Friday, September 30, 2011

sorrow worshiped

I watched as my friend, suffering unimaginable grief, worshiped his Lord today.

This is the kind of testimony that draws the lost to their Savior.  They want this something that is so good it even overshadows death.

I had to wonder if this level of worship elicited the choirs of heaven to join in?  Worship free of anything planned far in advance... instead a declaration that in Christ is the only lasting joy, the only thing we can be sure of.

As I stood in the sound booth and looked at the congregation hungry for words of encouragement and explanation, I saw a pure interaction with the throne of God.  My friend devastated by this earthly passing and yet worshiping the God that gives and takes away...declaring that He is God!

I am filled with a longing that I feel deeply to know Him this way every moment of the day -
 
 How I pray that God uses the loss of this precious sister to rock the foundations of this community for Christ! 



Thursday, September 29, 2011

our staff

I have never been more thankful to be part of the Crossroads staff than I am now.

With the  loss of our precious friend Jean, came a realization of just how blessed I am to work with such an amazing group of people.

Just today - one staff member asked if she could just do something nice for a couple of us by buying sandwich supplies.  This came while we were in the middle of setting everything up for visiting hours and preparing everything to make the precious family feel cared for.

Next a staff member sat down without being asked and began working possibly with people she didn't even know to create the beautiful little cards that will be given out tomorrow at the funeral.

Still another brought me a cup of fresh hot coffee - prepared exactly as I like it.

Pastor Tim's words all day long brought perspective and encouragement.

Just one thing after another all day long - caring for one another - supporting one another...I cannot imagine working anywhere else.

Even within this great, great loss - care and love has been overflowing.  Our staff is amazing and I am blessed!!

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

voices

Tonight was one of the rare nights I have been at home for a while, I watched a little of the x-factor.

There were some good voices and even some great voices - but in many cases it seemed that's all there was...voices.  No life purpose beyond stardom, no plan to work hard, just voices.

I wondered what my voice sounds like to God.


Whiny when begging Him for something.

Sad and crying when I am hurting or lonely or scared.

And the worst sound of all -  a silent voice when all is well.



Self-examination comes at the most unexpected times.




Monday, September 26, 2011

when I lose a friend...

So, what is the right thing to write when you lose a friend?

Should I write first about the suffering of her family?

Do I question God's decision to take her now?

Do I just pour out my heart, including my disappointment that she is gone?

There is no wrong answer unless it involves not believing in the sovereignty of God.  He is sovereign.

Tonight I am mourning the shocking loss of my friend Jean, a girl I had my arm around just yesterday.  She was a faithful Christ follower, a great cook, a dependable and very talented praise team member, a fabulous mother and adoring wife.

But I also know without a shadow of a doubt she is rejoicing in her home-going - and if minds in heaven work as they do on earth, I believe that she mourns for us.  Because she has seen our Saviours' face, her body is perfect - her faith has become sight.


Saturday, September 24, 2011

no overhead shots please

As we evaluated our Saturday night service we decided we didn't like the overhead shot or our senior worship guy at the piano.

Looking straight down on a bald head wasn't pretty!  (sorry Dan)

It struck me as we talked, that an overhead shot is very revealing - you can't hide anything...

Is that God's view of me?  We always think of Him looking down on us and if the view is anything like what we saw tonight - there is nothing hidden.

If on the other hand you look at the front, you can't see the back - from the side, the other side is hidden from your view... only the bottoms of your feet cannot be seen from overhead - and typically there isn't a whole lot going on under there anyway!

The evaluation of our service was not intended to be personal - but, it became just that.




Friday, September 23, 2011

crummy childhoods

20 foot creation at the Ashland County Fair

This 20 ft bear looking a little rough after all the climbing by kids at the fair.

Family time watching the horse-pull

A lot of my friends have had really crummy childhoods.

Because of this I  have often felt I should not talk about my own family and the faithfulness of my parents to us. But I now realize my experience is a story of hope and encouragement -so I will praise God for my family and share stories when people ask.  We of course had horrible times - the struggle with my brothers health and the loss of him was extremely difficult.  But,  for whatever reason God chose to spare us from the divorce and other tragedy many of my friends suffered through as kids.  I don't understand why, maybe because of the obedience of my parents and their parents before them, all I know is I grow more thankful as the years go by.

Is there hope for today's family?

I had only been seated a few minutes with a cousin recently when she asked, "So how do you raise kids to love Jesus?"

