Sunday, January 31, 2016

weekend report

It was an amazing weekend at Crossroads Community Church! Students and Student Ministry staff and volunteers, took over everything possible at Crossroads!

It was so satisfying to watch multiple generations work together to express their love for the Lord as they worked very hard to do their best! The areas in which student or Student Ministry staff served included: worship team; technical team; some of the greeters; and other behind the scene areas such as our children's areas.

With Pastor Dave away in Cambodia - our Young Adult Pastor, Aaron Nicolas continued our Conspiracy Series by teaching us about Creativity with Excellence. It was a fascinating study and sent us all away with a better understanding of just what that means. We don't have to be what people would call 'a creative', rather we need to present everything we do with excellence to the Lord THE Creator! Creative Excellence to the best of our ability has always been one of our main values at Crossroads!
Voices lifted to the Lord - Dan is our senior worship leader.
This weekend was extra special with his granddaughter singing behind him.
Eric is our Senior High Pastor - he lead strong!

Nick and Austin - seriously talented guitarists!


2 more great voices! The future looks good at Crossroads!


Running camera is serious business, we 
had people watching our live feed clear
over in Cambodia!


The Stuckey brothers!


Rehearsal was fun! (Have I mentioned how much I love our students!?)


1 of 3 of our camera operators!


The girls at rehearsal!


Pastor Aaron Nicolas, our Young Adult Pastor!


Blueberry is extremely talented at Directing our Video production!





Dillon ran our CG which brings up all the lyrics and
the Pastor's slides - takes a ton of concentration!




Another great camera guy!


We have so much to be thankful for - I loved this weekend so much!


To watch our service go to www.crossroadswired.com


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

Thursday, January 28, 2016

I thought I was too tired

I haven't slept well this week - no idea why, so I'm tired today.  I kind of camped out in my office working on coming events and kept to myself mostly.

However, when you have a son having a birthday you buy cupcakes and embarrass him in front of the Student Ministry Worship team.  So I had a duty to perform...you know, mom's perfect timing.

And it was really worth it - got him good!

And then something else happened....

I saw the future stand before me on the Crossroads stage.

And behind me on the lighting board and on the sound board.

And behind the wall running all the video detail.

I became overwhelmed with the Lord's provision - His children, the future had become the present.

A multi-generational church is a blessed, healthy, growing church.  20 years have passed as if vapor and here we are preparing for another service with an auditorium full of young hope, young trust and new young leaders...so overwhelming...

I can't wait for the weekend, I think everyone involved is under 30, (ok maybe not Dan, Arnie and I), but you get the idea!!

Can't wait for Student Takeover weekend!

The amazing brothers Stuckey

Nick and Austin



Beautiful Daughters of the King above
and below!


My precious friend Dan with his darling granddaughter right behind him!
Generations worshipping the Lord!

They are precious in His sight!

And in mine!!  Feeling very blessed to be part of this!

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

the school in Santa Maria

I'm finally getting my final pictures from our mission trip to Guatemala posted!

Today I'd like to show you pictures of the Proximos Pasos School in Santa Maria de Jesus, Guatemala - where I spent a lot of my time!

This is the all girls school, now ready to go up through the 8th grade which is unheard of in this area of Guatemala! And it's Christian education! The thing that really makes this School exceptional is that most girls in this area only get up through a 3rd grade education, but Mission Impact works tirelessly to sponsor more and more girls! It's their only hope out of an otherwise hopeless home life - married by age 13 in most cases.

One of the things I found genius, was the fact that they had a lot of male teachers who love the Lord with all of their hearts, in order just to show the girls what a man looks like that loves and serves the Lord. The culture is largely abusive of girls in their homes and look at them as possessions to be married off and denied an education.  This school and the understanding they gain of the Lord is their salvation in many ways.

We got to be at the school just a day or two before the girls began to attend for this school season. It was an honor to work with the girls when they came to tour the building, do some crafts and get familiar with what to expect!


We went ready with crafts and things like stickers and
bracelets to make!

This is one of their precious teachers!

You have to look closely to spot the Crossroads helper!


