About Us
By Gregory Ciola
Crossing Jordan Ministries is under the inspirational leadership of the Holy Spirit. The significant spiritual name of this ministry began in 2009 after the birth of our son Jordan who was miraculously saved by our Heavenly Father during a life-threatening experience he encountered at birth.
There is great Bible significance to the name as well. The Israelites were led across the Jordan River in a miraculous way to get to the promised land.
See Joshua Chapter 3 and 4 entire chapters.
The Bible account says that as soon as the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant touched the water that the river split in two and dried up allowing the Israelites to cross like the parting of the Red Sea with Moses.
John the Baptist spent his entire ministry preparing the hearts of the people to be ready to meet the Messiah. The thing he is most noted for is the national baptism he was conducting in Jordan to get people to repent and get ready to meet Jesus. John’s entire ministry was situated around the Jordan River near the spot where the Israelites first crossed.
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias (Isaiah), saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey. Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan, And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.” – Matthew 3:1-6
Like the Israelites crossing the Jordan to go into the promised land, John wanted the people to get baptized in the Jordan River to be cleansed from their sins. Jesus was also baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River and that is when the Holy Spirit came down like a dove over him and a voice from Heaven proclaiming him God’s beloved Son.
God has used the Jordan river throughout history for some very significant events. Crossing the Jordan has several interesting symbolic meanings, including leaving the world behind and going into the promise land or presence of God.
Prior to our son Jordan being saved from a near death experience, my wife had already chosen the name Jordan to be his name. After Jordan was physically saved in ICU by medical doctors, the name Crossing Jordan was a name that I couldn’t seem to get out of my mind. I kept thinking that it would be a terrific name for a ministry.
Much to my surprise, we were able to purchase the website domain www.crossingjordan.com in 2011. This domain name used to be owned by Hollywood for a popular TV mini-series called Crossing Jordan that ran on NBC from 2001 until 2007. For the show producers to end the series and give up the website with that name is highly unusual in the online world.
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” -- Matthew 7:13-14
In the beginning of 2022 when I decided to finally move forward with this ministry, I applied to the National Association of Christian Ministers https://nacministers.org/ and became a Licensed Independent Minister. Any churches or ministries looking for other ministers to help spread God’s Word and Truth, please feel free to reach out to me to see how we can assist you.