I pray that what I told her was from the Lord.  I told her, "the most important thing any parent can do is to make sure their words and actions everyday demonstrate a consistent, authentic relationship with Christ.  Don't EVER believe the lie that you can tell them to "Do as I say not as I do" - this will never work!  It makes them resent what you claim to believe and it makes what you believe just a religion.  Nothing more.

It is time for Christian families to step up - live set-apart from what society tells us will most likely be our demise.  That is a lie straight from the enemy - we can have strong Godly families.  Protect your testimony,  your testimony tells others who God is.  A heavy responsibility - but a glorious privilege!

Please take heart, even in the worst of family settings or a lack of good childhood memories - God can be that father you longed for and you can begin again today.  We can change societies compromise on what God's original design was for our families!


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

more of the STORY

As promised more photos from the STORY conference we attended last week in Chicago!


The architecture in Chicago was magnificent! 
Lauren Chandler spoke about her struggle to deal with her husband Matt's cancer - powerful!

Meredith Andrews

Meredith was easily my favorite vocalist at the STORY conference!  Such a beautiful voice!

This was an amazing living 'statue' greeting us the first day!


Ted Dekker the author was there!
Blaine Hogan from Willow Creek made it actually rain on stage!

We were very blessed to be able to take a couple days off from our regular lives and learn new things, make new friends and see what creatively could be!  

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

friends



I was surrounded today by Godly women, women I get to do life with - some of my friends.  This fills me with thankfulness- especially when in ministry I have seen the look of deep loneliness in many people's eyes.

I try every weekend to spend time standing in the open area of our church that we call Town Square - I watch people very closely.  I love to try to decide who needs someone to welcome them, or who is hoping to connect in some way.  It is one of my very favorite things to do at Crossroads.

Have you ever intentionally tried to connect with someone who you thought may be lonely?  Those who were alone or forgotten were often the kind of people Jesus searched out.  So should we.

My daughter has struggled the past year with loneliness at times being away from home.  She has decided to be very intentional about her pursuit of friends the next couple of months.  I am praying God will lead her to some great girls up there!

It hasn't been easy to listen to her sorrow over the phone a couple of times when she was really homesick for family and friends.  But she is learning so much, and has taken ownership of being the one to pursue friendship.

Seeing what she has gone through makes me even more determined to look for those among us at Crossroads that could be without family and friends...will you help me reach out to them whenever you are at church? Speak to those you do not recognize - greet people sitting alone.

Show love to everyone that crosses your path and Crossroads can become the kind of church that is known for its love!




Monday, September 19, 2011

my day off







This is baby Violet - a cousin
Well...despite the horrible weather it was off to the Ashland County Fair today with my sister and my parents, and before the day was over my hubby and brother-in-law and several other relatives joined us as well.  The only thing missing was our kids...

As I looked at the children's vegetable displays it brought back such great memories of our kids gardening with their grandpa and then carving and preparing them for judging at the fair.  How quickly that precious time passed.









But we had lots of laughs once again as dad yodeled at chickens, talked to the sheep and made hilarious political comments that I will not repeat here.

















It is pretty exhausting sitting at the fair and talking and eating all day long.  So it was understandable that the security guard in the chicken barn was just too exhausted to focus on his terribly important assignment!




It was Veterans Day at the Fair today - so at the Veterans tent we all ate bean soup with dad.  As you can see his best friend Art was working on his crossword puzzles - oblivious to what was going on around him!

All in all it was great fun and we hope to get back to Ashland at least one more time later this week!

PS - my feet are finally warm!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

I've been away @story

I never write about an event I am attending while there for two reasons.


  1. It tells the world my house is empty 
  2. and most importantly I require processing time - a time of digestion.


I spent the last 3 days in Chicago at the STORY conference.  I needed to be there.

When I walked in and saw I was honestly in the top 5% age-wise I knew I was in the right place.  I could sense a few of the older attendees felt uncomfortable - I would guess they were mostly pastors.  But I knew at a conference that calls itself a 'creative' conference, the young age proved it was indeed what it claimed.  And it is the young who in many cases have not yet been fully added to the church, so I pursue that scattered group relentlessly at Crossroads.

Each time I have the privilege to go 'out' of Crossroads I realize how overdue my absence is.  This was definitely the case this past week.

