Big Daddy came to town

My life has taken an unusual (even for me) giant leap forward speeding ahead the past few months.... multi-sites, new staff, events to plan and lead, houses to maintain, my own families' Thanksgiving to plan and enjoy and elderly parents to love.

But I'm so thankful for all the many things I get to be part of and one of those events was the Big Daddy Weave/Brandon Heath concert Crossroads' hosted recently.

These gentlemen love the Lord and authentically serve Him as they travel!  It was a joy to host them at Crossroads!

Enjoy the pictures...

My hubby and I were treated as if we were old friends by Big Daddy Weave's guys as well as Brandon Heath (even after I didn't recognize him when he first came into the Crossroads Coffee Shop)   It was an honor to serve them!

We sold out - people stood in line for as far as you could see!

Preparations began early in the day!

The band took an extended time of spiritual reflection and prayer to prepare well
for the concert.  They walked around the auditorium asking the Lord to be very present!

We sold out - no room to spare and it was a glorious concert!!

It was a glorious night together as we worshiped at the Jesus I Believe Tour!  

hiding in my office

Tonight we are hosting the Jonathan Nelson concert at Crossroads.   In addition to Jonathan performing, there are other local and semi-local churches participating.

The sound checks have been amazing and the front doors just opened, so the preparation phase has come to an end.  Now we wait for the actual event to happen.

I am currently hiding in my office.  Door locked, blind down, ice coffee on table.

I just need to be alone for a few minutes.

I LOVE hosting events like this.  I love to problem solve, I love to make a big deal over caring for people, I love to be asked 5 questions at once, and I love to watch the chaos slowing fade away as the finished product emerges from among the mess.

Outside all the activity connected to the concert the really strange thing about today has been the other people that have stopped by Crossroads.

I happened to be standing out front when two gentlemen came from an out of town church to look at our auditorium flooring.  They recently had devastating flooding in their church and are considering the type of carpet squares that we have in their newly renovated building.  I enjoyed talking with them and helping them.

Next a pastor from a new church plant from out of town, stopped in to check out Crossroads as a possible church for his local daughter and her husband.  I had the privilege of walking him all around our building and giving him material about Crossroads.  He loved the church and said he'll be back on a Saturday and will tell his kids all about us!  I love doing this!

As I sit in the momentary silence I marvel at the God opportunities I have had today.

I have absolutely NO IDEA, how I got the privilege of overseeing these kinds of events - I love this, I'll never forget the things I got to be part of here at Crossroads, and I pray this is just the beginning of amazing relationships with other local churches and sisters and brothers in our community!

my day off

On my day off I am recovering from last night. We were unexpected hosts for a mini music festival last night. Our daughter's CD release show was scheduled for CD Jungle in Mansfield, but plans fell through at the last minute, so we hosted!

Phone calls were made, texts were sent, MySpace was updated and we hustled to set up sound and everything they needed. This is some video I shot of Sing For Company (our daughter's band) and The La De Les, band from Michigan. It was the first time I've used this camera, so a little jiggly, but you get the idea!

The show wasn't too bad for last minute put together...sound issues a few times, but, I think you can hear the girls. They amaze me, they sing and lay live tracks on Joci's loop pedal vocally and instrumentally, then sing over them - sounds like a whole choir at times! They even back mask, remember when groups used to use that technique with hidden messages? Now, I'm showing my age! Enjoy.

10 years ago

It was ten years ago this weekend that we did our first Easter Concert - The Life of Christ Through Music. We have tried many things, kept what works, gotten rid of what didn't. What we discovered along the way was - people come to church on Easter. It just takes a live invite - most people will attend on Easter. Our people invited and they came!

Logic would say it takes something extraordinary to get people to come, but, we have done both regular services and concerts and everything in between, and the attendance is identical.

We had two packed services tonight, God moved through our midst pulling people to himself. We had over 25 people stop to pick up new believer packets declaring their decision to follow Christ. Each of our volunteers gets to share in the reward of their work being instrumental in winning souls for eternity! How amazing is our God! I am sad that we only have two more services tomorrow...wish it could last longer!

10 years have gone by quickly...what will God chose to do in the next 10?