“February of 2022, I was at my darkest moment. Scripture tells us that Satan comes to steal, kill, and destroy. That is exactly what he had done in my life. As a Christian, I thought I was walking in God’s plan for my life. Little did I know, God was going to allow my marriage to be tested. I failed. All of the ugly lies that I believed about myself emerged. The depression set in, the anger and bitterness erupted... My life was falling apart. I didn’t like who I had become and I knew I needed help. After much prayer God led me to Crossway Ministries. After, 5 months of counseling behind me, I am now thankful for that storm. My marriage is restored. The anger and bitterness is replaced with joy and peace. I have found purpose in all of the pain. I am no longer a slave to Satan. I now know that I am stronger than I thought. I am not alone in my daily walk. My identity is in Christ!! Am I perfect? No, but I am God’s masterpiece! I trust him to write my story! My mess became His miracle! Thank you Crossway for leading me through the Bible and helping me to see what God always knew! I am loved!!”

“Through Counseling with Crossway Ministries, God has revealed that He is sovereign over all. I need to constantly surrender everything to Him-Don’t put any weight into what others think of me. HE is all that matters and I am fully loved in Him.”

“I can say when I started I thought it was a waste of time and money, it turned out to be the best money I spent all year. You can’t put a price on a new perspective of my relationship to the Creator. It helped me through the hardest time of my life and kept my footing on solid ground.”

“I came to Crossway Ministries during a very difficult time in my life. I was struggling through failure of divorce and felt alone and distraught. I trusted Jesus as my savior, but I needed to also trust him with my situations. My counselor, Butch, told me about four God given needs, which are love, acceptance, worth and security, and that I would do almost anything to have these needs met. When he first made that statement, I remember not being so clear on exactly what he meant, but now today, I am very clear on the fact that those very needs were the force that drove many decisions and factors in my life. Having this new awareness, I now know that no human can meet these God given needs fully, only Jesus can meet my needs completely. Crossway Ministries changed my life and I now feel free from the bondage that I felt prior to this counseling. I am truly blessed to have been a part of Crossway Ministries over the last year and I highly recommend this program.

”

“I grew up hearing about God and Jesus my whole life. My parents weren’t church people, but when I stayed with my cousin or grandparents (which was a lot) I would attend church with them. One was Baptist and the other was Church of God. It confused me and more than anything scared me. I went to the altar many times and said the sinners prayer a lot, but only out of fear.

As I got older I became tired of feeling like I had to perform to keep God from smiting me, and so I rebelled. Over time life had been happening, and I had a son and got married. Two years into marriage my wife and I were still living lives that caused issues to build up. After separating for about a week, we got together and talked. We had done all we knew to do and had failed, so we decided to try God’s way.

We attended a particular church service together, and it was as if our mail was being read. We both accepted the grace of God through Jesus. We tried to live as best as we knew how for God. Eventually I got overwhelmed from the stress of trying to live right, abide by the commandments, provide for family and just trying to be a good person. With this and some health issues coming about, I ended up discovering pills.

Fast forward 15 years later, and I find myself at Crossway Ministries where I was going to counseling for what I thought was my addiction. However, I discovered addiction wasn’t the main reason I was there. Drugs were just a symptom of why I was really in counseling.

Come to find out, my view of God was very skewed. I had always trusted God for my salvation, but after that I didn’t trust Him for my situations, i.e. to provide for me or my loved ones. I had become so accustomed to trying to meet my needs for love, acceptance, worth and security on my own using my flesh, that I lost my way of trusting God to handle sanctifying me in my daily walk with Him. I now see that “I Am” is present tense, and that God is with me and for me, always regardless of how I feel that day.

Feelings can be lies, and they change by the moment, but God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I’m thankful that I was able to learn that through my discipleship at Crossway Ministries, and I believe that it will impact everything I do from here on in my life that was brought to life by Christ. I am dead to sin (including addiction) and alive to God in Christ Jesus!

