Our Story
The Cross Creek Church family of believers was born out of a small prayer meeting in the home of Allen & Ruth Mather in 1996 when a handful of teenagers came to pray for a move of God’s presence in their friends’ lives. The prayer meeting continued week after week and the home quickly became a hub for intersession. The Mather Family began facilitating a Saturday night evangelistic servi
ce for these youth to bring the friends and family members for whom they had so desperately been praying. “Saturday Night” (as the gathering came to be known as) exploded with teenagers desperate to get right with God. Organically, a youth group formed and the passionate teens united in passion to bring revival to their schools. When the home they were meeting in could no longer facilitate their growing number, a Christian businessman opened up his warehouse for Saturday Night services and provided dinner to the busloads of teens that flooded through each week. Sam Mather put his college plans on hold and began an evangelistic high school ministry with fiery preaching geared to pierce the hardest hearts. His older brother, Todd, who was a worship pastor in the Tulsa area, put together a band and led worship each week as part of the service. Teenagers flooded to the alter, surrendering their lives to God and turning their backs on all that would keep them from wholehearted devotion. Countless young people gave their lives to the Lord and many of these teens, forever changed, began Christian clubs in their high schools and on their college campuses as they continued meeting in to intercede for lost friends and pray for revival. Wonderful people teamed up along the way to support all that God was doing. They opened their homes, gave of their time, donated resources to keep the passionate services going – from talented musicians, bus drivers, and guest speakers, to amazing friends who week after week came to help set up speakers, pianos, music equipment, chairs, tables, etc. There were also those who bought pizza, donated Bibles, gave teens rides to and from services, spent much of their free time mentoring high-school students, and who sacrificed financially to help keep the lights on. God used many, many people to continue the ministry of “Saturday Night” over the years. No one, however, gave more than Allen and Ruth Mather – the couple who opened their home in the very beginning. God had impressed the question upon their hearts a week before that first prayer meeting, “Are you willing for me to interrupt your life?” As a couple, they said, “yes” to God and have never looked back. They have loved unselfishly hundreds of young people who have come through their home and spent their retirement being ‘Mom and Dad’ to so many teenagers. Saturday Night affected many lives and the fire of devotion instilled in hearts still burns strong in men and women who have stayed passionate followers of Christ Jesus. The close relationships that were forged in ministry lead to beautiful marriages and thriving families that are spread across the globe. They are ministers, worship leaders, businessmen/women, teachers, pastors, moms and dads in every walk of life who are living life in-love with God and following the dreams He planted in their hearts as teenagers. Tulsa relationships stayed strong and families remained connected through continuing the work of the ministry as they raised families and introduced those around them to Jesus. The loosely knit group continued to meet for fellowship, but struggled with what to call themselves. They had evolved into something more than a youth ministry. Were they a revival center? They were a church. It was a sweet realization. In the summer of 2013 they began the complex process of organizing a structure that would provide a rich sense of community for believers and facilitate the needs of growing families. God brought life a to the vision that was patently held onto by so many of these people. A beautiful Church took shape, pastored by both Sam and Todd Mather. The church launched with the goal of turning seekers into believers, believers into disciples, and disciples into disciple-makers. The hunger to know God that brought everyone together in the beginning remains the central focus. And the evangelistic mission of “Saturday Night” continues to thrive as we remain dedicated to reaching this generation and the next with the transforming power of Christ Jesus.
