About Dave Cross - a brief biography of LegaBoom Contributor Dave Cross

I grew up in Northeast Ohio and lived there most of my life. In my late 20’s I was at a cross-road (no pun intended) in my life. Having lived a life that I was not so proud of, I realized that I needed a serious change. Somehow, intrinsically, I knew that what was hanging in the balance was bigger than I could imagine.

So one night in August 1999, as I was in the middle of an over-indulgent vacation, God directly intervened in my life. That night I met my angel...sent directly from heaven that came into my life and delivered a choice from the throne of God. That angel was Dale Cross. She is my wife.

As Dale and I developed our relationship we would talk for hours at a time about life, experiences, and our thoughts about the future. Then one night as I was indulging in a very bad habit, Dale hits me with THE QUESTION! “Where do you stand with God?”

Having grown up with Christian influences my entire life I considered myself to be a “Christian.” However, anyone who knew me knew that I was anything but a follower of Christ…a true disciple. My decisions, attitudes, and behavior just did not reflect the Jesus of the bible.

At that moment I knew it was really God asking me “will you take a stand for Me?”

Shortly after meeting Dale I was presented with two career opportunities. One would have kept me in my childhood hometown and seemed very safe and logical. The other would have me move 2 hours South of where I grew up and take me to Columbus, OH. The Columbus opportunity had the “potential” to be “extremely lucrative” but much less safe and secure.

Dale was still in college at the time and was 8 weeks away from graduating. At the time she was living in Florence, SC. We knew our relationship was special and wanted to pursue dating after she graduated. So upon consulting each other and “praying” about it, we both had a “sense” to pursue the Columbus opportunity.

I quote praying and sense because we were not committed, born again Christians. As a matter of fact I was in an altered state of mind when I said the prayer. Looking back it seems to funny that I went to God asking for direction in that state. But, it does display the grace and mercy of God because He answered us in a big way. He truly knew the sincerity of our hearts, despite the brokenness of our condition at the time.

So we ended moving to Columbus, OH in October 1999 to pursue the riches and glory of running a retail Branch of a mid-size mortgage brokerage. This turned out to be an absolute disaster. Instead of money pouring in, we went months without any real income. It was bad, really really bad!

It got to the point where potato soup and raman noodles were staples in our diet and getting a fresh loaf of French bread from the bakery was a luxury.

Once again, God showed up. At one of our lowest points we decided that we needed God and desperately needed to go to church. At the time there was a local church that had billboards all over the section of town we lived. Then one day a young protégé by the name of Todd was in my office and I was sharing what was going on in my life and asked him if he knew of a good church.

He said “you ought to try the Vineyard.” I immediately recognized the name because they were the church that had all the billboards. So I had him take me to where it was located. I talked to Dale and she agreed to go.

I still remember the day we first attended the Vineyard Columbus. It was early March in Ohio and winter was barely holding on. Spring was hinting at its near coming and the trees seemed to ache with anticipation of fresh new growth and a new season. Looking back it seems so fitting considering where we were spiritually…coming out of winter into a fresh new season.

The minute we walked in we “KNEW” that this was it. At the time I didn’t realize, but now I know we encountered the Holy Spirit and the warm embrace of coming into the Kingdom of God. That day we committed our lives to Christ and have never looked back.

Soon after giving my life to Christ the company I was working for informed me that they were shutting down their Columbus operations. It was time for me to move on as God had used that company to serve His purpose in my life.

I stayed in the mortgage business and eventually opened up my own affiliate branch for a National mortgage company. It was essentially a franchise and afforded me the opportunity to pursue the dream of owing my own business. Dale too became part of the business and opened up a mortgage processing company as a complimentary counter-part to my mortgage origination business.

Within 1 year of coming to the Lord we were experiencing success beyond our wildest dreams. We went from potato soup and raman noodles to new cars, a new house, and eating out anytime we wanted. As a matter of fact I remember going out and buying a new fancy (and expensive) Sony surround sounds system only to find out that the television we had was not compatible. So I went back to Best Buy and bought a brand new TV just so I could use the surround sound.

