As spring comes around it can only mean summer will be here before we know it. So in order to prepare for the summer I thought it would be good to share about the organizations we partner with here in Oklahoma each month. They each bring amazing help to the residents of Moore and Oklahoma City, but all do it in a unique way.
This month I want to focus on Cross and Crown Mission. Located on the west side of Oklahoma City, Cross and Crown has great reach into a neighborhood known for housing low income families and is also home to a wavering homeless community. Started by a group of friends and families that wanted to see change, they began by praying for the Lord to reveal to them what they were to do. Prayer after prayer they were led to the corner of NW 9th and McKinley where the Lord blessed them with an old church building. The old church featured historic limestone columns which dated it back to the beginning of the 1910’s. In the main sanctuary the original stain glass is still present showing an elegant crown positioned on a humble cross. This is what led to the name of the Mission and soon after, Cross and Crown Mission was born.
Cross and Crown has always rooted themselves in prayer. As a staff, they begin each day with it, and incorporate it into their daily encounters with the community. During a typical day at Cross and Crown you might find yourself helping unload boxes of food to distribute to families or single parents, or tutoring kids in an after school program in their youth center, or maybe even restoring old homes to be made into dry, safe, and affordable housing for people. The options are endless. The services offered through Cross and Crowns always center on helping people get back on their feet both physically and figuratively. They offer free clinics, legal aid, resume building, food pantry services, furniture and household items, and short to long-term housing.
While all these services are great and helpful, the real beauty is in the people involved in this ministry. Both the people that devote their lives vocationally to pursuing their mission, and those that come seeking help, each play a huge role in making Cross and Crown an effective tool used in the lives of people. Each person that comes through the doors of this building or receives services, ultimately gains the opportunity to be connected into a network we know as the body of Christ. People are not referred to as numbers but rather as family all going through life together. This has enabled Cross and Crown to minister to single parents, children, gang members, addicts, and everything in between. They truly love the work they do and entrust everything to the God that has made it all possible.
Next Step has been blessed to be apart of this organization and see how they simply, but effectively love on this community. Going into our fourth year of partnership, we are very close to finishing the first project we ever started with Cross and Crown: an entire home renovation. We are excited to continue to work with these amazing people who have enabled us to be apart of their community and love on people who desperately need to be loved on.
