what I learned today

Sometimes your adoration is a spontaneous overflow of Joy, in response to radiant beauty or rich blessings. At other times your praise is more disciplined and measured—an act of your will. He dwells equally in both types of praise.

I read this in a book I used for devotions today and it really encouraged me!

It encouraged me because sometimes I don't feel like praising, I've wondered if I praise anyway if He can still receive it?  I was so glad to read this today - it makes me determined to praise Him at all times.

I know at times I've withheld my praise worrying that it wasn't a whole hearted- fully engaged praise I was offering.  What that does, is suggest it's up to me to determine when it's good enough or when God can accept it.  It actually paints Him as unable to accept it suggesting it's my decision.

He accepts our praise even at times it comes out of the discipline of constantly praising Him instead of a huge experiential event!

How it must grieve Him when I don't trust Him to truly be the God of the universe, capable of all things!  The thought of Him waiting and waiting for my praise is humbling and convicting and makes me determined to never withhold whatever is on my lips and in my heart!

God desiring MY praise…unbelievable.

my day off

I decided to write at the beginning of my day off instead of part way or all the way through it for a change.  As I write I see my yard outlined in snow with grass peeking through in the center of the yard.

I feel like that today.  When I woke up Crossroads was heavy on my heart.  I feel like we're peeking out of the greatest change our church has yet known, the loss of Pastor Tim and his family.

Sensing my struggle Vern emerged from the bedroom and crawled up beside me - some things never change!

I'm planning on spending some uninterrupted time today praying for our next pastor.  We need him.  We will be planning an all night prayer/scripture reading vigil at Crossroads soon, I may just camp out there for several days - this will be a really blessed time of prayer and our congregation coming together.

I'm praying that even now our next pastor senses an unrest in his spirit that prepares his heart to move from where he is, but that the transition is as healthy a transition as Pastor Tim's.  I pray we won't take a pastor who's church will fall apart with him gone.  That's actually a sign of a bad leader.

On the other hand, the fact that the day to day work and even tons of new events and opportunities are going to happen this summer with Pastor Tim gone is a testimony to good leadership!  Our congregation has carefully chosen an amazingly strong Elder board and we have a strong staff!  In addition to that our congregation is the most willing to serve and care for our ministry that I have ever seen!

Now all we have to do is go to the Lord with our request for the man He wants Crossroads to have.  (after all, He already has that man chosen!)  I can't think of a better way to spend 'my day off' than this. PLEASE set some dedicated time away from everything today and PRAY!

weekend report

Eric was the worship leader this weekend!

Where do I begin…

Crossroads started the practice of using our youth band every time there is a 5th weekend.  It's become something our congregation really looks forward to, and this weekend was no exception!

Our adult worship guys, work with one of our student ministry pastors and our youth worship team to help them prepare for 5th weekend on the main stage.  But, it's truly lead by them - not our main guys.  This serves SO many purposes - it communicates to our youth that we value them as a current part of the ministry.  It teaches them commitment as we hold multiple rehearsals, and it allows our congregation to be lead and hear from different leaders.  It demonstrates a vibrance, an alive-ness in our ministry in addition to our excellent adults praise teams.

The other thing we do is allow the teens to serve in all of our tech areas!   It was excellent!

Our CG operator , Lizzie for the weekend!

Video directing behind the scenes with Blueberry

Running sound is serious business - Tim and Alex!

Wesley running lighting and our fog machine!

(not pictured here were our youth camera operators too - sadly I'm not sure I have pictures!)

You can watch our services tomorrow at www.crossroadswired.com !

Our Service:

We began with one of our youth recorded doing our announcements!  She was great too!

Our Chairman of the Elder Board, Mike Sloan, then gave an update on our pastor search.

The band began playing under Mike's prayer and another student came to the stage reciting 'spoken word' pieces he had written!  It was great!

Spoken Word
Whom Shall I Fear
Oceans
Stronger
Spoken Word within Stronger
You Won't Relent
Message:  The Gospel of John Pt. 11 - Senior Pastor Tim Armstrong
Exit Song:  Stronger (shortened)

Powerful spoken word by Bailey!

