Joseph Allen Harris

Joseph Allen Harris, the fourth of nine children of the late Richard and Rosalee Norfleet Harris, was born on July 10, 1950 in Crisfield, Maryland. Joe, after battling many major health issues, went home to glory on Saturday, March 30, 2019, while resting peacefully at his home in Salisbury, Maryland. He traded in his old worn out body for a new glorified one. Joe received his formal education in the public-school system of Somerset County, graduating from Crisfield High School in 1970. Joe frequently shared about a dream he had when he was a kid that haunted him for many years. He dreamed that he was a nobody and everything went wrong for him in life, but then suddenly he became a somebody. That dream became reality. Joe began drinking at 10-year-old and became a hard-core violent drunk, even drinking rubbing alcohol. His life was hard. He grew up very poor, spent time in prison and attempted suicide five times before Mike Pruitt lead him to the Lord in 1975 by telling him that Jesus loved him, and he could be somebody. Mike arranged for Joe to go into the Teen Challenge program in Washington, DC. God used that program to transform Joe into a man that loved the Lord and passionately cared for the souls of man. After Joe graduated Teen Challenge in 1976, he served on their evangelistic team and as a Counselor at their Syracuse, NY center. He then went to Valley Forge Bible College. After college, he came to Baltimore, MD, to serve as the Program Director of Lighthouse Ministry, a Christian Recovery Program. In September 1979, a mutual friend, Rev. Samuel Perry, invited him to join him at a prayer meeting at the home of Eartha Pinder Jones. On December 16, 1979, Joe and Eartha were married and immediately began serving the Lord together as a ministry team. Joe was ordained by and served as Interim Pastor of First Church of Deliverance in Baltimore, MD, prior to accepting a position with the New Life for Girls Ministries, serving along with Eartha as Co-Directors of their New York City’s ministries. There they were trained, mentored and supported by Donald Wilkerson and served out of the offices of the famed Brooklyn Teen Challenge. While in New York, Joe was re-ordained by Pastor Jim Cymbala, Brooklyn Tabernacle Church and enjoyed an effective and powerful ministry to the working girls on the streets of New York. After leaving New York and spending a season back home on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Joe and Eartha founded Crossroads Ministries, Inc, a private non-profit religious organization dedicated to ministering to the unique spiritual needs of homeless and street people and to uniting churches, and the Christian community for the purpose of effective evangelism. They moved to Massachusetts in 1984 and commenced ministering through Crossroads, opening Crossroads Coffeehouse in November 1984. Through the unique ministries of Crossroads’, Joe was instrumental in seeing a troubled community completely transformed by the power of God, churches come together beyond denominational walls to minister side by side for the sake of saving the lost, and hurting men, women and children’s lives touched and changed forever by the one that transforms nobodies into somebodies. After 18 years, Crossroads’ ministries expanded to include dynamic street ministries (Adopt- a-blocks, prayer walks, cross walks, marches for Jesus), Crossroads Home for Men, a long term residential recovery home, Christ Way Academy, a Christian School for needy children and Worcester Kingdom Academy, a High School pilot project. After his first heart attack in 1998 followed by several years of other major health issues, Joe and his family return to Maryland in 2002. He continued to minister through Crossroads, as his health permitted and Eartha moved to the forefront of ministry. Joe loved to talk about the Lord and freely shared his testimony with anyone that would listen. He also loved playing, talking about and watching basketball and football. In his last years he took particular delight in his grandchildren. In addition to his parents, Joe was preceded in death by his sister Diane Banks, two brothers Richard and LeRoy Harris, a nephew Maurice Banks and a beloved niece Charleita Stanley. He leaves to share fond memories, his wife, Eartha Pinder Harris; five sons: Michael (Annie) Jones of Worcester, MA, Timothy (Mary Cederberg) Harris, Victor (Monica Couto) Harris, David Harris and Daniel Harris; one daughter, Faith Harris; five grandchildren: Mabel Johnson, Chantelle Jones, Victoria Harris, Roman Thomas and Michael Harris; three sisters: Annie Rolley, Rose Lee Collins and Lynette (Vernel) Cottman; two brothers: Vincent (Patricia) Harris and Tyrone (Diane) Harris; two aunts: Beatrice Hayes and Edith Harris; and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Final arrangements have been entrusted to Bennie Smith Funeral Home. There will be services in Maryland and in Massachusetts. Maryland services will be held at HALO Center of Hope, 119 South Blvd, Salisbury, MD on Friday, April 5, 2019, with a viewing from 11 am – 1 pm, followed by a Celebration of Life at 1 pm and then burial at Hopewell Cemetery. The Massachusetts Memorial Service will be held at Faith Church, 22 Faith Avenue, Auburn, MA on Friday, April 12, 2019, at 7 pm. In lieu of flowers, the family request that donations be made in the memory of Rev. Joseph Harris to Crossroads Ministries, Inc, to continue its ministries under the leadership of his wife. Respectfully submitted,

Joseph Allen Harris

July 10, 1950 - March 30, 2019