministry called Campus Outreach at Ohio State University. The vision of Campus Outreach is “Glorifying God by Building Laborers on the Campus for the Lost World.” The goal is to establish laborers in the college sphere that desire to live out the Great Commission. They desire to see students leave college equipped to labor in the harvest field for the glory of God.

City Church

City Church is a church plant in the city of Saint Louis seeking to reach urban professionals with the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church worships in a 19th century Abbey in Soulard, near downtown St. Louis, on Sunday mornings. City Church launched on Easter Sunday in 2009. They have an energized core team and are excited to gather people together in the name of Jesus. 

Christian Health Service Corps

Christian Health Service Corps is a community of Christian doctors, health professionals and health educators committed to serving the poor in places that have little or no access to healthcare.  

Upstate Cru

Patrick and Amber have the privilege of serving with Cru on over twenty college campuses in the Upstate of South Carolina, where Greenville and Spartanburg are the two largest cities. The campuses of the Upstate are diverse, including highly selective universities like Furman and Wofford, regional schools like the University of South Carolina-Upstate, and very large community colleges that often feed into other area locations. In addition, the Martins help lead the Smoky Mountain Summer Mission, a Cru summer mission project that trains college students from around the country in evangelism and discipleship. 

The Bridge North County

The Bridge North County is a multi-ethnic church plant in Ferguson, Missouri, seeking to model God’s love, celebrate diversity, and pursue reconciliation. They believe that through Jesus's life, death, and resurrection, God is reconciling people to himself and to one another. Their vision for the community is to be a foretaste of heaven, where different types of people (culturally, generationally, socio-economically, etc.) are brought together by Jesus. The Bridge launched worship services in August of 2021, and pastors Sean Boone and Nathan Arnold are grateful to have the chance to share how the person of Jesus provides a way forward amid the division, tension, and turmoil that has become commonplace in our day and age.  

The Table Church

The Table Church is an Acts 29 West church plant in Boulder County, Colorado.

ASELSI Ministries International

ASELSI’s mission is to provide Bible and ministry training, and offer outreach to the unique needs of the indigenousMayan people.  In addition to providing pastors with theological training, ASELSI provides care ministries to help meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of those living in the mountains of Guatemala and beyond through a health clinic and a physical therapy program. 

Barcelona, Spain

Derek & Ashley Jenkins were members during the early years of The Crossing. They are serving to spread the gospel through church planting and discipleship among an unreached, neglected people group in northeastern Spain. Sent by The Crossing to Barcelona in 2005, they are called to return long-term, sharing Jesus with the Catalan people (0.5% Christian). In an exceedingly secularized post-Christian culture, Catalans struggle for statehood, fighting for identity, and remain deeply wounded by the state-sponsored church of their past. Derek and Ashley dream and work to see the body of Christ grow and thrive in new ways among Catalans, bringing them life and hope that can only be found in Jesus. 

Bartimeus Foundation

To reflect the grace and love of God in Christ to disabled and disadvantaged people and to equip them to make a positive impact on their world and in the body of Christ.

Budapest, Hungary

Rob Futo was born to Hungarian immigrants in St. Louis. He joined staff with Campus Crusade for Christ, after graduating from Mizzou in 1990. He met his wife, Tündi, during a one year mission trip to Hungary. Together, they attended Covenant Seminary in St. Louis. After being ordained into the PCA, Tündi and Rob returned to Budapest, Hungary, and have been there ever since. Rob taught in a Bible School and led a film club and outreach for singles in Budapest for the first fourteen years. Currently, he is pastoring a church in Budapest, called Sarokko, that they planted in the fall of 2015. Rob and Tündi have two daughters. 

CESAED

CESAED is a social center for education and development. They have worked in Burnika Faso, a predominantly Muslim population, since 2008. The school enrollment rate is very low due to a lack of financial resources, and the school dropout rate is growing due to terrorist attacks.

CESAED believes that the Good News of the Kingdom is the ultimate answer to this situation and that education is the most strategic and efficient action for positive change. They currently provide access to school and meals for needy children (255 students) and have programming to share the love of Jesus.

