a friend named Dan

 I have a friend named Dan.  

Nearly half of my life has been spent working in ministry with him, first at a Lexington church and then at Crossroads Church.

But I've always known of him even before we met.

His reputation in the community as the top choir leader, traveling with high school choirs around the country winning top honors everywhere they went, while leading congregations in worship was very well known.

He's a guy I admire for many reasons.  He has lead me personally to understand what true worship is as I've sat in worship services under his leadership!  He's treated me respectfully as I became his boss for many years even though he was the more qualified of the two of us at times.  And the early reasons I looked up to him was based on how ugly his experience was many years ago with his Christian community involving unfaithfulness, unfair loss of his job and sin in a previous local ministry, as well as his personal battle with illness.

I know many people who disagree with one thing in their church and leave instead of staying to work it out.  No church is perfect.  He never left until now as he retires.

I've seen him remain in the Lord, searching for His will and faithfully serving as he lead us in worship!

Talent is one thing, but a lifestyle that points people to the Savior is what I long for and that's what I've seen in Dan.

As Dan retires from Crossroads, I just wanted him to know how much I look up to him and how much his dependable, talented, kind leading will be missed!!  May the Lord bless you Dan in this new season!

the looks of ministry are many

You never know at any given time what ministry may look like.  You must be ready as a Christ follower for it to occur at any time!

Here are just a few of the different opportunities to serve we had just this week alone!

the IMAGE choir blessed us from Mansfield Christian.  I felt like a

proud mama as our own Nick blessed us on the piano!

Pastor Dave continued the powerful teaching series The 7 Last Sayings

Tough being a staff kid - you live here so you just lay down where you are! 
But what a teaching for a young one to help pack
toys, clothing and vitamins for little ones in Cambodia!

IMAGE trio was excellent!

Even as the team prepared for Cambodia - a drunk man stumbled into the church
and my hubby and another gentleman in the left-hand corner ministered to him the rest of the evening.  

And then there was my beautiful Kristin
and her hubby Will making an eternal commitment to
one another...I cried all night....so sweet!

It's a blessing to serve at Crossroads surrounded by others who take ministry out of the church and into people's lives.  I can't imagine what it would be like to not be part of this ministry...LOVE!

weekend report

It's been a while since I've written.

I messed up and lost my domain temporarily - but was able to get it back fortunately!  So here I am.

It's been so busy at Crossroads that I barely get to think about what's next, but thankfully I get to do life with staff I love - while pursuing our ultimate goal to provide as many opportunities for people to know our Savior and grow closer to Him in their daily lives as we possibly can.  Always with a focus on eternity, not the problems of today!

As we carry on the daily work I try take time to praise Him and thank Him for all he's given us at Crossroads.

This past week our praise team did an awesome job leading us in a great time of worship with our praise choir as Pastor Jesse completed the Desperation series.

 Our Setlist:

Announcements
Wonder
Glorious Day
Amazing Grace My Sins Are Gone
Revelation Song
Series Bumper video
Message: The Gift of Desperation  - Jesse Rider
Exit Song - Wonder


It's amazing to watch ministry during the week when the services are over and not everyone is there.

I watched a beloved friend who serves weekly move about the office cleaning the bathrooms and washing our towels.  She just quietly moves through our work zone, doing what she does to make our areas so wonderfully clean and neat!

Today was also a good example of the church at work as we hosted a funeral meal for one of our precious senior attendees.  My husband and I had been in his families' home for card parties, Christmas get togethers and meals together.  He always had some teasing for me and I'll miss him. This weekend there will be one more empty seat in our auditorium, instead of being there he's sitting with my dad, looking at the face of the King of Kings!  How amazing is that?

We have a team of volunteers that do a beautiful job of serving our funeral meals at Crossroads and I got to witness them 'doing what they do' so well to comfort and serve a family experiencing loss.

the Crossroads kitchen full of generous serving

This is ministry.

And I'll never tire of being part of it!

what I learned today

With the flurry of the weekend celebration at Crossroads behind me, I'm back in my favorite spot on my deck, worshipping the Lord as I read the account of Jesus washing the disciples feet.

