Rebuilding and Relaunching: Lessons in Church Renewal with James Griffin

Summary

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unSeminary Podcast Summary

Episode Title

Rebuilding and Relaunching: Lessons in Church Renewal with James Griffin

Host: Rich Birch
Guest: James Griffin (Lead Pastor, Crosspoint City Church)
Date: December 19, 2024

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Overview

This episode dives deep into rebuilding a church after crisis, relaunching with a renewed mission, and practical strategies for lasting community impact. James Griffin, lead pastor of Crosspoint City Church—one of the fastest-growing multisite churches in Georgia—shares a candid account of inheriting a wounded congregation, rebuilding trust, launching new campuses (including within a prison), and creating a culture of partnership both within the church and across the broader community.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. The Story of Crosspoint City Church ([01:29]-[03:31])

• Replanting after Crisis: James inherited a troubled church after a significant moral failure by the founding pastor, leading to a mass exodus and deep wounds within the staff and congregation.
• First Steps: The early focus was on stabilizing, regaining trust, and reassuring both the church and local community that the church was here to stay.

Quote ([05:08]):

“There is no good reason that our church should be here right now, honestly, other than. Other than God is kind and God is faithful.”
—James Griffin

2. Multiplying Locations Amidst Adversity ([02:22]-[04:31])

• Locations in Cartersville (main), Adairsville, Rome, newly launched Haystate Prison, with Acworth coming soon.
• The timing of some launches, like Adairsville just before COVID, necessitated relaunching and adaptability.

Quote ([03:32]):

“We joke and we said, we did that one twice.”
—James Griffin

3. Steps to Rebuild Trust ([07:12]-[08:44])

• Presence and Relationship: Personal connection became the cornerstone. James prioritized being visible, available, and real—“just being a pastor and loving people.”
• Relational Leadership: Trust is built through character, and character is revealed through vulnerability and proximity.
• External Relationships: Restoring connections with other local pastors and churches, especially since past leadership had fostered division.

Quote ([07:40]):

“Leadership is influence. Influence is gained by trust. Trust is gained by character. And I don’t think people can know if you are a man or woman of character unless you spend time with them.”
—James Griffin

4. Honoring the Past While Facing Reality ([09:14]-[10:50])

• James modeled honoring the previous pastors and the church’s early accomplishments, even amidst failure.
• Addressed internal issues candidly, without dishonor, recognizing everyone’s vulnerability to mistakes.
• Owned the church’s prior lack of unity with other local congregations and worked deliberately to repair it.

Quote ([09:24]):

“God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks. And so let’s not fail to give God glory for the things that have happened.”
—James Griffin

5. Rebuilding External Relationships ([11:21]-[13:30])

• Intentionally sought out local pastors, inviting himself to denominational gatherings, building trust one relationship at a time.
• Emphasized that lasting church transformation must align with a commitment to bless the broader community—requiring unity with fellow churches.

Quote ([12:57]):

“We’re not just here to meet together on Sundays... But if we really want to be a Great Commission church, we’ve got to think about the impact God is calling us to make on our cities. And if we’re going to do that effectively, we have to work in partnership with the other churches here. We have to be unified with the other believers in these cities for the sake of the gospel.”
—James Griffin

6. Signposts of Renewal ([14:10]-[16:26])

• Relaunching as Crosspoint City Church: Marked a new chapter and a visible “stake in the ground,” validating God’s faithfulness.
• Financial Milestone: Raised $103,000 in 10 days for a building refinance, confirming both God’s provision and the congregation’s renewed trust.

Memorable Story ([16:06]):

“The next Sunday, I stood up, told the church, asked people to pray and to give. And 10 days later, we had $103,000 that was given.”
—James Griffin

7. Leadership Pacing and Delegation ([16:56]-[18:32])

• Adapting as the Church Grows: Learned to pour into the executive and key leaders; shifted from a singular care model to a shared, team-based culture of care.
• Advice Received:

“There comes a point, as your church grows, you gotta stop worrying about everyone feeling loved by you, and you just have to worry that people feel loved.”

8. Lessons from Rebranding and Loss ([19:03]-[21:40])

• Not All Stayed: Some people who endured the painful past chose not to move forward; James saw this as God’s pruning to enable advance.
• Facility Miracles: Moved from a small, inadequate facility to a much larger, better equipped space due to God’s provision and partnership with another church.

