The donation came off the heels of a sermon preached by Crossroads Church senior Pastor Brian Tome last November where the congregation was encouraged to give money to help American families in medical debt. In the last few minutes of the sermon, Pastor Tome had this to say, “I want to give us the opportunity to multiply our impact. Do you realize around Cincinnati there’s $65 million worth of medical debt that’s coming due?”
He further added that if those in debt were set free, they would receive a letter, for example, saying, “Congratulations, this debt has been paid because someone loves you and there is a God who has not forgotten about you.”
The sermon entitled, “The Marks of Multiplication” was streamed online and caught the eye of additional donors from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Tennessee.
Crossroads was able to raise $465,000 in donations. The church then partnered with RIP Medical Debt, which multiplies donations and gives them back to the communities per zip code. According to the RIP Medical Debt website, every dollar donated counts as $100 of medical debt paid off. As such, Crossroads Church helped eliminate $46.5 million in debt.
According to RIP Medical Debt, Crossroads Church was able to help eliminate the largest amount of medical debt in the organization’s history.