Crosswalk Ministries is a divine accident. There’s no other way to put it. Having played three years in the Atlanta area at local churches and teen centers, we decided in 1995 to take the show on the road. With a meager budget and a fervent prayer, we embarked on a 22-day journey to the Pacific Northwest with a tour scheduled for churches, camps, and youth groups that spanned some 8,000 miles. We never intended to play in juvenile correctional facilities but God had other plans, and before that trip was over, He had placed us in four of them to proclaim through music His message of grace to kids who so desperately needed to hear it. By 1996, we heard the call loud and clear, and “Get Out of Jail Free” was born in YDCs throughout 15 cities that summer including Chicago, Indianapolis, St. Louis, and Nashville.

In 1997, our format expanded to include drama as well as music. We also began our pen pal program that year when we received hundreds of letters from kids whom we had met on the tour. God’s vision for this ministry was becoming more and more obvious. By 2005, a decade after we started, we had played at juvenile correctional facilities in 47 states and returned for a second and third time to many of the places we had visited in earlier years. Tour themes such as “The Missing Piece (Peace),” “Wipeout,” and “Out of Control,” were developed using music, drama, and personal testimony to reach troubled kids with the message of hope in Jesus Christ.

In January of 2007, Crosswalk launched fulltime ministry. In retrospect there is no doubt that the past fifteen years have been leading to this decision. This has enabled us not only to continue the summer tours, but also to work on a regular basis with local facilities in Georgia and Texas, and partner with churches to provide trained volunteers to mentor kids who are incarcerated. Programs are being implemented that we never dreamed of when we started, and an arts-based mentoring center launced in north Henry County in the spring quarter of 2010. We need more financial support and more volunteers to expand this ministry into all the facilities that want us to work with them. God has only just begun the work He has planned for us. Please join us as we “proclaim freedom for captive hearts!”