Cincinnati Megachurch Pledges $2.5 Million to Nonprofit Partners
Gifts to mark church's 25th anniversary
Cincinnati-area megachurch Crossroads Church said it will mark its 25th anniversary by giving $2.5 million to local, national, and international nonprofit partners over the next 25 weeks.
“God has blessed Crossroads over the past 25 years, and we don’t take that lightly, so we want to use what we’ve been given to bring positive change in the communities we serve,” said Crossroads Founding and Senior Pastor Brian Tome. “That means sharing our resources with partners who are doing good work. Where God is moving, we want to be investing.”
The church has 10 locations in Ohio and Kentucky as well as an online presence, with average weekly attendance at about 38,000.
Charities City Gospel Mission, which serves people who are homelessness; Jeevan Adhaar, which provides housing, education, therapy, and community to survivors of sexual violence; and Restavek Freedom, an organization dedicated to ending slavery in Haiti were the first nonprofits to receive funds from Crossroads—$100,000 each.
The church said other recipients have already been selected and will be announced in coming weeks.
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Government records show Crossroads was among businesses that received government Coronavirus relief in the form of a PPP loan, receiving more than $3.6 million in April 2020 to cover its payroll as government shutdowns prohibited churches from meeting in person.
On the loan application, the church reported intending to use the $3,646,000 to pay 244 employees an average salary of about $71,700, per the Small Business Administration.
The SBA said because the loan exceeds $2 million, it is subject to a full review by the agency to ensure eligibility and compliance with PPP program requirements.
Crossroads was launched in Cincinnati in 1995 to connect seekers to “a community of growing Christ followers who are changing the world.” Its ongoing ministries include packing thousands of Thanksgiving meals for families in need, creating a retelling of the Christmas story seen by hundreds of thousands of people, and organizing volunteers to serve overseas and in their local communities.
“We absolutely couldn’t predict what Crossroads is today,” Tome said. “By year five Crossroads was way, way beyond anything anybody ever envisioned, and we’ve basically been trying to play catch-up keeping up with what God was doing in our midst.”
