Daytona Beach Baptist Church was started with a vision in the heart of a man named John Strutz. He was influenced to consider starting a church in Daytona Beach by his home pastor, Dr. Bob Engle, pastor of Berea Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. Brother Strutz had previously pastored in Texas for a couple of years. At age 28, with Dr. Engle's blessing, Brother Strutz moved to Daytona Beach in 1965. He began to aggressively knock on doors, inviting people to church, as well as advertising the new church in the local newspaper.

The church rented the Community Center building of Winston Park subdivision, which was on the corner of Clearwater Road and Nova Road, north of Beville Road. Within 1 1/2 years, Pastor Strutz had formed a solid nucleus of members. The church bought a strategic piece of property at 910 Beville Road and built a church building on the new site which seated approximately 200 people. This acquisition of land and the construction of the church building was made possible through a $90,000 church bond program, engineered primarily by John Strutz. The church never received any financial help from other churches. It was self-standing from the beginning. At one point, Pastor Strutz even sold his home and used the equity to provide for his living expenses so the church could continue.

John Strutz resigned as pastor in December of 1967, with the church attendance built up to an average of 90 people. When he retired, he and his wife Lorraine and daughter Jasmine, resided in Austin, TX. After a long health battle, John Strutz went home to be with the Lord in 2004. Our pastor at that time, Dan Proctor, was present at Brother Strutz's funeral in Austin, Texas, to honor his memory.

In the interim between Pastor Strutz and the new pastor, the church declined in attendance to approximately 30-40 people. In February, 1968, the church called Dennis Wheeler as pastor. He had previously pastored for 10 years in Miami, Florida.

During Pastor Wheeler’s first year at the church, it encountered some internal division. This came to a head in December, 1968, with a historic vote of 15 to 13 in favor of supporting Pastor Wheeler and his ministry. From this point, the church began to grow again. When Pastor Wheeler resigned in July, 1969, the church was again experiencing highs of 80-100 worshipers on Sunday morning. He is now retired and resides in Taylors, South Carolina.

Pastor Wheeler was instrumental in bringing in a new pastor, Lewis Ferrell. He had been assistant pastor for Dr. Ron Schaffer at Bethany Baptist Church in Melbourne, Florida.

Pastor Ferrell came with no salary; Dr. Ron Schaffer gave the Ferrells $50 per week to survive. Once again, the church’s attendance had dwindled to an average of 30-40 people. The church was financially strapped and ready to close its doors. Daytona Beach Baptist Church was Lewis Ferrell’s first pastorate, and his wife, Laura Nell, was the church secretary. Within a short time, under Pastor Ferrell’s leadership, church growth exploded! He also developed a television ministry: “Your Bible & Today” aired daily on one local channel and twice per week on another channel. It was also heard every Sunday morning on W.E.L.E. radio, and the text was published weekly in “The Green Sheet.”

When the Ferrells left Daytona, attendance was at approximately 200. More than 200 people had made professions of faith while Lewis Ferrell was pastor. The Ferrells left in October, 1971, and Lewis Ferrell became pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland. He went home to be with the Lord on November 18, 1997. Laura Nell spent several years as the church secretary for Berachah Baptist Church in Middletown, Ohio, where her son, Lamar, is pastor. She became actively involved in a missions ministry and retired in 2003.

Anthony Price became Daytona Beach Baptist’s next pastor in December, 1971, and served in that capacity for the next decade, bringing stability to the church. He had been the pastor at New Testament Baptist Church in Pelion, South Carolina. When the Prices first arrived, church attendance was back down to 60-70 people, but under Pastor Price’s leadership the church experienced tremendous growth.

With only the church building, Sunday School was held by placing dividers down the sides in the auditorium to create classrooms. In 1973, a two-story school building was constructed, then a gymnasium was constructed, and in 1980 the church auditorium was expanded.

Pastor Tony hired Clifton Thompson in January, 1972, to be the church’s first Assistant Pastor. Bro. Cliff served under Pastor Price, and later under Pastor Dannie Webster, until October, 1987. Pastor Tony Price and his family moved the last Sunday in November, 1981, to Cocoa Beach, Florida, where he became pastor of Bethel Bible Baptist Church.

Dannie Webster, his wife Freddie, and their three children, Deniece, Angela, and Daniel came to Daytona Beach from Temple Baptist Church in Fort Myers, Florida, where Bro. Dannie had pastored for nine years. Bro. Dannie was voted in as the pastor of Daytona Beach Baptist Church in November of 1981. In the early 1980’s the church experienced difficulty with inadequate parking at the Beville Road site. Pastor Webster’s greatest accomplishment was moving Daytona Beach Baptist from Beville Road, where it had operated for 25 years, to its current location. While driving on Clyde Morris Boulevard with other church members, they spotted the property on which our current church stands. After some investigation and negotiations, with full church agreement, the property was purchased. Groundbreaking was in early 1990, with the first service held in the current educational building in November, 1990. Two Sunday morning worship services were held in the Fellowship Hall of that building, which seated approximately 225 people.

