my day off

I had a good morning at home writing Christmas Cards and chillin', then the action began.

I hit 5 stores trying to find a Jigsaw blade that I am not sure even exists! Maybe the artists are just messing with me...anyway the search yielded nothing except that I now know more than I ever wanted to about how many different types of blades there are!

Tonight as we worked on the Christmas set design we saw the Adopt A Child team working to prepare for the event that will soon provide Christmas for 600 of our communities neediest kids. Quite a few women were in the building attending the Beth Moore Bible Study too!

I love being at our ministry at night when different small groups or ministry teams are working. No one sees their night time meetings, but, it is these quiet, behind the scene efforts that help connect people to the ministry and to one another.

Christmas is coming quickly...we are working hard to be ready and loving it!

lights out

I waited to write on my blog until 11:00 tonight. Big mistake, no internet! No electricity! Wind gusts of 60 miles per hour!

But, God is good and we got through a great, great night of ministry at Crossroads with only one front door broken, and several lost umbrellas! Pastor Tim’s ongoing study in Hosea is extraordinary. And there was a whole lot of ministry going on!!

As soon as the service was over the ministry went into high gear! Our MOCK (Moms of College Kids) group began packaging Valentine care packages for our Crossroads kids that are away at school. These moms packed up the goodies and prayed over all the envelopes for God’s protection and blessing on our kids.

Meanwhile the drama team was busy working on the drama “Prayer Perplexity”, a script from the WillowCreek Church, in preparation for this weekend’s services. This drama, though short and simple is full of “sound affect’ transitions and great acting. Following this weekend’s performance, the teams focus will turn to preparing for Easter!

As all of this was going on, lists were being made to replenish the café supplies when we do a Sam's run on Thursday, just as I heard this conversation the volunteer cleaning team began to work. The Roadie team started to reset the stage preparing for the weekend services. Hospital visitation was also being planned for the rest of the week based on our congregation’s needs at the same time our fearless parking lot attendants were assisting people back out into the wind and into their cars safely!

Nothing is more fun than watching God’s people use their gifts to serve on another! I’m exhausted, but it was a great day!

As I finished writing this and saved it until the internet was back up, I went to bed with flashlight in hand only to wake up to an odd smell a while later when the electric decided to come back on. Something smelled terrible!! I was boiling eggs for egg salad sandwiches today and forgot to turn the burner off when the electric went off!

Have you ever smelled hard boiled eggs when they no longer resemble eggs, when they become one with the bottom of the pan? My flashlight revealed what my nose had suspected, no egg salad for lunch today! Nasty!

ministry within ministry

This weekend was very interesting. I got to spend very little time with my teams compared to a normal weekend due to people that needed to talk and needed reassurance and comfort.

As I walked across our Town Square I watched as the Crossroads staff ministered to our people. This is ministry within the ministry. Sadly many of our attendees never get to experience the inside ministry. Many seem to think the ministry is only about coming in and going back out.

I talked to several people struggling with unimaginable decisions, illness and heartache. This is the real ministry, when you get to see into their eyes, feel their pain and wonder what you could possibly say that could make a difference. Then you wonder why God thinks you can do this. But, you know you are called, no doubt about it and you have no choice but to continue in obedience.

Ministry within ministry, hidden, quiet, difficult, constant, exhausting, rewarding, eternal

small groups rock!

We were busy again tonight, another 12 hour day, but a lot of fun! Crossroads is full of activity day and night! There were people everywhere. This was a Small Group training lead by Deering Dyer. My hubby Ron, helped with training too. As I made my way down the hall there was a CCB Data Base training for leaders in the ministry going on.

Next I went through the auditorium where I found Steve Browning, our Technical Coordinator checking all the lighting cues in preparation for the weekend services. Looking down from the lighting booth I caught the sound guys hard at work! Not to be outdone one of our praise teams was practicing too!

It's time to go home and I leave anticipating what the weekend may bring, changed lives for eternity. How cool!