Yet another amazing weekend at The Crossroads. This is supposed to be the time of year when attendance dips, and church growth really is not substantial. People are gone on vacation, spending time at the lake, doing things with their family. It's hot, and people just like sleeping in during the summer months. So, typically, in church life, you just try to survive through the summer.
That seemed like it was going to be the pattern for us during the month of June. Attendance took a dip, and it was kind of discouraging. But something has happened during July. We kicked off a new message series called "God at the Movies" in which we are exploring blockbuster movies from this summer and seeing the greater story of God's love written in them. We have done a couple of block parties in the community and gave away helium balloons at the city's 4th of July celebration.
So, I don't know if those things are an explanation, but for some reason our attendance has taken off in July. In fact, it's the highest average attendance we've had for any month so far. We baptized four people this month, and have at least one more coming up next week. We are really excited, but this definitely represents a challenge for us. Looks like we will have to be moving into a new meeting space very soon. Please pray for us. This will represent a significant increase in our costs. We need at least ten people to commit to giving $200 a month to cover the cost of new facilities. We would love for you to partner with us in this way.
My wife did an awesome job with her Monday Morning Update, so I'm just going to modify it to give you the rest of the details on this weekend. Saturday we did another movie night/block party. This time we used Slater Creek Park, the local city park. It's new and a great location, but we had a very low attendance at this movie night. In our evaluation we came up with a few possibilities. 1. The park is not easily visible from the highway - no drive-by stoppers. 2. Have to do more marketing if we use the park - We advertised on a mailer that primarily focused on the sermon series. In communities, it is a lot easier to gather a crowd. Not so much so in the city park. In the future, if we do stuff in the park, we will be sure to get something in the newspaper. 3. It was one of the hottest days we have had in quite a while. However, we enjoyed meeting the people who turned out for the event and are already planning and looking forward to one more summer block party in August. We will be collecting school supplies to give away in a needy community at that block party.
Our Sunday worship celebration was really incredible. Robby and the band did a great job leading us. We had a new drummer sit in with us, and he did a really good job. We also had our bass player back with us this week. He's been out a lot this summer as he has been working at a church camp. It was great to have him back.
For the message, today's movie in "God at the Movies" was Terminator: Salvation. The movie is an illustration of sacrifice, and second chances. I talked about how to make your life count and pointed out that the answer to that question both in Terminator and in the Bible is sacrifice. The way to meaning in life is giving your life away for God and giving your life away for other people. The message will soon be online at www.welcometothecrossroads.com Be sure to download and listen to it soon.
We had several new families stop by to check us out. One of the coolest stories is that a lady who had never been to church - ever in her 41 years- came. And loved it.... wept through the whole service. A couple of our ladies got to spend some time sharing with her and praying for her after the service. It is so beautiful to see God at work. We also had the opportunity to pray over a new believer in our congregation who will be leaving tomorrow for basic training for the army. We have another baptism coming up August 2. I love this part of church planting - seeing God drastically and dramatically change people's lives.
Continue praying for a meeting place for us. We are in immediate need of space. We are now consistently running about 20 in children's church. We do not have space for them inside. Meeting outside with them works as long as it doesn't rain. When colder weather arrives, we will have to be in a larger space. Please pray for our workers. As we grow, we will have to pull in more workers and right now we are pretty maxed out on volunteers. Pray that those of us who volunteer will be very flexible during this time of growth. We need grace for the journey as we work with children who have not been to church before. We want to provide opportunities for them to hear about Jesus and learn how He can become their Savior. Pray that we will never lose sight of why we do what we do in children's.
Also pray that we will be able to increase Robby's salary. Our goal is to eventually bring him on as a full-time staff member. Every week many of you read about the incredible job he is doing with The Crossroads. What you may not be aware of is that he works a full time job in Dallas to support his family. We would love to be able to bring Robby on full time, but we need several more monthly sponsors in order to do that. If you are not currently giving, please pray about helping us meet this goal. Feel free to share this need with others in your congregations who are praying for us so that they will ask the God of the universe to meet this need abundantly.