”

“Several months ago my life seemed to spiral into a hurricane of hurt that I couldn’t stop. I found out my son was addicted to opiates. In my desperate search for help for him, I found Crossway for myself.

It has helped me so much. Learning more about my Savior and his love for me. And learning to trust him more and more. Learning about myself and the lies that I’ve believed for a long time that I didn’t realize were lies!

I’m so thankful for my counselor and Crossway! Thank you for being part of my life.

”

“I took an opportunity to receive discipleship through Crossway Ministries to grow and strengthen my faith. I knew God was continuing to grow His love in me, but I had not answered all the questions I had about the Christian faith.

Over the course of weeks, many of my questions about myself, God and others have been answered. However, my questions about the wonders of God I know will never cease.

Through my time with Crossway, God revealed His love for me is already complete. He accepts me unconditionally just as I am, but He will always put me on a path toward new growth in experiencing more and more of the treasure He’s already deposited in me. I know Christ in me will continue to be revealed through me only as God lead me into situations that are beyond my strength to handle.

My time with Crossway was completely rewarding and revealing for me and I believe anyone who takes the challenge will not be disappointed.

”

“I contacted Crossway Ministries in hopes of finding a way out of a lot of anger and resentment I was feeling toward God and my family. Before beginning my counseling, I believed God was being quite unreasonable to allow some very difficult family circumstances that I found almost intolerable. I knew God was in control of everything, so why was He allowing my family to be so unkind toward me?

After a little time, God affirmed that it was right for me to get counseling, because He revealed that I had lost my focus by placing more of my attention on my suffering than on His Son. I had been consumed with my problems and the people involved. Yet now God has assured me of His love and forgiveness.

Through my counseling, God revealed that I was too concerned about the opinions of others and whether they approved of me or not. If I was truly aware of and filled with Christ’s love for me, I would not need or seek the approval of others. Though this is a process, as I’ve begun to experience God’s love that fills me in meaningful ways, I’m learning to need people less and love people more.

I highly recommend Crossway Ministries for anyone who is hurting and in need of help! I thank God for my counselor patiently listening to me, speaking with me honestly, and pointing me always to God’s truth that sets me free!

”

“Since I have been taking counseling at Crossway, I have learned why and where some of my emotions have come from. Certain ways I have felt about myself for a while now have been proven to be wrong. I am beautiful in God’s eyes no matter what I have done or ever will do. I am His daughter and He loves me. I have heard that my whole life, but now as I am learning more, I believe it to be true and not just something that is said. God’s love has become more than information, it’s becoming revelation!

”

“I’m not really sure why I first contacted Crossway Ministries for help. I was looking for answers to vague undefinable questions I didn’t even know I had, if that makes any sense. Interestingly enough, I am also a licensed Christian counselor.

As I began working with my counselor at Crossway, I began to understand that I believed myself to be useless to God because of certain failures from my past. I did not trust anyone, so I hung onto scriptures like Psalm 118:8 which says, It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man. And Jeremiah 17:5 which says Cursed be the man that trusteth in man. Now I see that forgiveness is the root of my problem.

Through the discipleship I received at Crossway, God has revealed in me a cold heart that has hardened over the years due to life situations and rejections. God has taught me concerning the act of forgiving as a choice. If I fail to forgive, it will only hurt me, not those who have betrayed me.

God has revealed to me that I am loved regardless of the actions or thoughts of others. God is the author of love and it’s important to love others just as He loves them and gave His only Son for all.
Some of the counseling sessions were difficult and painful because I had to face my past and lies that had been fed to me for so many years. However, I’m thankful for the healing I received on the other side of pain.

”

“I started coming to Crossway for counseling because I had been struggling with pornography for most of my life. I had tried to overcome it by myself and by just hiding it, but that only made the problem worse. Until one day I decided I needed help.

