CCIF began as West Dunlap Baptist Church in 1965. Pastor Glenn Ramey was installed as the first senior pastor in 1966 and served in that role until his partial retirement in March of 2008...more than 41 years! As the demographics of the community where the church is located changed over the years, the congregation diminished in numbers and the remaining members progressed into retirement age, God chose to resettle refugees from Burma just around the corner from the church.

These special people, the Karen, (pronounced Kuh-Rin) have a Christian history that can be traced back to Adoniram Judson, the first American missionary to cross the seas for the gospel in the early 1800's. Because of one of the most oppressive governments on the planet, (Myanmar, formerly known as Burma,) the Karen had been living for many years in refugee camps in Thailand. In 2007, the U.S. government began permitting thousands of Karen to be resettled in America, giving them the opportunity for a new and much safer life. Those Karen who were Christians immediately began looking for a baptist church within walking distance of the apartments where they were placed, and God lead them to West Dunlap Baptist Church. Pastor Ramey and the small congregation of senior citizens had the time, the resources, and the heart to immediately embrace the Karen and begin serving them in various ways

In July of 2007, Pastor Jeff Jackson, a former missionary to Southeast Asia who was very familiar with the plight of the Karen people, was invited to come and speak at West Dunlap Baptist Church. In 1997, Pastor Jeff had begun serving with an organization that ministers to the Karen people in the refugee camps in Thailand. He served on the board of this organization and over the years, had personally visited the largest refugee camp in Thailand on a number of occasions. He even took members from the church he pastored in the San Diego area on missions trips to serve the Karen people in Thailand.

Through a number of God-ordained circumstances, much prayer and discussion, Pastor Ramey and the members of West Dunlap Baptist Church invited Pastor Jeff and his wife Helen, to move to Phoenix and eventually step into the role of the Senior Pastor of the church. Many years before, God had given Pastor Jeff a foretaste of serving as the pastor of a multi-ethnic congregation and God had recently been stirring his heart with a fresh vision to do so again when the invitation was extended to make the move to Phoenix. Pastor Ramey and the members of the church, who had already been praying about that possibility for their church, warmly embraced Pastor Jeff and Helen and were eager to encourage and support the vision that God had given Pastor Jeff for a multi-ethnic church.

In May, the church ceased being known as West Dunlap Baptist Church and Cross-Connection International Fellowship, an independent, non-denominational body of believers became a reality.