Pastor Jay Cavaiani

Pastor Jay was born into a casual Catholic churchgoing family.  In his late teens, he discontinued attending church and became caught up in the world's ways.  After marrying Kelly in 1995 as an unbeliever, Jay began seeking God for the first time in his life.  Thankfully, God sent people into Jay’s life, pointing him to Jesus.  Jay started to read the Bible on his own and felt as though God woke him up in the middle of the night to watch, over some time, the six-hour movie “Jesus of Nazareth.”  In the Fall of 1996, now ten months married, Jay and Kelly began attending a Bible-believing church.  The church was affiliated with the ministry “Evangelism Explosion” (EE). In October of that year, a faithful team visited Jay and Kelly’s two-bedroom home in the middle of the Wisconsin woods and led them to Jesus as Lord and Savior.  Praise God for the faithful ministry of those who came to their door.  Within a few years, Jay and Kelly joined Evangelism Explosion and began seeing people come to Jesus right before their eyes. Jay quickly became a trainer and then a trainer of trainers in EE.  Soon after, Jay led men’s groups, couples groups, and youth ministry.  In 2003, a Pastor scheduled a meeting with Pastor Jay in a train depot cafe to ask him if he ever considered ministry as a vocation.  He had, but he had not spoken of it.  This sign and affirmation was all Jay needed.  It was then he left a lucrative real estate sales and land development career for full-time ministry.  Shortly after, Jay enrolled part-time at Trinity Divinity, Deerfield, IL (Evangelical Free) and earned a Certificate of Theological Studies, all taken at a Master’s level.  Jay received a bachelor’s degree in psychology as an unbeliever 1993 from the University of Wisconsin Whitewater.  Jay is scheduled to complete a Masters in Theological Studies in 2024.  Jay has now pastored the same church he helped plant in 2009. After many years in schools and rented facilities, the church bought (2016) a complex of buildings in Genesee Depot, Wisconsin.  The biggest one houses the church.  The smallest one is the train depot, where Jay was first asked about vocational ministry.  God is good.  Jay has been married to his wife Kelly for 28 years, and they have three grown children.  Pastor Jay loves to hike and is an avid golfer.  He and his daughter Abby are two-time Father/Daughter Wisconsin champions.  

Crossing Community Church

Mission & Biblical Clarification

• Mission

• Biblical Clarification

Statement of Faith

1. We believe the Bible, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God and the authority for Christian faith and life.
2. We believe in one God, the creator of all things who is eternally existent in three persons: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
3. We believe that Jesus Christ is true God and true man, having been conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He died on the cross, a sacrifice for our sins according to the scriptures. Further, He rose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the Father.
4. We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells, guides, instructs, prunes, and empowers the believer for Godly living and to carry out the Great Commission.
5. We believe that the blood shed of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only grounds for forgiveness, justification, and salvation for all who believe. Those who truly believe in such are born again, are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, and thus are saved and promised eternal life.
6. We believe in the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
7. We believe that believer baptism, although not a matter of salvation, was consistently demonstrated by Jesus and his Apostles and that believers today should be encouraged to prayerfully consider this act of honor and obedience to Jesus.