My counselor at Crossway has shown me that it’s better to go through bad situations with people that can help because you have support and don’t always feel alone. I have learned a lot about the Bible and God, and I also now know more about what Jesus wants for my life.

In my time with Crossway I have been shown ways to overcome temptation that I would have never discovered by myself. Yes I still struggle a little bit, but if I hadn’t found this ministry, there’s no telling how much worse it would have been. I am thankful that a group of people at Crossway was here to help when I felt lost and beaten down.

”

“A Family Who Experienced God

I am a wife and mother of two who was referred to Crossway by the Holy Spirit. My original goal for contacting Crossway was to get help for my son and for our family. I thought my teenage son needed to change as he was expressing many negative behaviors. However, I discovered God was mostly interested in working on me. I had come to believe many of my feelings did not matter to my family or others, which led me to believe that I myself did not matter. God also revealed other deep-seated beliefs such that I must perform, or do something for someone, to earn their love and acceptance.

During my counseling, God revealed His answer was for me to relinquish all control to Him. He gradually showed me I can trust Him and that He is always present with me because His Spirit indwells my innermost being. My heavenly Father led me into a deeper experience of His unconditional love, and began convincing me I can rest in His love even when I’m feeling unworthy of love or unlovely.

When I first came to Crossway, I felt very inadequate as a wife, mother, and even as a child of God. As a result, I thought God was extremely disappointed in me. Jesus showed me I can completely depend on Him for every situation and in every situation. He alone is sufficient to meet all my emotional needs, as well as those He has woven into the hearts of my sons and husband. I know God has made me adequate as a wife and mother. He is responsible for my family, and He is proud of me as His growing child!

God revealed many destructive flesh patterns during my time of counseling. I learned how I had used these historical techniques to control aspects of my life rather than letting God be in charge. In the process, I was hurting myself and the people I love so much. These flesh patterns are not my identity. I’ve discovered my identity in Jesus, who is my life.

Crossway is a wonderful ministry that Anderson is blessed to have. The staff helped my family on an amazing journey that put us on a new path of following Jesus like we’ve never experienced. I have never heard so many concepts, facts, and biblical truths expressed in the way they were. I did not expect our journey to be so full of biblical revelations. Wow! Jesus was amazing! The love and support we received from our counselor was astounding! I am so thankful the Holy Spirit sent us to Crossway. Our family if forever changed.

”

“I contacted Crossway after becoming desperate for relief from the depression and anxiety that was crippling me. After several weeks of couneling, I was beginning to heal and feel so much better. The Lord was revealing to me that I had believed many lies about myself, others and even God. The enemy was the author of these lies and had been speaking them to me for most of my life and I believed and accepted them as truths.

Healing came as the truths from God’s Word were presented to me each week. The voices I listened to while faced with uncertainties, sadness and loneliness were not God’s voice. The Holy Spirit revealed lie after lie that Satan had whispered to me daily as my emotional state deteriorated. He knew if I remained focused on my problems, I would struggle to be an encouragement to anyone else. You see, encouragement is one of God’s gifts to me and it is by utilizing that gift that He is glorified and I am filled with joy. Satan hates for either of these things to happen and I allowed his voice to drown out God’s voice until he had me right where he wanted me – alone, sad and wallowing in self-pity bringing no glory to God and experiencing absolutely no joy.

Thanks to the teaching of Crossway ministries, I have experienced healing and I choose not to reside in the darkness listening to the enemy any longer. Oh, Satan still murmurs lies to me and some days I struggle more than others, but for the most part his voice is silent as I am now better equipped to recognize his lies and renounce them with God’s truths. Speaking these truths aloud to the enemy has become a habit and through the power of the Word, the enemy has to flee. I am confident in the power of God that is in me and who He says I am and will not allow the lies to masquerade as truths again.

I am so grateful that God led me to this ministry and I truly believe that all Christians, whether struggling or not, would greatly benefit from this discipleship counseling as it produces abundant spiritual growth!

