The Crossing Church

The Crossing Church is in Sacramento, California, on Market Boulevard. Kelly Johnson was the Director of Communications and my main contact through the engagement. Amber Huber on the finance side handled W-9 and 1099 matters at year-end. I had also been in touch with Pastor Kyle very early on through a cold outreach. The relationship came together quickly in late February 2024 and we ramped straight into Easter.

How we started

I had emailed a Crossing Church general pastor address in February 2024 as part of a cold outreach round. Pastor Kyle wrote back the same day saying he wanted to run my services by some team members. Two weeks later, on February 27, 2024, Kelly emailed me directly. Her exact line was, "A few weeks back, you reached out to our lead pastor inquiring about us utilizing your graphic design services. He has spoken with our board and we would like to begin dialogue on what that would look like for our church. As we head into March and Easter, we want to make sure and maximize the opportunities we have to reach our community with the hope and love of Jesus."

I was on a plane home from my first vacation in years the next day. We landed on a Friday morning call. Kelly was honest about being behind, "I am nowhere on our Easter designs and feel very behind. I would love the extra support!" I sent the first invoice on March 1 and we were immediately into project work.

The work

The first two months were full sprint. The Easter sermon series was the top priority. The Party in the Park community event on March 23 needed promotional fliers, posters, and social. A new Service Times banner had to replace one that had been shredded in a storm. A Family Skate Night needed groovy colorful design across a half-page flier, an 11x17 poster, a 16:9 promo slide, and a web tile. Crossing Chair Back Cards came in as a recurring item once they switched church databases and had to redo their forms. The Kids Magnet project re-branded the kids ministry look entirely, with new logos, color palettes, and a layout that printed onto a magnet card to replace a weekly take-home paper that kept getting tossed.

The cadence was steady and Kelly's feedback was usually a single clean note: smaller text, lower the type, add an AM tucked behind the 9:00 AM, change one color to match a photo she was about to send. We rarely went more than two rounds on anything.

A specific moment

In late April 2024 the subscription hit a snag. I had sent the April invoice on March 29, but Kelly hadn't received it. The May invoice was coming up. When I checked in on May 1 she wrote back fast, "My apologies, it appears the email I drafted for you was never sent. I should have realized that when I never heard back from you. You are always very prompt in our correspondence." She let me know they needed to pause until summer for budget reasons. I waived the April invoice on the spot because she had tried to cancel before April and it just hadn't gone through. That was the right call. It cost me a month of revenue and kept the relationship clean. We never picked the subscription back up at the original cadence, but the door stayed open through year-end paperwork.

In their words

"You are always very prompt in our correspondence." Kelly Johnson, Director of Communications, The Crossing Church, May 1, 2024

Where things stand

The active subscription wrapped at end of April 2024. Amber and I closed out 2024 paperwork in January 2025, including the W-9 confirmation and a question about whether a 1099 was required given my S-Corp LLC status. Sheryl, their bookkeeper, confirmed via Amber that the 1099 was not required for an S-Corp LLC. The Crossing Church is a past client. The engagement is a good example of what happens when a church needs heavy sprint support around a holiday season and then has to pull back when budget tightens. We did good work, parted on clean terms, and could pick back up if the situation changes.