History of Crosswinds Church
Crosswinds Church was launched in 2004 when two friends knelt in a church parking lot parking after a mission’s conference and prayed about what God might be able to do with their lives. Those friends were John Stillman, a Nuclear Engineer and Ken Schultz, a professional juggler and comedian who traveled the country performing for corporate, family, and college audiences. John and Ken had both served together for many years in their church. John as Deacon and a teacher of adult bible studies. Ken also had served as the church Outreach Leader and adult bible study leader. They both recognized the growth of their community and had a great love for seeing people discover a relationship with Jesus Christ and hoped God would use them to share His word. With that hope, they convinced the Pastor Odis Weaver and Friendship Baptist Church to sponsor them and they went and were trained through the Illinois State Baptist Association as church planters. After building a launch team (Pete & Laurie Inda, Michele Pitt, Al & Jamie Davenport, Steve & Courtney Orlando, DR & Lainna Callentine, Bill and Katie Purdy, Kathy Schultz, and Caryn Stillman) they started meeting together and doing outreach in their local community. They held their first public worship service at Magnolia Restaurant in downtown Plainfield with 38 in attendance. In January of 2006, they had their first public worship service at Lincoln Elementary School, where they met for the first two years as a church setting up and breaking down every week from a portable trailer.
From there, they rented space in a strip mall at the corner of 143 and Route 30 in Plainfield and worship there for 2 years. God provided an incredible opportunity for the church to buy their building in their five years as a church. Crosswinds purchased the former Plainfield Police Station Building from the Village of Plainfield and converted it to worship space. Yes, we are one of the only church in the country with Jail cells in our basement! They are used for storage for our clothing ministry and are inoperable, but it certainly is fun curiosity. God has blessed our church to be able to bring the gospel of Jesus to many people. So far, 127 people have been baptized by Crosswinds Church and we have sent people to minister in other states as well as other countries. Also, some of our members have gone on to be great servants at other churches as pastors, worship leaders, and in other roles. After 13 years leading the church together, Pastor John stepped down as the preaching pastor to follow God's direction for a new assignment. Pastor Ken and many of the original founders have developed a new ministry team with a new vision of training up the next generation to be disciples to create a movement of the gospel across our region. We hope you will join us to make history with His story at Crosswind Church!