Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Crossroads Church: Now more than Ever


Today Crossroads Church of Newnan celebrates her 19th anniversary as a church! To God be the glory for all the good things that have happened in the past nineteen years. Many disciples have been made for the sake of Jesus Christ because Crossroads Church was started by a handful of people who wanted to see a church do ministry like Jesus did.

As I reflect on our journey as a group of Christ followers I want to thank those people who paid the price to get our church started in those early days. To those folks who met in a home as a core group. To those people from our sponsoring church who helped us launch. To those leaders who had a vision for this work and believed in my leadership. To those people who sat up and took down chairs in a lunchroom week after week. To those people who opened their homes for small groups and still have them open nineteen years later. To those people who have given faithfully in tithes and offerings. To those people who have led teams and organized ministries, outreaches, and events. To everyone who has passed out an invite card and encouraged someone to attend our church. Thank you to everyone who has ever done a single act of service to make God's church at Crossroads a place that honors Him!

As I reflect on our journey I truly believe our best days are ahead of us. This past weekend we had over 6500 people attending in seven different Crossroads Churches in the U.S. That wouldn't have happened if this church had not been planted nineteen years ago. At Crossroads of Newnan we had over 3900 people walk in the doors of our church this past weekend. Dozens of people raised their hand indicating they had accepted Christ in our services. Right now, construction on a brand new worship facility is taking place on our Highway 16 campus. The future couldn't look better!

As I reflect on our journey, past and future, I am convinced that the world needs churches like Crossroads now more than ever! The world needs disciple making churches. The world needs churches that will do ministry the way Jesus did. The world needs churches that present an unchanging message to an ever changing world. The world needs churches where people can find true Biblical community and a place to serve in ministry. The world needs churches that help people know what it means to be and build disciples of Christ. The world needs churches where people get saved and Jesus is glorified with an uncompromising commitment to His word.

Yes, the world needs churches like Crossroads Church now more than ever. Crossroads is not the perfect church, far from it. In fact, if it were perfect I'd have to leave and so would you. However, Crossroads Church is an authentic church. It is a church filled with people who are real and who are seeking to honor God by fulfilling the purpose of his church- to make disciples!

On this the 19th anniversary of Crossroads Church I can sum my thoughts with this...Thanks God for letting us partner with you (what a ride), thanks everyone who has stayed the course and stayed committed to this church (what a team), thanks for letting me serve you as your pastor (what a risk).

Oh yeah, I'm signing on for nineteen more, how about you?

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Persistent Praying

We've all heard stories of people who have prayed for others to come to Christ for ten, twenty, or thirty years. We read these stories in amazement and long to see God do the same in our lives. Guess what? This week- God did!

A woman started attending our church about ten years ago. She was married, but her husband never attended services with her. As I got to know her I decided to place her husband on my prayer list. I began praying that he would connect to God and to God's church. I have prayed off and on for this guy for ten years. I actually have the prayer journals to prove it.

Check this out! This week I had lunch with this guy I had been praying for these past ten years. He began attending services around the first of this year and we finally had the opportunity to set down and discuss his relationship with Jesus Christ. Discussing his journey was an answer to prayer. It wasn't my timing, but it was God's. He is doing some amazing things in this man's life.

This past week our church gathered at our new building site to pray for the people we want to see come to faith in Christ. We wrote names of people who are far from God on the beams that are being erected in this new building. This week God reminded me that he hears those prayers! He may not answer them on our time table, but he will answer them. Don't stop praying! Be persistent in praying for people who need to know the Father.