I am called 'creative'.  This carries with it an overwhelming burden of constant performance.  A performance time rarely allows me to nurture it. This is not a sad story, it is simply the truth for all who serve in this capacity.  The difficult thing is the 'how' of nurture.  But, it must be addressed because if you do not nurture your own giftedness how can you possibly be what you must to others in your charge?

This is why I loved this conference:

  1. It's success was not measurable by 'big' feel good moments.  Everyone knows although those moments are enjoyable, they are fleeting with little result to show for them a few days later.
  2. Everyone there was the same.  Most bigger conference bring every possible church person together which is good, but here we truly were ALL creatives.  You could close your eyes and ask anyone beside you 'what they do' and it was within the realm of creativity in business or the church.
  3. I have always understood that people's story is the most powerful element you can introduce into a service or experience, but I have struggled with how to gather important stories at our ministry.  Now I know I was going about it all wrong.  I was looking for specific stories to fit my agenda - I realize now that EVERYONE has a story to tell.  I simply need to provide a 'gathering' opportunity and begin to incorporate stories into the DNA of our ministry.
  4. My creativity is fed in this kind of setting.  It was refreshing to be somewhere where no one knew who I was.  No one knew what kind of work I do and quite frankly it was an awesome feeling to bare no responsibility for those 2 days.  This in itself was worth the trip.  To sit and soak and to watch other producers run about taking care of tech issues, their work being evaluated by everyone and wearing the 'blasted' headset was AWESOME!
I didn't come home with any 'earthshattering' new concepts to implement at Crossroads.  (Hopefully this is not a disappointment to those I serve with at Crossroads).  

My take away was a quiet resolve to own my creativeness and to be used of God anyway He sees fit to help lead Crossroads to authentic relationship with Christ.  

Until we see everyone in our auditorium fully participating in serving those less fortunate then themselves, serving within the ministry and living everyday what their lips say they believe, I am not done.  


PS. I will write more about story and show pictures in the coming days - thanks for continuing to read.  I am amazed that you do....

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

mid-life leading and the fly


On any rare slower-paced day I often find myself in a prayer conversation asking God “How am I doing? Is there something else you want me to do with my life? Am I leading strongly?  Are you happy with what I’m doing in ministry?

These may or may not be normal mid-life questions – if they are just normal age related ponderings, then I seriously underestimated how self-evaluating mid-life would be.

After the my self-examination ended – I went outside to sit for a while in the morning sun.  This was a decision driven by the scarcity of sunny central Ohio days left.  Once in my chair I think God sent me a visual.

A fly came to visit or rather pester me.

You need to picture where I was sitting in order to fully grasp the situation.  I was sitting at the top of a hill surrounded by lush woods on 2 sides and a huge open grassy area full of bunnies, birds and the occasional turkey walking by.

Why when all these ideal ‘fly’ areas exist inches from my chair would a fly continue to land on me over and over again?  I stopped counting at 13 landings.

The swatting battle soon pointed me toward a possible answer to my earlier prayers.  I believe God used that little fly to help me realize that persistently pursuing Him is what my mid-life calls me to like never before.  He doesn’t value a busy life, but desires for us to pursue and seek Him.  Much like the flies’ determination God wants me to never stop seeking Him.

This may seem ridiculous to consider this experience as something personal.  But, God knows I learn visually and out of a simple everyday experience He may have chosen to show me a simple lesson.

Do you sometimes see God in simple everyday things?  Please share!

Monday, September 12, 2011

my day off

We received an unexpected invitation from friends to join them on their boat this evening at Pleasant Hill!  It was magnificent!!

As the sun set on one side of us, the huge full moon appeared on the other side of us.  Spectacular!!

Here are a few pictures of the high point of our day for sure!


EXACTLY what I needed today!  The creator painted the sky!

Sunday, September 11, 2011

weekend report

I don't know when I have enjoyed a weekend as much as this one, although there was quite a range of emotions personally for me.

We hosted a Christian College Fair - so I hugged all the young college representatives after hanging out all weekend with them - love it when our ministry is full of young adults!  That was the emotion of enjoying our Town Square being packed full of vigorous life.  Then there was the opposite emotion of remembering 9/11 and beginning our service with a reflective time, and the hug of an amazing elderly man suffering from cancer whom the doctors have stopped treating.  His body felt thin and sad in my arms - but honestly, he had the biggest smile of everyone I saw this weekend.  It's amazing the peace that a relationship with Christ can bring.

