our ROOTS

In October of 2009, God brought together two groups in Holstein who'd been praying about reaching their community with the good news of Jesus Christ through a Bible-believing church.  Some from this group had been attending Summit Evangelical Free Church in Alta, IA.  At the same time, God had laid it on the leaders of Summit to expand the gospel in the region through church planting.  When the Holstein group gathered with leaders from Summit to discuss beliefs and goals, God clearly guided these disciples to pursue affiliation with the Evangelical Free Church of America.

OUR launch team

Initially, the "Launch Team" gathered every other week through the first half of 2010 at the Lohff-Schumann Community Center to study God's Word, to discuss our beliefs, to pray, and to worship Jesus Christ.  Relationships continued to grow and several outreach projects were organized to serve our community in the name of Christ.  

In the fall of that year, two preview services were well-attended.

OUR Weekly Worship Services

After a year of  praying and planning, God led CrossRidge to begin weekly Sunday morning worship services on January 9, 2011.  Summit Church provided Kevin Mahr to serve as on-site Campus Pastor and Doug Corlew as the Teaching Pastor via video-recorded sermons with live preaching about monthly.  CrossRidge was also richly blessed with the prayer partnership & financial support of regional E-Free churches during these early days. 

Our Pastor

In April 2011 the “Rocket Team” (since CrossRidge had successfully taken flight, our "Launch Team" was given a new name) invited Tyler Parson to candidate as pastor. After a unanimous vote Tyler Parson accepted the call to serve as

CrossRidge’s first Pastor on May 15, 2011.

OUR maturity

In 2012 we purchased and renovated a building for our Church Office at 117 S. Main, Holstein, hired a Ministry Assistant (Wendy Sanders) small group Bible studies began meeting in homes, and we received our covenant first members.


We elected our first elders, and on March 5, 2013, CrossRidge was unanimously received by the Central District Conference of the Evangelical Free Church of America as a full charter member church.


On August 1, 2022 we purchased the facility and land at 411 Washington Street in Ida Grove.  Demolition has been completed, plans are being finalized, and renovations will begin soon as our church continues intentionally seeking opportunities to expand the good news of Jesus Christ throughout our region!

A disciple-MultiplICATION Movement

Intentional spiritual relationships are part of our DNA. God works through ordinary people whose lives have been transformed by Jesus Christ to make disciples in our area among all peoples.  

 

By God's grace we strive to intentionally engage others to build trusted relationships, evangelize our community by leading people to salvation through biblical truth in ordinary conversations.  We strive to establish these believers in God's Word and among God's people to equip us to do the work of ministry God has uniquely called us to accomplish in order to expand the good news of Jesus in His disciple-multiplication movement.