Quote ([19:54]):

“We’re about to charge to hell together, and you’re gonna leave now. But I will say... I think that was God pruning people away that needed to be pruned so that we could make forward progress.”
—James Griffin

9. Importance of Church Networks & Strategic Intervention ([22:05]-[23:40])

• Westridge Church, as the original church planter, intervened decisively after the crisis based on deep relational history—“the providence of God.”
• The former lead pastor was a church planting school graduate; the campus structure enabled timely, targeted support and eventual recovery.

10. Compassion Center: Embedding Community Impact ([24:20]-[27:35])

• Genesis: Crosspoint acquired a large facility; leaders approached local civic leaders to ask, “What does the community need?”
• Four Core Initiatives:
  • Counseling center with affordable, biblical counseling.
  • Education (mentoring at-risk kids, adult literacy).
  • Homeless ministry with showers, laundry, resources, prayer.
  • Serving women rescued from trafficking.
  • Mobile medical clinic (creatively launched during the pandemic to reach the uninsured/underinsured).

Quote ([24:20]):

“Told our elders, like, if we buy this and it sits empty throughout the week, we are horrible stewards. So we had to figure out ways to keep the doors open right Sunday through Saturday.”
—James Griffin

11. Contextualizing Ministry for Each Location ([28:24]-[29:47])

• Each site’s outreach tailored to its city’s needs; direct service precedes official launch.
• Some initiatives are church-wide and mobile (foster care, Christmas outreaches), while others are unique to their context.

12. Final Words & Leadership Encouragement ([30:18]-[31:02])

James underscores the necessity of patience, consistency, and faithfulness as the bedrock of lasting church renewal. Change takes time, persistence, and a refusal to “just tell”—mission must be both proclaimed and demonstrated.

Final Encouragement ([31:02]):

“Be patient, be patient. I think shifting culture, building trust, establishing a strong reputation in the community... it just takes time. And so I think you got to plug away. You’ve got to be consistent, stay focused on mission... and over time, the tide will turn. But be faithful, be patient is what I would say.”
—James Griffin

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Memorable Moments & Quotes

• “If all I have to do is love these people, well, I think we’re going to be okay. And we’ve been okay by the grace of God.” ([07:01])
• “We had to take a shared approach to that so we could continue driving the work of mission forward. The leader can’t carry that weight and burden alone.” ([18:24])
• “If we buy this and it sits empty throughout the week, we are horrible stewards.” ([24:20])
• “We're here to love and serve. We want to be a blessing to the cities that God’s called us to.” ([29:38])

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Notable Timestamps

• 01:29: Brief history and DNA of Crosspoint City Church
• 03:31: Multi-site strategy including unique outreach inside a prison
• 05:08: The crisis moment—what James inherited and the initial response
• 07:40: Building trust through presence and character
• 09:24: Balancing honoring the past with facing hard realities
• 12:57: Rebuilding relationships with other churches as equal partners in mission
• 14:21: The pivotal relaunch as Crosspoint City Church
• 16:06: A fundraising miracle as a mark of new momentum
• 19:54: The surprising but providential pruning after relaunch
• 24:20: Launch and vision for the Compassion Center
• 28:24: Contextualizing local outreach for every new campus
• 30:18: Final encouragement for leaders: be patient and faithful

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Useful Links

• Church Website: CrossPointCity.com
• Instagram: Pastor James Griffin (managed by his team)

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Tone & Takeaways

The conversation is hopeful, practical, and honest—full of actionable wisdom for church leaders navigating tough seasons. James Griffin models humility, relational leadership, and unwavering commitment to both gospel proclamation and tangible transformation in the community. The episode will resonate with anyone leading a church through transition, pain, or new mission fields, reminding listeners: “Be faithful. Be patient. Over time, the tide will turn.”

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Transcript

[A]

Welcome to the Unseminary Podcast. The place where church leaders get practical insights, tips and strategies for ministry growth. Today you're stepping into something bigger than just a conversation. This podcast is part of a bold mission to help 100 churches grow by 1,000 people. Whether you're dreaming of increasing your impact in your community, empowering your team, or reaching more people with the message of Jesus, you're in the right place. We're here to bring you the stuff you wish they taught in seminary. Ideas and tools you can put into action this week to see transformation in your ministry. Let's dive in.