I've written before about a couple opportunities I've had with people who aspire to greatness wanting to be 'in charge' of something.  In both cases I've assured them that even if their gifting is leading - there's way more to leading especially in the church, than leading like a CEO.

This is NOT suggesting that I have it all figured out - I goof up weekly with leadership choices I make.

But, we must try to be humble.  You must be willing to do whatever it takes - even very behind the scenes junky jobs.  You must be willing to be the last man out of the church door.  If not, you'll lead but have no true following.

Beth Moore says, God grants greatness to those who lead with a lap full of feet, like Jesus demonstrated when he washed his disciples feet.  She guessed that if Jesus had asked for a volunteer to wash everyone's feet - none of them would have volunteered!

He talks over and over about being servants to others and very little in contrast about leadership.  He knew what we'd struggle with!


I find it terribly comforting just to see in scripture over and over such practical application for my life's struggles.  What a testimony to the fact that God knew we'd need a manual to live by, and what an amazing thing that He wrote it to apply to every single generation with no changes needed.

He created us and watched us walk away from Him in selfishness - He knew we'd sin and struggle - and still He gives us everything we could possibly ever need to live strongly, correctly, unselfishly, humbly and madly in love with Him when we realize this manual called the Bible can teach us how to live and how to avoid all the problem our dumb choices cause us.

This past year I've felt a couple times a deep tiredness in ministry like I've never known before and that reveals to me that I'm drifting off into my own strength again which certainly isn't what it used to be and it's time for a re-centering, a leaning deep back into Him and His Word. It doesn't take a scientist to know that our bodies are created to rest and that's why scripture talks so much about rest - even making it part of God's plan of Creation.  I'm praising Him this morning for His never ending teaching and patience with me!

He doesn't need my help with anything - I need His...

my day off

I can't even count how many friends in the past couple of weeks have talked about how fast time is going.  It has come up over and over - and not just from people my age...

It's caused me to really spend time thinking about how God wants me to spend my time. - my day off.

I believe He is honored when I rest, when I actually take a day off, but I find myself so swamped on my days off that it interferes with my accomplishments!

And that's where I am right now as I sit down to journal.

I look at what takes my time and I must admit, most of it I suspect God could care less about - it's not what He needs from me.   That's a particularly difficult battle we who are on staff in ministries fight - does our work count as God time since we work for a church?   Or is that in His sight our job and He cares more about the rest of our lives?  Interesting to think about.

First of all I understand  - God has no interest in my 'strivings' - there's nothing I can earn with my work.  If that's true - why do I feel like I always need 'to do'?  American mindset?  I sometimes feel like my life could be best summarized with one of my dad's many phrases - I tend to 'Put the Cart Before the Horse'!  Waiting is seldom in my dictionary.

All of that to say - I'm spending time with Him this morning on my day off - so thankful for that, and I really do care about the priorities of my day, I care that they honor Him, enrich other's lives and accomplish tasks that need to be done - I'm striving toward always being available to Him.

I guess that's truly what it's about, just being available to Him so we don't miss what could be the best things instead of trying to control everything.

If I focus on Him will it slow down the pace of living?  I don't know - but I'm determined to give it a shot - again!

Will you join me today - making room for the very one who created our days?

the 'looks' of ministry

I don't know about any of your ministries, but ours constantly looks different and in many cases unexpected!

Tonight was no exception - 5 of my friends and myself, offered a pie making class and it was quite the hit!   I only HOPE their pies turn out ok when they bake them at home tonight!

But what I watched tonight was worth any work that was done, or any other work that wasn't does as the case may be - because we saw a large church become small as ladies learned from one another and laughed and ate together. 

Here is some of what you missed if you weren't at Crossroads tonight.

Ready and donning an apron!

Friends with different pies!

My good friends preparing for the evening

Peeling fresh apples

new friends

Staring with Prayer.

Jean demonstrating her - bake in the paper bag apple pie!

Jocelyn did it, perfect crust!

It was very good to be in the House of the Lord tonight, and I'm thankful to all the gals that came out - more good times to come!

