weekend report

Amidst frigid temperatures we gathered as the Church.

It was a beautiful weekend of communion, fellowship, worship and learning more about God's creation of His church and His intention for how we should do life together.

I always think of those I only see once a month or maybe every-other weekend at Crossroads and feel sad that they may never know how God's personal design of the church really works.

God's church is the place where the gifts and talents that the Father gave every single one of us were given to be used.  It's the place where lifting our voices together in worship is the closest thing we'll experience here on earth - just a glimpse, just a taste of what eternally worshipping God face to face will be.  It's the place where every problem you've ever faced can be used to encourage others, showing them that God is in charge, that problems and trials are the very thing that draw us closer to Jesus - trials in our lives are the place we're no longer in charge but really fall deeply into faith in Christ.  It's the place where even those without family can do life in community, discovering in groups and classes who their family in the Lord is.  Those who know Jesus, do not have to do life alone - we are eternal family, we are The Church!

It was a beautiful weekend and I was thankful to be part of it!

Our Setlist:
Announcements

The Lion and The Lamb
King of My Heart

Communion - Pastor Wendell lead us in preparing for Communion

Come To The Table
Christ is Enough

Message:  Is It Yours?  Yours, Mine, Ours - Lead Pastor Dr. Dave Vance

Exit song: Praise Goes On

Please join us next weekend as we enjoy part 2 of our Is It Yours? Series!  If you missed this week's service go to the link below to watch.

Have a blessed weekend!

crossroadwired.com

stark contrasts

 I was in the process of texting my son to tell him how proud I am of him after watching his most recent video, http://vimeo.com/54815992 and how I marvel at the seemingly unending talent and ability that God has blessed him with, when a text came in on my hubby's phone laying beside me.

My amazing hubby, makes a certain special needs adult young man feel he can come to him about anything.  So he very often and sometimes MANY times a day hears from this young man.  The other text message told my hubby that he was going back to the doctor.  His 'shaking' has become very bad.

It struck me what a contrast this was.

On one hand our son, a young man fully capable of doing almost anything he puts his mind to, on the other hand a young man who would give anything for an opportunity just to be fully functional and able to choose what to accomplish today.  Instead it's dictated to him, day after day, what he'll accomplish based on his current health and stability of mind.

Why does God allow this kind of contrast...I don't know.  I do believe God is sovereign and He decides what best furthers His kingdom.

Watching this special needs young man struggle sometimes just to survive, does draw me to the Lord.  It draws me in prayer and it encourages me when he succeeds - I cheer for him.  I can understand - just a little  bit more, how things that don't make sense to us fit into God's plan, and I rest in that.

Yes, it's easy for me to say, because my son is doing well and is healthy, but I've worked with special needs kids in the past and I understand even more now why they are so special.  It's their pure belief and joy in the Lord.  It's the uninhibited joy and their expression in worship that I see in our services at Crossroads.  God uses the 'least of these'.  In His eyes I suspect THEY are the closest to the heart of God - they are unquestioning.

Stark contrasts drove me to the Lord today.

good friends

Friends are truly invaluable. Not because of what they do for you, but because of what they do with you! Together we do life.

Periods come in each of our lives where we desperately need our friends and there are times when we are not together as much. It doesn't matter, they are still there - ready and willing to do what needs to be done. Happy occasion or sad.

Last week was one of the happiest occasions of our families life, but we needed a lot of help. And, we got it!

What our friends gave us was not just physical help, but help in each of their gifted areas which lifted the occasion to an extraordinarily high level of spiritual teaching, beauty, sound, musical excellence, decoration, fabulous memory, taste, recording, officiating, and helped create an almost magical atmosphere that we could never have accomplished ourselves.

So to all of our dear, precious friends who gave of their time and talents we can never thank you enough for making Jocelyn and Aaron's wedding a lingering memory that will never fade especially because it is covered with the handprints of many of our dearest friends. We love you!

an exciting evening

We will prepare all the final details for Christmas Eve tonight, I am always anxious to see all the details of everyone's work come together live, instead of on paper.

God gives each of His children talents and gifts that he asks us to use to serve Him. Tonight we get to see many people's talents come together in unison to worship this God who sent His son.

Last night at the Willow Creek service Bill Hybels said, "God wants to have a relationship with us so much that He sent his son - to become like us and the relationship He desires is that of a Father with His child. Just as 'good' earthly fathers will do anything to have a relationship with their children God desired us SO much that He would give up His son to reach us." Amazing!

So we go into tonight's rehearsals knowing we bare great responsibility to communicate this message of salvation well, to present the sacrifice of God giving His son strongly and to give a desperate community the hope that can only come through relationship with Him.

they worshiped

Oh my what a night...I will remember this night for a long, long time.

Gracious friends invited us to use their beautiful farm to take the Crossroads artists outside tonight. We shared a picnic then I encouraged everyone to worship God with their artistic talents, whatever that meant to them, just worship Him. And they did.

They spread across the farm and began to worship. With pens, pencils, cameras and words they praised Him. And I know He was pleased. The talents God gave them came back to Him - he created artists to draw for Him, to sing for Him, to act for him, to design for him and to write for Him. And tonight they did.

what I learned today

As I studied Matthew 25: 20 & 21 in preparation for the Artists Small Group tonight, I was extremely encouraged by the fact that God only expects from us what we are capable of according to our individual ability. Don't you find that so freeing?

We all spend time sizing up the competition, deciding in our minds that we don't measure up to those around us who we perceive to be more accomplished, or the opposite, puffing ourselves up because we think we've done something better. Oh yeah, but, we keep a big smile on our faces at the same time! What a waste of time! God doesn't look at us all lined up comparing what the person next to us accomplished with his talents. So then, why do we? I guess it is just to try to make our selves feel better. We either compare in order to justify slacking off (I did more than he did!), or better because we've killed ourselves working so hard (I'm such a martyr look how hard I work)!

There is no comparison in God's eyes one to another, only in ours!

Different talents are given to each, according to our ability, and the return on God's investment is measured the same way, according to our ability!! We become paralyzed anticipating failure, instead of laying at His feet ONLY what He created us to be able to do! He offers us success in the assignment He gives us, (not of our own doing).

I learned today, I need to focus totally on what He has given me a talent to do and not set my eyes on anyone else. That's what you call, Freedom In Christ!

weekend report

Oh my - church can be fun! I was so anxious to begin our weekend! We have so many new young team members, they bring such energy and are so anxious to serve...it's contagious!





Service Order:

• Beautiful Day
• You Are Good
• Our God Reigns
• Blessed Be The Name
• On My Knees - special music
• FaithHighway video - "Do You Pray?"
• Message: Prayer Pt. 1

I love being at Crossroads right before everyone begins to arrive, I love watching the church awaken! Here are shots from a few of the areas of the church early this morning.

These shots are taken of our cafe, greeters preparing for the service, our security team, technical areas, Jesse - our youth guy (shorts in February!), the early morning coffee group, the band, our childrens' areas, and just a lot of good friends fellowshipping! Our community coming together, using their talents to serve others! How amazing the weekend was!

If you want to see what other ministries around the country and the world were doing this weekend click here!

We stayed late today to work on next weekend's drama and are looking forward to it!