It all began on October 15, 1981, with a small group of people who had felt a need for a new Southern Baptist work in Carlinville. After meeting for several weeks in various homes and much prayer and soul-searching, 21 people committed to begin a new church. It would be known as The Carlinville Southern Baptist Church.

The group had accumulated $801 in the treasury and began to seek a suitable place to worship. The former Macoupin Locker Plant, located at 114 South Oak Street, was rented for $450 monthly.

Everyone worked to clean, paint, and build partitions to ready the old building. Church pews, a pulpit stand, a Lord’s supper table, and other church equipment were donated from a recently disbanded congregation. Two different churches contributed hymnals and choir robes. God’s hand was very much in evidence as He provided for every need.

The first full service was held on Sunday, November 22, 1981. Reverend Lee Rule, guest minister, brought the message. There were 29 present in Sunday School and 46 in the worship service on that first Sunday. Fifty-two people attended Sunday School the following week, and 68 gathered for worship.

On a bitterly cold day, January 10, 1982, the Carlinville Southern Baptist Fellowship was constituted into the Carlinville Southern Baptist Church. The constitution service was a beautiful and moving experience for the small congregation. And it was gratifying that representatives of area Baptist churches attended the service in unspoken recognition of Carlinville Southern Baptist Church as their sister church.

Fayette Baptist Church provided the use of their baptistry for the first baptism on March 7, 1982. Brother Pete Olroyd officiated.

On April 4, 1982, the congregation called Reverend William Loafman as its first pastor.

The church continued to grow, and on November 21, 1982, the charter membership closed with 80 charter members. The day marked the church’s first full-service anniversary, and members celebrated with a Thanksgiving dinner in the church fellowship hall – a former skating rink.

With the congregation's continued growth, it became evident that more space was needed. A gift lien of $10,000 was received from the Illinois State Baptist Association. The money was designated for the purchase of a future building site. The congregation began to dream and plan for a permanent home for the church.

In November 1982, the congregation voted to use the gift lien and $5,000 from the church treasury as a down payment on a 5.2-acre patch of ground. The building site was on a beautiful hillside facing Highway 108 West. The remainder of the $39,000 purchase price was paid in full within one year, and the dreams intensified.

A building committee was elected on March 10, 1983, and the building fund steadily increased.

Plans for building a church continued, sometimes with feelings of hopelessness, as costs and lending rates were discovered. The church considered erecting only a portion of the building, with plans of making additions as money became available.

Then, in October 1986, a miracle happened! The pastor told of meeting with Jim Norman, Director of Church Extension, and explaining our great need and desire to build. Mr. Norman said he would give the church’s name to some people. The Pastor then received a phone call from Julian Newman, project chairman for a volunteer group called “Carpenters for Christ,” based in Talladega, Alabama. The men were searching for a summer ministry project and ultimately chose to come to Carlinville to help build our church building.

On November 23, 1986, a dedication service was held at the church site, and on February 22, 1987, the ground was broken and excavation began.

During Memorial Day weekend, the church members shared some of their finest hours as many members and friends started the framework of the building.

At this time, Sunday School enrollment had reached 151, with 118 resident church members.

From June 18 through 26, 1987, 103 Carpenters for Christ, along with church members and friends, labored in 95-degree heat to construct the building. The church women baked hundreds of pies and 500 dozen cookies and did each man’s daily laundry.

When the group left Carlinville, the 13,960-square-foot church building was completed mainly. The remainder of the summer and early fall were spent doing finishing work inside the building. A small group of men from Blytheville, Arkansas, volunteered to help drywall the building.

The congregation could move into its new facility during the first week of November. A dedication and open house was held on November 22, with over 300 persons present. Many of the Carpenters for Christ attended.

The church continued to minister and to grow. Much work remained on the building.

On March 18, 1990, Reverend William Loafman resigned as pastor. He had served the church for eight years. During this time, he’d had the unusual privilege of baptizing four people over the age of 80 years. He had led the congregation through the long and challenging task of building a beautiful house of worship.

On August 26, 1990, Reverend James Holloway was called as pastor.

God continued to bless the church with new additions. Several new Sunday School classes were added, and the building was completed with the steeple and stained glass window additions.

Sunday School enrollment was 177, with 165 resident church members.

On March 5, 2000, Tim Rhodus was called as pastor. Over the next two years, God continued to bless the church. God provided a new kitchen, a video projection system, more parking, additional chairs, a stage extension, and a playground through sacrificial giving by the congregation.

The attendance had more than doubled to an average of 226 people in the worship service, 123 in Sunday School, and 120 in discipleship training.

During Tim’s tenure at the church, the church bought the old Walmart building, went through litigation with the city, and grew by two additional locations. Bethel Baptist Church of Staunton, Illinois, was acquired in 2011 and became the second campus of what is now Cross Church.

In Easter of 2015, we had our first service in the Walmart building. In 2016, we acquired Gilead Baptist Church of Hettick, Illinois, as our third campus location.

As it was for most churches, the 2020 pandemic caused issues. We were not meeting in person and had to navigate what online church would look like. We already had a solid media team and were able to make church at home easier. We developed children’s content, podcasts, youth content, and much more to try to engage our congregation with the doors closed.

In the fall of 2022, Tim Rhodus retired after 22 years as the Lead Pastor. A lot of work needed to be done as we navigated the pastor search process. With the help of Mark Emerson, Associate Executive Director of IBSA, as our interim pastor, we made it through 2023.

On September 24, 2023, Raymond Gregory was affirmed as our new Lead Pastor. The best is yet to come!