Missions

Him We Proclaim to the World

Cross Park doesn’t exist simply for our own good—God has called us to show and tell Jesus’ love to South Charlotte and to the world. We have several partnerships that allow us to carry out Christ’s call to local and worldwide missions. In South Charlotte, we partner with the Sharon Lakes community to host a weekly Bible camp for children. Internationally, we partner with El Shaddai Ministries to support the spread of the gospel in Haiti. Our sister church reaches the community in BonBon, Haiti, where we send teams each year on short-term trips. We also partner with an organization in East Asia, where we also send teams each year.

We also believe that God has placed us in Charlotte to be a church that sends people out, into their workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods. Additionally, we formally train and send people out as pastors, missionaries, and counselors, and into other full-time ministry jobs. Because of this, we believe in continuing to support these missionaries as they pursue the work that God has called them to do.

Dony St. Germain

El Shaddai Ministries International
Haiti

Dony St Germain and his wife Sharon, along with his brother Louis are key church planting movement leaders in the island country of Haiti. Dony is the liason and representative to the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America) for Haiti.

Cross Park’s Partnership with ESMI

Cross Park has partnered with Dony since 2011. In addition to monthly support, CPC has sent 1-2 short term trips per year to Jeremie, Haiti. Our focus is on outreach medical clinics and children’s ministry in the remote rural village of BonBon, and teaching in the seminary and University in Jeremie. The church at BonBon was established in 2011 like Cross Park. Through medical clinics that ESMI has done in that church, the church at Bon Bon has been able to plant 5 more “preaching points,” or places of worship without a building, in the remote hillside of that region. We have also partnered with the University that ESMI has started in Jeremie by sending doctors and pastors to teach on needed topics in the school of nursing and at the seminary.

Hurricane Matthew

The eye of the hurricane passed directly over Jeremie, Haiti in October of 2016 destroying so much of this city and devastating the surrounding rural areas.  The village of BonBon was leveled, crops destroyed, and many lives were lost.  Cross Park Church is helping ESMI with the massive rebuilding efforts.   Most notably, Cross Park desires to rebuild the simple church in BonBon that serves as a place of worship, a primary school, the site of medical clinics, and the community center.

An Overview of ESMI

About ESMI

ESMI’s Mission is to be a Christ centered ministry filling Haiti with passionate church leaders and to establish a network of Haitian churches that are spiritually healthy, evangelical and self sustaining.
ESMI’s philosophy is developed around a holistic approach to ministering to the people of Haiti. It is based on the 4 “E’s”:

  • Evangelism — meeting spiritual needs through focus on Christ
  • Empathy — meeting physical needs
  • Economics — empowerment to be self-sustaining
  • Education — equipping for church and civic leadership
  • 60+ churches planted in Haiti
  • 29 schools with over 6,000 students
  • 10 children homes with 1,400 children
  • 5 medical clinics
  • Vocational training for older children
  • Computer labs for IT training
  • Seminary in Les Cayes and a new seminary in Jeremie.

Northwest Mission Church

Northwest Mission Church is a gospel-centered multicultural church for Northwest Charlotte. Our vision is to grow a gospel-centered, multicultural church in the upper west side of Charlotte, for the purpose of making disciples to the glory of God.  Our mission is to make the kinds of disciples who are deeply impacted by the gospel of grace and are consistently growing in love for God and neighbors.

Northwest Charlotte is in desperate need of gospel-centered churches focused on intentionally reaching its diverse community. We are excited to see individuals and families in this area find this joy and comfort in the gospel. While areas of South, Central, and East Charlotte are well-served with church presence, Northwest Charlotte has been largely overlooked and is a mission field ripe for the harvest. We are committed to being a gospel-presence within this community, so that men, women, and children can hear the life-changing message of Jesus Christ.

In addition, we believe gospel offers the opportunity for unity and love, across racial and cultural barriers. It’s is common saying that Sunday morning worship is the most segregated hour of the week. This is a grievous reality, considering the gospel’s unifying power (Galatians 3:28) and the ultimate vision of worship being that of one group from every tribe, tongue, and nation (Revelation 7:9-10). We are excited to be a part of a new movement to plant intercultural churches that build bridges into previously under-reached demographics.

West Charlotte Church

Worship Service Location: 2701 Freedom Drive, Charlotte, NC 28208 (Movement School Auditorium)

West Charlotte Church is a church in and for urban west Charlotte. They are a brand new and growing community of faith. Their mission is to love God, make disciples, and love our neighbors according to the Great Commission and the Great Commandment. Their vision is to be a church in and for urban west Charlotte devoted to biblical teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and the prayers (Acts 2:42).

John Baber

RUF
UNC @ Charlotte

John was born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, and pursued his bachelor’s degree in Advertising at the University of Alabama. He met his wife, Mary Ann, working in Colorado the summer after his freshman year and they tied the knot in 2014. Shortly after graduation, John and Mary Ann headed west to Norman, Oklahoma so that he could intern with RUF at the University of Oklahoma while Mary Ann finished her degree in Public Relations and Broadcasting. Two years later John was affirmed in his calling to full-time ministry and the pair packed up again to move to Charlotte, North Carolina where John received his Masters of Divinity at Reformed Theological Seminary. Thanks to Mary Ann paying the bills, John was able to complete the program in three years and was thrilled to stay in Charlotte as the RUF Campus Minister at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.

