O’FALLON — Jeremy Plymale, pastor of Crosshaven Church here, said the young church could have failed several times if not for the help of Missouri Baptist churches at critical times.
Establishing Crosshaven “was really a collaborative effort of a lot of churches,” he said. “For the sake of the kingdom they made an investment in us that helped make the difference in the survival of our church.”
The seven-year-old church now runs over 200 each Sunday, is financially established, has about 20 baptisms a year, and is supporting a new church plant.
Plymale and his wife, Amber, had worked with the International Missionary Board (IMB) in southeast Asia for two years when they felt God calling them back to the United States for mission work. They learned that Twin Rivers Baptist Association needed to establish a new church in central St. Charles County in western suburban St. Louis.
The county’s booming growth centered on O’Fallon in 2005.
“The growth of the population,” Plymale said, “was not nearly (matched by) the pace of the growth of the churches that were in existence or with the growth in the number of churches.”
Three couples started worshiping in the Plymale’s living room. After growing to two dozen members Crosshaven moved into a Presbyterian church on Sunday nights. It met nights because it could find no suitable morning worship space.
Developing cohesiveness in the small group was an early challenge because half the adults were needed to care for a large nursery.
Mineola Church, where Amber grew up, stepped in. Members made a two-hour round trip drive once or twice a month to care for Crosshaven’s children. Dorsett Village Church in St. Louis County then sent volunteers each month.
“For the first couple of years we didn’t have to staff our nursery,” Plymale said. That allowed Crosshaven’s adults to bond together and offered encouragement. “That was huge for us. To see these people come and give of their time—that made a big impression on our people.”
More young families began attending. The church grew. On Easter 2007 Crosshaven began meeting mornings in a nearby school.
Initially, Crosshaven received financial support through the Cooperative Program (CP) from the Missouri Baptist Convention (MBC), North American Mission Board (NAMB), and the St. Louis Metro and Twin Rivers associations.
Different churches also contributed financially.
“They didn’t give in the same years but at different seasons,” Plymale said.
Mineola Church, New Florence Church, Southside Church in Fulton, First O’Fallon, First Lake St. Louis, and First Winfield all provided support.
He said those monthly commitments of $100-200 and one-time gifts “may have been a substantial investment for them,” individually.
Nearby First O’Fallon encouraged members to go “on mission” in the community and join Crosshaven for a period. About a dozen families did.
“That was really the tipping point,” Plymale said. “It really changed the direction of the church from being stagnant and possibly on the pathway to closing our doors.”
He said Crosshaven also “received lots of volunteer help. We kept letting people know our needs and folks kept helping out.”
Groups arrived to distribute church flyers. Mission teams staying a week supported backyard Bible studies, Vacation Bible School and sports camps.
“The dollars and cents are great but the volunteer support is, too,” Plymale said.
A rent increase motivated the church to relocate to a local YMCA this year. Plymale said that was God-inspired. The day he phoned the YMCA about space availability he heard that due to a recent decision it wanted to offer Sunday services in its facilities.
Crosshaven now regularly supports a nearby new Baptist plant, LifePoint Church, and has helped others.
“We want to be a church that continues to help other churches get started,” Plymale said. “We know how much you need help from other churches.”
He said that with O’Fallon’s population almost doubling to 79,000 residents since 2005, there are still church planting opportunities.
Plymale sees new challenges. He doesn’t want the church to lose its early missionary spirit as it pushes toward 300 worshippers. Time is another challenge. Besides leading Crosshaven, he is father to four young children. Vocationally he contributes about 20 hours a month as an MBC consultant to new mission pastors.
Veteran Pastor Dave Martin, who earlier led Concord Baptist Church, St. Louis, and First Baptist Church, Wentzville, just joined Crosshaven. In his part-time role Martin will handle some preaching, evangelism, and other duties.
Plymale is enthusiastic.
“Dave will be a brother to walk with and a mentor,” he said.
The variety of support Crosshaven has received is healthy, Plymale believes.
“Every church planter should look for that,” he said. “You need to bring people beside you. It’s healthy to have partnerships.”
Multi-church relationships, he said, “shouldn’t be abnormal. The body of Christ is larger than our own church. We’re one team. We can accomplish more for the kingdom working together.”