Crossover International Launches 2011 Worldwide Tour

Basketball Ministry Crossover International, a Christian basketball ministry, is getting ready for its annual summer tour. This year the organization is running two, three-week tours of U.S. collegiate teams to Romania, the Czech Republic, Germany, and France. The teams will compete with professional basketball clubs and minister to around 250 local youths between the ages of six and eighteen, training them both in basketball and in the Gospel.

The ministry was founded in college by Jonathan Barnett and his friend, Nonzo Azubuike. Both shared a love of the game and decided that, even though neither would turn pro, basketball was always going to be a part of their life. Finding inspiration in John 5:24, a verse that refers to “crossing over” from death to eternal life, the two young men began working on a basketball ministry designed to mentor and train young people throughout the world. Every year since 2003, they have gathered young athletes who can compete and become positive role models to the campers they meet.

Both share a strong drive to see Crossover grow every year. Jonathan Barnett even founded his national carpet cleaning company, Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning®, in part as a means to support Crossover International.

In 2011 the two began a new phase for Crossover – the Crossover Basketball Academy. This year-round program takes at-risk youth and offers mentoring, life coaching, basketball training, academic tutoring, and character/spiritual development. The academy exists primarily in Denver, but plans are in the works to expand it nationwide.

ABOUT CROSSOVER INTERNATIONAL®:
Crossover International was founded in 2001. The organization’s mission is to use basketball as a platform to mentor and build relationships with youth around the world. Crossover International is nondenominational.

ABOUT OXI FRESH CARPET CLEANING®:
Using innovative products and technology, Oxi Fresh Carpet Cleaning®, one of the nation’s fastest-growing carpet cleaning companies, offers oxygen powered cleaning, transforming carpet right before customers’ eyes. Starting with just one Denver carpet Cleaning franchise in 2006, Oxi Fresh currently has over 200 units throughout the United States, with more than 50 locations in development.