Ethan Brown

RUF
University of Illinois

Ethan was born and raised in South Florida. He was adopted as an infant and is grateful that he came to know the Lord at a young age. Ethan attended the University of Florida, where he met his wife, Amanda, through their involvement with Reformed University Fellowship (RUF). After college, he spent two years working for RUF at Duke University. Ethan and Amanda moved to Charlotte and began attending Cross Park in July of 2018. In 2019, they welcomed their son Judah into the world. Ethan is completing a Masters of Divinity at Reformed Theological Seminary in 2021 and intends to serve as an RUF pastor at the University of Illinois in the fall. In his free time, he enjoys making and drinking craft coffee, reading, watching Netflix, and playing basketball, Spikeball, and just about any other sport with a ball.

Craig & Yumiko Chapin

Christ Bible Institute team
Nagoya, Japan

At age 14, Craig was convicted of the Lord’s call to mission. He kept that call before him through his teens and 20s, as the magnitude of the gospel grew in his understanding. At age 26, the Lord led Craig to Japan, and he has served Christ there for the better part of the past 35 years. Raised in a Buddhist family, Yumiko fell in love with classical music at an early age and studied at Kunitachi College of Music. In her mid-20s she met Christ through a church-run English school. Eight years later, she and Craig had their first date and married in 1999. The Chapins work with the Christ Bible Institute team in Nagoya, Japan—the third-largest city in the world’s second-largest unreached people group. Craig teaches New Testament at Christ Bible Seminary, serves as the seminary’s academic dean, and manages the seminary library. CBI’s vision is to see the gospel of the glory of Christ cherished and proclaimed throughout Japan. To this end, the seminary equips Christians in Japan for the work of gospel ministry. Yumiko is involved in Bible studies and employs her musical skills for the seminary and in church ministry, playing piano for worship services, for seminary ceremonies, and for choir rehearsals and concerts. In addition, she helps Craig to express biblical truths with sensitivity to the language and culture of Japan.

Haley Chitty

SIM and Cornerstone Counseling Foundation
Chiang Mai, Thailand

Haley serves as a clinical counselor at Cornerstone Counseling Foundation, whose mission is to provide healing and hope for Christian workers in Thailand and throughout Asia.  Haley’s ministry experience includes seven years of college campus ministry with Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ), followed by graduate studies in Christian Counseling at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Charlotte.

Nick & Sarah DeVusser

RUF
Queens University

Nick and his wife Sarah have lived in Charlotte since the summer of 2019. Nick works with Reformed University Fellowship on the campus of Queens University of Charlotte as a campus ministry intern. Nick is currently in his last semester of a 2 year internship with RUF.

Josh & Ashley Grimm

RUF
Queens University

Josh is from Charleston, SC and graduated from Erskine College (where he was involved with RUF as a student) in 2009 with a B.A. in Bible & Religion and Philosophy. He worked in retail collections for BB&T in Lumberton, NC from 2009-2012. During that time he met and began dating his now wife, Ashley, who works as a pediatric nurse. After marrying in 2012, Josh and Ashley moved to Charlotte where Josh worked too many part-time jobs before graduating from RTS Charlotte with an MDiv in 2015. Josh and Ashley have a son, Isaac, and two daughters, Ruby and Eliza.

Paul and Clare Hudson

SIM
Charlotte, NC


Paul and Clare have been serving in mission with SIM for 33 years! They first worked in southern Ethiopia doing medical outreach, community development. Due to the civil war there, they had to return to the US, but soon re-deployed to Nepal in the mid-90’s. There they did medical work and participated in outreach to Tibetan Buddhists. Clare’s breast cancer diagnosis brought them back home in 1997. At that point Paul began working globally with SIM’s ministries of compassion. He helped start SIM’s multi-country Hope for AIDS program; this enabled national partners and churches to care for the most marginalized by Gospel word and deed. They spent the decade between 2004-2013 in Asia, where Paul served as Regional Director for SIM’s work in 5 countries. Since 2014 they have worked in the US but with a global focus helping SIM to integrate health care ministries and Gospel outreach, as well as medical leadership development. Clare has worked in Member Care and counseling since 2008.

Bob and Karen Ihrig

SIM
Charlotte, NC


Bob and Karen serve as leaders with SIM USA’s Operational Ministry. The two served in South Sudan for two and a half years, where Bob provided pastoral care for missionaries and trained local pastors, and led building projects for the SIM Medical project. Karen (a Certified Medical Assistant) helped train Sudanese medical staff, and enjoyed providing care in the Children’s Nutrition Village for severely ill and malnourished children.

Bob oversees the Operational Services of SIM USA’s 90 acre campus including buildings, grounds, and vehicle maintenance, food services, guest services, shipping and receiving.