You won't relent - amazing lead by Emily!

Hannah and Hendrick covered keyboards!

A fantastic praise team!

To see what other ministries used in their worship services you can go to www.theworshipcommunity.com

Thanks to all the parents that faithfully bring your students to Crossroads, we NEED them so much!

Have a blessed week!

songs without words

Recently my hubby and I climbed in the car to go who-knows-where, and classical music began to play  from the radio.    It was a particularly ugly piece and my hubby said, "what is that?"

I laughed and began to explain that when I'm overwhelmed I like songs without words.

To fill my jeep with classical music allows me to imagine all sorts of carefree things attached to no stress or 'to do's'.

Words in songs 'tell' you what to think - direct you to where the writer wants to take you - and seldom allows freedom in the translation.  No words = freedom to just dream and not think to just be.

No words are a suggestion from God who knew we'd need to be still sometimes.

Psalms 4:4 | 

Stand in awe, and sin not: commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still.

what I learned today

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. EPHESIANS 3 : 20– 21

The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace. ROMANS 8 : 6

He is able to do IMMEASURABLY more, even than we IMAGINE!

I love that He added this, we talk about prayer requests and pray without ceasing - but beyond ANYTHING we ask or even IMAGINE to ask of Him, He is able to do!  SO COMFORTING!

And then I went on to read - The mind CONTROLLED by the Spirit….oh how I long to be SO controlled by Him that nothing rattles me or concerns me.

This is my confession, again…..I don't know if I truly can turn something completely over to Him.  That is a sad confession - it speaks of how limited my trust and belief in Him deep down inside is -sadly.   But, I LONG for this kind of complete trust - I move toward it asking Him to possess my mind completely.  I purpose to give all control and worry to Him - it's nothing for Him to take on the burdens that paralyze me.  In fact as a child of God He already carries it, I just think it's mine to bare, or am tricked by satan to think that so I'm not effective for the kingdom…silly….

Today I learned AGAIN, that my burdens are NOT my own - that He controls every thing and has for generations, and that I just need to lay it out to Him.

AGain and again - my study takes me to these type of passages, so I admit it - I'm a control freak and it's time to really really release and abide in Him and live the life and peace He offers me.

Am I the only one that struggles in this area of releasing?

My day off

As Vern and I sit down this morning for devotions,  I look around me and give thanks for the sunshine first of all but also for another calm morning.  The sunshine, however, reveals things I didn't know was there unfortunately!

Trying to look out and enjoy the sun requires looking through the winter scarred glass revealing work that needs to be done.  Windows need to be cleaned, woodwork needs to be dusted and the list goes on and on.

With Pastor Tim announcing he's accepted the Chapel position, it's forced me to look closely at myself in much the same way I'm looking at my house.

We have a great working relationship and have settled into a 'this is my responsibility - this is your responsibility' daily work schedule.  With that ending all of us have to 'redefine' our responsibilities to a certain extent and evaluate what we're not doing well.  That's difficult to be honest about and sometimes nearly impossible to even see yourself as you really are, but it's a huge opportunity to grow and change with the Lord's help!  Not comfortable but necessary.  I've asked The Lord to reveal that to me.

My greatest responsibility through this time will be to stay in the Word and to bathe myself and Crossroads in constant prayer.

So just as I see things that need to be done here at home - my ministry work will be under much scrutiny, mostly from myself and I honestly ask for it from The Lord most of all.

Now it's time to start 'doing' something about the mess I see around me - what kind of mess are you attending to today?  

weekend report

Without exaggerating I can safely say, this weekend was one of the most amazing worship services at Crossroads I've ever attended!  SO STRONG and there was no doubt the Lord was in this place.  Here are a couple of short video shots and pictures to try to give you a taste of what we experienced if you weren't here!  To watch our entire service on Monday go to www.crossroadswired.com

Announcements on Video

Opening Instrumental:  Bada Bing

Praise:  The Lord Reigns

Worship:  A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Worship:  In Christ Alone

Praise:  God Be Praised

Message:  How to Know God's Will

To see what other ministries used in their worship services go to www.theworshipcommunity.com