Six years ago today, my husband, Joe Harris, went home to be with the Lord. As I remember him today, I do so by honoring his life and legacy. I can honestly say, “To this day, God has not used anyone to convict me of my lack of love for the souls of men, as he did through Joe Harris.” Joe lived and breathed evangelism and passionately engaged everyone he met in a conversation about their need to get right with God. Joe frequently shared about a dream he had when he was a kid that haunted him for many years. He dreamed that he was a nobody, and everything went wrong for him in life, but then suddenly he became a somebody, so after he came to know the Lord, he was on a mission to let everyone know about the God that changed his life from a hard-core violent drunk to a beloved man of God.
Joe began drinking at 10-years-old, even drinking rubbing alcohol. His life was hard, growing up very poor, being sexually assaulted as a child, spending time in prison and attempting suicide five times before Mike Pruitt lead him to the Lord in 1975 by telling him that Jesus loved him, and he could be somebody. Mike arranged for Joe to go into the Teen Challenge program in Washington, DC. God used that program to transform Joe into a man that loved the Lord and passionately cared for the souls of man.
As I remember him today, I do so with a heart of gratitude for his life and ministry. Through Joe’s unique anointing and the ministries of Crossroads’, he was instrumental in seeing a troubled community completely transformed by the power of God, churches come together beyond denominational walls to minister side by side for the sake of saving the lost, and hurting men, women and children’s lives touched and changed forever by the one that transforms nobodies into somebodies.
While I am not as gifted an evangelist as Joe, my heart yearns to see people come to know the love of God in Christ Jesus, particularly “the least of these.” As I struggle to carry on Joe’s legacy through the ministry of Crossroads, I ask for your prayers. May the Lord help me honor Joe by doing everything in my power to see souls saved and nobodies come to know that they are somebodies in Christ Jesus, our Lord.
Wow! Crossroads is entering its 40th year of ministry. To God be the glory! Great things he has done.
Priscilla Stratton
As we prepare to celebrate 40 years of ministry through Crossroads, we must pause to remember those that were so instrumental in nurturing this God ordained ministry to the homeless, the marginalized and those battling life controlling addictions while in its formative years One of those people was Priscilla Stratton. We met Priscilla and her family mid January 1984 when we (my late husband, Joe Harris and myself) first visited Massachusetts. We arrived there on January 11, 1984, to spend prayerful time with Rev. Sam Perry, our dear friend and my spiritual father. While visiting with Sam, he introduced us to several of his Christian friends, including Priscilla and her family. Upon meeting Priscilla, there was an undeniable bond in the Spirit noted and the Lord’s Spirit knit our hearts together in His love.
Even though Priscilla had been abandoned by her husband years before and had been struggling to raise their five children alone, she loved the Lord with everything in her, clung to him, trusted him wholeheartedly to care for her family and faithfully served Him. While she had very little money, she had a heart of gold. As a little Greek momma, struggling financially to put food on the table for her own family, she was generous and hospitable, sometimes possibly to a fault. Priscilla discerned the call of God upon our lives to launch Crossroads in Massachusetts, so she invited our family (Joe, Michael and I) to move in with her and her family until we were able to get Crossroads established. Who does that? Who as a financially overburdened single mother invites a young Black family she had just met to come and live in her home with her family? Even though she only knew us by the witness of the Spirit of the Living God, Priscilla trusted the God she loved and served, and to our surprise and amazement, she opened her heart to us and freely opened her home to us, as well.
And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who comes to God must believe that He exists, and that He proves to be One who rewards those who seek Him. Hebrews 11:6
We cannot thank God enough for Priscilla Stratton. She was an amazing mother, oozing out her mother’s love in everything she did and everything she said. She raised her children to serve the Lord, encouraging, exhorting and supporting them as they blessed the local body of Christ through their anointed music ministry. She mothered Joe, Michael and I, as well, welcoming us as a part of her dearly loved family. I remain so very grateful to have been a beneficiary of her love. God used his love flowing though her mightily to heal the many torn down and broken places inside of me that desperately needed the love of a godly mother.
