It began with ideas that we weren't sure would even work or how we were going to do them. It began with prayer over those ideas asking the Lord to make it clear to us what He chose. It began with casting the vision and convincing others to join the work. It began with a commitment to whatever it required to be ready in time. And it began with a hope that God would use it to change lives for all of eternity...and He did!!
We gave out over 50 Believers Packets as Pastor Dave carefully explained what it means to make a decision for Christ - to Empty ourself of all the shame, guilt and past regrets to simply follow Him!
It was obvious in our world that's so FULL of stuff and choices that people still feel so EMPTY.
Isn't it ironic that we have to be willing to give up our junk, to EMPTY ourselves in order to truly feel FULL? Only the death and resurrection of a Savior fills us.
This is what my Easter season looked like!
 |
| I loved this picture, it's perhaps the one that sums up everything! From children to adults writing on the empty tomb - writing what they wanted Jesus to empty their lives of! |
 |
| Behind the scenes at Crossroads with Justin our actor! He worked hard to memorize the drama for our video! |
 |
| My precious son Eric our amazing videographer working on behind the scenes pieces of the video drama. |
 |
| Eric video taping Justin in his office. |
 |
| Willow Creek was so generous to explain to me how to make the 'oil concoction'. |
 |
| This is one of my favorite pictures...my son and grandson shooting the 'hand shots' from the video/drama. Where God washed the dirt of our lives away... |
 |
| Although holidays are the busiest for us in ministry, we always try to still make it fun for our family! |
 |
| We miss our precious ones in North Carolina, but the Lord is already using them in amazing ways as a family in their community and church! |
 |
| I LOVED the simplicity of Good Friday. It was the first Good Friday service I've ever gotten to create and it was one of my favorite services in 23 years! I think our lives are starving for simplicity in Jesus...a focus away from the emptiness of life. |
 |
| We even had fun at rehearsal! |
 |
| The boys in the band!! |
I loved the simplicity of the set design and I LOVED they way it
connected Good Friday to Easter!! (HUGE shout out to Eric Longstreth's work)
 |
| Our amazingly gifted Senior Pastor Dave Vance - our friend!! |
 |
| Monica and Ernesto using what God gifted them to do! |
 |
| Meanwhile leading up to Easter, our fearless Worship Pastor Ernesto, was also playing the role of Jesus in a musical! What?? |
 |
| Our lobby at Crossroads |
 |
| People used the backgrounds exactly as we had prayed they would! Both as a place to write the things the Lord was emptying them of as well as a place to take pictures with friends and families. These simple backgrounds become part of their families' forever stories. |
 |
| I stood off in the distance and watched a precious friend battling cancer write Empty of Cancer on the tomb and wept when she walked away - lifting her in prayer!! |
 |
| In all the years I've been involved in creating things at Crossroads, I think these two guys by far have logged the most hours helping me! My amazing, perfect husband Ron and our dear friend Greg Crawfis!! They roll their eyes but don't complain! ha ha ha!! A huge shout out to Dan Zachman for helping construct the tombs! |
We decided at the suggestion of a friend to leave the walls from the EMPTY tomb up this weekend for people to see what was written on those walls during the other services of Easter weekend.
As our new series EMPTY begins it will continue to be relevant as we examine our lives and submit them to the Lord!
And thank you to the leadership at Crossroads which gives us space to create, figure it out and ultimately be a team God uses to help spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ!!
