Fulfilling Our Vision

The vision of Crossroads Christian Church is to become a place where people experience transforming grace in genuine community. That is a tremendous, God-honoring, and Christ exalting vision. It is a vision that I hope we ALL are committed to fulfilling.

Since we cast that new vision at our ReUnited service, some people have come forward to express concerns about our current situation as a congregation. A few have decided to seek fellowship and worship else where, even one from our own leadership team. While this saddens me, what grieves me the most is that sometimes there is a sense of gladness with some people about some of those that have chosen to leave.

Let me make myself perfectly clear on this matter. We should NEVER take pleasure in the loss of a single individual from our church for less than positive reasons. When people leave our congregation for such reasons, we need to see it as our failure to fulfill our vision. You and I failed to motivate them to be "transformed" by God's grace and grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. We must work even harder to become that place of transforming grace.

I will grant you that they also bear responsibility for their failure to be transformed. Some people are unwilling to accept the accountability and authenticity that comes from living in genuine community with other believers. This does not make their leaving a good thing however, because we lose the opportunity to minister to them and for them to be used of God here. We need to pray earnestly that God directs them to another congregation that will help them to grow in Christ.

The challenge that remains for us is that we need to be focused on the mission and vision that God has given us as a congregation. God is blessing our church! Each and every week we are seeing new faces in the congregation. While I know that our single worship service is not meeting everyone's needs perfectly, I can clearly see a commitment to work together to make it better and better every week. If you are not experiencing God in the worship service, you are simply not looking for HIM.

In closing, I need to mention our financial situation. Since the beginning of the fiscal year (September), our offerings have been running at only 75% of the budget. With over 80% of our budget being made up by fixed expenses (mortgage, salaries, insurance, etc), that does not leave any funds for actual ministry programing. This trend cannot continue without serious consequences. The leadership team is already considering options to deal with this situation, but the fact remains we need everyone's consistent financial support.

I know some of you have lost your jobs and others are still looking for jobs. Others are being squeezed financially, and most of us are concerned about the economy. We cannot forget however that GOD IS STILL IN CONTROL. He has promised to bless us in proportion to how much we are willing to give. We need to understand that our tithe is anchor of financial strength. When we are faithful to God, HE is faithful to us.

God Bless!
Mike

ReUnited Service

I wanted to rewrite this post last night but I was just too exhausted. I cannot imagine God doing more than what HE did yesterday in our first service of the new single service format. God used everyone involved in a very special way. I want thank Guy and Archie for being willing to share their thoughts with the congregation. Their words came straight from the heart and were a tremendous blessing to all. It is good to be reminded of the lives our congregation has touched.

This was an especially important service for us because the devil has been working overtime trying to bring a negative and divisive spirit into our fellowship. This is why I decide to have a prayer breakfast for the men of the church on Saturday. What a fabulous time we had together. Men encouraging other men. Honest and transparent sharing of our struggles and joys. It was such a blessing, we are going to another one on Saturday, December 6th at 8am.

For those of you who missed the service, I can only say, I warned you. Our theme of reunited was woven throughout the service. We asked our people, not only to be reunited in one worship service, but also in our mission and new vision statement. We closed the service with an initiation to demonstrate their support by signing one of two large posters of mission and vision statements. We will have these available for everyone to sign for next couple of weeks before we laminate them for mounting in the church.

What I love most about our vision statement is that it expands on our tagline "experience community". Our vision is to be a place with people experience transforming grace in genuine community. As I said Sunday, community is not a place, but a relationship that exists between people. It is the feeling you get when you know you are where you belong and are genuinely accepted. As was evident from the service, Crossroads has helped transform lives through God's grace.

I realize that not everyone is totally on board with our decision to return to having only one worship on a Sunday. Let me assure you that it is the desire of the leadership to return a two service format when attendance justifies doing so. We have already established benchmarks for when the transition will begin. When we fill the current auditorium for two services, we will begin the process of constructing our actual auditorium. Nothing would please me more than to see us again on a consistent growth track for the future.

Finally, I want to encourage you to speak to me, email me, or call me if you have any questions, concerns, or problems. Often times, people are upset about something that is not even TRUE. They have been misled by someone else, either intentionally or unintentionally, who has a personal agenda and is not seeking the good of the church. Our congregation is strong and now is united behind a God-honoring and Christ exalting mission and vision. God has great things planned for this church.