Pastor Clarence Crane came to Christ, February 20, 1983, at the age of 19. That same night his girlfriend and future wife, Merit became a follower of Christ as well. Later that year on October 14th, Clarence and Merit were married and have been married for 34 years.

As he and Merit continued to become more involved in their church, Clarence began to sense a growing desire to be fully involved in full-time ministry. In early 1986 they both felt that Clarence received a distinctly divine call into full-time ministry and became a youth pastor while completing requirements for ministry credentials. In November 1991 he accepted the call to become pastor at Faith Temple Assembly of God in Haines City, FL. In January 2000 the Cranes moved to Bushnell FL with Pastor Crane becoming lead pastor of what is now Cross Connection Church.

Pastor Crane is a graduate of Southeastern University with a degree in Church Leadership. In 2014 Merit felt impressed by the Holy Spirit to a deeper calling in ministry. Subsequently, Pastor Merit was ordained in 2016 and became co-lead pastor of Cross Connection.

Pastor Clarence and Merit have a desire to see everyone continuously experience the presence of God. They passionately lead Cross Connection church in an all-out pursuit of Holy Spirit. Together they believe that the foundational hope of every person is a continuously deepening relationship with the Lord.

Both are actively involved in missions, traveling every year to locations around the world to speak in pastor schools, crusades, prisons, and schools as well as to bring humanitarian help to hurting people.

Clarence and Merit have two sons. Clay and his wife Samantha have two children Joel and Hope. Luke and his wife Kimberly serve at Cross Connection. All are actively involved in ministry.