LEADERSHIP
In 1999, the C&MA district supervisor for the MidAmerica District, Rev. Doug Grogan, approached me at with the idea of planting a church to reach the Hispanic community in Colorado Springs. My wife, Yolie, and I, started a Bible study in our basement, with only a few people. But the Lord was faithful! By year end, we had 15 people, and The Crossing was born.
For a year, our church plant met in in the basement of our home, but by October 2000, The Crossing, now 85 members strong, needed more room. That’s when HarvestDowntown (Alliance) Church opened its doors to its daughter church, and for
10 years, we met in Harvest’s historic sanctuary. In 2002, The Crossing was accredited with The Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) under the authority of the MidAmerica District.
In May 2013, The Crossing found a new home, located in the Knob Hill neighborhood of Colorado Springs, where the need for Jesus is great. After renting the facility for two years, the Lord directed us to buy the building, with the help of Orchard Alliance, a supporting ministry of the C&MA. Since then we have been reaching out to and learning about the needs of the Knob Hill community. We pray for God’s blessing upon The Crossing as we open our new Community Center, which will be a focal point for strategic ministry, offering a variety of practical services for our neighbors in need as we demonstrate the compassionate love of Jesus.
Pastor Daniel Garrido (Danny)
was born in Quito, Ecuador, and raised by his single-parent mother, who worked hard to meet the needs of her children. But Danny always felt "like there was some kind of absence in my life." As a young adult and without a Christian foundation, he sought to fill that void through various lifestyles that eventually led him to a "family-like connection of his peers" in a local business college. Joining their ranks, he soon discovered the basis of their relationship was socialism. Danny and his friends believed socialism was the answer to his country's problems and prepared for a revolution. At the same time, God was pursuing Danny through a friend who had recently begun following Jesus. When the friend invited him to church on Good Friday in 1984 and Danny heard the altar call to receive Christ as Savior, "My legs just took me," he says, "Before I knew it, I was on my knees at the altar." Because of the church's biblical teaching and God's leading, he knew the Lord was taking him in a different direction than his socialist comrades, who were either killed or imprisoned after their assault on a government artillery base. God had spared Danny's life and now would fulfill His purpose through him.
Danny met Yolie at El Batan (Alliance) Church, where the two fell in love and were married. In 1994, the Garrido family, which now included four children, moved to the United States, and attended an Alliance church. A couple years later, Danny heard the Lord's call to ministry. After fulfilling the C&MA's pastoral requirements, Pastor Danny and Yolie planted The Crossing (El Cruce) in 2002. "We met for 10 years at HarvestDowntown (Alliance); they were very gracious and generous with us." In October 2012, The Crossing moved into the heart of a "rough" neighborhood, where it was not unusual to see drug addicts and alcoholics loitering near the church or the used needles and empty bottles they left behind. Opportunities to share the gospel were plentiful, and some of those people now attend the church. Plans are underway for a community center to be up and running soon.
With "God's mercy that shows me what to do," Pastor Danny leads The Crossing (El Cruce) today with a zealous passion to reach the world with the story of His redeeming love.
CHURCH LEADERS
