Pacific Crossroads Church held its first public worship service in May 1999 at a Los Angeles banquet center. As the church grew, it moved to larger locations, settling for several years at the University High School Drama Theater. Founding Pastor Bill Powis led the church for seven years before relocating to Atlanta. During the ensuing year without any pastoral staff, without any elders, and with most people assuming the church would dissolve, the community not only stayed together but actually grew, convinced that this community was special and that God had plans for this church.

Around this time, Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City (which has a particular burden for church planting in global cities) took a special interest in helping to find a new pastor for Pacific Crossroads and to “re-plant” the church in hopes that it would become a church-planting church in and for Los Angeles. Redeemer challenged Rankin Wilbourne, who at the time was pastoring in Chattanooga, to move to LA and pastor Pacific Crossroads. Rankin moved to Los Angeles in August of 2006, and the community has experienced significant and rapid growth since then.

In response to this growth, in 2008 Crossroads hired Assistant Pastor Marshall Brown, and Dave Kleinknecht as a full-time director for Hope for Los Angeles, our mercy and justice ministry. In 2009 the church started a second morning service, and we elected our first Elders to help lead the community spiritually. In 2010 we expanded our geographic presence in the city by starting a Downtown evening service, hired several more staff, and also moved our morning services to a larger location at John Adams Middle School.