A Texas church builds a 20-acre sports complex that serves as a gathering place and community outreach.
By Barry Cameron
In 2008, the leaders of Crossroads Christian Church in Grand Prairie, TX, realized they had unintentionally left out an incredibly important component from their ministry — sports. A church that once had boasted a very active sports ministry for children, youth and adults now had very little to offer.
As the leaders had aged and stopped participating in sports, programs related to sports began to disappear as well. So they decided to do something about it. An architect was hired and plans were made to build a complex that people from every age and stage of life could use. The result was the SportCenter — a 20-acre complex.
The facility includes a large gymnasium with a first-class wood floor and capacity for two separate basketball courts as well as volleyball. The seating is theater-style and offers areas for spectators on three sides, four scoreboards, a concession stand, restrooms, and stage area with advanced sound and lighting.
Saturday venue
The SportCenter also serves as the primary venue for the church’s Saturday night, 605 service. The flexibility of the facility makes it excellent for dinners, banquets and meeting space for the high school ministry.
All of the outdoor fields are equipped with lights and are surrounded by fencing to provide security. The complex includes:
• Six soccer fields (Upward Sports)
• Three football fields (Upward Sports)
• Four U.S. Open quality tennis courts with a tennis pavilion
• Four sandpit volley ball courts
A large amphitheater behind the SportCenter which accommodates more than 4,000 people serves as a terrific venue for outdoor concerts and special services. A huge barbecue pavilion is located next to the amphitheater. Additional restroom facilities are conveniently located in the middle of the outdoor complex.
We’ve held a number of large group events out there as well as our all-church picnic, which attracts several thousand people. The amphitheater is an outstanding facility for outdoor concerts and the different venues for sports provide a perfect place for life groups, youth groups and virtually any group you can think of to get together.
The entire complex was built during the worst recession since the Great Depression and was built with cash. All the funds needed were on hand before the roof had been put on the SportCenter.
Hundreds of kids participate
The complex was dedicated on June 30, 2010 and has been used every week since. We have a tremendous Upward Sports program for kids with hundreds of children participating in soccer, basketball and flag football. We’ve developed leagues for basketball, volleyball and tennis for youth and adults. We even have boomer basketball and volleyball for our older members.
The SportCenter complex was the perfect venue for more than 7,000 people who attended our annual Hallelujah Carnival (a positive alternative to Halloween) this past fall. We expect even more this coming fall.
Future plans include an outdoor running track, the construction of a baseball/softball complex as well as a high school-size football stadium. We would also like to add another building that would accommodate all kinds of weight-training, aerobics, treadmills, elliptical machines, steppers and every kind of work out equipment you can imagine.
We love the idea of our people playing and praying together. We also love the way this facility has opened doors for our people to invite their friends and neighbors to come to Crossroads — something that may never have happened had we not made the sacrifice to build it.
Building the SportCenter complex was one of the best things we’ve ever done because it has provided another powerful avenue and opportunity for us to reach new people and minister to hundreds and thousands of children, youth and adults who have an interest in sports.
Barry Cameron is senior pastor of Crossroads Christian Church, Grand Prairie, TX, a congregation of 5,000 people. www.CrossroadsChristian.net
