Intersection between faith and work through connections in business.

An Incredible Journey

The Crosspoint: Business Ministry Connections (CBMC) of central Ontario exists to assist Christians in keeping God central in their workplace, life, and vocation. Monthly gatherings provide an opportunity for mutual encouragement in a safe environment for sharing of faith to occur.

All are welcome to attend and become a part of sharing and exploring the message of Jesus with each other.

Monthly Gatherings

Join us for encouragement and inspiration on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from September to June. Hear testimonies of business leaders working through their challenges in the marketplace with God’s help. Through hearing their stories of faith, hope, love, and trust in God, you will be inspired.

Coming Up …

Monthly Gatherings – 2nd Wednesday of the month (Sept-June)

You will be inspired.

Next forum …

Wednesday March 8, 2023

12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Southshore Community Centre, Barrie, ON.

REGISTER – (CLICK THIS LINK)

Gary Gradley

Gary is a corporate trainer and business coach for 23 years. Gary has worked with over 20,000 leaders, employees and individuals throughout Canada, USA and Australia.

He became a trusted Advisor for many national corporations throughout Ontario.

During the 2009 recession, he shifted his mission and founded “On-Purpose People Perform” to help people discover and act upon their Purpose to make a difference in the world.

We look forward to hearing Gary’s story of what brought him to this focus in his work during these challenging times.

Join us March 8, 2023 at Southshore Community Centre, Barrie!

Sponsored by:

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Missed a Forum?

In case you missed a forum with one of our incredible speakers this year, you can take 20 minutes to catch up on any of the videos. Go to the archived recordings on our YouTube channel.

History

The Crosspoint: Business Ministry Connections, formerly known as CBMC Barrie, originated as a chapter of the CBMC national association. With the new name The Crosspoint, we have a refreshed vision to inspire people to flourish in their faith in the marketplace, the community and the public square.

Through monthly Power Luncheons, Maximizer groups, and other special events, we endeavor to represent Christian believers living out their faith at work through fellowship, outreach, and meaningful application of our skills, talents, gifts, experience, and resources.

Historically, the CBMC organization was started in the U.S.A. in the 1930’s and spread to Canada by the late 1940’s. CBMC Canada was started either in 1947 or 1948 but the Barrie chapter was formed in 1948 with its first chair being Les Cooke who later served multiple terms as the Mayor of Barrie in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Ellsworth Beers was the first treasurer and he was the treasurer of Emmanuel Baptist as well for many decades. It was in 1948 that the local community connections played an important role in the early formation of this CBMC chapter. Created originally as the Christian Business Men’s Committee of Barrie, CBMC National network and the local chapter of The Crosspoint now represent all genders and many denominational affiliations.

In 1988, monthly luncheons commenced and have continued to the present time. Periodic special outreach breakfasts, engagement with mayor’s prayer breakfasts, and various small study or discipleship groups have also continued from that point in time. The most interesting group was CORPATH which focused on how leaders can see their work as a vocation from God and a means to serve God and others with their time and talents.

In 2000 under the leadership of Canadian Executive Director, Gerry Organ, the name of the organization changed to Christian Business Ministries Canada to reflect the direction God was taking the ministry, recognizing the increasing number of business women in the marketplace. Following Gerry Organ’s tenure, Dr. Paul Richardson led the national network through incredible growth in building evangelism, discipleship, and leadership training that CBMC Barrie engaged in for many years.

Throughout the years, CBMC Barrie has grown to include many from the cities, towns and communities throughout central Ontario through monthly luncheons, CORPATH groups, mayoral prayer breakfasts, and special outreaches. The president’s role of the local chapter has included various business leaders in the last 25 years such as Trevor Owen, Scott Jackson, Ron Brooks, and … is now being coordinated by Sean Elliott. Over the last 30+ years, many other Christian women and men have led business groups, breakfast meetings, and outreaches that have contributed to the non-denominational fellowship.

With many participants from many locations in central Ontario, the focus of the network has expanded to represent this expanded territory and all genders. The Crosspoint: Business Ministry Connections has given the acronym of CBMC a renewed focus whereby there is intersection between faith and work, God and man, Christianity and the marketplace, and various generations.

Monthly luncheons at The Southshore Community Centre on Lakeshore Drive on the second (2nd) Wednesday of each month at 12:00 noon have been the primary form of gathering throughout 2000 to 2019. These involved business people sharing their story of how they came to know Jesus and how that relationship is impacting their lives at home and at work.

From March 2020, online forums were being hosted with a video testimony due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Being an unprecedented and challenging time for society, CBMC Barrie providing inspiring testimonies from many women and men that had overcome incredible trials through their hope, faith, and trust in God. Check out our video library on YouTube for some of the inspiring messages.

Now we have cautiously returned to in-person gatherings in the fall of 2022. Gathering on the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 12:00 noon from communities all across central Ontario, we endeavour to build on the strong history of exploring what faith in Jesus means to many in their businesses, marketplace careers, and community service.

In addition, we launched the beginning of a vision for Maximizer groups as we started 2023. Partnering with Faith Driven Entrepreneurship and Right Now Media, groups can form in the boardroom, in community settings, in churches, between sector professionals, or various settings that word for individuals. Building on a 8 part Foundations video series, Maximizer groups can build on the spark of monthly gatherings. It’s about seeing the fire grow through meaningful connections, relationships and marketplace applications.

Moving into 2022-2023 calendar of events, CBMC Barrie relaunches as The Crosspoint: Business Ministry Connections.

Background Elements (Why the New Name? How does this concept relate to our vision, mission, and objectives?)

The compass = navigation. We’re about exploring and navigating faith in Jesus.
The cross = if we could do it (achieving God’s righteousness) on our own (which is often the M.O. in the business world), we wouldn’t have needed the cross.
Crosspoint: the name allows us to better create an association that is acceptable and appealing to others while still retaining the acronym of CBMC. The Crosspoint: Business Ministry Connections.
The national CBMC ministry is changing their name and focus. As one of the key chapters in Canada, we will build on our national relationship and grow in our partnerships with many other workplace ministries.
The Crosspoint is strengthening CBMC Barrie’s mission to include all genders, focus on relational aspect of the network (vs. a “committee”), and to be inclusive of all communities in central Ontario.