Priscilla left us in 2009 to be with our Lord, and is now lovingly serving him in Glory. While we miss her dearly, her legacy remains through her children, grandchildren and all that were the benefactors of her momma’s love. Crossroads Ministries, Inc. shares in being a part of her godly legacy, as it was at Priscilla’s home in 1984, 40 years ago, that this ministry was birthed. Even though God had given Joe and I the vision for Crossroads prior to our stepping out in faith, leaving our home state of Maryland, moving to unfamiliar Massachusetts to live with virtual strangers, it wasn’t until we did those things that God breathed on that vision and gave it life.
Rev. John (Jack) Stonefield and precious wife, Jane.
Yesterday, I joined with one of our local homeless shelters for a prayer walk through their properties. The challenges they face providing for the physical needs of the many homeless in our community seems overwhelming. As a Christ-centered ministry, seeking not only to provide for physical needs of the homeless but to also minister to their holistic need in a way that honors God, by loving and serving the homeless and hurting while seeking to snatch their souls out of the hands of the evil one, they face a whole new level of challenges. Thankfully, when the leadership of this shelter realized that what they were facing is spiritual interference, they recognized the need to call out to God, our Heavenly Father, for the help that only He can provide. As I prayerfully walked alongside their leadership and other prayer supporters, it brought back memories of the years of intense spiritual warfare we, at Crossroads, went through while serving God among the homeless and marginalized in Worcester, MA. We would take regular prayer walks throughout our community, standing against the darkness and seeking God for the manifestation of His kingdom and glory. Over time, we were blessed to see God change that once drug infested, crime laden and violent neighborhood into one recognized even in the secular media for its positive transformation. Having experienced firsthand what God can do when his people stand against the darkness and walk in his light, I rejoiced in the Lord as we walked and prayed at this shelter, yesterday. “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” (John 1:5) I have no doubt that God is going to do what only He can and He is going to help that ministry overcome the darkness that is trying to hinder it, and His light will shine brightly through.
When I got home and reflected on the afternoon prayer walk, my heart was drawn to remember two faithful friends of this ministry, Jack and Jane Stonefield. I do not know where Crossroads would have been without the faithful prayer ministry of Jack and Jane Stonefield interceding to God on our behalf. When my husband, Joe, and I arrived in Massachusetts in February 1984, we had little more than our God-given vision to unite and mobilize the local body of Christ to minister to the unique spiritual needs of the homeless and marginalized and clear direction from God for us to be there. We knew only one person. That person introduced us to a few people and one of those people introduced us to their church family. That Pastor and his congregation received us warmly as God bore witness to his call upon our lives, and from there the Lord touched many hearts to support us in furthering the mission of Crossroads.
Jack Stonefield and his precious wife, Jane, were members of that first church and among the first people in it to answer God’s call to help us. They met with us, sharing the Lord’s call upon their hearts to help us by committing to faithfully pray for us. They were not talking about casually praying for us, but that they earnestly believed that the Lord had given them the responsibility of being our Intercessors, to stand in the gap before God, praying faithfully and fervently for us and the ministry of Crossroads. What a blessing! Even though we had no clue what we were up against, God knew all hell would be against us doing what He called us to do and that we were going to need lots of prayer to accomplish the task He had given us. Praise God, He knew we could not do it alone so He called Jack and Jane and so many others to come along side us and help. While I thank God for each and every person he called to walk alongside of us in ministry through the years, I am particularly grateful today that Jack and Jane answered that call. They were an especially precious gift to us in our early ministry years.
