CrossView church on XM Satellite Radio

Pastor Randy Snyder began to broadcast his weekly message June 21

SUGARCREEK TWP., Greene County — The non-denominational CrossView Christian Church has come a long way from its roots as the small Owens Church built on the corner of Wilmington and Conference Roads in 1840.

On June 21, the church, now numbering around 1,000 parishioners a week with three Sunday services, began broadcasting Pastor Randy Snyder’s weekly message across the nation as part of the XM Satellite Radio, a pay-for-service radio network headquartered in Washington, D.C.

The new ministry, called CrossHope, airs five minutes each day at 8:55 a.m., Monday through Friday on the Family Talk channel, Snyder said. It is broadcast to 48 states and parts of Canada and Mexico and consists of five minute segments of his weekly Sunday message, broken into five parts.

“I’ve been doing this for 27 years on a local level,” but listeners asked for a wider casting of the net, he said. “It’s a new identity for the church. It’ll bring all kinds of visitors here and develop national awareness of the church,” he said. “It’s being funded totally by listeners, not just locally, but from all over.”

His messages have aired on local radio stations in Columbus, Dallas and Atlanta over the years and currently can be heard weekdays at 10:55 a.m. in the Dayton/Cincinnati area on WFCJ, 93.7 FM.

He said he was called to serve as senior pastor of CrossView Christian Church in 2005 by the church after serving in Christian churches in Chicago, Pennsylvania and Texas. The son of a minister, Snyder said he always knew his calling. He grew up in Hammond, Ind., and his dad, now retired, served a Christian church in the Chicago area for 42 years.

CrossView Christian Church, 4237 Social Row Road, has gone through numerous name changes and buildings over the years. It moved to its present site in 1882, according to the church’s website.

The name changed from Ferry Church in 1915 to Ferry Church of Christ in 1962 when the sanctuary, now used for youth services, was built. The name was changed to CrossView Christian Church in 2002 “to show the fellowship with about 6,000 other Christian churches like ours,” Snyder said.

Because of continued growth, a 17,500-square-foot $3 million addition was built in 2008, he said. It is a multi-purpose auditorium that can hold up to 500 for worship and also serve as a recreational facility. The project included a new kitchen, classrooms, nursery, cafe, welcome center and parking area.

Snyder and his wife, Annie, live in Springboro and have three grown children.

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