Karen leads the work of the 48 bed Guest House and valet service from and to the airport, bus, & train for SIM USA’s Hospitality Ministry for new and seasoned SIM missionaries who are visiting the Charlotte headquarters for training or other events.  As well as participating in interviews for new missionaries.

The couple is thankful to provide a significant part of SIM USA’s care ministry to the SIM USA Missionary family and enjoy the process of assisting their teams to thrive in their ministries.

Luke & Denise Johnson

SIM
Thailand

Denise and Luke (along with their mission organization, SIM) are convinced that no one should live and die without hearing God’s good news. By God’s grace, they want to help make disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ in communities where He is least known. They live in Chiang Mai, Thailand and serve on the leadership team of SIM Thailand. The SIM Thailand team’s mission is “[To see] the unreached of Thailand authentically respond to the gospel and be discipled into biblically-based, community-transforming churches that engage in mission. Our mission is to make disciples where He is not yet known.” It is likely that up to 99% of Thai people have never heard the Gospel clearly even once. Many communities have no churches.

Luke has been a member of Cross Park Church since it was planted. He has been with SIM since 2009 and lived in Asia since 2015. There, he met Denise, also a missionary, and they were married in 2017. They have three children. In 2019, they made the difficult decision to leave the country in which they were serving because of persecution. In consultation with Cross Park Church, they decided to move to Thailand to continue to minister among unreached people.

Rev Charles A McKnight III

MNA

Charles has 15 years of pastoral ministry leadership experience. He co-planted West Charlotte Church (PCA) in the urban west Charlotte African American community. West Charlotte is the first and only African American-led PCA church planted by another African American-led church in denominational history (Christ Central Church, Rev. Howard Brown). He served as an Assistant Pastor at Christ Central Church prior toplanting West Charlotte.

Charles currently serves in the following denominational leadership roles:
• Coordinator of Missions to North America African American Ministries
• Executive Director of the Center for African American Church Planting
• Co-Host of the Between The Pew podcast.
• Advisory Committee member for the following: Missions to North America Unity Fund, Missions to The World, Covenant Seminary, the Historically Black Colleges and Universities Link Conference, and for the Central Carolina Presbytery Church Planting Committee

Charles has a Master of Divinity from Reformed Theological Seminary (Charlotte), attended the US Naval Academy (Annapolis), and has degrees in English and African American Diaspora Studies from the University of North Carolina (Greensboro). Charles and his wife Charlotte have four children and he is the son of an AME Zion pastor.

Find out more about Charles and ways to connect to his ministry at charlesamcknight.com.

Tyler and Brooke M.

Cru
Charlotte, NC

Tyler and Brooke have served with Cru for 9 years, stateside and abroad.  They currently serve in the Charlotte Metro area, with a focus on UNC-Charlotte and Catawba College.  Cru’s mission is to Win lost students to Christ, to Build them up in their faith, and to send them out as Christ-centered laborers.  Evangelism and discipleship are the heartbeat of their ministry.  The Charlotte team is committed to praying for and sending students to East Asia to further the gospel there as well, and Tyler and Brooke enjoy playing an intricate role in serving this country.  They currently have one son and one daughter.

Cynthia Ruble

MTW
Japan

Advocating for Life
Serving Moms
Being a light in our community for Christ and His Kingdom
Life Hope Network, founded in 2005, provides phone, e-mail and face-to-face counseling for pregnant and post-abortive women. Cynthia also opens her home for pregnant women (“homestays”) who have no place to live. LHN runs a neighborhood cafe where previous and current homestays can work and hangout and which also serves as an outreach to the community. A church plant meets there on Sundays.
From its inception, LHN wanted to provide tangible help to the mothers, so the homestay portion is our heart. We regularly take in referrals from our local government and help both single mothers and mothers who choose adoption. Our post-abortion counseling is based on a gospel-centered study and we have seen many women move toward or come to Christ over the years. Our desire in all we do is to plant seeds that lead to salvation and bring glory to God.

Micah and Blair V.

Asian Crescent

Micah and Blair met while attending the University of West Georgia. Micah is from LaGrange, GA and Blair is from Powder Springs, GA. They both developed a sense of call to the Muslim world while in University and married in 2006. As they became involved in the PCA, they desired to be sent by the church and be mentored in the church while serving overseas. They did a two year internship in their large multicultural hub city in Asia and afterwards returned to the US for seminary at RTS Charlotte. Upon graduation, Micah was ordained in the Central Carolina Presbytery and served as an Assistant Pastor at Uptown before returning back to their hub city in Asia in 2016 to serve with the same church as an Associate Pastor under Pastor Wong. The vision of the ministry is to create healthy churches with strong local leadership in this Muslims country and throughout the region in order that the church might be mobilized to make Christ known to all peoples. They are happy that they are able to co-labor with Curtis and Marisa S. in a sister church.

Blair and Micah enjoy drinking coffee together and talking. They have four children, Lydia, Elli, Caleb, and Joy ranging from ages 3 to 14. Our children enjoy playing soccer with neighborhood friends, reading, and hiking in the jungles here.

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