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. 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, at times even traveling with Rev. David Wilkerson 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 Joe 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 such great men of God as Rev. Donald Wilkerson, Pastor Jack San Fillipo, and Pastor Jim Cymbala while serving 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. Moving to Massachusetts in February 1984, Joe commenced ministering through Crossroads as its Executive Director and Lead Minister, opening Crossroads Coffeehouse in November 1984. Through Joe’s unique anointing and the ministries of Crossroads’, he 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.
During Joe’s 18 years of ministry in Massachusetts, Crossroads’ ministries expanded to include dynamic street ministries & outreaches (Adopt- a-blocks, prayer walks, cross walks, marches for Jesus, Christmas Adopt a family, and food pantry); Crossroads Home for Men, a long-term residential recovery home; Christ Way Academy, a Christian School for needy children; Worcester Kingdom Academy, a High School pilot project and Redeeming Love Assembly, a fellowship for those that were unwelcomed or uncomfortable in other churches. Joe’s childhood dream became reality. He and Eartha were awarded the USA Diamond Award for community service in 1992 and his family also expanded with their five youngest children all born during these Massachusetts years.
After his first heart attack in 1998 which was 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 began moving to the forefront of ministry. Joe loved to talk about the Lord and freely shared his testimony with anyone that would listen. He had an unique ability to lead people to receive Jesus Christ. He also loved playing, talking about and watching basketball and football, watching westerns, and eating. In his final years he took particular delight in his family, especially his grandchildren.
Acknowledgement of Memorials:
Jeffrey & Brandi Pichierri
Faith Baptist Church, Auburn, MA
Joseph David Binkowski
Elise Dennis Henderson
Mary Ann MacDonald
George & Linda Bourie
Paul & Lisa Leo
Margo Jamison-McCain
Rev. Roslyn K. Watts & Family
Crossroads Ministries Inc. 