[B]

Hey friends. Welcome to the Unseminary Podcast. So glad that you've decided to tune in. I'm really looking forward to today's conversation. A fun chance to deep dive with a great church. If you've never heard of Crosspoint City Church, it's a multi site church with three, I think soon to be four campuses in Georgia and and has repeatedly been one of the fastest growing churches in the country. Today it's our honor to have James Griffin with us. He's the lead pastor and he also serves as a church planting network leader in metro Atlanta. With new thing and engaged churches. He's passionate about seeing the Great Commission fulfilled. The church engaged in a number of global and community outreaches. Super excited to have you on the show today, James. Welcome.

[C]

Thanks Rich, appreciate you having me.

[B]

No, it's going to be great. Kind of fill in the picture. Tell us a little bit more about Crosspoint City. Kind of give us the thumbnail. People arrived this weekend. What would they experience? Experience, that sort of thing?

[C]

Yeah, yeah. Well, brief history of the church. We are a replant. So I've been pastoring the church now for a little over a decade. Inherited somewhat of a difficult situation and then we just took the resources and people who were left and, and we started over. And so, you know, if somebody showed up this weekend, I think what they'd experience is a deep commitment to the word of God. I think they would experience a church that is sold out to the Great Commission, the mission of God and a great openness and dependency upon the spirit of God. And so we're just trying to press into to the work that God's called us to do in the world and it's a joy and an honor to be a part of it for sure.

[B]

Love it. Well, you have multiple locations and we love to talk multi site here at Unseminary. Maybe give us a thumbnail about the kind of various, you know, what does that look like the kind of different locations tell us a bit of those stories.

[C]

Yeah. So original location is in a city called Cartersville, Georgia. So this is where it all began back in 2006. And then in 2011, things here, they went off the rails. And so I was actually on staff at the church that planted our church. Okay. And in the season where things blew up, my wife and I were praying about going to plant a church. And then my pastor asked me if I come here and do this instead. And my original answer was, absolutely not. Like, I don't know. I don't know what idiots going to do that. It's not going to be this one, you know, and then here we are over a decade later, but started in Cartersville. And from about 2013 to 2018, I mean, things were just going really well, better than expected. Which led to conversations about, hey, we need to think beyond just Cartersville if we're going to continue reaching people with the gospel, it can't just be us trying to get people to one spot. And so we planted another location in the fall of 2019 in a city called Adairsville, which is in the north part of our county, just about five months before the pandemic. So that was great timing.

[B]

Perfect timing.

[C]

Yep. So we. We joke and we said, we did that one twice. You know, we launched it five months before and then shut it down and reopen, and it's going great. And then in 2022, launched a third location in a city called Rome, Georgia. Just had a great group of people driving about 45 minutes to Cartersville to come to church and. And asked us if we'd do something there. So we've been doing that for a couple years, going really well. We just launched about three weeks ago our fourth location in Haystate Prison in North Georgia. Wow. Wow. So we're in the middle of this discipleship journey right now. Call all to him. Just felt a great burden to take the gospel into prisons and started praying for God to open a door. And he opened the door at one of the hardest prisons in the state of Georgia. So just do that. And then we've got a fifth location coming in January in a city called Acworth, so south of Cartersville. So we're. We're in the, the trenches of that right now. Just getting ready to send a group of people out. So that's a. That's a quick look.

[B]

Love it. Well, this idea of like, you know, relaunching, replanting, rebirthing. Yeah, you know, that comes with the. The inherent Undercurrent there is like, something wasn't working. Like, you know, obviously you don't take a church that was like, things are going great. Let's shut it down and restart over. Can you. You know, I don't want to dwell on the pain here, but, like, can you talk to us a little bit about, you know, what that inheritance, what that looked like, and how did you rebuild from there? I think this is a great story of hope. I think there are people who are thinking about this, and, man, now to hear all the growth that you've had as a church, but let's go back and kind of look at where things started.

[C]

Yeah. Well, I. I will say, first and foremost, there is no good reason that our church should be here right now, honestly, other than. Other than God is kind and God is faithful.

[B]

So. Good.

