Our Vision for the Future

First, I want to begin by thanking all of you for your words of encouragement and support for my recent message on my vision for Crossroads Christian Church. It was a difficult message to preach given our challenging circumstances, but one I felt was desperately needed. When times a hard, it is really easy to become negative and pessimistic. This is why I believe we need to focus on a positive vision for the future.

I know it may not have seemed to be a positive message in the beginning, but I wanted everyone to know that I am not in denial about our current difficulties. Yes, our congregation faces some financial challenges. Members have lost their jobs and have had difficulty in finding employment. Yes, our offerings have dropped in recent months and it is reeking havoc with funding our ministries. These and other challenges make being a leader in this congregation tough.

However, I have been through such situations before. I am supremely confident that God is greater and more powerful than all these circumstances. It is times like these where true leaders rise the occasion. Our current leadership team is meeting these issues head on. We have made some tough decisions that will help us, not only to survive these things, but thrive in them as well. But it takes more than a few strong leaders.

We, as a congregation, can no longer rely on just a few dedicated folks to make this church work. Each and every member needs to take a good hard look at where they are and what they are doing in regards to this church. It is in times like these where every hour of service and every dollar given is critical. We cannot achieve our mission or fulfill our vision without the full support of everyone who is a member of this church.

For example, I said in my message that I believe we can have over 200 in worship every Sunday by the end of 2009. This is a very real possibility, but it would require all of us to genuinely commit to being in church every Lord's day. We have 113 actual members of Crossroads with 27 children. Add to that the 60 regular attenders with 12 children, and you have 210 people. This does not even account for the number guests and new members we will add in coming year.

This year will be a great year of opportunity for our church. As life itself gets more difficult, people will begin to question their priorities, and values. They will look around for answers. Just as the economy may cause us to lose some folks as they move to find work, it will also bring new folks to our community as well. We need to be ready to respond to these people when they come to us.

As long as we stand united as a church and work together to build God's Kingdom, we will grow under these present conditions. We have all the elements necessary for that to happen. We have the right staff and proper facilities. We have strong and visionary leadership. We have a good group of dedicated volunteers. But most of all we have God who specializes in making the impossible, POSSIBLE!

In Christ,
Mike