Showing posts with label Monday Morning Update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Monday Morning Update. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Monday Morning Update
Maybe I should change the name of this column to "Whenever I Happen to Get around to Getting It Done Update." Seems like I never can get around to actually getting this thing out on Monday morning.
Oh well, yesterday was another incredible day at The Crossroads. We went in on Saturday evening this week to get the truck unloaded in hopes that not having the doors to the cheer gym open on Sunday morning would help with cooling. No such luck. It was still HOT by the time we got through.
The amazing thing is that now that we are in the peak of summer heat, our attendance has hit all time highs. We had 77 people in attendance this weekend. We are growing to the point that we requested one of our sponsor churches to buy us some new chairs this week. Continue to pray for God to provide us with a new meeting place before we outgrow our current meeting space.
We started a new message series this week called "God at the Movies" in which we are exploring the greatest story, the story of God's purpose and plan, as it is reflected in some of the biggest blockbuster movies this summer. This week we started with Star Trek and talked about fulfilling your destiny. It was a tough message to preach. The notion that we have a destiny, that there are certain things that are determined in our lives, particularly that our relationship with Christ comes from God's predestination of certain people to salvation is not especially popular. I tried to introduce the subject in a manner that was easily understandable and just began to open the subject for people. It's really important for people to grasp that life is not an accident, and that God is working out his purpose in our lives for his glory.
During the service, we presented a check for $5,000 to another church plant to use for purchasing a truck for moving their equipment. It is our commitment to be involved in helping plant at least one church a year. This is the first time that we have done this. We are excited that in our first year as a church plant, we are already involved in spreading the kingdom by helping to plant another church.
Robby and the band did an incredible job this week. We had been without our guitarist for the last two weeks. Having him back really gave us that extra something. Our people were really engaged in worship. Another high from the service was that one person made a decision for Christ, and another one rededicated their life to Christ. It was an awesome service.
Then, in the evening, LaRissa and I got to go with three friends to see Terminator:Salvation again. This is the movie that we will be looking at next week, and I wanted to see it again so I could have a better understanding of some of the storyline. We were blessed to have a really good friend watch all of our kids so we could go. I look forward to talking about how to make your life count.
Oh well, yesterday was another incredible day at The Crossroads. We went in on Saturday evening this week to get the truck unloaded in hopes that not having the doors to the cheer gym open on Sunday morning would help with cooling. No such luck. It was still HOT by the time we got through.
The amazing thing is that now that we are in the peak of summer heat, our attendance has hit all time highs. We had 77 people in attendance this weekend. We are growing to the point that we requested one of our sponsor churches to buy us some new chairs this week. Continue to pray for God to provide us with a new meeting place before we outgrow our current meeting space.
We started a new message series this week called "God at the Movies" in which we are exploring the greatest story, the story of God's purpose and plan, as it is reflected in some of the biggest blockbuster movies this summer. This week we started with Star Trek and talked about fulfilling your destiny. It was a tough message to preach. The notion that we have a destiny, that there are certain things that are determined in our lives, particularly that our relationship with Christ comes from God's predestination of certain people to salvation is not especially popular. I tried to introduce the subject in a manner that was easily understandable and just began to open the subject for people. It's really important for people to grasp that life is not an accident, and that God is working out his purpose in our lives for his glory.
During the service, we presented a check for $5,000 to another church plant to use for purchasing a truck for moving their equipment. It is our commitment to be involved in helping plant at least one church a year. This is the first time that we have done this. We are excited that in our first year as a church plant, we are already involved in spreading the kingdom by helping to plant another church.
Robby and the band did an incredible job this week. We had been without our guitarist for the last two weeks. Having him back really gave us that extra something. Our people were really engaged in worship. Another high from the service was that one person made a decision for Christ, and another one rededicated their life to Christ. It was an awesome service.
