our Easter celebration

Our worship of the risen Savior began long before the public viewing of our work.

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!

To God be the glory - for His sacrifice for us.
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!!

you realize you're empty

There are several things that getting away does.

One of those things is it allows you to realize you're empty.

I have enjoyed this time away more than most I've had in recent years and it's because it's so simple.  No decisions more serious then 'where should we eat' ?

When your life gets too full, everything feels like a major decision or event.  Every nook and cranny of thinking space gets clogged.

And when something is full it means there isn't room for something else.   And the something could be the greatest thing, and you miss it.

God's greatest teaching times often happened when the rest of the world was shut out - when someone was forced out or forced in..

Blindness, belly of a whale, wilderness, the center of a storm, on a fish-less boat...

I'm listening...I'm alone...I'm resting in Him and praying to simplify

what I learned today

It never fails, you step out in obedience to lead something and POW you are the one learning the most!

Today as I prepared for the young woman's Bible study I'll lead Thursday night, I read about how both Ruth and Rebekah prepared for their future, not being concerned about their outward appearance or circumstances but focusing totally on their God and His will. It really is quite simple, in all areas of our lives we simply trust God or we don't. We either obey Him or we take matters into our own hands which ALWAYS results in compromise.

To be filled with His Holy Spirit. I desire it - but, am I?

To be filled means you must first be empty. There in lines my problem.

When I stop and examine I am so FULL of duties, desires and goals that I don't think there is hardly an inch for His will...

It is so easy to hide inside my Christianese and not really experience God fully.

As I prepare to lead today - I will first do what I will ask the girls to do Thursday night - identify what fills me and purge it from my life. Will you?

celebrity

Have you ever noticed how sad celebrities are overall? In human moments we may wish to have what they have, wealth, popularity - but the deep sadness in their eyes...

As I watch the Micheal Jackson pictures and videos - he seems so empty - honestly, I feel deeply sad about his passing.

A few days ago before his death, I was wondering if it is ever possible to speak to or find direct emails to any of the big Hollywood stars? I wonder if we gained access to them, if we could make them understand how much God cares about them. I wonder if we could convince them that we have what they are searching for? It seems when they have reached the pinnacle of stardom they soon discover there is nothing left, nothing higher to pursue. So just as they achieve the highest possible accomplishment, the thing they have given up everything for, they realize it can never satisfy them. How horrible that must be - to chase an empty dream!

I wonder if our paths crossed if they could see in our eyes that we are different and desire to know what it is within us that satisfies us, completes us and makes life worth living? My heart breaks for them. They truly seem unreachable.

empty yet full

As my husband and I left the church yesterday, we stopped by a ladies house that had asked for help from the church. He warned me it would not be pretty.

As I entered the house I was struck by a paradox: she had so little but there was so much...

There were piles of bills, papers, receipts, trash, half eaten items, but, really very little of anything substantial such as furniture or large items of any kind.

The place was full yet very empty.

Then as I listened to her and looked at her face I knew she was a very broken person. I imagined her in earlier years, learning, working, dreaming of what was to come. But, somewhere along the way something broke. Chemical imbalance, mental illness, I really don't know her story. I really don't know how she survives.

God is doing a work in me, between the missions opportunities that our ministry gets to begin to participate in, to the community opportunities right around Crossroads, I am becoming burdened for "the least of these". In fact I have to wonder if I am not among the "least of these" in God's eyes as I sit comfortably surrounded by so much, but at times really have so little.

So little in the way of sympathy for others, care about the less fortunate, time given to serve those TRULY in need...God is doing a work in me...I long to be truly full of His grace and love for others, there are people at Crossroads teaching me by their dedicated example of caring that I want to learn from...my husband, our missions team, my children...all our stuff means little if we don't bless others constantly with what we've been given.

There is a movement among churches today to - give it all away, money, food, care, no matter what website I go too there is a buzz about inner city, missions work, food pantries, on and on. I don't want to be caught up in an "American Feel Good Movement". After all, most of what we as Americans do to help others, ultimately is to make ourselves feel good. I don't want to be part of this movement, don't want Crossroads to be part of this movement, but instead dedicated to identified need, a specific opportunity given by Christ and everyday living with an eye for the less fortunate. Our missions team is excellent at identifying specific needs and creating focus for our congregation. A movement within each believer's heart, only then can an affective outward/ministry movement begin.

All of our stuff is on loan from the Lord and He cares deeply about what we do with our abundance. He chooses and calls whom He will to himself, and then I wonder perhaps if He watches closely to see what we do with all we've been given. A sobering thought...I do not want to stand before a disappointed God.

I want to help fix what is broken if He gives me that opportunity. I need however, to have my own house in order, financially and spiritually or the opportunity may come and go...