Missions

History:

The Missions Committee of Crossroads (and mission activity of the church) has a long history of activity for at least 40 years.  Its existence mirrors the long-standing burden original church founders and members had/have had for outreach and world missions. This is seen in part in the fact that several individuals and families over the years who were members of Crossroads (and often members of the committee) answered God’s call to themselves become missionaries overseas, in the Middle East, in Europe, and in several Asian countries including Thailand, Japan, and the Philippines.  Though the concept of “Missions” is often understood to refer to witnessing “over there”/overseas, the term at Crossroads has always included local and regional outreach as well.  Some examples of this have been the close relationship the church has had locally with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship staff (most recently Tony Warner), and support of Worldwide Discipleship Association (Margaret Garner), Georgia Missions (Annette Smith) and Mission Discovery (Gary Lane) and other local/regional ministries, as well as overseas organizations such as Wycliffe Bible Translators (most recently Jacqueline Huggins), the ministry of Willys and Suzette Goss-Geffrard in Haiti, and more recently TMS Global (Coleman family).

There has been a long-standing “hands-on” level of activity both by members of the committee and with other members of the church.  Examples include participation in various types of short mission trips by adults and/or youth, with particularly consistent participation of youth teams serving with Appalachian Service Project – led by John Matthews and LaToria Hairston.  There is also some degree of expected overlap between what might be considered “Missions” and what is coordinated under the “Outreach” ministry, with Mission committee members often serving in ministries such as Pride for Parents with the FCS ministry in Atlanta, Operation Christmas Child (OCC), contributions to and volunteering to help at the Stone Mountain food pantry, and our recent monthly drive-through food-giveaways.