Then, in the evening, LaRissa and I got to go with three friends to see Terminator:Salvation again. This is the movie that we will be looking at next week, and I wanted to see it again so I could have a better understanding of some of the storyline. We were blessed to have a really good friend watch all of our kids so we could go. I look forward to talking about how to make your life count.
Monday, July 13, 2009
Monday Morning Update
Wow, another incredible weekend at The Crossroads. On Friday evening, several of us got together and canvassed a neighborhood passing out fliers about our family movie night coming up on Saturday.
The movie night is something we discovered last summer as a fun and successful outreach to families in Anna. Some of the needs we have heard expressed from people about Anna are: there isn't really a sense of community, people don't know their neighbors, and there's nothing for families to do. So, we found that putting on a movie for families is a great way to meet these needs.
We have a twelve foot, inflatable movie screen that we set up outdoors. We also serve popcorn, drinks, and movie candy, and we set up a bounce house for the kids to play in, all this under the stars on a hot Texas evening. People really dig getting out with their families to watch the movie. This time, my awesome, beautiful, and super intelligent wife came up with the idea of showing "The Wizard of Oz." It was perfect. Many of the parents are the right age to remember when The Wizard of Oz came on television once a year, and families gathered to watch it. Many of their children, in turn, have never seen it. So, with one movie, we got children, parents, and grandparents out to watch a movie. We had about 100 people turn out for the event, and had a really amazing time.
Our team did an awesome job, as always, meeting people and serving the community.
Then, on Sunday, we geared up for another hot Sunday in the cheer gym. Middle of the summer, and we had almost 75 people in attendance. Awesome! This week, in lieu of the typical Sunday sermon, I did a thing called "The Hot Seat." I sat on a stool, and people submitted questions about life, God, and the Bible. They could ask questions vocally, by writing them out, or by twittering questions to us. We posted each of these on the screen, and I answered them as they came in. It's always fun for me, and people really tend to enjoy it.
I did discover, however, that this exercise is a little more difficult now that I am in a new church plant reaching people who haven't been plugged in to church. My answers had to be a little bit longer because I could not automatically assume that people knew the Bible stories. I'm not sure I was entirely successful with that. I will have to work on that a little more in the future. On the other hand, it is a good way to expose people to an awful lot of bible teaching/doctrine/scripture in one setting.
This was a different experience, too, from when I have done it in the past because of the nature of the questions. In traditional church, the questions often tended to focus on matters of Bible trivia, minutiae of biblical knowledge, or apologetic (defending the faith) types of questions. In the church plant setting, however, the questions tended more toward questions about dealing with life and struggles with faith and being a Christian. I thought that was very cool. It shows we really are impacting people right where they are living. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and made for a great service. The podcast will be up at www.welcometothecrossroads.com later this week.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, we went to the Collin County Adventure Camp and baptized four people, two husbands and their wives. One of them was a guy who is in our men's group and decided it was time to go public with his decision to follow Christ. His wife was baptized as a child, but wanted to be baptized together with her husband to reaffirm her faith in Christ and in support of her husband's decision. The other couple was a guy who is getting ready to go into active duty in the army and his wife. They came to our church for the first time just last week. She committed her life to Christ in the service and the two of them wanted to be baptized. Awesome! Afterwards, we went over to one of the couples' home to have a cookout and celebrate. Great way to cap off an incredible weekend.
Next week we kick off our new message series "God at the Movies." We are going to be looking at some of the biblical themes that run through some of this summer's biggest blockbusters. I hope to see you there.
The movie night is something we discovered last summer as a fun and successful outreach to families in Anna. Some of the needs we have heard expressed from people about Anna are: there isn't really a sense of community, people don't know their neighbors, and there's nothing for families to do. So, we found that putting on a movie for families is a great way to meet these needs.