PS>  The only negative was I didn't realize on the other side of the wall from us was our Healthy Beginnings Class ...I heard rumors that several girls that were supposed to be in that HEALTHY Class attended ours instead!  Whoops!

fruitless yet rewarded

fruitless may seem worthless...

In my position I get the privilege of encouraging pastors and others in ministry.  You may say to yourself, "It must be nice to be in a position where you spend your days serving the Lord and others...an important job unlike mine just working for a boss that doesn't appreciate me..."

But the fact is that many times those in ministry toil their entire life never really seeing results - yet continue to serve because they are confident in their call none the less.

I read this recently from John Piper, 'When a young replacement asked a retired pastor of a small church how he had the endurance and strength of soul to keep on in the ministry all those years, he said, “The Lord measures the faithfulness of our labor, not our success. I look always to the Lord and not to man.”

There can be periods of life-quenching discouragement that comes from extended periods of apparent fruitlessness.  Over the past 17 years, I have seen our worship guys go through great discouragement over the lack of enthusiasm from our congregational worship.  We've spent time evaluating what we were doing, trying to make changes to make sure it wasn't us that was holding them back.   And then there would come breakthrough seasons like we are in now, where the worship has never been sweeter - the body seeming anxious to gather and worship together...  All we are required of the Lord to do, is to faithfully serve - never promised that we would even see results!

The prophet Isaiah was sent to minister to a people that God knew would not turn to Him.  Talk about a seemingly 'fruitless' season!  Isaiah said this, "I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity, yet surely my right is with the LORD and my recompense with my God. (Isaiah 49:4)

He knew regardless of their response, his reward rested in the Lord, it was the labor required - not success.

Please be encouraged today to continue the labor God has called you to!   Your reward rests in Him!

And continue to pray for us as we work through the process of choosing Crossroads' next pastor.

My prayer throughout the process has not only been for the man God has chosen for us , but for unity in the process.  A process that builds us stronger and closer to one another and to the Lord!  May our labor at Crossroads be sweet to the Lord!

weekend report

How has another weekend come and gone already?   I swear I feel like I just get a handle on all the details and preparation required and before I even 'fully participate and take it in' - it's gone.

I always sit through our Saturday night service so that if any adjustments needs to be made to the length of the service or something needs added we can do that for Sunday... as I walked down the back-hallway to speak with our interim pastor at the end of the final service, and heard applause in the auditorium,  I became overwhelmed with thankfulness to our faithful Crossroads attendees for encouraging the efforts of all involved in the services and support ministries of Crossroads.  Applause = thank you!

Even though there is a strong sense that we know 'who we are' and 'what we're about' - in this time of transition it could be possible if we take our eyes off of Him - that we could try to make the ministry about what we like - our personal preferences.   Instead it's perhaps more important than ever before to know who God's called us to be to our community and to the Body of Christ that worship here.

My hubby talked to a family this weekend that left Crossroads for a season to support another local pastor - they are back and their time away helped them to return fully committed to the importance of expository teaching and a strong direction in ministry.  It seems weekly the Lord provides at least one story of encouragement telling us that even in this transitional time - people recognize our commitment not to change directions, and to support the fact that the Lord moved Pastor Tim to a place He needed him more - AND that He also knows exactly who He needs at Crossroads now.

Our setlist:

Announcements on video:  We've been using younger people predominately on our video announcements - but, this weekend I asked tech guys to include one of my favorite 'older ladies', Nadine and she nailed it!  I got so many compliments about using her - she's a rock-star!

Jesus Paid It All - took our congregation into passionate authentic worship…so strong!

Lay Me Down - Passion
We Believe - Life Worship
From the Inside Out - Hillsong
Jesus Paid It All - Passion

Message:  A Living Hope: Beyond Temptation - Interim Pastor Brian Boone

Exit Song:  From the Inside Out

To Watch our service go to crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries used in their service go to theworshipcommunity.com

Have an amazing God-filled week!!  Praise Him!

You can follow us on twitter @cccwired

my day off

Surprisingly I'm still sitting on my couch - a rare accomplishment on my day off - but, a welcomed one.

