Today we’d like to introduce you to Joshua Crutchfield.
Hi Joshua, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
Eight years ago, Houston Northeast Church (formerly known as Northeast Houston Baptist Church) heard reports that the area around U.S. 59 and the Grand Parkway was set to explode with population growth. With this information in hand, they recruited a young pastor and his family to go out from their congregation, along with several families, to start a new church in the flourishing community.
The church started in April of 2017. They were meeting at a local high school, hauling multiple trailers with equipment to transform the school cafeteria into a place of worship. As they launched out with energy and excitement, the church faced numerous challenges and hardships, including tropical storm Imelda, hurricane Harvey, and then 2020. Despite all of these challenges that this infant church was undergoing, nothing compared to the tragic and sudden loss of its founding pastor.
It was during this season that the church conducted a formal search and invited me and my family to continue the work my friend had begun. Now, nearly five years later, we have witnessed an incredible transformation of the church and are poised for long-term impact in our community.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Numerous challenges and obstacles have marked our journey alongside this congregation. Our ability to gather depends on our access to the local school. In 2021, the school closed access to outside use for a month due to COVID. Being brand new to the church-in-a-box world, I had to learn to adjust plans, solve problems, and find solutions. As a result, we developed an adapt-or-die mentality. For one month, we rented tents, hired a snowball truck, set up inflatable games, and, with their permission, met in various school parking lots. While the work was labor-intensive, this unique challenge presented an extraordinary opportunity to engage four neighborhoods in the surrounding community.
More recently, we are undertaking a building project. We launched a campaign to raise funds on a stormy January morning in 2023. With a little under a hundred people in the room, we committed to moving forward and planting long-term roots in our community. Now, twice that size, we are about to break ground on our property. The journey to get to this point has been filled with twists, turns, and disappointment. Like everyone, we have battled inflation, a struggling economy, and just the everyday hardships of life. Yet, our resolve to live out our purpose and carry out the mission has given us the courage we need to endure and persevere.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a pastor and am responsible for teaching the Bible, equipping people to serve, and encouraging them to grow in life and faith.
A large part of what I do is vision casting. I help people see a possible future and how we can get there, grounded in our shared mission, beliefs, and values. These things help cultivate our culture, clarify our purpose, and move us beyond the status quo.
Likewise, I spend a good deal of time equipping and developing leaders. No organization, whether religious or not, will outgrow its leadership, which is why we take the task of training everyone to grow in their abilities to communicate with one another, manage their time, and appropriately invest in others by not merely delegating responsibilities but by duplicating their abilities.
What matters most to you?
What matters most to me is not wasting my life. I only have one life, one opportunity to do something that lasts—beginning with my family. I can go out and earn every dollar, receive every noble accolade, but these things won’t last. Some day, I’ll be gone and someone else will have all I earned, while also forgetting my name. But I know that my wealth is not in what I own and that my life is meant for something bigger than me. So, at the end of all my days, my hope is this: that I hear the words, “Well done.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.ebc.life
- Instagram: @ebc.life
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ebc2life
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@EmmanuelBaptist