We have a twelve foot, inflatable movie screen that we set up outdoors. We also serve popcorn, drinks, and movie candy, and we set up a bounce house for the kids to play in, all this under the stars on a hot Texas evening. People really dig getting out with their families to watch the movie. This time, my awesome, beautiful, and super intelligent wife came up with the idea of showing "The Wizard of Oz." It was perfect. Many of the parents are the right age to remember when The Wizard of Oz came on television once a year, and families gathered to watch it. Many of their children, in turn, have never seen it. So, with one movie, we got children, parents, and grandparents out to watch a movie. We had about 100 people turn out for the event, and had a really amazing time.
Our team did an awesome job, as always, meeting people and serving the community.
Then, on Sunday, we geared up for another hot Sunday in the cheer gym. Middle of the summer, and we had almost 75 people in attendance. Awesome! This week, in lieu of the typical Sunday sermon, I did a thing called "The Hot Seat." I sat on a stool, and people submitted questions about life, God, and the Bible. They could ask questions vocally, by writing them out, or by twittering questions to us. We posted each of these on the screen, and I answered them as they came in. It's always fun for me, and people really tend to enjoy it.
I did discover, however, that this exercise is a little more difficult now that I am in a new church plant reaching people who haven't been plugged in to church. My answers had to be a little bit longer because I could not automatically assume that people knew the Bible stories. I'm not sure I was entirely successful with that. I will have to work on that a little more in the future. On the other hand, it is a good way to expose people to an awful lot of bible teaching/doctrine/scripture in one setting.
This was a different experience, too, from when I have done it in the past because of the nature of the questions. In traditional church, the questions often tended to focus on matters of Bible trivia, minutiae of biblical knowledge, or apologetic (defending the faith) types of questions. In the church plant setting, however, the questions tended more toward questions about dealing with life and struggles with faith and being a Christian. I thought that was very cool. It shows we really are impacting people right where they are living. Anyhow, it was a lot of fun, and made for a great service. The podcast will be up at www.welcometothecrossroads.com later this week.
Then, on Sunday afternoon, we went to the Collin County Adventure Camp and baptized four people, two husbands and their wives. One of them was a guy who is in our men's group and decided it was time to go public with his decision to follow Christ. His wife was baptized as a child, but wanted to be baptized together with her husband to reaffirm her faith in Christ and in support of her husband's decision. The other couple was a guy who is getting ready to go into active duty in the army and his wife. They came to our church for the first time just last week. She committed her life to Christ in the service and the two of them wanted to be baptized. Awesome! Afterwards, we went over to one of the couples' home to have a cookout and celebrate. Great way to cap off an incredible weekend.
Next week we kick off our new message series "God at the Movies." We are going to be looking at some of the biblical themes that run through some of this summer's biggest blockbusters. I hope to see you there.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Monday Morning Update
Okay, I know, it's nowhere near Monday, but we left town Sunday afternoon to go to my parents' house, and this is the first time I've had opportunity to sit down and write about the weekend.
We really had an incredible weekend at The Crossroads. It actually started Saturday as we celebrated the 4th of July. Several of us went to the home of some Crossroadies and ate brisket and played Guitar Hero World Tour together. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and just enjoyed being around each other. I thank God for the incredible people he has brought together at The Crossroads.
Afterwards, we went to the Anna High School football field to watch the Anna Fireworks display. A couple of friends of mine are responsible for putting on the show, and they did an incredible job. As people were arriving for the event, we gave out helium balloons to all the kids with The Crossroads' logo and website URL on them. Just another great way for us to make connection with the community and show God's love to them.
Sunday morning broke with heavy rain showers. This made for cooler temperatures, which was wonderful since we meet in a cheer gym that has questionable air conditioning at best. However, rainy days usually don't make for the best church attendance, especially when you are a new church plant reaching people who haven't been to church in years or who have never been to church. Couple that with the fact that it was the 4th of July weekend, and we just weren't expecting to see a lot of people. In fact, five minutes before the service started, it looked like it was just going to be our really committed people there.
