Saturday, March 30, 2013

Not Just Another Sunday!



This coming Sunday is important.  Actually every Sunday is important. This is Sunday is significant because it is a day when many people go to church because it is Easter Sunday. A day when we remember that Jesus Christ was resurrected from the dead.  It is not a concept that I think we tend to forget, but I am not sure we celebrate enough. We often fail to appreciate the historical significance of this event at well.

In our current series, “Who Is This Man?”, we have examine a lot of the impact that Jesus had on our world.  It is an impact that continues even today.  The driving force behind that growing impact, I believe, is the resurrection.  This is by the intentional effort Jesus made to base all of his credibility and promises on this fact that HE would rise from the grave.  His resurrection proved all that he said about who he was and what he did for us.

Easter Sunday is a time when we will have a great number of new faces in the service.  Many will be our guests for the very first time.  They made be attending our habit or seeking to fill a need or void in their lives.  Some will be members coming back because it is expected that they show up on Easter.  We need to do all we can to make them feel welcome and comfortable. I know you will do your part, but let me make a couple of suggestions.

  • Park your car as far away from the front doors as possible.  This allows our guests to get the spaces nearest the door.  Try to minimize the number of cars you bring to church.  Our lot is not very big.  Better to make a couple of trips and/or fill up the vehicle so that we have more spaces available.

  • Come early and be friendly.  I realize that we are a friendly congregation but it is good to be reminded.  Don't just talk to your friends at church, but circulate around and introduce yourself.  You might just be surprised who the Lord has lead to church.

  • Be prepared for worship and to serve.  While we plan as best we can for the service, we cannot anticipate every situation.  Someone might be sick and cannot serve as schedule. We may have more children to care for than expected.  We may even need to set up some chairs in the foyer to make room in the auditorium.  One can never know so we must be flexible and willing to step in where needed.
Finally, I want to touch on the special offering.  Our goal is $20,000.  We have committed half to go directly on the principle of our mortgage.  Our current mortgage balance is $466,205.  With a $10,000 principle payment, we would save significantly in interest and shorten the length of our loan.  This is not just for this year, but as a part of our overall stewardship strategy.  Going forward, we are committing 50% of EVERY EASTER OFFERING to this goal of paying off our debt.

I realize these are tough financial times for everyone.  With the rising prices of gas, healthcare, and even basic necessities, your faithful stewardship each week is greatly appreciated.  However, this offering is an opportunity for God to give through you in an outrageous way over and above your normal giving.  Only what is given in the offering plates on Sunday will go towards this goal.  Online giving will NOT be included.  God is going to do something great this Sunday. Don't be left out!

See You Sunday,
Mike

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Hard Reset


Do you know what a “hard reset” is?  If you have a smart phone, you have probably done at least one of these.  This is when you get so much stuff on phone that it starts doing weird things.  It gets glitchy and starts dropping calls and even will just shut down for no reason at all.   The only way to fix this condition is called a hard reset. When you do it, it will erase everything on your phone and strips back to the original condition.  This provides you an opportunity to add stuff back slowly and find out what was causing the problem.


With Spring Break coming, I find myself considering the thought that I may need to do a “hard reset” on my life.  Commitments are filling up my schedule and my life is feeling a bit glitchy.  It is not that my life is bad.  It is just not working at well as it should.  Some of my priorities are being dropped consistently.  I do not feel I am being as effective as can be and should be.  This may mean I need to eliminate something in favor of adding others things.  The process will be difficult but I think very necessary.

How about you?  Are you accomplishing the important things in your life?  Should you consider doing a hard reset as well?  Whether or not you are going away for Spring Break, you have an opportunity to make some changes in your life.  Has attending worship been neglected in your schedule?  Have been missing that daily time in God’s Word?  Is your prayer life on the verge of being non-existent?  Do you need to restore some balance between work, home, family, and church?

I am not suggesting that you need to consider doing MORE.  In fact, when I do my hard reset, I going to do a brutal evaluation of EVERYTHING I am doing and how I use my time.  Each week we are given 168 hours to invest.  There is such thing as “saving time”, like we can money. When this day is gone, it will be gone for eternity.

One tool I am going to use it a simple goal setting worksheet I found at http://dotconnectorblog.com/wp-content/uploads/Weekly-Planner-Template.pdf.   Of course, I am adapting to my situation.  However, it does provide an opportunity to examine our various roles in life.  Easter is all about new life and new directions.  Why not let the power of resurrection to fuel some great and positive changes in your life?

See You Sunday,Mike

Monday, March 4, 2013

Change a life...invite someone to worship with YOU!

If you missed “I Love My Church” Sunday, then you really missed a great time of celebration. Guy Louks and Dave Nance shared great testimonies of why they love Crossroads. Sue Huff did a wonderful job of coordinating the fellowship dinner. It was such a success that I am planning on making an annual Crossroads tradition for the last Sunday in February.


Another Crossroads tradition is our annual special offering on Easter Sunday. This year we are doing things a little different than the normal. As part of our stewardship strategy, the leadership team has committed that half of the offering will be used for debt reduction. With a goal of $20,000, that would mean that we would pay $10,000 directly on the principal of our mortgage. The impact of such a payment would be tremendous in terms of both saving us interest and shortening the length of the loan.

The other half of the offering is committed to several items. The first $5,000 would be used to replenish our emergency fund. Having such a fund is critical to our financial structure. We don’t want to come to the congregation for funds to deal with an unexpected breakdown or repair expense. We will use the remaining funds to catch up some commitments from last year as well as make some investments in the worship ministry.

Last year, God blessed us outrageously through you and provided the funds to purchase and install the new sign. We have already seen results from that investment. Please pray that God works through His people again and we are able celebrate another great outpouring of generosity. I hope you have already decided on what you will “sacrifice” in order to give to this offering. These gifts need to be over and above your regular tithing and giving to Crossroads. Remember we will be actually “passing the plate” to receive this offering so you cannot give through the online method.

Finally, now is a great time to invite your neighbors, family, and friends to join us for Easter Sunday. We are planning a great time of worship and honoring our resurrected Savior and Lord. Share an invitation with someone today. You might just change their life!

See You Sunday,

Mike