[C]

And say as well the fact that. That the church that planted our church stepped in when they did. Westridge Church is the name of the. The founding church. If. If Westridge and Pastor Brian Bloy had not stepped in when they did, our church would not be here right now. So I praise God for that. But, you know, the quick story is churches planted. In 2006, about four and a half years into the life of the church, the founding pastor had a moral failure. And. And it was significant. It involved more than one staff member. A few staff rocked the church to the core. And so immediately, there's a mass exodus of people left behind is a very, very wounded staff, a lot of confusion, a lot of brokenness. And so I stepped into that less than a year after it happened.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And I just remember in year one, it was like, all right, we've got to stop the bleeding. We've got to stabilize. I've got to earn the trust of these people. We've got to love these people well. And I need to let this community know that we're not going anywhere, that God is not done with us yet, and that we want to be a part of what he's doing here. So in year one, it really was about just getting healthy, man. And I tell this story. I still remember the moment that I knew we were going to be okay. I was in the lobby after preaching a gathering, and this little old lady, she comes up to me and she gives me a hug. And she said, thank you for talking to us. And I was so confused. What do you mean? And she said, the guy before you never talked to us. She said he'd preach and tell us that he didn't really like people. And then he'd hide in his office between gatherings, and he never talked to us. And she said, I'm just glad you talked to us. And in that moment, I knew, if all I have to do is love these people, well, I think we're going to be okay. And we've been okay by the grace of God.

[B]

Right, well, let's double click on that a little bit. You talk about earning the trust of these people. Let's dig in on that a little bit. What did you do when you look back on it? You know, I love the simple thing of like, hey, you should talk with people. That's a good, you know, that's a good insight. But other things that were, you know, you look back now and say, oh, wow, like, the Lord really used that to help us rebuild trust here.

[C]

Yeah. Well, man, I remember at 16 years old, I read the very first leadership book I ever read by John Maxwell. 21 irrefutable laws of Leadership.

[B]

Love it.

[C]

And I learned that leadership is influence. Influence is gained by trust. Trust is gained by character. And I don't think people can know if you are a man or woman of character unless you spend time with them. You have to be real and vulnerable and transparent and present. So that is what I tried to do, man. I just. I started trying to get in front of as many people as I possibly could, whether it was on Sundays or scheduling lunches or coffees or whatever it might be. But it was like, I've got to build relationships with these people so that they can see I am a man of character. And the prayer was, this will hopefully lead to trust sooner than later, and then we can start to make some forward motion. I knew that what I couldn't do is just come in and, you know, be guns blazing, which is right, very much how I'm wired. We got work to do, so let's get after it. But I had to pull back on what came naturally to me and go, okay, I just. I've just got to be a pastor and love people and build relationships. And really that's what it was both inside and outside the church.

[B]

Yeah, that's good. Let's talk about, you know, one of the signs I think of a. Of a weak leader is they. They dogged the guy before them, they dogged the leader before them. They're like, but in this case, you're like, there was actually some stuff that went sideways. And so how did you face that? What did that look like? How do you actually, like, okay, we gotta kind of acknowledge that's where it's at. And like, both inside the church and outside the church. What did that look like? How did you kind of actually stare down, you know, owning that.

[C]

That's great. Well, number one, I thought it was very important to honor the past because everything that had happened in the past was not bad. Right.

[B]

That's good.

[C]

In all honesty, the first four and a half years, the life of the church, they were doing some great things and they were reaching people, and. And they were meeting a need in this community that. That needed to be met. So I wanted to honor that. I have a mentor that always talks about how God can draw straight lines with crooked sticks. And so let's not fail to give God glory for the things that have happened. So that's first. Secondly, I did not want to in any way dishonor the guy who came before me. That's good, dude. At the end of the day, here's the reality, man. We're all one bad decision away from blowing our lives up. And I didn't want to be that guy acting like, you know, he did something that. That none of us could do, and so I didn't want to dishonor him. But then we also needed to be honest about current reality. Hey, there were problems, and there are issues that we still need to overcome, and I even needed to address with the other pastors and churches in our community. Hey, this church was not on your team for a while. We weren't fighting for the kingdom alongside of you. And so I needed to own that and be honest about that without being dishonoring, because that was the reality is that. That the church in the community had positioned itself against the other churches, and we were not playing well in the sandbox. The churches that were here, which was very problematic.