I'm working on our next series after Easter - it's gonna be a lot of fun!  But I'm also contemplating many things as a leader that I'd really rather not address.  They are largely positive things, but they require organization and implementation, and I have to admit, it would be nice for someone to just tell me what to do instead of me having to create the 'what to do'!  Leadership feels heavy sometimes!

The things on my list today to re-organize or create:

1. Programming meeting organization for the next series 

• although we are meeting to create it - there has to be a plan for the meeting to be successful, in order for it to produce what we have to have done by meetings' end.   
• make sure all people attending the meeting know ahead of time all the details I have allowing them to research and come prepared 

      2.   Evaluation of Silent Auction

      3.   Recruit additional worship team members, to fill space left by our new Multi-Site locations

      4.  Finish Easter details

• So different this year since we have to consider things that our multi-sites can duplicate!  Again a positive problem but one that needs considerable thought.

       5. Rehearsals also need to change slightly in order to carefully think through 'every detail' that    
           will be seen at the Multi-sites!

       6. Cedarville Youth Worship Workshop on Palm Sunday

• We are going to honored by 6 young men studying to become worship leaders or studying in the area of music in a couple of weeks.  They are going to work with our youth worship team - a huge opportunity for our youth!  
• But a lot of organizing must occur for this to happen:  housing, meals, youth contacted 

Leading in ministry these past 16 years has been the most difficult thing I've every done but outside my family, the very most rewarding thing I've ever done!!

Now that my blog is written - I'm organized - thanks for your help and for always listening to me!

what I learned today

And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.

(Mark 11:15-19 ESV)

Protecting and defending the integrity of the church is something I take very seriously.  Obviously Jesus did!

I question my motives often as ideas come and I pray constantly for clarity of vision and purpose within my daily ministry.  You see it's very easy to slip into worldly ways of accomplishing what you decide needs doing.  It's much more difficult and takes tons of discipline to 'wait on the Lord' as I should.

Leading in ministry is terrifying when you consider the amount of responsibility you carry in regard to God's church.  Today's scripture reading was a great reminder about the responsibility we all bear in protecting and caring for the integrity of Crossroads- the physical church.

I assume however, it refers also to the way our lives are to be set-apart from the rest of the world.  We are called to something different than the world around us understands. We should never be surprised when the lost have no regard or understanding of this.  Our lives are the church, and our relationships are the Body - we are called to a high level of living that only Christ can help us abide in.

Today I learned again to clean and purge and live a life that is a worthy representation of Christ in each word I speak today, in each motive I follow, we are the church.

the greatest is love

I was reading this morning and came across the scripture where Peter asks the question, "What about John?"

Obviously this had to be upsetting to Jesus because Peter had his eyes on John instead of what Jesus was calling him to do. As I continued to read I realized it was a question of love.

Jesus knew the only way Peter would follow him through everything he was called to do is if Peter loved Jesus more than life itself. This forces me to ask myself, how much do I love Him?

Beth Moore wrote, "dedication to ministry and to serving others can sustain you for a while, but without being deeply and completely in love with Jesus, we will eventually burn out and fall away."

That is NOT what I want my legacy to be. How awesome would it be if people someday look at our life and say, "she was so in love with Jesus that her love made her unafraid, un-distracted and unselfish".

I will admit, I do not think I am anywhere near that level of love. In 2011 I long to fall deeply into my Savior and I want all of my work to come from that love not obligation.

You don't have to work in the ministry in order for your day's work to come out of love for Jesus. Love Him so much that those around you see it and want it.

he's gone

This was the title on one of the million or so articles concerning Lebron's departure from Cleveland.

In the midst of all the burning jerseys and bobble heads I heard only one voice of reason.

I didn't catch who the reporter was but he said the following. "We should thank Lebron for leaving. Now we can actually afford to build a team!"

Superstars are a blast to watch, but they can hurt almost as much as help if they have to carry the entire team. No one can sustain leading alone. Ministry is the same, it takes a team.

We have the greatest volunteer team at Crossroads that I have ever worked with in my life! We will be honoring our volunteers this summer when we have a volunteer appreciate picnic in a couple of weeks. I cannot wait! No superstars needed, just one big ministry working together to further the Kingdom and please our Lord!

what I learned today

I had 3 unplanned conversations today with people in ministry.

