The Crossing Church 48th St. is the head church for The Crossing and all of its 12 locations across Illinois, Missouri, and Iowa. The Crossing collectively reached over 1,300 baptisms in the year 2025. This church has seen an unusual amount of baptisms this year, doubling numbers from 2023 in 2025. Pastor Clayton Hentzel is the lead pastor at The Crossing. Hentzel is credited with the help and inspiration of most of these baptisms. On February 16 Hentzel gave a sermon named “The Power of Baptism”, informing The Crossing church and their viewers about baptism and what the bible teaches about baptism. Since this sermon The Crossing across all of its locations have seen rapid growth in individuals wanting to give their life to Christ through baptism. 

Ty Douglas volunteers at The Crossing and attends regularly. He believes that Hentzel’s sermon was the reason there was an increase in baptisms this year. Douglas claims that the sermon spoke to everyone, not just younger people that haven’t made the decision to get baptized.

“Clayton’s sermon hit the hearts of so many people, even people that might have been sprinkled as a baby. He touched on all situations and circumstances, and quoted what the Bible says for all of those situations and circumstances,” Douglas said. 

Dawson Talbott is someone who attends The Crossing regularly and made the decision to get baptized on Tuesday, the 21st of October, by a fellow student that also attends Quincy University. After the “Collective” service, held on Tuesday nights for young adults, Talbott gave his life to Christ. However, Talbott never saw the sermon in February about baptism. He instead was inspired by having one-on-one talks with people involved in the church after service and at “Collective”, his leaders at “Fellowship of Christian Athletes” at QU. 

“I always knew that baptism was important and something I should do, but I felt like the devil kept giving me false voices in the back of my mind to distract me from making the decision to get baptized. It wasn’t until I talked with people at FCA and people at The Crossing about it that I truly wanted to make the decision to give my life to Christ,” Talbott said.

Another individual that has been baptized at The Crossing this year is Kolbey Ballowe, who was baptized in January by a fellow QU student as well. Ballowe was baptized before Hentzel’s sermon, and like Talbott didn’t hear the message before he got baptized. Ballowe felt that he made so many connections at The Crossing and felt like he had a new home away from home while attending The Crossing. Ballowe’s reason for getting baptized was similar to Talbott’s where he thought it was time and the following week he gave his life to Christ.

“I knew I wasn’t perfect and I’ve made so many mistakes in my life. However, I also knew that Christ died for every single one of those sins. The people at The Crossing became more than friends, but family to me. And with their help and guidance I was able to get in touch with the right people to get baptized,” Ballowe said. 

There have been many people who have made a decision to get into the water this year and get baptized. However, not everyone has the same story, but has the same reason why. They all wanted to give their life to Christ.