FCA Ukraine

Andrew Chernenkov is the West-Multi-Area Director for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes in Ukraine (FCA Ukraine). Andrew works with the eight regions in west Ukraine (for context, the general population of Western Ukraine is 10 million people). Andrew’s main responsibilities are to find, train, and invest in leaders and volunteers to reach FCA Ukraine’s vision of 80,000 coaches in Ukraine for Christ. Andrew says, “I believe that a coach is one of the most influential people in our society, and a coach that knows Christ can help young athletes to become real men and women who will influence the next generation.”

Guatemala

Ron & Sally Widbin have worked in Guatemala since Ron went on a Crossing mission trip in 2011.  During those years they have written and produced videos to share the vision of different Guatemalan ministries, led teams from the Crossing and other churches, worked with teachers in communities, and at an orphanage for HIV infected children and teenage mothers, and supplying help in emergencies such as housing after Volcano eruptions and food during COVID.  Today, they focus their work with Forma Guatemala, a Guatemalan ministry that works with indigenous students, their families, and their communities in small villages around Panajachel, Guatemala, building them up through education and training to break the cycle of poverty they have been born into.  

Ron and Sally continue to lead teams from the Crossing to Guatemala.  

Hebron Hospital

Started by Korean missionaries in Cambodia, Hebron is a mission hospital that aims to help poor patients physically and spiritually through proclaiming the Gospel and teaching about Jesus Christ.

Ethan and Elizabeth are medical missionaries passionate about bringing spiritual and physical healing to Cambodia. God saved Ethan as a child, grew his faith through Stage IV cancer as a teenager, and called him to missions through a Kenyan mentor. Ethan now works as a pediatrician at Hebron Hospital and teaches nursing and medical students. His passion is preaching the Gospel through medicine. Elizabeth spends her days teaching at home, studying Khmer, writing, and keeping her continuing medical education current by looking up answers to informal medical consults. She is committed to discipleship and health education as means of living out the Gospel. Ethan and Elizabeth completed their residencies in Rochester, NY, where Ethan trained in Pediatrics and Elizabeth in Family Medicine and Preventive Medicine. They are thankful for the children God has given them in the past decade of life on three continents. Josiah, Esther, Isaiah, and Ezekiel have enjoyed their own international journeys and continue to bring light and laughter to every day.

Honduras Mission Team

Small teams serve in Honduras at least twice a year. Jan: construction, optical, dental. Oct: women's conference. Other activities as needed by Honduran partners.

Hope for Caribbean Kids

Hope for Caribbean kids Inc., was birthed out of acts of obedience in response to dreams and visions. The call is to rescue thousands of children in the impoverished southern mountains of Haiti, specifically, Marre Blanche Sub-East and children at the God’s Work for the Poor Children of Haiti orphanage in Port-au-Prince.  Our work is accomplished through better nutrition, education, facilities, and hope in Christ that they can grow above the circumstance that weighs upon their parents and country.

Jamaica

Won By One To Jamaica’s ministry is focused in Harmons, Jamaica – a rural community located in the mountains 30 minutes south of Mandeville. Because of its remote location and lack of running water, life in Harmons is often difficult. Electricity is available, but is so expensive that many in the community opt to live without it. The lack of opportunity and training has left two out of three residents with little hope of real employment. Won By One To Jamaica is part of a long-term solution that allows local residents to improve their own quality of life through medical initiatives, economic development, education, leadership development and discipleship.

Throughout the year teams from all over the US partner with Won By One To Jamaica by serving for a week in Harmons- building houses, refurbishing projects, helping in schools, holding dental clinics and building relationships. The Crossing sends multiple teams each year, including groups of college and high school students.

Grace Harbor Church

Seima grew up in a non-Christian Buddhist home, like more than 99% of the people in Japan. He had never even met a Christian until he was 17 years old. Through that first exposure to the gospel, he became a Christian. His life changed drastically. The Lord blessed him with a wonderful Christian wife, Naoko, and led them into seven years of college ministry in Japan under MTW. Seima graduated with honors from Covenant Seminary in 2010 and was ordained as a gospel minister in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Seima, Naoko, and their four children helped plant Grace City Church Tokyo, a partnership with Redeemer Presbyterian Church (NYC), in the heart of Tokyo. With 34 million people, Tokyo has become one of the most influential and most populated cities in the world. Only 0.22% of the Japanese people know Christ as their Savior, and more than 95% of Japanese people never have a chance to hear the gospel. 