1. My first conversation was with the wife of a full-time pastor (not in our ministry). As we talked about our kids and all the things filling our lives, she talked about being concerned that one of her kids thought God may be calling them into full time ministry. They just wanted their kids to be able to avoid difficult things. Understandable.

2. I then talked to another person also in full time ministry who was struggling with their own
calling.Just kind of feeling ineffective and needing some encouragement.

3. Finally I received a call from yet another full time ministry friend (out of town) asking for
prayer as they prepared to have a sit down meeting with their pastor to
discuss their future at the ministry.

I know everyone has difficulties with their jobs. But, what makes the ministry so difficult, so hurtful and in many cases such a short tenure?

It is a place that we assume will be safe, fair and Godly at all times. The element we often forget is that churches are filled with imperfect people - this of course includes the staff! So, why are we surprised when things occasionally turn ugly? We should instead expect it I guess.
Jesus was surrounded by imperfect people that He chose to use, and they disappointing him constantly!

All my conversations today gave me something to think about.

I learned today that if I watch for opportunities, the Lord will surround me with chances to be an encouragement to others!

tonight I was scared

We had a gentleman in our services tonight that became very agitated and finally left.

I get very scared. Even though he didn't do anything except leave the auditorium mumbling, it still made me wonder what could have happened. It made me think about stories of violence that I have heard about over the years.

We have an amazing security team that paid close attention to what was going on. And all was well.

If you are from another ministry, do you have a security team? I would really encourage you to work on organizing one immediately!

Have any of you ever been in a public place where something that happened scared you ?

picnic ended

The picnic with the amazing Connect Kiosk Crossroads team has just ended. I will never stop being thankful for all of our great volunteers. Ministry could not happen without them!

As we began to talk about the rest of the year and all the exciting things we are looking forward to, I became overwhelmed once again with God's goodness.

The fact that He continues time and time again to pour His blessings over our ministry just amazes me...He cares about our ministry and He cares about each of us

I got to spend the night with God's people - sweet!

I like to create

I was challenged by a fellow ministry blogger to answer the following questions, so I'll give it my best shot!

What ignites that flame inside you to create? Honestly, it can be anything. Some of my friends laugh at me as we talk and I start say "we should do this, or we should try this ..." So although it sounds terribly simple - any new idea, any problem that needs to be solved, any creative challenge that needs to be tackled gets me going!

What sparks that passion inside you? This is easy to answer, the thought that something I help to create might be the element that finally makes it click for a non-believer is all the spark I need to get me all fired up! I say almost weekly to someone nearby - I still can't believe I get to do this every week!

How do you channel your creativity into a finished product? I brainstorm when given an assignment or when I decide to create something new, and then I move into the creation process quickly. I set a time line, contact the other people I need to pull off the creative assignment, I stay involved in the project especially in the early stages. I feel it is very important to make sure early on that things are on course so people don't spend time going the wrong direction.

What do you do when you struggle to create? I pray a lot! I create a new team, quickly! When I discover that I am short handed, or don't have the right group of creative talent that I need, I create a new small group/team. It's much easier than it sounds.

I never hesitate to ask for help, but honestly we have so many creative people in our ministry I usually can find someone that can help me get over the hurdle pretty quickly. My senior pastor and my husband are both very creative and can usually make suggestions that get me moving again. My biggest problem is waiting longer than I should to ask for help!

How do you celebrate your wins? I celebrate with everyone that helps in the process. I write tons of thank you cards weekly expressing my thanks and telling any stories that I hear from people whose lives have been changed due in part to their work.

Do you enjoy your creative process? Love it, even when it is difficult.

How do you share your creative elements with others? On our church website, YouTube, GodTube, facebook, and my blog.

It is with awe week after week that I come to God thanking Him for the privilege of creating!

guard your heart

An appropriate title for Valentines Day!

Proverbs 4:23, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life."

We know we have to guard things like our time, resources, family, marriage, but, what about our own hearts?

