For Dylan and Melissa Cross, the foundation for practicing solidarity with the global poor began through late high school and into college. In that season, they discovered how to authentically follow Jesus Christ as his disciples. In the Bible, they saw millennia old, prophetic critiques of people living comfortably in two storied homes with windows and painted walls, but ignoring the poor. This spoke too close to home. They saw that, in our contemporary context, following Jesus meant renouncing American consumerism and using resources for the poor. During the same time, they found friends who taught them about and fought against the ways poverty still exists in and especially outside our nation.

Dylan and Melissa married in 2014, shortly after each completing engineering degrees from Georgia Tech. They soon realized, a deep admiration for God and love for the poor was enough to make a life-long commitment, but choosing the type of pasta sauce to buy would land them in hot water (cue emotional breakdown at the grocery store). Through several iterations of the proverbial “Pasta Sauce”, God has taught them the day to day of living abundantly, simply, and generously.

They continue to live in Atlanta, Ga where Melissa works as a Quality Manager for a tech start-up and Dylan works as a Capacity Planner for a global manufacturing company. They’re active in a Jesus loving, volleyball playing, stuff sharing Bible Study community that feels like family.

When fun happens, it tends to be quiet (or not so) evenings at home trying new recipes together, traveling the world, and rock climbing at a local gym with good friends.