Northern Hungary

Gyorgy graduated from Covenant Seminary with an M.Div. in 2008 and is an ordained Evangelical Presbyterian Church minister. His primary focus is in a holistic ministry towards the Roma people in Hungary. He is mostly involved in training and equipping Hungarian Roma/non-Roma Christian leaders and missions workers through Bible training, mentoring, discipleship and taking them through Sonship. He is the coordinator of the missions work in the northern region of Hungary and one of the founders and lecturers of Sonship Academy, where he teaches Old Testament, Biblical Theology and the Gospels. The ultimate aim of this multi-faceted ministry is a Christ-centered revitalization of Roma communities, Hungarian (Roma and non-Roma) evangelical churches with a strong missional orientation. Gyorgy's wife, Timea, supports him in the ministry for the Roma, especially in leading Bible studies for and discipling women. She studied counseling at Master's College in order to be further equipped for this specific ministry. They have two children, Benjamin and Hanna.

Pistis School

In early 2007, Crossing Kids formed a partnership with Pistis School to help educate the children of students working on ministry and theology degrees at NEGST Seminary in Nairobi, Kenya. Over the years, our children have exchanged letters and cards as well as gifts with each other. The banner you see hanging was a gift sent a few years ago from the school.

The biggest way we partner with Pistis is through our giving. Each Sunday, the offering that is collected in the Large Group rooms goes to the school. It is our hope that by helping to educate their children we can keep these families strong and encouraged as they prepare to serve the Lord.

South Africa

Emese and Riaan Ferreira are missionaries serving with Wycliffe/SIL and Global Recordings International (GRI) – a ministry that produces audio recordings of Bible stories and the gospel in dozens of indigenous languages for use around the globe. The Ferreiras are based in South Africa, but travel often to other regions of Africa to work with local translation teams. They also assist GRI by producing their audio recordings and providing translating services, as well as tech and administrative support. These recordings can be accessed through a smartphone app or loaded onto battery powered, solar-powered, or even hand-cranked audio players. Gospel workers take these recordings into deep and remote areas of Africa, where a lack of literacy is often a barrier to understanding the Gospel. They are then able to share the love and hope of Christ with local people groups in their native tongue. 

South Asian Church Planting

South Asia is one of the least reached parts of the world with less than 1% Christian presence. We partner with a family who works toward planting culturally relevant house fellowships alongside the local church. Our partner couple uses a variety of local cultural forms, such as art and music, to inspire others who have not had the chance to hear the Gospel. They also serve this under-resourced region by developing indigenous leaders with context-specific training in their own language, relief work in epidemic-prone areas, and working with churches planted in those communities. 

Trujillo, Peru | Corazón de Esperanza

Corazon de Esperanza is an orphanage project in Northern Peru. They run the Hugar Luz de Vida, “Light of Life Home,” the only transitional home available for older at-risk kids, who otherwise age out of an orphanage on their 18th birthday. These young adults are targets for human trafficking and often get drawn into a life of crime, alcoholism, and/or drug abuse. At Hugar Luz de Vida, they live in safety, learn about God’s love, have the opportunity to attend college or vocational training, working hard to transition from poverty to independence. They encourage involvement through sponsorship and offer bi-annual missions trips, and volunteer positions in Peru. 

Young Life International

After college, Ashley moved to Czech Republic to work with Young Life Internaional, where she met her husband, Honza. Together work for Young Life, a ministry that focuses on building relationships with high school students – sharing the unconditional love of Christ and the truth of the gospel. The Veloseks work in Brno, the second largest city in Czech Republic, one of the most atheistic countries in Europe. Yet, God is moving in big ways. Ashley spends time volunteering in local high schools, and they have started a new YL ministry in their city. They also work closely with the local church developing young leaders and seeking to grow the kingdom of God.