[B]

That's interesting. Talk a little bit more about that. Like that. That's interesting to me that, you know, it seems like you see, which I think makes sense, the connection between, hey, we've got to kind of restore some relationships internally. But then, hey, there's these external other pastors in town. Talk to us about what that looked like. How did those. Those conversations go? What did you learn through that process? How did you kind of rebuild those relationships and then maybe draw the connection for. I think there'd be some people that are listening in there, like, what does that have to do with restoring your church? How do those things. How does that connect? Solve the problems internally?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, that's a great question. Well, again, it was very relational in nature. So when I first got here, one of the first things that I started trying to figure out is where do all these guys hang out? Like, where, where are these pastors? And how can I put myself in environments where they are present where I can just let these guys know, hey man, I'm on your team and I want to be on your team. And so, man, I remember in the early days I would go, we're a non denominational church, but in our community there are several Southern Baptist churches that all get together once a month and they have their meetings. So I just invited myself, I was like, hey man, can I come hang out? And. And some of the meetings were fine, and some of the meetings were a little painful, but I showed up. But I showed up every month because I just wanted to be in the room with these men and get to know them and just let them know, like, moving forward, it's not going to be like it was before. And so I just wanted them to know that. And then I started hanging one on one. I was just trying to find the most influential guys of the community, lead the most influential churches, because I felt like if I can establish trust with them, hopefully they'll go to bat for me and our church and let the other guys know, hey, he's legit. So I just started having coffees and lunches and meeting with guys one on one and really working to build relationships in that respect. And so going back to the second part of the question, what did that have to do with like, reestablishing our church? Man, from the beginning, I've wanted our people to know God has put us in this community to be a blessing to the community.

[B]

That's good.

[C]

Like, we're not just here to meet together on Sundays and to do all the church stuff. But if we really want to be a Great Commission church, we've got to think about the impact God is calling us to make on our cities. And if we're going to do that effectively, we have to work in partnership with the other churches here. We have to be unified with the other believers in these cities for the sake of the gospel. And so we can't be at odds with these other churches. We've got to work in partnership with these churches. So that was an important piece, I think, of seeing our church move forward.

[B]

Yeah, that's great. I love that. That's great, great insight there. A part of what you've talked about is, you know, this idea of communicating with your people, which ultimately they have to feel, which is like, hey, we're not going anywhere. Like, I'm I'm here and I'm sure there are leaders that are listening in today that are, they're in that phase where it's like, we're. It's like the long suffering phase. We're not really sure. Like, I don't see that. We're not launching campuses. We're just not see fruit. But like, we're, we're. When you look back on that, what were some of the signposts that were, you know, there's that one conversation. Hey, thanks for talking to us. Were there other signposts that were like, oh, we're moving in the right direction here, things are, are heading. And kind of talk through what that timeline looked like.

[C]

Yeah, that's good. Well, I remember one of the signposts was the relaunch. So as I said earlier, you know, I took over January 2012.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

And for a year, we operated under the umbrella of our mother church. So Westridge basically took us back in for a season. I came, started leading the church under Westridge's covering. And that first year was really telling, you know, we got to see God show up, restore health. And by the end of that year, my pastor came back and said, hey, I think we need to turn you guys loose and you need to replant. And so mid-2013, when we relaunched the church as Crosspoint City Church, that was like a new stake in the ground, you know, God. God took what was dying and on the verge of being in the grave, he has breathed new life into it, resurrected it from the dead. And here we go. Man, it was like a rebirth, you know, that was huge. Now during that same season, not long after, I remember another moment where I was like, okay, I think we're going to be all right. We needed to refinance our building. At the time, we were trying to get it out of the former name and into the current name, which forced to refinance. And we needed to come up with $100,000. 10 days to be able to. To refund. Okay, now that's clarifying. At the time, you know, our church was considerably smaller. Our annual budget was like 650k a year. Right. And because of the former issues, we didn't just have a bunch of money in the bank. So I remember I met with our leaders on a Thursday night and I said, hey guys, here, here's the reality, here's the need. If we don't do this now, mortgage costs go way off, way up. That impacts our ability to do ministry. So, hey, I think we need to just Challenge our people to give 100 grand in 10 days. And so the next Sunday, I stood up, told the church, asked people to pray and to give. And 10 days later, we had $103,000 that was given.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

And we were able to refinance the building and save a ton of money. So that was just another moment where I knew, okay, God has us and we're going to make it, and we're going to be all right. And we've just seen God be faithful like that time and time and time again. And so it's been a fun ride, man.

[B]

What would you coach leaders in that or in that phase around? Like, there's got to be a tension in that moment between, like, we're going to push forward, we're going to do new stuff. Like, we're going to try to take some new ground, you know, the kind of the formers behind us. And then all the relational stuff you're talking about, like, you know, hey, we're going to hold people's hands. We want to have conversations, build trust. How did you pace that out? How did we. You know, that's like, there's obviously no easy formula there, but what. How did you do that? What did that look like?

