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“Nearly 300 students attended our Super Bowl event, where they heard the gospel message,” says Phillipsburg Alliance (New Jersey) Church youth pastor Peter Keady. “Every week, we encourage students into a real relationship with Jesus and to make God number one in their lives.”

The Alliance church has raised the bar in its youth focus. When Peter began his role in 2002, “about 10 students made up our small youth ministry,” he says. “As a growing number of students joined the group, I sensed God’s nudging to establish a proactive outreach to area youth–one that would be conducive to student culture, not a ‘churchy’ building, which might be a deterrent to joining the group.

Several years into his search, Peter saw a for sale sign on a nearby building. “It had been a bar in the recent past,” he says, “but decades ago, it was established as the Italian American Pleasure Club–a social gathering place for a prominent Italian immigrant population.”

A Church Within Reach

Believing the old club would be an ideal ministry center, Peter contacted the realtor. “As I walked through the building, the vision grew,” Peter says. “The strategically located building could house a community-based outreach that would provide young people with a comfortable, inviting place to meet–a church within reach, both physically and relationally.

“I saw everything from a place in which current ministry could transfer to a place where we could possibly train students in business by opening a coffee shop. With God’s leading, the building was purchased in 2010 for less than the asking price and duly named Crossbar.”

Church members joined the effort to renovate, scrubbing walls and floors, cleaning AC units, refurbishing the kitchen, and more. “The growing youth group, which had pretty much maxed out our old facilities, was accommodated comfortably at Crossbar at first. But today, Crossbar is filled to capacity on our high school ministry nights.”

Currently, the youth group is made up of nearly 80 percent non-churched students. “We offer after-school program with Internet access, so students can study, receive help with homework, or just have a safe place to talk through difficult life issues with adults,” Peter says. “High school and middle school students receive a free meal on ministry nights. More than 100 meals are served each week by a volunteer cooking staff.”

Christian Culture Is What’s Relevant

“My first time coming here, I was a little nervous,” says Reggie*, who, like other high school students, finds a haven in Crossbar, free from the temptations and chaos of secular social gatherings. “But they made me feel at home. I’ve been in the youth group since my freshmen year in high school, and I keep coming back because it’s the best place to be.”

The Crossbar youth outreach also includes middle school students, with whom Reggie assists. “I go to youth group for the little kids and help them out, too. I feel like I can pass on the gospel to other kids,” he says.

Crossbar’s community impact has exceeded Peter’s original dream of ministry. “My heart was to provide a safe haven for students where they could encounter the Lord in a strong relational atmosphere apart from societal distractions,” Peter says. “Crossbar is that and so much more.”

Plans are in the works to install a basketball hoop in the parking lot and paint half-court lines, so Crossbar can host basketball tournaments. Additional events are held, such as parenting seminars, sweetheart banquets, community breakfasts and barbecues, Christmas parties, children’s ministry events, theological round table discussions, and much more.

Young people like Reggie return each week to Crossbar, where they gravitate to the truth of the gospel lived out in real life. “The meaning of respect is taught here,” says Reggie. “If I ever need help with something or I have something on my mind that I have to get out, this is the place to be. We chill and talk about things like a family does at the dinner table. I cannot express enough how great this place is. Crossbar is something special.”

*name changed

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