While Crossroads had been birthed out of prayer and the Lord had called me to a life of prayer even before meeting Jack and Jane, I know now that there is no way that I could have never carried the weight of this ministry in prayer by myself. The work of God is done primarily in prayer and then performed out of that place of prayer. At least, that is the way it has been for me. I love this quote from Charles Bridges (1794-1869), “Prayer is one half of our ministry, and it gives to the other half all its power and success.” As we walked the grounds of that homeless ministry yesterday, praying to tare down strongholds and for God’s kingdom to come and His will to be done there, my heart was willed with gratitude and praise to our loving, merciful and gracious God for hearing and answering prayers. I thank Him for giving us spiritual weapons to use as we fight against those things that manifest as difficulties and challenges here on earth. I thank God for people who are willing to take Him at His Word when he says “call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.”(Psalms 50:15 NIV)
As for Jack and Jane, their faithfulness to serve God in praying for Joe, I and this ministry has reaped eternal benefits. Jack Stonefield went home to be with the Lord on September 2020, after living a fruitful life of ministry born out of his faithfulness to answer God’s call to prayer, interceding for others. He was always supported and most always accompanied by his wife, Jane, an intercessor in her own right. In addition to being an Intercessor, Jack was a business executive and served with Crossroads many years as Chairman of its Financial Advisory Board, and as a member of its Board of Directors. As he grew in ministry, he became ordained by the Christian Church of North America (CCNA), and served as a pastor at Redeeming Love Assembly until Crossroads moved its ministry focus from Massachusetts to Maryland. Jack , accompanied by Jane, went on to pastor CCNA churches throughout New England, and eventually grew in its leadership to become the New England District Overseer of the International Fellowship of Christian Assemblies (IFCA), CCNA’s new name, in 2016. where he served faithfully until his homegoing on September 5, 2020.
As I reflect about Jack and Jane, and the love and companionship we shared in ministry for so many years, as they faithfully held us up in prayer and provided us with such godly counsel through the years, I’m reminded that prayer is where everything in Christ begins. God is calling again for Crossroads to move forward in ministry. What I hear him saying that He wants to do is so much greater than anything that I can do and it won’t happen without praying people. I’m wondering who he is calling to pray. He definitely has me praying. Is he also calling you? If so, please say yes. I can’t wait to see what God is going to do this time.
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every matter under heaven— A time to give birth and a time to die; A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted. A time to kill and a time to heal; A time to tear down and a time to build up.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-3 NASB)
Praise God! It’s time! God is moving. Are you ready? Can’t you hear him speaking to you through the Apostle Paul, “… the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:11-14 ESV)
Our world has changed. We have changed. So much is different. We have lived through one unprecedented crisis after another. Covid is an ever present reality. Record gas prices, rents and inflation plague us. We are living in uncharted territory. It seems as if the whole world has been turned upside down, and there is no one with any answers to the challenges we face. Many of us are anxious, fearful and uncertain about how to move forward. What should we do? What will tomorrow bring?
The good news is, Jesus Christ is Lord! He rules and reigns in the affairs of men. None of this has taken Him by surprise. He is the answer. There is a time and season for everything and we are entering a new season. Let’s rejoice about it! The long night we’ve been through is coming to an end, and the light of a new day is upon us. God loves us. He has kept us alive, and He has promised to be with us. Because Jesus lives no matter how uncertain this new season may be, don’t you believe He will help us through it. This season has been appointed by God for His people to arise. It is a time for the people of God to wake up, to get up, and “…Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you (Hosea 10:12 NKJV) Yesterday is gone. Today, let us seek the Lord. He is saying, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’ (Jeremiah 33:3 NKJV)
Greetings in the holy name of God, our Father and Jesus Christ, our Lord! I pray you, your family and loved ones are all well. We are well and thanking God for keeping us safe and healthy.
These past few months have been very troubling. We have witnessed things that have never taken place in our lifetime. The Covid 19 Crisis changed the way we live our lives, how we fellowship, how we do ministry and even how we gather to worship our Lord. Many remain scared to go outside their homes or engage in person to person contact. We have learned to distance ourselves from others to keep ourselves and them safe, and we have had to learn new ways to express our love, care or concern as handshakes, hugs and touching are now considered unsafe. So much has changed!