But, God loves to surprise us. We had a group of old friends join to worship with us, and two new families also came. The service was great. Our team that went to Mexico shared about their experiences there. It's so awesome to see the passion for mission that we are already developing in this church that is less than a year old. They shared about how going to Mexico changed their view of things (That's why I love taking people on an international mission trip. It changes their view of the world and gives them a greater passion for the Great Commission.) and some of the awesome thinngs God did while we were there. At the end, I used a witnessing bracelet that we used with the kids in Mexico to explain the simple message of the gospel.
After the service was over, I looked through our decision cards and found that two of our guests had given their lives to Christ. One of those and another of our guests said they wanted to get baptized. So, on a rainy Sunday morning on a major holiday weekend when I really wasn't preaching, two people gave their lives to Christ. Amazing!
This weekend, we will be showing a movie in one of the neighborhoods in Anna and we will have a baptism on Sunday evening. Great times and really cool things are happening at The Crossroads.
We really had an incredible weekend at The Crossroads. It actually started Saturday as we celebrated the 4th of July. Several of us went to the home of some Crossroadies and ate brisket and played Guitar Hero World Tour together. We had a great time, laughed a lot, and just enjoyed being around each other. I thank God for the incredible people he has brought together at The Crossroads.
Afterwards, we went to the Anna High School football field to watch the Anna Fireworks display. A couple of friends of mine are responsible for putting on the show, and they did an incredible job. As people were arriving for the event, we gave out helium balloons to all the kids with The Crossroads' logo and website URL on them. Just another great way for us to make connection with the community and show God's love to them.
Sunday morning broke with heavy rain showers. This made for cooler temperatures, which was wonderful since we meet in a cheer gym that has questionable air conditioning at best. However, rainy days usually don't make for the best church attendance, especially when you are a new church plant reaching people who haven't been to church in years or who have never been to church. Couple that with the fact that it was the 4th of July weekend, and we just weren't expecting to see a lot of people. In fact, five minutes before the service started, it looked like it was just going to be our really committed people there.
But, God loves to surprise us. We had a group of old friends join to worship with us, and two new families also came. The service was great. Our team that went to Mexico shared about their experiences there. It's so awesome to see the passion for mission that we are already developing in this church that is less than a year old. They shared about how going to Mexico changed their view of things (That's why I love taking people on an international mission trip. It changes their view of the world and gives them a greater passion for the Great Commission.) and some of the awesome thinngs God did while we were there. At the end, I used a witnessing bracelet that we used with the kids in Mexico to explain the simple message of the gospel.
After the service was over, I looked through our decision cards and found that two of our guests had given their lives to Christ. One of those and another of our guests said they wanted to get baptized. So, on a rainy Sunday morning on a major holiday weekend when I really wasn't preaching, two people gave their lives to Christ. Amazing!
This weekend, we will be showing a movie in one of the neighborhoods in Anna and we will have a baptism on Sunday evening. Great times and really cool things are happening at The Crossroads.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday Morning Update
Okay, I know it's not Monday morning, but I'm still jetlagged from our mission trip last week. And that's the first thing to report on. Last week nine of us from The Crossroads traveled along with friends from Fairview Church and Joshua's Crossing Church to Las Higuerillas, Mexico. Las Higuerillas is a small fishing village on the Gulf Coast about 50 miles southeast of Matomoros. We distributed beans, rice, and hygiene items along with gospel tracts, gospels of John, and Bibles, did Bible Schools in different areas of the village, and showed an evangelistic video. It was an amazing trip, and we saw the face of Jesus in so many ways. My wife kept a daily log of our time on the trip, so if you'd like to know more details and see the incredible ways God moved, you can read it at her blog. Our team will also be sharing in our service this week, so come hear from them about their experience of being on mission.
