Why did Crossbeam start?

Someone asked me (Liz) recently about why I started Crossbeam in the first place, and I realised I haven’t shared that story publicly before! So settle in, friends, and let’s journey back 12 years…

The story starts when I was at university.

When I was at uni, I once had five different jobs at the same time.

I studied media and communications, intending to pursue a career in journalism. But then I got a part-time job working in a Christian mission agency, as a communications assistant. And I knew almost immediately that I wanted more of this.

I relished seeing more people engaging with the organisation because of good communications. More dollars flowing to the mission field. And ultimately, more people following Jesus.

So, I got another job working with another ministry. And then another. And another. And so on… all at the same time! Freelance gigs, casual positions, contract roles, all allowing me to learn from true experts, and gain experience working on all sorts of incredible campaigns. I was crazy busy, but I’ve always liked being busy!

After university, I thought that I should get one full-time job, like a grown-up! So, I worked in a communications and fundraising role at a youth camping ministry. While I enjoyed the job, I once again found myself craving more.

For a while I resisted this, thinking that stability was important for myself and my husband. But I came to recognise God had placed on my heart this desire for more. Namely, to help more ministries. I knew I couldn’t ignore this.

I’d seen many Christian organisations advertising for part time communications, marketing, and fundraising positions. These organisations were looking for all-rounders who could cover a diverse range of tasks and had years of experience in multiple areas. But I knew that with their small budgets, they’d probably only be able to afford to hire fresh graduates.

So, in 2018, I decided to take a leap of faith and leave my job. I began to pitch to Christian organisations looking for staff to see if they’d consider working with me as a freelancer, rather than hiring an in-house person. I explained that by reallocating their budget to me, they’d be able to work with someone with far more experience and expertise, reduce their overheads, and benefit from increased flexibility around fluctuating workloads. I also told them that I was choosing to specialise in this space – Christian ministries – because I was passionate about using comms and marketing to help these organisations meet their gospel goals.

I had almost immediate success and began to add more and more clients to my roster. There was a real appetite for flexible, contracted communications and marketing work, from someone who was specialising in the Christian space. Clients were thrilled that I had chosen to niche in this way, because I deeply understood the way they talked and the people they were talking to. I was busy managing social media, writing content, producing publications and developing fundraising campaigns, working exclusively with Christian clients.

I had found the place where my desire for more aligned with God’s purposes… and I loved it.

Despite the pandemic, within three years my workload had increased to the point that I had a decision to make. Would I say no to the clients knocking at my door, and put limits on my workload? Or, would I grow something bigger, capable of serving more ministries?

I’d thought maybe I’d like to have a fully-fledged creative agency one day, in the distant future, but all of a sudden that future was here!

Once again, God whispered more to my heart.

So, in July 2021, with some trepidation and lots of prayer, I started Crossbeam Communications.

I started Crossbeam with the goal to be the go-to agency for small to medium sized Christian ministries. I wanted to work with the organisations who couldn’t afford the big, expensive agencies, or even their own internal staff – or the organisations who maybe had one overloaded comms person who needed help.

But more than anything else, I just wanted to work with the truly Jesus-focused organisations. When I built our first website, I wrote on it, If you believe Jesus is Lord, and that truth compels your work, we are the communications agency for you. And that still describes how we choose clients to work with today.

Then, to serve more ministries, I started hiring. (This became especially urgent when, just three months after starting Crossbeam, I found out I was pregnant with my daughter Annalise!)

Now, just under three years later, we have six team members. And in this past year alone, we’ve worked with over two dozen Christian ministries from across Australia.

I feel extremely blessed to have been entrusted with this vision by God, and to have had the support and encouragement of family, friends, clients and colleagues along the way to make it a reality.

So that’s how Crossbeam started! Over the next few months, I am going to share more stories of how our business has grown and changed – I hope you’ll look back soon to read more.