In November, 1991, the congregation agreed to forge ahead with construction of the church building. The 700-seat sanctuary was finished in January, 1994. Pastor Webster resigned soon after the new sanctuary was occupied.

Pastor Webster had hired Dan Proctor in June, 1989, as assistant pastor. When Pastor Webster resigned, Pastor Dan acted as interim pastor until he was voted in as senior pastor on March 6, 1994. Pastor Dan was only twenty-seven when he took on the pastorate, yet God has used him in a mighty way. Although Pastor Dan inherited the heavy debt from the building programs, missionary outreach was made a top priority. God allowed the church to retire its entire 3.5 million dollar debt in only eight years! Through the sacrificial giving of God’s people, on May 1, 2002, we made the final payment and became debt-free.

God blessed the ministry under Pastor Dan’s leadership in many different ways. As attendance grew from around 300 at Sunday morning services to over 700, two services became necessary. The first Sunday with two services was October 4, 1998.  As church attendance grew, Sunday School attendance grew, and on April 8, 2001, we expanded to two Sunday School hours on Sunday mornings.  

After several years of needing to use the offices at the rear of the church building as classrooms, we outgrew every space available. In 2008, we built a staff office building. Within a short time we found ourselves using the new building to help accommodate our ever-growing number of L.I.F.E. Groups. We broke ground on a 15,000 square foot L.I.F.E. building in 2011. It includes a collegiate gymnasium, 12 classrooms, and a long-awaited kitchen. 

More important than any other growth enjoyed by the church is the spiritual growth. Under Pastor Dan's ministry, hundreds of people believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, and multitudes participated in and completed our discipleship course. In 2007, the CrossRoads Bible Institute was introduced, providing an opportunity for our members to take college-level Bible courses for credit or audit. The Institute was the vision of Pastor Dan, and was created and established by future Lead Pastor Rich Costanza. After the first year, the Institute was made available to the community and, literally, to the world. We added a Distance Education option and had online students throughout the United States and in several countries all over the globe. 

We have men and their families who have gone to the mission field, with CrossRoads as their “sending church.” 

Building and hosting a Walk Through Bethlehem outdoor Christmas event was the vision of our leadership in the summer of 2003, and by the Christmas season that year the massive undertaking was a reality. This free gift to the community is reconstructed every year and has drawn thousands and thousands of people to our property. Souls have been saved, Christians renewed, and several families have joined our church family as a direct result of this outreach.

Starting in November 2022, an interim group of preachers filled the pulpit. Dr. Costanza, a pastor of CrossRoads for approximately 20 years, was unanimously chosen by the pastoral search committee among a pool of candidates to be presented as their candidate for Lead Pastor. He was formally elected by the members of the church on July 9, 2023, to become the 7th Lead Pastor in CrossRoads history. The theme of his installation service was “To God be the Glory.”

In his first year as pastor, the Lord did much through Pastor Rich, his wife Cathy, his leadership team, and the church family to see spiritual revival in the church and through ministries in the church: over 600 new people came to church at CrossRoads, and over 400 people got saved and made professions of their faith in Christ. And so many new people caught the vision and stepped up to serve the Lord or serve in greater ways. New ministries were started such as Helping Hands to Widows and Seniors, Deliverance - a brand new ministry designed to help overcome addictions and strongholds, a Men’s Prayer Breakfast, a Mom’s Group, a Widows’ Group, and a Ladies’ “Paddling with a Purpose” group. In addition, Pastor Rich scheduled and coordinated our church’s, first-ever trip to Israel to experience the homeland of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and his disciples.

Through Pastor Rich’s and his team’s leadership several key ministries returned and were revitalized such as Walk through Bethlehem (after a 4-year hiatus), and drew the largest opening day (Thursday) attendance in its history. Also, our young adult ministry returned. We hosted our first Parent/Baby dedication service, Men’s Conference, Women’s Conference, and Missions Emphasis Month in years. We also developed “IMPACT DAYTONA” where several groups in our church took Christ to the community. Also, due to sizable growth in the church, an additional worship service was started. 

Plans are in the works to bring back the Bible Institute to educate and train those interested in ministry.  A plan is also in place to construct an additional building on the property that would be designated for our major outreach event: Walk Through Bethlehem. 

The church was able to financially help struggling churches and other local organizations to fight against poverty, help counsel women considering an abortion, help the homeless, and help those struggling financially to build a budget and become self-sufficient. They also came alongside and supported our first responders, military, law enforcement, and teachers with special gifts during the year. Also, the church gave financially for us to be able to assist those on the West Coast of Florida who were hit hard by the hurricane, as well as increase our giving to our missionaries and worldwide Bible translation projects.

The church was also able to complete some renovations on our property such as installing new roofs on three of its buildings and upgrades the landscaping throughout the property.

Pastor Rich added key individuals to his staff who have played, and along with awesome volunteers, will continue to play key roles in the ministry of CrossRoads… for the glory of God.