Eric Offstage

We have talked about it for weeks and it is finally here!

CROSSING SUMMER OF REVIVAL STARTS THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT AT 6:43!!!

Let me share the heart behind this:

People in Minnesota check out for the summer spiritually many times. So The Crossing staff began to pray and think about what we could do to fight the summer spiritual slump that most people go through. The result of this is Crossing Summer of Revival: 10 weeks dedicated to encouraging people to grow in their faith and stay passionate about Christ.

Here's the lowdown:

• Each Wednesday night of the summer we have a guest pastor from around the country coming in to share God's heart with you.
• The teaching every Wednesday is part of a series we are calling: Slaying Giants. Each pastor will be talking about how to destroy the biggest giants our enemy sends at us to keep us from fulfilling our destiny in Christ.
• Pastor David Crank from Faith Church in St. Louis is here this week to kick off our series and he has a life-changing word from God for you that I can not reveal in advance. You just have to get here and experience it for yourself!
• Come early if you want a good seat.
• As always with Wednesday nights, we have extended worship and a time of prayer to ask God for miracles in our lives.
• Crossing Kids has some epic stuff going on, too! Each week they'll have a special activity [beyond the normal church stuff...] that they are not going to want to miss. For example, this Wednesday we have a ton of bounce houses in the parking lot! So bring your kids and let them jump around and hear about Jesus, too!
• Don't forget that Crossing Orange [our version of student ministry] kicks off TODAY, Tuesday May 29 at 6:43! If you have a student in grades 7-10, don't let them miss the launch tonight of what will be the most epic student event in our city. GET YOUR STUDENT HERE!

I know great things will happen and tons of lives will be changed as we launch the most spiritually engaging summer in the history of our church! I'm inviting you & your family to experience it with us!

Always only Jesus,
Pastor Eric

Dear Crossing Church Attender or Partner,

Here are 3 things I need to share with you about this week at The Crossing:

1) On Wednesday, we're going to deal with the spirit of apathy in our lives.

No one starts out wanting to be apathetic, but many of us end up there. We can become apathetic in our marriages, in our relationship with Christ, and with our life goals. I believe the greatest enemy of Christians today is not atheism or opposition, it is the spirit of APATHY! Many times we become complacent and we settle for less. This Wednesday night, I'll talk about how people who were once so passionate end up so apathetic [which is pathetic...], and how we can fight off the spirit of apathy so we can accomplish our dreams. YOU WANT TO BE HERE FOR THIS TALK! I BELIEVE GOD GAVE ME THIS WORD SPECIFICALLY FOR THIS WEDNESDAY NIGHT! DON’T BE APATHETIC AND MISS IT!

Crossing Wednesday Nights | 6:43pm | Elk River Campus

2) It's Memorial Weekend and tons of stuff is happening at The Crossing!

• Tailgate Party after the Saturday night 6:45 pm service in Elk River! The Crossing is providing the grills, you provide the stuff you want to grill. This is a perfect opportunity to meet some people at church so that you have friends in the House and you are not doing life alone. COME TO THIS EVENT!

• Child Dedications after the Sunday 12:55 pm service in Elk River. If you would like to have your kids prayed over - that they will grow up to follow Christ, make good choices and be a positive influence in our world - come to the 12:55 pm service and let Crossing pastors pray over your children afterward. It always excites me to see parents take their child’s relationship with God seriously.

• Child Dedications at each of our other campuses in Zimmerman, Big Lake and Princeton immediately following those services. If you attend church at one of these locations, please be there this weekend for an opportunity to dedicate your kids to God and His plan for their lives.

• This weekend we are addressing the question: Why are Christians so dang uptight and intolerant? It seems like many Christians are more interested in fighting against people than blessing people. It seems like Christians are known for what they are against rather than what they are for. You're invited to come this weekend as we explore why Christians became so judgy in the first place, and how we can get back to the heart of Jesus, give grace to others and bless the world.

3) Be in prayer with me about The Crossing Summer of Revival.

Wednesday, May 30 is coming soon! Be here at 6:43 pm next Wednesday night to hear Pastor David Crank from Faith Church in St. Louis. His message from the Word of God will rock your world, the worship is going to be epic and the prayer time will be life-changing. At the same time, Crossing Kids has INSANELY AWESOME programming planned! And Crossing Orange [our student ministry] has a kick-off the night before on Tuesday, May 29 that every student should be at. Please be in prayer for all of these events. I believe God is going to use this summer to change The Crossing forever. Pray that God will show up, people will show up, lives will be changed, and our church forever transformed. I'm anticipating something life-altering!

Pastor Eric

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner,

MOTHER’S DAY was awesome! We had huge crowds and God really showed up and talked to people! Thank you to all of you who brought someone! We had tons of first time guests and you treated them with grace and excellence! Well done.

We are hearing tons of life change stories from the weekend! At several of our campuses, people bowed a knee and made Jesus the forgiver & leader of their lives. Drug paraphernalia was given to staff members by people who have chosen to get sober. And there were many other stories of marriages taking a step in the right direction. GOD IS MOVING!

Let’s praise Him for what He did last week, BUT LET'S NOT LIVE IN THE PAST! Scripture says, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” [Psalm 118:24], so we thank God for what He did last week, but now we want to move toward the miracles He wants to do this weekend. Today let’s “Press on...” [Philippians 3:14] and believe God for even “GREATER THINGS” [John 14:12] this weekend!

I believe THIS WEEKEND will be one of the best services in the history of our church. We are addressing the topic: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER? I know tons of people with this question!