I am constantly amazing, even after designing services for the past 15 years, how all the details connect, how God moves through our preparation.  We thematically prepared the elements of the songs and worship based on Pastor Tim's I Corinthians teaching - only to realize as we moved from a time of reflection with the 9/11 piece to the words of one of the songs later in the package "if God is for us who can be against us"- the Lord put each piece carefully in place.  And people were taken on a journey and soaked up the message!

So from vibrant to suffering - this weekend moved me.  And I sense created quite a movement within our congregation as well.  I am still praising the Lord as I write this and humbled once again to be used in any way in His almighty kingdom!

Our setlist:

Opening Instrumental:  Beautiful - written by Samuel Lane (Our Senior Worship guy Dan Fleming wrote string parts to go with it)  We used this piece which was much more mellow then we typically open with just to give people a sense of reflection right from the beginning.  They were quieter than normal and settled down quicker - so - mission accomplished!

9/11 Video:  Ten Years Ago - Skit Guys  (we came right out of this into announcements on video maintaining the same feeling and began announcements with prayer.)  Middle School Pastor on video

Worship:  10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord) - Redman  (we kept the congregation seated through 3/4 of this song then stood them and you could just feel the anticipation to join in!  This was the first time we've used this song was the other reason we let them just listen for a while.)

Praise:  Our God - Tomlin    Seriously - this song ended up feeling like a battle-cry as we started to build - "and if our God is for us, then who could stand against us!!!)  Awesome!

Praise:  Come Thou Fount - Sublime

Praise:  All My Fountains - Tomlin

We were richly blessed this weekend!!!

To watch our services live or the previous weekend on video go to www.crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries used in their services go to www.theworshipcommunity.com



Saturday, September 10, 2011

a surprise blessing

I was already feeling blessed when I woke up Thursday.

Then I opened facebook and started to cry immediately!


this is difficult to see, but, it says "Happy 33 Anniversary mom and dad!  We love you and pray for you!"
These are the beautiful children that Crossroads families have the privilege of supporting in Cambodia.

God is so good!  These children are not just pictures on a poster, we get to actually be part of their lives!       To learn how you too can help support an orphan in Cambodia, send an email to missions@crossroadswired.com  .     To see how God is giving Crossroads opportunity to influence lives for eternity in Cambodia go to http://www.crossroadsgomissions.org/ !

Friday, September 9, 2011

untitled

I recently read a book called Untitled and wrote the following book review that has been used on several websites.

It was written by an EXTREMELY creative leader that I look up to a whole lot named Blaine Hogan!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UNTITLED - by Blaine Hogan
a book review

As a creative I often feel almost panicked to produce what is expected of me.  It can be terribly lonely.  I constantly search for other creatives to learn from or connect with.  And then I found Blaine Hogan.

I first met Blaine in a programming meeting at Willow Creek that I attended with Nancy Beach.

Blaine and I bantered back and forth and I was immediately fascinated by his sharp mind and creative perspective; a unique and gifted leader without a doubt.

His book “Untitled” had me at the title…or lack thereof.

His frank discussion of his personal struggle to tell his story was something I immediately connected with. 

The spiritual longing that drew him away from full time acting (Prison Break tv show) and ultimately to the local church was nothing short of God’s calling to become a great leader to all of us.  I take Blaine’s calling very personally and benefit from his obedience.

In chapter 1 Blaine challenges us to ‘write something everyday on the blank page.’ He gives practical suggestions that help creatives produce work that only they are gifted to do.

He goes on to discuss the fact that “no one cares about our ideas – they only care if we can execute the vision.”  This statement screams with truth! The ability as a creative to complete the concept is what makes one gifted in that way so vitally important!

I love his discussion about the messy creative process.  He said, “I’m starting to breathe while I’m ‘doing the things’.” Creating can and will be exhausting, and we should choose the prospective of being excited about the creative opportunity and hopeful about our projects!  How encouraging this is!

One of the quotes Blaine used, “Products have to have an eternal significance for producers beyond the purely instrumental utility,” caused me to realize why I feel so strongly about what I create.  The disappointments related to the perceived failure of any of my projects hurt more deeply than anything in my life.  He helped me realize that artists work as if eternity is at stake.  Blaine reminds us our art is not just what we make, but also how we make it. 

Perhaps the most encouraging portion of the book to me personally was Blaine’s description of how overwhelmed he often feels by all the “temporal junk” that floods him daily.  I thought I was the only one who spends much of my life feeling the only thing I am really good at is mediocrity.  He advices that we all need to consider ‘sitting’ more and that it will make us better personally, to our families and friends, as well as better artists.  “To see well the artist must have slow steady eyes.”