[C]

Yeah, that. That pace conversation. That's a fun one. Because I feel like since my time here, we've just been trying to keep up, man. It's funny. We okay an executive team recently, and it's like, we have done a lot of responding and react over the years because God has just been on the move, which has been amazing. But I will say a couple things, man. I had to make dramatic changes to my schedule. Dramatic changes, right. And it continues to happen until this day. Like the relational piece I had to start. And even to this day, I had to start pouring a lot more into executive team, key staff leaders, key leaders within the church, and then release a lot of the other pastoral care situations and things like that to my other guys. I have a mentor who. Who said to me years ago that there comes a point, as your church grows, you got to stop worrying about everyone feeling loved by you, and you just have to worry that people feel loved. And there's a lot of ways, a lot of ways that you can make people feel loved. That doesn't all fall on you as the leader. So again, it's. I think for us, it was building a culture of care and a culture of relationship that wasn't entirely dependent upon me. And so we had to take a shared approach to that so that we could continue Driving the work of mission forward. So I do think that's a really important piece to this, is that the leader can't carry that weight and burden alone.

[B]

Right.

[C]

Whether it's other staff or elders or key leaders within the church, You've got to lean on other people to get that right.

[B]

Right. Okay. This is like, well, first of all, super rich conversation. This is fantastic. So helpful. I'm hoping people that are listening in, that are in these kind of situations are feeling encouraged, because I think you've. You've offered some really great insight here. Kind of going in a slightly different direction. Super tactical. So you rebranded, new name, all that stuff. How big deal was that? How, you know, what did you learn through that process? Was there anything that, you know, any kind of transferable lessons there as you, you know, thought about the future and how did that all fit together?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, it was a massive deal. I think what we saw there were a couple. I'll say one thing that surprised me. Maybe this will help somebody. One thing that surprised me, you know, we put this new stake in the ground. Here's the vision for the future. Here's where we're going. It surprised me that not everyone wanted to go with us.

[B]

Okay.

[C]

What I mean by that is we had people. We had people live through the. The train wreck that was before. They stayed with us through this whole period of transition. They. They got a chance to see God resurrect this dying church. And then we put a stake in the ground, and. And we said, here's where we're going. And again, I was a younger leader at the time. Now I'm not so surprised by this, but it did surprise me. I'm like, hold on. You guys are leaving now, right?

[B]

Bro, we're.

[C]

We're full steam ahead. We're about to charge to hell together, and. And you're gonna leave now. But I will say on. On the other side of that, what surprised me in a good sense is I think that was God pruning people away that needed to be pruned so that we could make forward progress.

[B]

Yep.

[C]

So when we got a little bit further down the road, I started to realize we would not be where we are right now if those people hadn't left. Yeah, they would. They would have stood in the way of the missional work that we set out to accomplish. So it was actually a strange blessing that. That they left. But, man, after the relaunch and the rebirth, we picked up a lot of steam. Within about two years, we needed to start looking for another Facility. So in our former facility, we, we had 320 seats and 29 parking spaces.

[B]

Wow. Oh my goodness.

[C]

It was crazy. Old renovated bar in the downtown area of our city.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

So we, we started looking for property, man, and had a Christian school here in our city that was meeting in an old church building was old Cartersville Church of God. And they approached us and talked to us about buying their property and we could not afford it. And we just basically told them, here's what we can do and here's what we can offer and praise God. They ended up saying, all right, we'll work with that. So we, in 2018, we, we move facilities and went from 300 seats to 900 seats and 12 acres of land. And, you know, it's been a fun ride. And again, shortly after that, started launching location. So that, I mean that rebirth, like I said, it was like stake in the ground and then we were off and going. But without that year of just building trust and building relationships, I don't think any of that would have happened.

[B]

Yeah, that's good. That's good. Yeah, that's an encouragement I love. You know, that, that other, that church of God, like they're heroes in the story because they, you know, they, they could have, they could have held on tightly and said, no, forget it. And you know, who knows? You know, obviously God can do anything. You don't know, can't live in two different worlds. I don't know what would have happened. But man, what. They're heroes in that story. So I, I'm a feel a little bit dumb here we are like 2/3 into the interview and I'm just asking this question now.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

What was Westridge's connection with this church originally? Like, why did Brian step in and help in the first place? Because there might be leaders that are listening in that are like, hey, maybe I'm that person in this story. I need to think about that.

