my day off

If any of you live in an area like Ohio, then you too have an appreciation for the signs of spring.

Last night was horrible with a nasty mixture of rain and snow blowing sideways! Today, sunshine. So with this inspiration I moved my closet around - burying turtlenecks deep into the recesses of my closet and moving summer shirts forward. I pulled out sandals and packed away boots. Perhaps premature, but there is always hope right?

God gives me a personal gift when I get to enjoy beautiful weather, you've heard me talk before about how much I love to be outdoors. The newness of spring is so exciting to me!

Somehow today my sister and I began talking about forgiveness. Forgiveness if it's genuine can definitely be a new beginning, much like spring.

To remain in a state of bitterness and not to forgive hurts and scars deeply. The thing we were discussing is 'who does it hurt more?' Toss up. To be denied forgiveness is brutal, to not offer forgiveness is cruel. What right do we have to withhold either when we have been forgiven so much by our Father? How we must hurt Him. I thanked Him today for second chances and forgiveness.

God used a beautiful Spring day off to remind me again how many new beginnings He has given me, and how grateful I am!

weekend report

Getting ready for Easter! It was great to have our senior pastor back from Israel safe and sound, and He put a great challenge out there to each of us to prepare for Easter!

Tim encouraged everyone to take advantage of the opportunity that Easter provides to invite others to church. Most people you talk to first come to church because someone personally invites them. (I think I need to get extra chairs ready for the auditorium!)

To support Pastor Tim's great teaching, we put this setlist together. I would encourage any of you who are not familiar with Charlie Dodrill's music to check it out, the final song was one of his.

Instrumental: Just What I Needed the Cars

Easter Promo Video: Three Days Later Chris McGowan (purchased on Sermon spice)

announcements

You Are Good - Gateway

For Who You Are - Hillsong

Sing, Sing, Sing

Majestic

Special Music: Give Me Your Eyes - Brandon Heath (we used original footage shot in New York)

Message: Moving the Mission Forward Tim Armstrong

Special Music: What If I Would Say - Charlie Dodrill

Great weekend - everyone seemed excited for what God has in the coming weeks!

To see what other ministries included in their services go to Fred McKinnon's site.

To watch our services, click here on Monday afternoon, www.crossroadswired.com

Moses lead grumblers

I have missed writing these past two days, but, I had such long busy days, days filled with amazing things as well as many ministry details to take care of, that if I had written it would not have even made sense I was so tired!

After a little rest, I am anxious to get back to it!

A close friend of mine and I were talking Thursday about our church backgrounds. She shared some very hurtful things that had happened in their church when she was young. I assured her she wasn't alone and that we shouldn't be surprised because the church is just made up of imperfect people. People that come from all different backgrounds with all different expectations and all different needs.

People complaining about things shouldn't discourage us, we can never let it take our focus off of why we were called to our ministries. Grumbling also shouldn't surprise us, after all Moses lead the ultimate grumblers, an example that maybe God added to the Bible to show people are never happy!

Ok, so picture this, the children of Israel finally begin lead from captivity, they grumbled, pillars of fire lead them, they grumbled, God fed them from heaven, they grumbled about the choice of food, God parted the Red Sea just for them and killed their enemy with it, and still they grumbled!

Here is a line I loved from one of Beth Moore's books, " Moses had all of forty years on the far side of the desert followed by a flock of aggravating people". The poor guy! I can't think of much worse than trying to lead a huge group of grumblers through hot sand.

All this to say, even when God performed the most amazing miracles, used men to do incredible things that only He could allow, people grumbled. So what does this have to do with us? When all every single one of us deserves is punishment for our thought lives, our bitterness, our lies and all of our many sins...

God allowed his own son to be murdered by sinful men just like you and me, buried and then He reached down from heaven and raised him up for us, for me, for you, and still we grumble...

don't cheat on God

Those were words from one of my best buddies, Deering Dyer. Deering is our Small Groups Director. God is using Deering in amazing ways at Crossroads. One of the reasons why he is being used I believe is because Deering doesn't feel worthy. What he may not realize is when we feel the most vulnerable, the most out of our element, God steps in big time! This is when we are most usable by God.

Deering taught us tonight on Hosea 9. Tough chapter, tough subject. But God was there and Deering was willing. When Deering explained that Hosea gives us the perfect example of what Christ does for us, it clicked for me big time.

Just as time and time again Hosea had to retrieve his wife Gomer out of a life of sin, so God forgives us over and over. Hosea forgave his sinful wife and provided everything for her, yet she continued to go right back to sin again and again!

Deering challenged us not to 'Cheat on God' by given Him less than our best. I never thought of it that way, but it is so true - God loved us so much He gave us his son, and instead we choose our own sinful desires, again and again. We too are just like Gomer.

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!

God's will

All my friends care deeply about God's will for their lives. We all talk about being in His will or our lives would be wasted!

So question...if this is how we are to spend our lives, seeking God's will, then why is it so hard to find? Or is it?

Maybe it is as simple as being in the Bible and in prayer, listening to wise counsel from trusted more mature believers, being willing to walk through doors the Holy Spirit reveals to us, watching for opportunities He provides to use the abilities He has gifted us with. It isn't about us "doing things" to discover God's will, but rather to remain in Him, being content even in times that feel like He is not revealing Himself to us.

“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” Philippians 1:6

Being in God's will may be the closest peak at eternity with Him that we get. Worth the pursuit!

weekend review

I saw many people wiping their eyes as they left the auditorium this weekend. It is always moving to involve children in the weekend service. Combine the impact of children with the teaching of our Family Ministry Director, Jeanette Chase and you have a God anointed weekend!

Our Setlist: We began the theme right from the opening element and carried it all the way through

Instrumental: Linus and Lucy

Announcements: we used our Senior High Ministry Pastor who brought up a tiny side kick (we look for thematic ways to have fun with announcements- so involving a child was perfect)

Praise: As For Me this song is taken from one of the texts Jeanette used

Praise: Today

Praise: One Voice this is an original song written by Milo Sgambellone one of our worship leaders...if you watch our service on line, you will see a video within the teaching of a little boy who played and sang this song for Milo ! A perfect illustration of how we model for our children.

Special: Cats In The Cradle I have to confess when the music guys told me we were doing this song I thought it too predictable. But, the way it was performed was so great, a great take on the original!

Drama: Fat Chance (a WillowCreek drama) A perfect representation of what every parent deals with and how it is difficult to even find time for prayer.

Teaching: Prayer in Parenting

Ending Special: Shout To The Lord kids choir

This weekend took a lot of behind the scenes people to pull of, I would like to thank them all so much. Our congregation was very moved and I'd like to pass all the thank yous on to all of our amazing team members!

If you would like to see what other churches around the country and around the world did this weekend, go to Fred McKinnon's site!

If you visit our site on Tuesday, you can watch the Crossroads services on line! God Bless!