In 1986, the Spurgeon Foundation Campus Ministries (SFCM) was founded at Clemson University in South Carolina as a student organization, a campus ministry of University Baptist Church. The founder of SFCM was Pastor William J. Senn, III. Over the next 20 years the SFCM at Clemson grew to include an outreach to undergraduate and graduate students, to single and married students, to American and International students and to faculty and staff of the university. During this time period other churches in secular college towns desired to have a similar ministry.

As the organization grew several changes were needed. The most difficult of which was a name change for the organization. In 2006, the SFCM board convened to seek a new name and to properly brand this name. The result was Cross Impact Ministries (CIM).

In May of 2011, Steve Pettit, accepted the directorship of CIM. The passion is to establish CIM chapters in local churches, equip church leadership to effectively run a CIM chapter, and encourage the church with ongoing support from CIM national office.