If that were not enough, we recently watched a black man being killed by a white police officer while in police custody, handcuffed, and laying on the ground with the officer’s knee on his neck. We watched him begging for his life while calling out “I can’t breathe”, as his life left his body. We were forced to watch this blatant reminder of systemic racism broadcasted repeatedly and experience the painful reality of it all. An outcry and uprising throughout the country and around the world followed against a culture where something like this could even be considered acceptable. We watched riots and looting and stores burning, angry mobs and peaceful protest all in the name of seeking justice. And all of this happened while we are still dealing with Covid 19.
So much to pray about. So much for our hearts and minds to process. So much hurt. So much pain. And what are we supposed to do with it all? BREATHE! None of this has taken God by surprise. He remains on His throne. He is the Sovereign Lord and He sees and knows it all. Remember, He loves you and He cares. He is an ever-present help in times of trouble. You’re not alone. God is with you to help you. Acknowledge His presence and trust Him to bring you safely through all this.
So many people are hurting. People continue to get sick or die from a virus they cannot see. People are forced to be home and separated from family and friends. Many have lost jobs, businesses, loved ones. Fear and frustration are all around. Black lives matter. The lives of the poor and needy on the streets matter. The life of the elderly matter. The life of the unborn matter. Life is precious. Jesus came so we might have life and have it abundantly. May God help us all to genuinely love our neighbor as our self and live our lives in such a way that people know that their life really does matter to God and to us.
Stand with us as we reach out with God’s love to the least of these in our community. Thank you for your faithful love and support as we continue to reach out during these times. Please pray with us that God show us the most effective ways of ministering His love in this new day in which we are living.
…The righteous will be remembered forever. Psalms 112:6
This Memorial Day we pause to remember those faithful men and women of God that were so instrumental in helping Crossroads grow. We thank God for their lives and for taking time out to minister to the homeless and needy through Crossroads. We owe each a debt of love and we honor their memory. Following are their names, city, state and year they left us for heaven. Please remember them with us.
James Jamison, Brooklyn, NY 2001
Priscilla Stratton, Fitchburg, MA 2009
Edith (Edie) Carlson, Holden, MA 2010
Robert Rosseland, Paxton, MA 2011
Rev. Walter ( Wally) Tilleman, Worcester, MA 2013
Carl Carlson, Holden, MA 2014
Rev. Samuel R. Perry, Gardner, MA 2014
Rev. Dr. Mary Williams, Sulphur Springs, AR 2017
Rev. Ernest (Ernie) L. Watts, Cambridge, MD 2018
Alan Henry Griep, Cambridge, MD 2018
Dorothy (Dottie) W. Rosseland, Paxton, MA 2019
Rev. Joseph (Joe) A. Harris, Co-Founder, Salisbury, MD 2019
It is hard to believe that we are in a new decade – 2020! It was November 1984 when Crossroads opened its storefront Coffeehouse ministry on Pleasant Street in Worcester, MA. Joe and I had hearts burning with love for the Lord and for the souls of men. All we knew was that God had placed us there and given us a vision of seeing homeless and street people coming to him. What an adventure that was as we learned to trust God and watch Him do what only He could do!
Now over 35 years later, Crossroads remains a viable ministry. While no longer actively ministering on the streets of Worcester, MA, we are having a spiritual impact on the homeless and hurting in Salisbury, MD. Again, God has placed us here and given us his vision of seeing homeless and street people coming to him. The adventure continues as we trust and obey our precious Lord and watch Him do what only He can do.
Please pray for me as I forge ahead in Jesus’ name seeking first His kingdom and His righteousness. I believe God has not finished what He started through Crossroads. His Spirit is moving. Can’t wait to see what this decade holds.
Thank you for praying, encouraging, supporting and just caring.