Sometimes in ministry I feel like I have to always give 'all of me' away constantly. Some of my friends have taught me recently this is not what God wants. He wants us to protect ourselves, protect our hearts. We have a God given intuition (promptings from the Holy Spirit) that tells us when we have had enough or need a break. We need to listen, we have to guard our hearts.

The ways of guarding are many, the study of God's Word, prayer and Godly support of close friends. We do, however, have to make sure there is balance. God never intended us to live in isolation, shutting out all around us. The church is the perfect example of how much God values community. This requires a balance of investing in and doing life with others while remaining aware of the condition of our hearts. Balance is the tough part.

So, how is your heart on this Valentines Day?

Go Mission

The final area of our ministry is about to begin big time! Go Missions!

We will be launching in a couple of weeks and I cannot wait! This new ministry is going to get everyone excited and everyone involved. From the people that feel called to serve our local community, to the people who have always had a heart for foreign missions, opportunities will be available for all.

It is as if God has just been waiting for us to get everything ready and POW - things are lining up almost faster than we can handle them! We talked today about all the ways our congregation from kids on up will be included, it's going to be amazing! God's timing is sovereign and the excitement building around this new ministry is contagious! Just a couple more weeks to go and we will be ready for the big reveal, the launch, the GO!

More details to follow! Please begin praying for God to provide!

my day off...kind of

It started out good, a glorious massage...possible stretched ligaments in my shoulder -ouch! Then of course breakfast out!

It was a beautiful day here in Mansfield, so I was able to sit out to do my reading. I enjoyed being outside, lots of indoor time coming soon enough. The time of rest soon came to an end as I hurried into the rest of my day.

Anyone in ministry knows there really is never a whole day off, not really. I had to pick up postcards at church to mail for advertising the visit of Rick Muchow from the Saddleback church. I learned how to use the new copy machine to run the labels I needed. This was well worth my time because the rest of the week the whole staff is in which makes it nearly impossible to find the machine not running with someone's work. We finished everything and I got the postcards ready for the mail then went back home.

I was home for several hours, did very little, then needed to return to Crossroads once again. . We have two brand new actors in this coming weekend's drama. I wanted to be at practice to make their first time as easy as possible by helping in anyway our drama director, Maureen needed. The actor's were a little nervous, but soon got into character and we found ourselves laughing a lot! I look forward as always to the weekend. If you were not able to be with us this past weekend, you really should watch the service, it was pretty much amazing.

Anyway - not much of a day off I suppose, but fun none the less. Maybe tomorrow I can stay away! ha ha probably not...

what I learned today

I got a reminder today that we are a team at Crossroads, not disconnected by departments! Of course I knew this, but do you ever find yourself falling into the "that's not my job" trap at work or some area of your life?

I got a call from church today from our Chief of Staff at Crossroads, Mark Pierce. He wanted to discuss problems he had seen last weekend. Problems that could interfere with our 'guests' experience at Crossroads. He started talking about a group of volunteers that do not fall under my leadership, technically. However, this group directly affects my area of responsibilities and is a 'first touch' ministry.

As we discussed the problems that occurred, the dreaded words came out of my mouth. The words that every supervisor NEVER wants to hear. I said, "now, you know that so and so is over that area not me, right?" What it may have sounded like is, "That's not my job!" Not good! As we talked I explained that the reason I mentioned that was because I really did think he may have thought this team was under me. He understood, thankfully!

As soon as I hung up the phone I emailed him, apologizing and telling him I hoped he didn't think I was refusing to overlap into another area. No one, I repeat NO ONE feels stronger that the whole staff is one big team than I do, but man I still wish I could take back those lame words.

He assured me again, he totally understood.

So how do we all fall into the trap sometimes of thinking as long as we do our job we are fine? I suppose it can sometimes be a pride issue, that job is beneath me, (no excuse and this is NEVER true), or we may be so busy with our own responsibilities that is is difficult to notice the other areas of ministry around us, (no excuse), or we may worry about over stepping into another persons area of responsibility. Although I think we do have to honor the way others supervise and not take over, it still is no excuse because you can always go to that supervisor and have a conversation. We all have ownership, whether it is a secular job or ministry.

What I learned today: Think Before You Speak! Duh!!