Intro to our next teaching series -

Looking Ahead

I have been working at Panera bread for a while this afternoon. Free Wi-Fi and unlimited refills on coffee. We have a planning meeting tomorrow for 2009. No rest for the weary. Keep us in your prayers as we see where God is working and what He is calling us to do in service to Him and the people we serve. Gotta go - my cup is empty.

Fall In Virginia

Here are a a couple pics of life in the country. This is a great area this time of year. I can ride the 4-Wheeler up a logging road to take pictures of the mountains in and around Eagle Rock. And yes, there is an airport out in the country.

Here Are the Answers

Did you find all three?

Can You See Them?

We are starting a new teaching series this Sunday. It is called "The Best Church Ever" (and we're not it). We are going back to the very first church - that is the best church ever! In the Bible, the book of Acts reveals why this church was the model church. Since then, every church is a copy. A copy is not bad, but it is never as good as the original. Take a look at the picture above. There are three subtle differences to be found in these two pictures. Do you see them? Are they easy to spot? Our goal this month is to go back to the first church plant and seek to model Crossings after the original. By the way....I will post the subtle differences in these two pictures on Monday. But, if you are at our worship gathering this Sunday, the answers will be revealed.

Great Second Service

We are excited about our second service. We had some return visitors and some new folks as well. We were given the opportunity on Sunday night to talk to ten people about this church at a "Next Steps" gathering. It is an honor to share the vision of Crossings and to be completely transparent as questions are asked. God is good! We have a second gathering tonight. Can't wait!

We Are Good To Go

It is official...Crossings has launched. We had about 122 in the service and it was a great morning! Following the service, I had the honor of talking to three visiting families about our church and vision for the future. They are excited about this church being in their community and want to know more about us and I can't wait to talk to the other guests this week so we can begin to serve them and partner together in ministry. Now, it is time to prepare for our second service. There is more to come!

We Launch In Two Days

Keep us in your prayers over the weekend as we have our grand opening service on Sunday. We are trying to tie up all of the loose ends and prepare for a great day of celebration and purpose. Here is a funny side note - I received a call from the person who is our contact at our rental facility and she had a question for me - "How many parking spaces do you need? They are wanting to repave the parking lot this weekend." You try to anticipate the unknown, but I have to admit, I never saw that one coming. But, we have established a great relationship with these folks and it looks like they are going to wait on the parking lot project. Whew!! We dodged that one. Let the fun begin.

Wow!

We had our third and final preview service yesterday and in one word, all I need to say is "Wow!" Before I go on, let me say this - it is not about the numbers. I can tell you that we had 83 in attendance and this is 30 more than the last service, but that is not my focus right now. My focus is on the five families who came to this service who are brand new contacts for us. My focus is on the ten kids who were in our Kids' Crossing ministry. My focus is on the fact that we only had thirteen empty chairs in our worship area. My focus is on two local organizations we committed to support during this service. I do have a confession to make - I was humbled Sunday. When the service began, I did take a moment to go off on my own and say a prayer. My prayer was a huge "Thank You!" to God. This was the verse that came to my mind - "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us," (Ephesians 3:20)

I can't wait until September 14 to see what God is going to do.

Do They Know We Are Here?

This past Saturday night I went with my family to the Natural Bridge Speedway to watch my son's friend race his car. During the race, I had a thought - If you live anywhere near Natural Bridge, you know that it is race night! Not only were there circle track races taking place, but the drag strip was also up and running at full force. This led me to think about a question that was asked at our staff meeting this past week - The question was, "Do they know we are here?" We are a new church trying to meet the people of our community. Within a ten mile radius of Daleville, there are over 60,000 people. How do we get their attention? The simple answer is to meet as many people as possible, to advertise, and to make ourselves available to the community. The bigger question is, "Why do we want to get their attention?"

Here is the top five reasons why we are planting a new church -

1. We all need direction in our lives.


2. We all need to feel a sense of community in our lives.


3. We all need an opportunity to be a part of something that is bigger than ourselves.


4. We all need a place that will accept us for who we are.


5. We all need to find our purpose and to pursue the mission to love God, to love others, and to serve.

Crossings is here and it our prayer that God will enable us to cross paths with those who need Crossings as much as Crossings needs them.

What An Irony!

If you will take a look at the Botetourt View blog you can read an entry that details a local church that has a building, but no people to use the building. In fact, a person representing the church is presently trying to find a congregation of people to start using the building. If no congregation moves into the building, the property will be go back to the heirs of the family who donated the land for the building. Here is the irony, we have people and no building and here is an irony on top of an irony...I guess that is possible....we don't want a building right now. Our desire right now is to build up a congregation, a family, a community of believers who has a purpose to Love God and to Love others. This can be done in a house, on a street, at the Greenfield Education Center, and any where else we come together.

The Countdown

About a year ago, it was decided that we would launch a new church on September 14. A year ago that seemed like a distant date. We had plenty of time to prepare, to pray and to plant. But now, September 14 is only five weeks away! We are still preparing and praying and yes, we are ready to plant. Our final preview service is on August 24 and we are sending out postcards to the community, handing out information at local events and talking to as many people as we can about the mission and the vision of Crossings. Church planting is like riding a roller coaster - you are filled with excitement and scared to death at the very same time. What a ride! More to come!

What's That Smell

Here is a great video from Crossings - Knoxville.

It Makes You Think

I recently finished reading a book called "Jim and Casper Go To Church." Jim, a minister, hired Casper, an atheist, to travel with him all over the country and to attend church services. The book basically contains their thoughts about the service and the overall first impression of each man. Casper is honest - sometimes brutally honest about what he sees and experiences. One thing I learned from an atheist is that a church service should not be a show. Casper was very critical of those services where there was a "slick", "professional" performance. His words did make me think. Our worship should be done with excellence, but before excellence, we need to have sincerity.