”

“I’m so thankful Crossway Ministries was there for me when I needed them most! I have learned so much about myself and my “flesh” and the control it has had on my life and the life of my family.

Now that I’m beginning to understand the flesh’s influence, I see myself, my family and my decisions in a new way. I’m learning how to let the Holy Spirit fight my battles for me by believing God’s Word concerning my new identity in Christ. I’m furthermore starting to recognize the flesh in others, and I find myself becoming much less judgmental. The apostle Paul exhorts us in this area saying, Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh (II Corinthians 5:16a).

Through God’s use of Crossway Ministries, I’m more sensitive to the voice of the Holy Spirit and thereby recognizing the voice of the enemy trying to deceive me through old twisted programming in my mind, emotions and behaviors. I am so grateful to be walking in this level of freedom and am excited to know there is still more to come!

”

“When I began my discipleship journey at Crossway, I didn’t want to go at all. I was struggling with depression, rebellious attitudes, and other emotional issues I didn’t really understand. I had visited other counselors and doctors with no lasting resolution to my problems. I am a teenager, and my parents wanted me to talk with someone from a Christian perspective.

After a few visits with my counselor at Crossway, I became intrigued to find out more about myself, why I act certain ways, and how to find biblical answers.

I discovered that many of my problems stemmed from wrong beliefs I held about myself, about who God is, and about who I believed others to be. I couldn’t see it at first, but God revealed to me a negative view I had of myself because of certain things people had done to hurt me. I thought I was a lost cause and that I couldn’t do anything right. As a result, I looked down on myself, and I really believed everybody else, including God, looked down on me too.

After several weeks of counseling, God connected some dots to reveal how certain events in my past had led me to believe these lies about myself. I found that many of my attitudes and behaviors stemmed from those root lies and feelings of inadequacy.

I’m glad God didn’t leave me feeling that way. He showed me from His word the truth that I’m made in His image and am therefore loved and wanted! In Christ, I am full of worth, and I don’t have to fear insecurity because Jesus is my refuge and security. God revealed that even if I “mess up,” He doesn’t love me any less. God pointed out that I was giving too much power to other peoples’ judgments of me. I am growing free from the opinions of others that I have feared for so long.

I would recommend Crossway Ministries to anyone who wants to learn the truth about who they are, who God is, and how these two identities are connected in every way.

”

“In 2016 I hurt my back at the plant I had worked at for 28 years and resigned believing they would make things right. I started some classes in the meantime, and that’s when I had my first panic attack. It really scared me, and I decided to drop out. I felt I had failed.

Not long after, my former employer opened a legal case against my workplace injury. I tried occupying my mind with lots of activities hoping to stop my feelings of panic, but nothing helped. That’s when I called Crossway for help with the anxiety that was starting to consume me. I wanted immediate relief, and they returned my call the same day.

From my first visit with Crossway, I knew it was going to be a journey and not a quick fix. The first several sessions were tough because I had to talk about things I really did not want to. Sometimes I was tempted to cancel my appointments. Other times I wanted to get up during the session and leave.

One day my counselor told me his story and testimony. It “wowed” me, and I felt more comfortable after that. He struggles with stuff just like the rest of us. My journey became easier the longer I stuck with my counseling.

I learned the solution for my anxiety is to experience the sufficiency of God’s love in Christ. He supplies my every need. At Crossway, I learned to walk by the Spirit, letting Christ live in me and through me. I learned to recognize lies in my thinking and to replace them with God’s truth. I began experiencing freedom!

Toward the end of my time with Crossway, I was actually looking for a way to keep it going. But I had learned to depend on Jesus, and I knew it was time to journey on. This experience was an absolute blessing from God! Today I can actually thank God for the “gift of anxiety.” My relationship with my Heavenly Father has grown so strong. Jesus has taken my difficulties and turned them into blessings and opportunities to encourage and bless others.