The thing that really excited me about this trip is that it represents our second international mission trip in the life of our church, and we aren't even a year old yet. We are intentionally building mission into the DNA of The Crossroads. We are even considering having new members fill out a passport application during the new members' class so they understand the importance of being ready and available to go whenever God gives the opportunity. Our next step is identifying an unreached people group that we will target as a church and begin to develop strategies for our church to be involved in reaching that people group for Christ. We'd love to have others involved, so please contact me if you want to join us in reaching the world for Christ.
Our services this weekend were really great. I love what Robby, our worship pastor, and the band do each week. They really get what it means to bring people into God's presence. We finished out our message series "HOME" this week by talking about how to live for Christ in the workplace. You can listen to the podcast here.
I was a little discouraged that our attendance was down some this week. We still had visitors, as we do each week, but our attendance was down from what it has been. The summer slump seems to be hitting us. Also, the temperature in the cheer gym where we meet was close to unbearable. We are working on a solution with our landlord, so please be in prayer that we get something to happen ASAP.
We are continuing to pursue some other options in terms of our meeting place. Please be in prayer for that also. I'll give you more details as I have them.
Finally, Sunday night we gathered together with Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship in Anna for a OnePrayer service. Pin Oaks' pastor is Phil Morgan, a great guy and a good friend with a heart for our city. We got together to simply worship and pray for the world and for our city. Our worship band, Chasing Lions, led us and did a super job. Praying together as the body of Christ with other believers in our city was a special experience, and I hope we are able to do it more often in the future.
The thing that really excited me about this trip is that it represents our second international mission trip in the life of our church, and we aren't even a year old yet. We are intentionally building mission into the DNA of The Crossroads. We are even considering having new members fill out a passport application during the new members' class so they understand the importance of being ready and available to go whenever God gives the opportunity. Our next step is identifying an unreached people group that we will target as a church and begin to develop strategies for our church to be involved in reaching that people group for Christ. We'd love to have others involved, so please contact me if you want to join us in reaching the world for Christ.
Our services this weekend were really great. I love what Robby, our worship pastor, and the band do each week. They really get what it means to bring people into God's presence. We finished out our message series "HOME" this week by talking about how to live for Christ in the workplace. You can listen to the podcast here.
I was a little discouraged that our attendance was down some this week. We still had visitors, as we do each week, but our attendance was down from what it has been. The summer slump seems to be hitting us. Also, the temperature in the cheer gym where we meet was close to unbearable. We are working on a solution with our landlord, so please be in prayer that we get something to happen ASAP.
We are continuing to pursue some other options in terms of our meeting place. Please be in prayer for that also. I'll give you more details as I have them.
Finally, Sunday night we gathered together with Pin Oaks Christian Fellowship in Anna for a OnePrayer service. Pin Oaks' pastor is Phil Morgan, a great guy and a good friend with a heart for our city. We got together to simply worship and pray for the world and for our city. Our worship band, Chasing Lions, led us and did a super job. Praying together as the body of Christ with other believers in our city was a special experience, and I hope we are able to do it more often in the future.
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Monday Morning Update
Okay, I stole the title from the same column on my wife's blog. She does an awesome job of keeping a lot of you posted on what goes on at The Crossroads each week. She has a beautiful heart and a wonderful perspective, and God often shows her some incredible things each week.
But I thought it would be beneficial if you heard from me each week as well. (And, it's an easy way for me to keep something going on my blog.)
This week was a great week at The Crossroads. Of course, having said that, every week truly is phenomenal at The Crossroads. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do.
We are currently in our second week of a message series called "HOME" in which we are talking about how to make your house more than just a hotel where people crash each night and eat a couple of meals. Making your house a home is about the relationships that exist between the people that live there. Alright, enough of that. I don't want to preach the sermon to you.
Our attendance has been down a little for the summer, but we continue to see new faces each week, and this week was no different. We had four first time visitors and a number of guests who are beginning to plug in and get more involved at The Crossroads. One of our guests even made a decision for Christ today.