[C]

Well, Westridge has a long history of planning churches and several years ago they, they started a church planting school. And the guy that planted the church that I now pastor was graduate number two from their church planting school.

[B]

Oh, wow. Okay.

[C]

Did a year long internship at Westridge and they actually sent him out to plant. So there was a partnership and a part of the story that I haven't shared. I'll make it really quick, but this is just, it just shows the sovereignty of God. This guy was going to leave and go plant another church in another city while there was hidden sin in the backstage of his life and he had Come to Crosspoint in 2010 or Crosspoint, excuse me, Westridge in 2010, and asked Brian if they would consider taking the church on as a campus. So Brian and the elders prayed, hey, yeah, we'll do it. They decided in 2010, we'll do it. And so in January of 2011, this church officially became a campus of Westridge. And the news of this moral failure broke two months later, in March of 2011.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

So, man, it was the providence of God, like, God for the situation in a very significant and apparent way. And again, if Westridge wouldn't have stepped in, I don't know if we'd be here. So I'm just so grateful for them and for Pastor Brian.

[B]

Yeah. Amazing. Yeah, that. That's one of those. Like, that's, you know, you can't just say that's a coincidence. Right? Like, that's the Lord at work and stepping out in front and saying, hey, we're gonna. We've got. I've got a different plan for this. We're not letting this one go. Go. That's. That's amazing. So changing directions. Totally. This is an incredible story. I want to make sure people track with you on this, but I want to hear a little bit about what you guys are doing with the Compassion Center. So this is a way that you're investing in. In the community. Can you tell us kind of a little bit about that and how that fits in? It seems to connect to your story you were talking earlier about. Man, we want to be. We want to be a blessing to the community, want to improve the city that we're in, that sort of thing. Talk to us about the Compassion Center. What's that look like? And how does that fit in the overall mix of the church?

[C]

Yeah, so the idea for this came back in, like, 2019. We had already moved into our facility and renovated a portion of the facility. What we bought was 83,000 square feet of building space on 12 acres of land. Wow. Wow. So initially, we renovated about 30,000 of it for kids, space, worship, all of that. And then in 2019, we were getting ready to launch another financial initiative. And we just knew because, I mean, we had prayed for a property that we could give back to the community. Told our elders, like, if we buy this and it sits empty throughout the week, we are horrible stewards. So we had to figure out ways to keep the doors open right Sunday through Saturday. So we just started praying for clarity on that. And I went and met with our county commissioner, I met with our city mayor, and I met with our school superintendent, and I just said, hey, we're getting ready to raise money. We want to bless the community. We've got about 50,000 square feet of building space we're trying to figure out what to do with. And I just asked, what does the community need? What our needs exist? They're not being met that we could meet if we renovated this space in the right way. And so between the three guys, they said, hey, we need more counseling space. We need more space to mentor kids. We need space to serve the homeless population. We need space for adult literacy, job training, all this stuff. So they gave us all these answers. And so we came back, and as an elder team and executive team, we started praying through it, and we just decided, man, let's make this happen. So out of that came this vision for the Compassion Center. So it's basically, there's four pieces to this thing. One piece, we have a counseling center so people can come and they can get professional biblical counseling at discounted rates. It's all on a sliding scale based on income. Part of the center is devoted to education, so we're mentoring kids. We are teaching adult literacy, those types of things. Another portion of the center is dedicated to serving the homeless population. So we have a laundromat. We've got bathrooms and showers. We've got resources available for them, and we got people serving in there that are praying with them, hearing their story, sharing the gospel. It's absolutely incredible.

[B]

That's cool.

[C]

And then two other pieces. We're also serving women who are being rescued out of sex trafficking through the center.

[B]

Oh, wow.

[C]

Which was happening previously, but we. We just relocated them. And then the final piece of this, we have a mobile medical clinic.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

Because. Because part of it was, hey, we've got underinsured and uninsured families in our communities that don't have access to medical care. So we're like, I think we can do something. So when we were working on the project, this is when the pandemic hit. Inflation went through the roof, and our building costs went up by a million and a half dollars.

[B]

Wow.