I will end with this scripture, Mark 9:23-24: “What do you mean, if I can?” Jesus asked. “Anything is possible if a person believes.” The father instantly cried out, “I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!”

Crossway helped me with my unbelief.

”

“I started my discipleship journey with a vague since that I needed fixing somehow. Through this journey God has revealed lies that I have been believing and has shown me the truth about those lies.

I discovered the God given needs that all people have. The need for love, acceptance, worth and security. I started realizing that a lot of my thinking/behaving were rooted in the fact that I was looking to others and even myself to meet these God given needs. When the truth of “Christ is my Life” was presented to me it was an aha moment! I realized that Christ is the PERSON who meets these core needs.

I discovered the ways I have tried to get my needs met apart from Christ. And the lies that I believed about myself, others and God. I was able to see how events in my life have shaped some of the ways I think and the grid that I view myself, others and God through. By exposing these lies I was able to see how to exchange those lies for God’s truth about my new identity as a daughter of God.

One last thing I will share is the idea that I have strived to do the right or moral thing my whole life. Back in the Garden of Eden there were 2 trees. The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. I have eaten from the Tree of Life because Jesus’ life has saved me, but I have still been living from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. There are 2 sides to that tree and I have been living my life from the “Good” part of that tree. I was deceived by Satan into thinking I was pleasing God. What pleases God is for me to live from the Tree of Life. Trusting Christ in me to lead me. Not my own understanding of right and wrong.

This journey has begun the process of healing and has been a blessing in my life.

”

“Oh how The Lord has used you to show me and remind me of His love and gentle kindness. I need to hear truth, and I need to be lovingly corrected and admonished so that I don’t fall prey to the enemy’s lies…”

“When I first went to Crossway Ministries for help I was hurt, broken, confused and had come to the end of myself. I didn’t know what to do or which way to turn. The first thing I was asked was...”Do you want to get well?” I immediately replied, “Yes.” You may be surprised to know that many people answer, “No” because they don’t want to go through that healing process which can be painful at times but so worth it in the end! That day I began my journey. Over time, I learned more about my Savior Jesus and His journey to the cross. In turn, I also learned about myself and my identity in Him. My life was forever changed!

Thank you for this opportunity!

”

“I came to Crossway looking for support after a failed engagement. I was looking for love in all the wrong places. I was challenged to begin a verse by verse study of Romans 5 - 8 and began to understand the gospel for the first time. I had grown up in church, but my view of God’s love was based on getting acceptance from Him by obeying his rules. The Romans study taught me about God’s plan of redemption for me and also helped me to realize that I was a sinner. I received salvation after realizing that my faith had been placed in the things I did to get God’s acceptance rather than my faith being in Jesus and His sacrifice for my sins.”

“This experience gave us the closest glimpse of God’s love that we’ve ever had. Also, we learned to understand how our emotions often are manipulated to distort the facts.”

“I was truly blessed and set free from bondage in areas of my life when I attended a seminar at our church. The freedom I have felt has given me a new zeal and desire to serve God and enjoy the journey…”

“As a Christian, teacher, and coach, I’ve experienced many mountain-top spiritual highs, but this weekend opened a whole new dimension to being ‘born-again.” I realized who I really am in Christ and how to persevere as Satan lies about my soul and body…”

“I first came to Crossway a very broken person. But piece by piece, through the help of my amazing counselor, I’m now walking in the truth of God’s love, grace, and mercy. If it wasn’t for Crossway, I wouldn’t be where I am or as close to God as I am. I’m so grateful the Lord led me to this place.”

“I have been a believer for over 30 years. However, when I came to Crossway Ministries I was still trusting in myself to make life work. I became broken and realized things had to change. The teachings at Crossway Ministries has helped me to learn who God truly is and as a result I have come to know who I am in Him. I now believe that I can trust God in all areas of my life for His purpose is good and His love is never changing. ”