weekend report

So proud of our Crossroads teams this weekend.

As I came into the building last night and went to prepare for the service -

I looked down at the 'order of service details' laying in my office and was struck by the realization of how many man hours go into each sentence, each video cue, lighting cue, each one of the 7 pages of information - the timing involved in bringing in each lyric listed and was so filled with thankfulness for our staff and volunteers that help us each weekend to pull off - what we put in writing - what God helps us to dream up.

Our amazing hostess team leader had coffee brewing as the music rehearsal started in the auditorium.  I love the smell of brewing coffee - nothing says welcome like that does!  A small detail but so important - a part of our DNA at Crossroads.

Outside of the area I oversee - the volunteers in our children's and student ministry areas had hundreds of children/students this weekend that they taught from God's Word.

Our Adopt-A-Child Christmas project kicked off this weekend too with 168 of our 500 kids already adopted!  I LOVE our GoMissions team!

And how encouraged I was as I watched our praise team worship, not just lead worship, but worship their Savior themselves!  The congregation resounded with some of the loudest singing I've heard in quite some time!  So thankful to be part of this community!

Our Setlist:

Our Setlist:

Video announcements
God Is With Us Now
Cornerstone
To Live Is Christ - written by our worship leader Milo
The Whole Earth
Stronger
Message:  Famous People You Should Know Pt. 1 Absalom  -  Sr Pastor Tim Armstrong
Exit Song:  Cornerstone

To watch our services go to www.crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries included in their set lists go to www.theworshipcommunity.com

such detail

As I worked on event projects on my deck yesterday I saw this little spider also working away...I wondered...

How does the spider spin a web that catches other insects yet runs around on it himself and never gets caught?Why does God care about such detail? Does He find it interesting? Is it necessary in creation - one thing supporting another? Or, does He do it just for us to see, trying to reveal His unlimited power and magnificence in even the smallest design.

Kind of funny to think of man's creations vs God's perfect creations.

Man creates things then gets stuck in his own web...

catching up

Time to get back to work.

A whole lot of details waiting for me to work on.

Instead of jumping right back in, I took some time to catch up with the people I do life with, our staff. So many of them are going through tremendously trying times in their lives, unbelievable things actually...

I love my time away, but, what a blessing to look forward to being with my friends again. God has placed us all there together, we need one another and so does our ministry.

No one loves vacations to end, but knowing I get to come back to these amazing friends makes me more grateful than I can say!

Genesis 1:24

"And God said, "Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds..." The earth definitely brought forth creatures, some of them creepy!

God's attention to detail is completely amazing...He was so intricate with His creation and all its creatures. They are brilliantly designed!

This is a picture of the corner of our main door at home. I constantly remove spiderwebs from this exact location, always killing the spiders in them. So, how do they not only construct webs in one days time, but also place them located at the best possible place to catch bugs - under our door light right where they fly to come into our house?

How people cannot believe in a creator is beyond me.

lean in close

Couldn't sleep this morning, woke up worrying about all the details that have to come together for Palm Sunday weekend and Easter. (As if worrying is going to help anything). So, after laying for a while I decided the best thing to do is make coffee, spend time in study and prayer...then make a list.

Of course God had exactly what I needed to hear waiting for me. It was the scene where John is reclining against Jesus. Can you imagine leaning close to Jesus? This put everything I have to accomplish into perspective.

In the context of our daily lives how can we lean into Jesus? We lean by surrendering.

All I have to do is read about the misconceptions the disciples had as they followed Jesus, and I ease up on my lack of 'getting it right'. They seemed to be clueless much of the time about what was going on physically right in front of their eyes. They could touch it, lean on it, physically spend time with it and still didn't fully grasp what they were experiencing. When they leaned on Him, they could feel His breath. Think of it!

I know I'm repeating what I've written about before, but I find great comfort in their humanness. Occasional forgetfulness about the scope of God's generosity and a loss of perspective on the only reason I am here on earth is to be understood. But, to carry the burden of trivial earth junk on my own back, that is a choice.

If I chase obedience and surrender to only Him allowing my earthly life to 'lean in close', keeping my eyes glued to His face, then who cares about the order of details being accomplished? Who cares about grumbling or untimely 'suggestions' from those sure there is a better way of doing it? And quite frankly, who cares if I don't get every single detail perfect?

I care only from the perspective of my disorganization hindering the simple message of Christ being clearly presented with a God ordained excellence. That's what I care about. Organizing the details so that others have the opportunity to 'lean in close', laying their very best at His feet.

serving our Crossroads community

I love planning, creating anything where I get to take a small idea and build it into something bigger, complete. From discussing future projects with the Directors of Crossroads, to building an entire service from a single idea and then trying to organize all the little details that go into it... What a privilege! A challenge that never grows easier! Actually the longer I work at this the more difficult it becomes.

Difficult in the sense that I never want our services to become repetitive, boring or less than excellent! In most cases the longer you work somewhere the more you take things for granted and become relaxed. This can never happen in my work! So I start over each week knowing it is only God's grace that reveals new ways to communicate the NEVER changing Word of God!

We have several extremely exciting things coming up this year, I'll share more when I have all the details in place! Until then I continue to treasure each day I get to serve the amazing Crossroads community!

AMAZING Christmas Eve services

I can't talk long tonight, but, tomorrow I will be talking about the details of Christmas Eve at Crossroads. I wanted to wait until it was uploaded and I could include links.

It was just the most amazing service. And tons of people came, we had to get chairs from every area possible to add to the auditorium. Just so amazing! I'll post concerning the details tomorrow. Until then, may God bless you!

details

I received a delivery of batteries today at church for our Tech area. As I watched them get carried down the hall to our Media Coordinators office, it occurred to me that even the most tiny detail if overlooked can destroy our weekend and MidWeek services.

One battery left out of a mic and the message isn't heard! We have had many small errors over the years, one phone call not made, one light left on, one light left off, one stool not in place, one music transition not played, one word forgotten, one instrument not tuned, one cell phone not muted, one forgotten note, one video not played... one+one+one+one+one+one...details

de·tail (dĭ-tāl', dē'tāl') Particulars considered individually and in relation to a whole: careful attention to detail.

Particulars considered individually... each detail important alone... and in relation to a whole... and finally all the little details come together to create a whole.

You take all the individual details in each service, add God's people and mere details become the whole!