Crossroads Church Sees 250% Growth

“Our leadership team at Crossroads Church is grateful to AGTrust for providing the opportunity for churches throughout our Assemblies of God Fellowship to participate in the Acts 2 Journey, directed by Alton Garrison!”

Since November 2020, Crossroads Church in Belton, Texas, has seen a 250 percent increase in attendance. The church is averaging 1,200 and added a third service in April 2022. Their attendance on Easter totaled 2,000-plus over four services, and 87 people made first-time decisions to follow Christ. More than 150 people were water baptized from July 2021 to April 2022, and at every weekend service people are accepting Christ and then being discipled.

More than 150 people were water baptized from July 2021 to April 2022 at Crossroads Church in Belton, Texas.

“We count heads at Crossroads Church because numbers represent souls, and we know that souls matter to King Jesus,” Senior Leader Matt Thrasher says. Crossroads Church celebrated 83 years of ministry this year in Belton, a city of 23,000.  

“We attribute much of our growth not only to God working in the hearts of people but also to what we learned as a church through the one-year Acts 2 Journey (A2J) experience, which our leadership team and church completed in 2019.

Since November 2020, Crossroads Church has seen a 250 percent increase in attendance. Senior Leader Matt says they attribute this growth to God working in the hearts of people and also to the clarity of vision and insight regarding the church’s approach to ministry they received from the Acts 2 Journey. 

“I was told upfront by Alton Garrison and A2J Trainer Rick Allen that during the journey the biggest changes would take place within me and my leadership,” Matt says. “I learned that heart work is hard work. But the Acts 2 Journey brought us valuable leadership, wisdom, and insight. It helped us simplify our approach to ministry, equip the saints, and focus on a few specific areas of ministry we could execute with excellence.”

In 2020 during the shutdown due to COVID, Crossroads Church continued ministering to the people of Belton in a number of ways. With the motto “The Church Has Left the Building,” they hosted outdoor drive-up church services multiple times with positive feedback, and news stations came to cover the event. 

Worship service at Crossroads Church in Belton, Texas

On Easter 2020 more than 5,000 people came to Crossroads’ drive-through church. Members gave away at least 10,000 eggs to families, toilet paper to anyone who needed it, gift cards to single parents, and groceries to those in need. Licensed counselors were onsite to help people, and teams shared the message of salvation and prayed with them as they drove through.

Hundreds of people came to several outdoor services the church held at a weekend country music venue.

During the George Floyd incident, Matt Thrasher invited African American friends to an open and honest discussion on what the church’s role is in responding to social injustice; this led to Crossroads Church having a platform to speak to and dialogue with the community.

Matt Thrasher says “We count heads at Crossroads because we know that numbers represent souls, and we know that souls matter to King Jesus!”

Crossroads partnered with Kids Against Hunger to package food, did a prayer walk and trash pickup in the community, and encouraged their congregation to find ways to connect with their families and neighbors.

“The Acts 2 Journey brought clarity to our vision and helped us to define our core values and beliefs,” Matt Thrasher says. “We continue to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit and we can’t wait to see what God is up to next at Crossroads!”

Crossroads Church celebrates 83 years of ministry to the people of Belton this year. During the COVID-19 shutdown the church actively continued their outreach to the community using creative methods with the motto “The Church Has Left the Building.”

Matt and Holly Thrasher have served as Senior Leaders at Crossroads Church since 2009, when Matt’s parents, Harry and Carol Thrasher, passed on the baton to them after their 18 years as senior pastors. As emeritus pastors, Harry and Carol work with those ages 55-plus at Crossroads. Matt and his parents are graduates of Southwestern Assemblies of God University in Waxahachie, Texas. Two executive pastors also serve on staff at Crossroads Church:  Brian Crane, a retired Army chaplain and colonel, and Brian Grant, an SAGU graduate with years of pastoral experience.

A total of 1,783 churches, large and small, cross the United States have taken the Acts 2 Journey, a one-year process that provides “valuable leadership, wisdom, and insight,” as Matt Thrasher says, to help churches discover new vision and methods of outreach to their communities.

Your gift today to AGTrust will help more churches take the Acts 2 Journey!