An Ohio megachurch and one of the churches nationwide to obtain millions of dollars from the federal government’s Paycheck Protection Program last year announced that it will donate $2.5 million over the next 25 weeks.
According to The Christian Post, Crossroads Church is donating the money to state, national, and international nonprofits over the next five months to commemorate its 25th anniversary. WKRC reports that City Gospel Mission, a Cincinnati group that fights homelessness, will receive $100,000 as the first of 40 groups in the region to receive a donation.
“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,” the church’s founder and Senior Pastor Brian Tome said in a statement obtained by The Christian Post.
Tome told WLWT5 that his goal for the next 25 years is to “Enjoy life and serve God diligently and make aggressive moves as a church to bless our city.” He wants to support organizations in India and Haiti. When asked about the next 25 years, Tome reflected on the congregation’s growth.
The multi-campus church, which had over 35,000 weekly attendees in 2018, was founded in Cincinnati in 1995. It currently has locations in Cincinnati, Columbus, Dayton, Lexington, and elsewhere. The church has shared its mission through fellowship music and cups of coffee as it has grown from a school auditorium to several campuses. Crossroads Church, according to its website’s about page, is an interdenominational church founded by 11 churchgoers. They now have 11 different locations as well as an online option for people all over the world.
“We’re so thankful to the city, we’re so grateful for all the nonprofits that are in the city, so as a result of our 25th anniversary, we are going to put a little dot in between 2 and 5, giving 2.5 million dollars in the next 25 weeks,” Tome said in his statement.
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John Paluska has been a contributor for Christian Headlines since 2016 and is the founder of The Washington Gazette, a news outlet he relaunched in 2019 as a response to the constant distribution of fake news.