Our music today was incredible. Our worship pastor has such a gift for bringing us into God's presence and being sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. For more on the worship set, you can check out LaRissa's blog. The song that God really seemed to use today was "Lead Me to the Cross." It's the first time that we've done this one, and worshipdude passed off leading this one to one of our female vocalists. Got to say, she really hit this one out of the park, and the song is so incredibly beautiful anyway. We literally had people standing with hands raised, sitting with heads bowed, falling on the floor kneeling and weeping. Beautiful moment. I really love the incredible people we get to work with each week at The Crossroads.
The message today was about honoring your father and mother. I am just amazed and humbled at how God moved in such an incredible way through a service focused on honoring your parents. The message wasn't anything radical. Just respect, obey, care for, and forgive your parents; yet, people were moved and lives were changed. We had some technical issues with capturing the audio, so no podcast this week, but you can download the manuscript at our website. Overall, just an incredible day!
On another note, a couple of things for you to pray for this week: I have an incredibly important meeting tomorrow afternoon that could have a significant impact on the future for The Crossroads. It is one possible opportunity for us for a new meeting place. Pray that God gives us incredible wisdom and direction as far as this opportunity is concerned. Also pray that God grants us immense favor with the man who owns the space we are looking at. We really need God to come through in a big way on this one.
Also, pray for a group of us from The Crossroads who will be traveling to Las Higuerillas, Mexico, next week. Las Higuerillas is a small fishing village on the Gulf Coast where there has been little missions activity. We will be distributing school supplies, Bibles, and showing the Jesus video in Spanish. Pray for safe travel and for God to be at work in an incredible way.
But I thought it would be beneficial if you heard from me each week as well. (And, it's an easy way for me to keep something going on my blog.)
This week was a great week at The Crossroads. Of course, having said that, every week truly is phenomenal at The Crossroads. I cannot wait to see what God is going to do.
We are currently in our second week of a message series called "HOME" in which we are talking about how to make your house more than just a hotel where people crash each night and eat a couple of meals. Making your house a home is about the relationships that exist between the people that live there. Alright, enough of that. I don't want to preach the sermon to you.
Our attendance has been down a little for the summer, but we continue to see new faces each week, and this week was no different. We had four first time visitors and a number of guests who are beginning to plug in and get more involved at The Crossroads. One of our guests even made a decision for Christ today.
Our music today was incredible. Our worship pastor has such a gift for bringing us into God's presence and being sensitive to the leadership of the Holy Spirit. For more on the worship set, you can check out LaRissa's blog. The song that God really seemed to use today was "Lead Me to the Cross." It's the first time that we've done this one, and worshipdude passed off leading this one to one of our female vocalists. Got to say, she really hit this one out of the park, and the song is so incredibly beautiful anyway. We literally had people standing with hands raised, sitting with heads bowed, falling on the floor kneeling and weeping. Beautiful moment. I really love the incredible people we get to work with each week at The Crossroads.
The message today was about honoring your father and mother. I am just amazed and humbled at how God moved in such an incredible way through a service focused on honoring your parents. The message wasn't anything radical. Just respect, obey, care for, and forgive your parents; yet, people were moved and lives were changed. We had some technical issues with capturing the audio, so no podcast this week, but you can download the manuscript at our website. Overall, just an incredible day!
On another note, a couple of things for you to pray for this week: I have an incredibly important meeting tomorrow afternoon that could have a significant impact on the future for The Crossroads. It is one possible opportunity for us for a new meeting place. Pray that God gives us incredible wisdom and direction as far as this opportunity is concerned. Also pray that God grants us immense favor with the man who owns the space we are looking at. We really need God to come through in a big way on this one.
Also, pray for a group of us from The Crossroads who will be traveling to Las Higuerillas, Mexico, next week. Las Higuerillas is a small fishing village on the Gulf Coast where there has been little missions activity. We will be distributing school supplies, Bibles, and showing the Jesus video in Spanish. Pray for safe travel and for God to be at work in an incredible way.
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