Surrounded by beautiful girls that now have hope through
school scholarships - many from Crossroads attendees!

This was the group of girls they brought in to meet their sponsors!
So exciting to meet our Guatemalan girls!

Steve Ritchey meeting one of his girls!

Our beautiful girl!

This is our team working with the amazing teachers to prepare everything
for their rooms and bulletin boards!


I have learned the Lord will provide the opportunity if you're willing. I'm an example of a reluctant missionary, you would think by now I'd totally listen to my amazing husband and just do whatever he's excited about without even asking... (he's always right - it gets old)


Guatemala was the best, I can't wait until next year to go back and check out even more of the beautiful, needy country!

Tuesday, January 26, 2016

weekend report

It was a glorious weekend as the Conspiracy Series began.

Pastor Dave taught us about the importance of all of our teaching at Crossroads being based directly on God's Word!  THE TRUTH!  He made the scriptures come to life as he described how Jesus appeared to the disciples proving the scriptures are true!  He rose from the dead - and all our belief and teachings are hinged on that fact and should reflect that truth!

Worship was amazing as we lifted our voices in unison to worship the Lord!

Our new series continues this weekend - and I look forward to seeing you all there again!







Our setlist:

There Is Power
Announcements
A Mighty Fortress is Our God
How Great is Our God
Broken Vessels
We believe

Bumper Video: Conspiracy
Message: Conspiracy: Truth
Exit Song: There is Power

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


Friday, January 22, 2016

Guatemala changed me


My first blog following our trip to Guatemala had to be about the hopeless faces of the children.  The most innocent, most abused and most helpless to do anything about their situations.

I loved these older gentlemen
talking as they walked by us.
Possibly friends for years and year
or maybe even brothers.
But tonight as I sat down to finish going through pictures I felt that tug at my soul once again.

The conditions I saw in Santa Maria have left a hurt deep inside me.
This is an example of a normal home in Santa Maria

Houses built of rusty metal, a font wall of
block and shards of glass along the top for security.

Wood for cooking is stored on open roof.

You can see a boy if you look closely using the same sink
his mother washed clothes in and scooped cooking water from.
I guess the sadness I feel comes first of all because I think of Jesus' words when He spoke about 'the least of these' and the times He told us to care for the poor, and that He said they would ALWAYS be with us.  What is so difficult to accept is that what we saw would not be impossible to solve - to change - to rescue!  But this can only be accomplished through great patience, care and a lot of respect for their society and the way they do things.

The spiritual darkness there is deep, abuse within families - very common, and the temporary escape from hopelessness that alcohol offers destroys what remains of many families forcing the church to take a strong stand against it, even at the risk of appearing judgemental.

Complicated.

The bottom line is - we can help.  Our teams working side by side with the coffee farmers and the villagers building stoves or water filtration systems accomplish multiple things at once.  We get to help teach them how to meet their most basic needs for clean water and cook stoves that are vented - while showing them what it means to find true, eternal hope in Christ.  They know we're different and they cannot figure out why we would take the time not only to come once, but to come year after year and build on-going relationships with them as we teach them how to solve problems, and point them toward a Savior.

It was such a privilege to go and I hope to return, over and over!  Meanwhile, I can cover them in prayer as they tirelessly continue the work that we got to be a small part of for a week.



Ladies or girls carry heavy bowls of corn, many times
on their heads, daily for grinding to make their tortillas.
I've never seen such strong people - the
amount they carry is mind boggling.
watching mules and horses pass by makes you feel
like you've taken a step back in time.

I loved the creativity of the children - playing with old tires or anything they could find.



This is a look inside a home that we were honored
to be invited into.  How these people raised the
beautiful children below in a mostly dirt floored room
is beyond me!


These are other sites we saw around the village as we took a prayer walk through the village.


This was the entrance to the graveyard. 




I even got to see how a funeral takes place one day while standing on a balcony. 
 Last weekend celebrating the Sanctity of Life drew my attention again to the voiceless unborn, the babies that never will be.

While being in Guatemala introduced me to a voiceless people although fully born - mostly forgotten and ignored.

Oh Lord, how you must long for us all to come running to you...