Don’t you just love Thanksgiving? It is the time when we get to focus on the people and things for which we are grateful. I am grateful for so much! What about you?
Even though 2019 has been a somewhat difficult year for Crossroads and for me, personally, God has not failed to be good! He has been so faithful. He has not left us to deal with our circumstances and situations on our own. He has truly been an ever present help in our time of need, even as He promised.
Crossroads original President and Co-Founder, Rev. Joseph Allen Harris, went home to be with the Lord on March 31, 2019. While he leaves a big whole in our heart and in this ministry, we are so thankful to God for the impact of his life on ours and so many others. Everything accomplished through the ministry of Crossroads was a result of the call and anointing of God upon that man. I am so thankful to God for letting me witness and be a part of it.
Join with me this Thanksgiving as we thank God for the men and women he places in our lives to convict us, encourage us and challenge us to love God passionately and serve him faithfully. And don’t forget to give God all of the praise and thanks due His holy name.
This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Greetings! I am praying that as you read this you are experiencing great days, filled with blessings of health, financial security, love, joy and peace. However, if that is not the case and your days have been filled with trials and difficulties, please know that you are not alone. So many of us have been experiencing a season of difficulties. Some are facing unimaginable hardships and each day to them feels like years as they wonder how in the world they can carry on.
Dear Friend, Sing praises to God if you are having good days. To those of you who are going through the trial of your life, you need to praise him even more. James 1:2-4 clearly speaks to us. It reads, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. So, it instructs us to count our situation as pure joy. Why? We are to praise God because all these difficulties are working towards making us mature and complete children of God by producing in us perseverance (patience). Hooray! (Smile)
None of us enjoy going through hard times, but we do want to be all God has created and designed for us to be, don’t we? This is what life at the Crossroads is all about. It is where the rubber meets the road. It is where we live out God’s word daily with his help and by his grace. Isn’t that what we want?
While this has been a difficult season for me with Joe’s health issues and related financial challenges, along with ministry and family responsibilities as I recover from Kidney transplant surgery, each day, I get up, dress up and show up, trusting in our faithful Lord to be with me as he has promised. No matter what life throws our way, we serve an awesome God. He loves us and has promised never to leave us or forsake us. He is with you. You are not alone. This is the day he has made and he knew everyone of your days before there was one of them. Here are a few scriptures to consider as you face your day:
When you feel like God is taking a long time to deliver you from an overwhelming situation – But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 2 Peter 3:8 NIV
When you are tempted to worry – Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34
While each day has enough trouble of its own, please know that God has not left you to face it alone. – For in the day if trouble, he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27:5
God knows what you are going through and is able to replace your afflictions with gladness as revealed by this prayer – Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble. Psalm 90:15
God is good all the time. No matter what your days have been like recently, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6
Preaching the good news (gospel) to the poor is an important part of what we are to do in Jesus’ name. Isaiah 61:1, the Messianic prophecy that Jesus fulfilled and pointed to when responding to John the Baptist when he sent his disciples to question whether or not Jesus was truly the Messiah they were waiting for, starts by proclaiming that ” The Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is on me, because the Lord has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.” Jesus had already plainly declared this early in his ministry. In Luke 4:18, he stated, “The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good newsto the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free … After reading this in the Torah, he clearly told everyone present that this prophecy was even then being fulfilled in him.
Friends, I believe the Lord wants us to continue his ministry of seeing that the good news of the kingdom is preached to the poor. The message of God’s love revealed to us in Christ Jesus is good news. The message that God loves even the poor so much that he gave his one and only son so that if they will just believe in Him they will have everlasting life is good news. Further, the message that God has granted that to as many as receive Jesus he has given them the right to become children of God is great news. Let’s let everyone know and let’s be sure that we are faithful to preach the gospel to the poor. They need to hear some good news. I have been sharing this good news for almost 37 years and continue to do so, because I believe it is a very important part of what we are to do in Jesus’ name.
Crossroads Ministries Inc. 