I highly recommend “Untitled” to anyone who considers himself /herself creative, or leads any of the creative service element responsibilities in the local church. 

Creativity may be the very thing that God uses to open lost eyes to see just a glimpse of eternity with the Lord… Create bravely! 


Here is Baine's blog - check out his work! www.blainehogan.com

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

staff meeting today

I was asked to organize the September Staff meeting.  I decided on a pizza contest!

We divided the staff into groups of 2 or 3 and each group had to provide a large pizza for lunch.

We then removed boxes and placed different colored toothpicks in each piece.  The color of the toothpick was the only way to identify the pizza.

We asked each staff member to simply write the color they liked best and the winners were announced.

Jeanette and Jamie made a homemade pizza and took 2nd place!

But leading the pack was the pizza from Leaning Tower of Pizza!  A crowd favorite provided by Pastor Tim, Deering and Dan Fleming!

Of course as soon as the trophies were award they orneriest among us began to drink Coke from his!

Always good to look back over the previous month, celebrate what God has done and share in a good ole competition!

Monday, September 5, 2011

my day off

I've been using the heat as an excuse to not organize my attic.  The excuse just ended - only 58 degrees this morning.  A fitting task for 'labor day'...

You may ask, why does it even matter what's in your attic - no one can see it.  Well, with our son about to get married and our daughter possibly returning to the Midwest and setting up her own place in the not so distant future, I need to know what's up there!  I have all their childhood toys, collectables and trophies.  Those they probably won't want until they have children of their own, but there are household items and possibly a few things that should be sold.

My attic is so packed with stuff, that I'm really not even sure how I will be able to work in there.  Anyway - I think that I will begin today, so if you don't hear from me tomorrow send out a search party, I may never emerge!

Have a great Labor Day, enjoy your family or friends!  If your kids are off school, be thankful they are with you and if you have an overwhelming task to face as I do - dig in - the payoff is worth it!

I'm going in...


Sunday, September 4, 2011

weekend report

Crossroads version of Cow Bell is....Flower Pots!

Milo one of our Worship guys came up with the concept of including flower pots in the Steven Curtis song "With One Voice"..each pot had a different 'note' and it worked great!  Very creative!

our setlist:

Opening Song:  With One Voice - Steven Curtis Chapman  I will post a link as soon as this song is uploaded to you tube.
announcements on video:  Jamie Koenig - Middle School Youth guy
Praise:  Where The Spirit of the Lord Is - Tomlin
Praise:  One Voice  - Milo Sgambellone original
Worship:  Love is Patient - Milo Sgambellone original
Worship:  You Won't Relent  - Jesus Culture
Worship:  Praise the Father Praise the Son - Tomlin
Message:  Love Pt 2 - Senior Pastor Tim Armstrong
Exit Song:  With One Voice - Steve Curtis Chapman

To watch our services on line go to www.crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries used in their worship services go to www.theworshipcommunity.com



Saturday, September 3, 2011

God uses prostitutes



I was studying about Rahab today- if you remember the story 2 spies were sent to scope out Jericho and ended up at Rahp's home.  I never thought about the fact that Rahab, being a prostitute, would have had everything the spies would need to complete a successful mission.

Her home was located high on the outer wall - the perfect location to gather information about the city.  Information that would reveal the weaknesses and important details Joshua needed to know before marching on the city.   She had a place on her roof where she could hide guys (probably from angry wives searching for an unfaithful husband).   She also had long ropes that made it possible to escape from her window. Everything needed to help the spies slip away unnoticed!

 How convenient that God would use these things intended for evil to deliver his men back to report to Joshua ultimately leading the Children of Israel to march around the Jericho walls!




Thursday, September 1, 2011

back from Boston

We just got back from visiting our daughter and son-in-law in Boston.  I think we saw every nook and cranny of the city - and we ate very, very well!

We are so proud of our kids and their choices!  Here are some of my favorite pictures - I LOVED the architecture.  Buildings are one of my favorite artistic things!

The La De Les gave us a sneak listen to their newest acoustic song soon to be released!  It was fantastic - I cannot wait for their next CD!  www.ladeles.com
This last picture is Cody, Jocelyn's brother-in-law making us a syphon coffee - Japan is where the owner of the Jaho Coffee Shop purchased many of the items in this amazing shop!