Over the next several years we continued to grow in the Lord and get deeper and deeper into the “church culture”. At the same time our businesses continued to grow and we expanded almost every year.

Eventually in 2005 we had one of the most incredible years financially and our Branch was recognized as one of the top performing branches in the company. We were truly at our zenith. Spiritually we were riding high as well.

In 2006 I was asked to participate in some company training sessions to share with other branch managers our best practices. That same year I was given the opportunity to be a speaker at a break out session at the annual Corporate Conference in Orlando, Florida.

By this time we had moved again into what we would have considered a “dream house”, bought more cars, went on vacations and were “living our dream.” I think you know where this is going.

I’ll never forget the month. August 2007. That’s when everything changed. America had just been through one of the greatest economic expansions in the History of the Country. We had seen over 4 million jobs created in the aftermath of 9/11. More people owned homes that at any previous time in history. The wealth of the average American was at an all time high. Everything was perfect! Right?

One morning I woke up and did my usual early morning search on the bond markets to see where rates were going. The news hit…”American Home Mortgage files for bankruptcy.” What? AMH is gone? No way! They were one of the largest mortgage bankers in the world. How could this be?

I never saw it coming, but that was the beginning of what was to be the most rapid decline the US economy has ever seen. Overnight lending stopped, mortgage programs changed, loans in process that were approved was now declined and everything just stopped. Literally overnight, what was the bright spot of the American Economy had just collapsed.

This was truly a train wreck and to this day (as of this writing it’s July 2009) things are still a mess. What was to come for our business was very painful and hard to handle. Within 12 months we went from a “top producing” branch to a branch struggling to keep its doors open. I had to lay off every employee and go back to a “one man shop” just to survive. After 8 years there we were, Dale and I back to square one.

During this time I (actually we…Dale and I) went through a serious period of detangling. God in His grace and mercy had been working on us this entire time. He had been showing us His desire for us to grow up and mature in the things of His Kingdom. His desire for us and all disciple of Jesus Christ is to bear fruit for Him.

During this period of the mortgage industry disintegrating, God was continuing his refinement in our lives. He was completing yet another phase of our sanctification. By this time we had left the Vineyard Columbus and became members of another Vineyard Church plant in Pataskala, OH. We had become more involved and even started leading a Home Group. God was putting more and more of our focus on His Kingdom and the assignment we had in this life. Slowly but surely He was teaching us to let go of things that were not from Him and to embrace the call and purpose on our lives.

The Lord had planted a seed in us to begin an internet ministry that focused on helping His children find the answers to life and grow and mature in the ways of the Lord. He wants all of us to bear much fruit for Him and His Kingdom. One way He wants to do that is to provide the resources necessary to accomplish this task. Thus LegaBoom.com was birthed to become an aggregator of resources that would focus the believer and encourage, edify, and help grow into spiritually mature, fruit bearing followers of Jesus Christ. So we accepted the assignment and this has brought us hear today.

In September 2008 we welcomed into the world our first child, a son, named Asher. In December 2008, the Lord provided an opportunity for Dale and I to relocate to Charlotte, NC. Shortly after arriving, led by the Holy Spirit, we knew the time had come to actually give birth to another child….LegaBoom. So in February 2009 we officially set out to build the site and put together all the things God had revealed to us.

That brings me to this point. I’m just a regular guy who encountered Jesus Christ, the Living God. He radically changed my life, leading from a dead place to a place of eternal life. Everything I write in this blog will simply be what the Holy Spirit has put on my heart. I am not a theologian, scholar, know it all, pastor, or any other title one may want to put on me. I am a servant of Jesus first…a citizen of heaven called according to His purpose, a husband 2nd and a father 3rd.

What I write in this blog will be raw, authentic and hopefully will challenge you, the reader, to get in the game and grow up in the Lord. My hope is you grow closer to Christ, grow deeper in your knowledge of Him and share in the glorious freedom and simplicity that He has for all His children. I serve Him and I serve you. I hope you enjoy!

SBI!

Dave Cross Biography