Crossroads (Cincinnati)

Crossroads is a multisite interdenominational megachurch in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was named the 4th-largest and the fastest-growing church in America in 2017, with over 34,000 average weekend attendees. Crossroads has nine physical locations in Ohio and Kentucky, and an online streaming platform where over 6,000 people watch services weekly.

History

In 1990, Procter & Gamble brand managers Brian Wells, Jim Bechtold and Vivienne Bechtold started a singles Bible study in Hyde Park, Cincinnati. It quickly grew to over 100 people and they wondered if starting a church made sense.

After five years in a junior high auditorium and a growing attendance, senior leaders raised funds to purchase an empty supercenter. It was renovated into an auditorium seating 1,200. The construction was done by Megen Construction Company, completed a month ahead of schedule within budget.

Champlin Architecture did the architecture for the first renovation with Megen Construction, and also did work for the second phase. Phase two expanded the auditorium, tripled the size of the childcare facility, and modernized the design. The new design is “raw, edgy, contemporary”.

In November 2018, CBS News listed Crossroads as the 23rd largest megachurch in the United States with about 16,792 weekly visitors and thousands of viewers on their livestreamed services each week.

Beliefs

The church is considered interdenominational, and some on staff refer to it as evangelical. The core beliefs pull from a variety of Christian denominations and the church believes in the Bible as the inspired word of God and the final authority on all matters of faith. The church is classified as Unclear: Non-Affirming with their LGBTQ policy, and Senior Pastor Brian Tome has indicated that homosexuality is a sin. The church also opposes abortion, supporting such local organizations as the Eve Center.

Controversy

On Superbowl Sunday 2024, church leaders decorated the Cincinnati sanctuary to look like Allegiant Stadium and produced a skit that involved ministers in football jerseys and a referee's outfit flipping a coin and kicking a Bible as if it were a football.

As reported by the ''Christian Post:'' ''"''With play-by-play announcers, color commentary, a referee, and a stage covered in AstroTurf, the Crossroads pulpit resembled Allegiant Stadium more than any church on Sunday morning as Senior Pastor Brian Tome and Pastor Alli Patterson sported football jerseys as they took the stage for the 'pregame' coin flip.

"After Tome wins the flip, the referee asks, “Would you like to kick or receive the Bible?”

“'I will receive,' Tome replied.

"Patterson is then seen taking a few steps back as another pastor squares up the Bible — which had a football-style book cover on it and did not contain an actual Bible but rather a piece of foam cut to fit inside the book cover— before kicking the Bible off the stage and into the crowd.

"Patterson then high-fives her colleague in celebration."

Locations

Crossroads has seven of their own buildings, each with a campus pastor, including Crossroads' online location, Crossroads Anywhere. Crossroads also has a presence in six other cities, where people gather in rented spaces or homes.

List of Crossroads locations and cities:
*Columbus (Columbus, OH)
*Dayton (Dayton Mall in Miami Township, Montgomery County, OH)
*East Side (Eastgate, OH)
*Florence (Florence, KY)
*Lexington (Lexington, KY)
*Mason (Mason, OH)
*Oakley (Cincinnati, OH)
* Uptown/The George (Cincinnati, OH)
*West Side (Cleves, OH)
*Anywhere (Online)

As of August 2023, Crossroads has discontinued weekend services at their Uptown location. Crossroads Uptown has been reimaged as "The George" and turned into an event center, with the hopes it will be more enticing for outside bands, comedians, and acts to book the location for a live event.

On August 22, 2022, it was reported that Crossroads had purchased the former Sears location at the Dayton Mall in Miami Township, Montgomery County, near Miamisburg, intending to relocate Dayton-area services from Bellbrook Middle School and other rented facilities to the mall location. The reported size of the project is ; cost estimates were undetermined as of the date of the report. Construction on the project began in February 2024, with completion estimated to be the end of 2024 or early 2025. Crossroads Dayton, which includes a 1,589-seat auditorium, held its grand opening on Easter Sunday, April 20, 2025.

Undivided

Undivided is a six-week program designed to encourage candid discussions about racial issues in small groups of people of different ethnicities. The initiative was launched out of the Crossroads Oakley campus and has grown across other Crossroads sites. As of June 2018, 3,000 people had gone through the program.

On June 12, 2018, the Undivided program received national attention when Crossroads Oakley's community pastor Chuck Mingo was on the front page of ''USA Today'' for his work launching the program.

A book about the Undivided program was published in 2024.

References

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Churches in Cincinnati
Megachurches in Kentucky