The Vision

The Bible states in Psalm 127:1 Unless the Lord builds the house, its builders labor in vain. (NIV) The history of CrossPoint began with God building His church (the house). The story of CrossPoint is an amazing journey of faith in which God's people joined Him in building His Kingdom by developing two churches out of one and multiplying the witness of Jesus in Starkville , MS .
From 1985-2005, Adaton Baptist Church was a growing church in the western part of Oktibbeha County . Adaton grew from being a rural, community church to a thriving, regional church. As the church grew, a second Sunday morning worship service was added and then a third Sunday morning worship service was added along with a second Bible study. God's blessings upon Adaton were demonstrated visibly both in the number of people who came to worship and in the number of lives which were being transformed by the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A Vision Team was established at Adaton in 1997 to help prepare the church for future growth. A number of options were pursued including attempting to purchase more land at the current location. Some of those pursuits turned out fruitful while others did not. Ultimately, a lack of land to provide adequate space for future growth became a critical issue which required a solution.
At the beginning of 2005, the Vision Team gave serious consideration to relocating the church to a new property in the Adaton community on the new Highway 82 by-pass to provide enough room for future growth. However, two members of the Vision Team felt strongly that moving the church would be very traumatic for some members to accept and might disrupt the unity of the church. In addition, these two Vision Team members expressed a desire to continue the vision of the church in the current location which was started in 1923 when Adaton was established as a mission church of FBC Starkville , MS.
The other seven members of the Vision Team were sensitive to the request of the two members and asked what alternative could be arranged to keep the current location operational while providing room for future growth. The two members who were concerned about relocating the entire church suggested leaving the current church in its present location while starting a new church in another location to provide an outlet for growth. The plan was agreeable to all Vision Team members and was presented to the church for approval in April, 2005
The original plan presented by the Vision Team was for the whole church to stay together as one church family for three years and then start the new church. During the three year period, Adaton Baptist Church would help secure the land for the new church and enter a capital building campaign to help prepare for the first building. The vote on the proposed motion passed 68% to 32%.
After evaluating the results of the vote, the staff and Vision Team realized the difficulty of attempting to stay together for three years. Rather than stay together and destroy relationships, a decision was made to expedite the process to approximately sixty days so both churches could move forward with their respective visions and still maintain a cooperative spirit within the church. The revised timeline was presented by the Vision Team in May, 2005 and the church approved the motion unanimously. Following the vote, two five person transition teams “ one for Adaton and one for CrossPoint “ were established to assist in the implementation of the revised plan. Additionally, two three-person asset mediation teams were established to assist in making sure Adaton and CrossPoint would have the necessary monetary and physical items needed to do effective ministry beginning August 1, 2005.
The months of June and July were used to prepare two churches “ Adaton and CrossPoint “ to emerge from one church - Adaton. During this same time period, individual members and families were asked to choose where they planned to attend once the two churches emerged on August 1. Approximately 175 members chose to stay and continue the ministry at Adaton. And approximately 225 members chose to help plant CrossPoint. A special service was held at Adaton on July 24, 2005, during which the entire congregation gave its blessing to those who chose to stay at Adaton Baptist Church to continue her ministries and commissioned those who made the commitment to help start CrossPoint.
On August 1, 2005, CrossPoint officially became a church plant of Adaton Baptist Church . The church's office was opened at 207 South Lafayette Street in downtown Starkville , MS . A Prayer Walk and the first official Family Conference (Business Meeting) were held on Wednesday, August 3. CrossPoint's first official worship service was held at the Greensboro Center on Sunday August 7. 371 people attended the first service. During the invitation two children (Tyler Dickerson and Molly Edmondson) publicly professed Christ as Savior and requested baptism and Teresa Bost requested membership at CrossPoint.
More Coming (1st year, Land Purchase)

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