Crossover Church of God is seen at the corner of 5th Street and Woodward Avenue Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Old Town Clovis.
ERIC PAUL ZAMORA
ezamora@fresnobee.com
A 105-year-old church in Clovis Old Town is raising funds to renovate its parking lot and install an ADA-compliant elevator.
For over a hundred years, the Crossover Church of God on 434 5th Street has been serving its congregation and the surrounding community. In recent months, the church is planning a $1 million project to add an elevator on the exterior extension of the building and redesign its parking lot to meet city requirements.
“For decades, we have turned away people who could not handle the stairs, either because of their wheelchair or because of their hips,” said Pastor Chris May. “In fact, we have many in our congregation now who can’t come because their knees are hurting, their hips are hurting, and they can’t manage the stairs. It breaks our heart.”
The original church was built in 1896, at which time the church and the neighboring saloon, 500 Club, were the only two buildings on the west side of Front Street, now known as Clovis Avenue, according to May. The current church was built in 1921 after the original building was destroyed by a fire.
Many of Clovis’s prominent families helped build the church and donated stained-glass windows, such as the city’s namesake, Clovis Cole, and the Boice family, who now own a funeral home in Old Town Clovis. The names are still engraved beneath the church’s window, May added.
A century ago, however, there was no dam constructed along the San Joaquin River. The church was designed to have the basement four feet below the street level, and the sanctuary is six feet above the street level, May said. The only area level with the street is a four-foot-wide step leading to the side door.
Crossover Church of God is a century-old church at 434 5th Avenue just west of Old Town Clovis.Photographed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Clovis. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
The location where the elevator is planned to be built was originally part of the church—a structure known as the “annex” that extended onto the lawn. For structural reasons, unfortunately, it was condemned in 1961, according to May.
“It’s where they had not only fellowship events and classes, but it was also used by the city during the war. They had ladies put together care packages in this building that existed at the time, and they had meetings like Girl Scouts and different community events,” he said.
Ever since he came to the church at the age of seven with his father, the former pastor, May has learned about the church’s history and has witnessed the renovations over the years. May, now 62, has collected many historical photographs and portraits of the church and has long attempted to restore the building to its former glory.
“Our plan is to go out to the grass area with an addition that will again capture the history of the original look and provide us with a three-stop elevator,” May said. “Plus better-flowing stairs because right now, because of the way this building is situated, we don’t have gurney access to the basement if there was an emergency.”
The construction of these accessibility features and the parking lot is estimated to cost $1 million, May said. The church has currently raised approximately $400,000.
This amount is already quite substantial for a church that typically has about 50 congregants, May said. He hopes the project can be completed within five years.
Crossover Church of God pastor Chris May, with his wife DeeDee May, Women’s Ministry Leader, stand in front of the century-old church they lead, Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2026 in Clovis. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com 
Crossover Church of God is a century-old church on 5th Avenue just west of Old Town Clovis which plans ADA upgrades, Photographed Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2026 in Clovis. ERIC PAUL ZAMORA ezamora@fresnobee.com
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Leqi Zhong is the Clovis accountability/enterprise reporter for The Bee. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley with a Master’s degree in journalism. She joined The Bee in 2023 as an education reporter. Leqi grew up in China and is native in Cantonese and Mandarin.