[C]

So we stepped back and we said, how do we still make this work? Because we can't afford that. And then we came up with the idea of a mobile approach. Well, what if we buy a big RV and retrofit it and we take it on the road and we serve people where they're at? So we found a company that does it, man. They just. They take RVs and build out mobile clinics on top of the. The Frames.

[B]

Yes.

[C]

We've got this clinic that we're taking into all of our cities, and it's. It's taken off, man. So it's been cool to see it all working.

[B]

That's amazing. Yeah. Again, just want to commend you for that. You know, we see this time and again with fast growing churches that there is a. A clear imperative for the. The proclamation of the gospel, but there's also a clear demonstration of the gospel at work in people's lives, that there's like this, hey, we got to actually make a difference, and that, you know, we don't see those in conflict with each other. We want to. We want to really work both sides of that equation. And I just love that you answered the question there a little bit at the end, which was, as you're looking at new locations, how are you keeping that embedded in the. In the story? This idea of, you know, being, you know, improving the cities. You go in, when it's, you know, when you have something like the Compassion center embedded in one location, how do you spread that to other locations without, you know, necessarily duplicating all of that in all these different locations? What's that look like?

[C]

Yeah, yeah, great question. You know, part of it for us, when it comes to locations, we try to contextualize ministry based on the city that we're. We're starting in. So we have always been very intentional about going into these cities before we ever launch and trying to identify partnerships, establishing relationships with local pastors and churches and community leaders. And we start with service. We don't start with gatherings. We're like, how do we go in and bless the city based on what this city needs? And so some of it's unique based on city, and then some of it is very much the same. So, like in Cartersville and Rome, we're placing a big emphasis right now on foster care. And so we're working with local organizations that really do a great job with foster care. The mobile clinic we can take anywhere, and that's what we're doing.

[B]

Right.

[C]

And in some of our bigger initiatives, like all church initiatives, we do a big Christmas event, and we just serve thousands of kids in our cities. We have just reproduced that. So like a worth that we're planning in 25, that starts in January, but we're actually doing Hope for Christmas event this December 2024. And we're starting with that because we just want people to know we're not just showing up and. And like, singing and teaching on Sundays. Dude, we're here to love and serve. We want to be a blessing to the. To the cities that God's called us to love it. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah. That's so good. And what a great way to enter into a city. You know, even people who don't necessarily aren't excited about what the church is about, they look at that stuff and say, well, that's a good thing. Our. Our hope over time is that they see that's not just a good thing. It's a God thing. It's what God's called us to. So, yeah, Yeah, I love that. This is. This has been just, what a Rich conversation. So fantastic, you know. Anything else? Just as we kind of. There's a lot we could talk about here. There's time we could continue to dive into, but anything else you'd love to kind of make sure we're aware of just as we wrap up today's episode?

[C]

Yeah. I would say with anybody trying to figure this stuff out, any church leaders trying to figure this out, I would just encourage you. Be patient, be patient. I think shifting culture, building trust, establishing a strong reputation in the community of what you talked about earlier. We're not just here to tell you stuff. We're here to do stuff. We're going to proclaim the gospel and we're going to do justice because both matter to the heart of God. It just takes time. And so I think you got to plug away. You've got to be consistent, stay focused on mission, Keep doing what God's called you to do. And over time, the tide will turn. But, but, but be faithful, be patient is what I would say.

[B]

That's so good. What a great way to end. I know there's people that are in that seat today and have, you know, our hope, our prayers, that they've been. They've been encouraged. If, if people want to track with you or track with the church, where do we want to send them online?

[C]

Yeah, a couple places. The church, CrossPointCity.com. that's our website. So you can find us there. Reach out to us. I have an Instagram page, Pastor James Griffin. I don't manage that at all, but you can find me there. My team does that, but you can find us there as well and stay connected. So, yeah, man, would love for you guys to look us up if we can help. Anyway, reach out.

[B]

That's great. Thanks so much, James. I really appreciate being on the show today.

[C]

Yeah, thanks, Rich.

[A]

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of the Unseminary Podcast. If you found today's conversation helpful, I'D share it with a friend. In ministry, it's a simple way to spark new ideas and grow together. Also, don't Forget to visit unseminary.com to sign up for our email list. You'll get exclusive resources and practical tools delivered straight to your inbox to help you lead your church more effectively. Most importantly, take what you learned today and put it into action this week. Ministry Impact starts with small, intentional steps. See you next time.