So many people say, “I believe in God, I just worship Him on the golf course, or out fishing, or by sleeping in on Sunday morning. Why do I need to go to a church to worship God?” Or I have heard people say, “I love Jesus but not the church!” We want to address this question head on: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER?

Come find out! The worship is going to be off the hook this weekend, the talk is going to motivate and inspire you to greater things, and Jesus will be honored. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE HERE TO EXPERIENCE IT!

So make a choice to be in God’s house this weekend and don’t come alone! Just like last weekend you brought YO MOMMA to church, this week bring a friend who needs some encouragement and hope and knowledge that God is for them and not against them.

We will see you this weekend for: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER?

Pastor Eric

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner,

MOTHER’S DAY was awesome! We had huge crowds and God really showed up and talked to people! Thank you to all of you who brought someone! We had tons of first time guests and you treated them with grace and excellence! Well done.

We are hearing tons of life change stories from the weekend! At several of our campuses, people bowed a knee and made Jesus the forgiver & leader of their lives. Drug paraphernalia was given to staff members by people who have chosen to get sober. And there were many other stories of marriages taking a step in the right direction. GOD IS MOVING!

Let’s praise Him for what He did last week, BUT LET'S NOT LIVE IN THE PAST! Scripture says, “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” [Psalm 118:24], so we thank God for what He did last week, but now we want to move toward the miracles He wants to do this weekend. Today let’s “Press on...” [Philippians 3:14] and believe God for even “GREATER THINGS” [John 14:12] this weekend!

I believe THIS WEEKEND will be one of the best services in the history of our church. We are addressing the topic: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER? I know tons of people with this question!

So many people say, “I believe in God, I just worship Him on the golf course, or out fishing, or by sleeping in on Sunday morning. Why do I need to go to a church to worship God?” Or I have heard people say, “I love Jesus but not the church!” We want to address this question head on: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER?

Come find out! The worship is going to be off the hook this weekend, the talk is going to motivate and inspire you to greater things, and Jesus will be honored. BUT YOU HAVE TO BE HERE TO EXPERIENCE IT!

So make a choice to be in God’s house this weekend and don’t come alone! Just like last weekend you brought YO MOMMA to church, this week bring a friend who needs some encouragement and hope and knowledge that God is for them and not against them.

We will see you this weekend for: WHY DOES THE CHURCH MATTER?

Pastor Eric

17 Years of Favor

Seventeen years ago this Sunday (May 6, 1995) Kelly said “I DO” and married me.  I proposed back in the day by reading to her this verse of Scripture: Proverbs 18:22 - The man who finds a wife finds a treasure and receives favor from the LORD.

I read those words to her then because I believed them by faith.  I believed she was a treasure and I believed I would receive favor if she would do life with me! 

Seventeen years later I no longer believe this to be true just by faith; now I have experienced the absolute truth of this verse.  My wife is my greatest treasure I will ever have besides Jesus.  AND I have so much favor from God because she is in my life!

Guys – Don’t take your wife for granted!  TREAT HER LIKE THE TREASURE SHE IS!

• She has been by your side through good days and bad. 
• She has loved you even when you said or did something stupid. 
• She has cared for you in your sickness and pain. 
• She has sacrificed herself for your dreams and ideas. 
• She has been loyal to you when others betrayed you. 
• She has put her life on hold at times to make sure yours moved forward. 
• She has been a great mother to your kids. 
• She has brought you smiles and laughter, friendship and organization, beauty and sex. 

I'll say it again: Guys, do not take your wife for granted!  SHE IS A TREASURE!   

But not only is she a treasure, she is also the BRINGER OF FAVOR to your life!

Ladies - you need to know that you bring the favor of God to us guys. 

• My faith is stronger because Kelly pushes me to God.
• My wisdom is greater because she pushes me to the Word of God.
• My health is better because she tries to get me to eat healthy.
• My relationships are better because she helps me treat people kinder.
• My emotional health is better because her strength keeps me from depression and despair.

Again, ladies, hear this: you bring the favor of God to your man!  The only time God created something and said it wasn’t good was when he created a man ALONE! (Gen 2:18)

 

Guys - Treat your woman like the treasure she is!

Ladies – KNOW YOU MAKE EVERYTHING BETTER!     

 

Kelly – I love you.  I don’t deserve you.  I married up.  You are beautiful, strong, wise, Godly, talented and the primary reason besides Jesus anything good has EVER happened to me.  I love you and am so thankful for you.

Happy Anniversary! 

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner,

WOW!  God did really great things last weekend AGAIN!  We had great attendance.  We had people commit to Jesus as forgiver and leader in all of our services.  The Bike Blessing was killer!  And participating in communion together as a church was spiritually refreshing.   

Now for this week…

1. I believe God has called The Crossing Church to be a House of Prayer (Matthew 21:13).
We created Crossing Wednesday Nights for this purpose. In particular, I want TONIGHT to be:

• A time when the church gathers together and holds up each others' hands in prayer to God like Aaron and Hur did for Moses in Exodus 17.
• A time where we worship Christ with hands raised in prayer like I Tim 2:8 asks us to do.
• A time where you grow stronger in faith so YOUR HANDS WILL COURAGEOUSLY REACH OUT and change the world like Scripture calls us to do in Jude 23.

Be here TONIGHT at 6:43 for extended worship, prayer and a MOVE OF GOD as we be the church God called us to be!

2. I believe God has called The Crossing Church to help skeptics and seekers believe in Christ. We are not a church for the already convinced.

This weekend we are asking the question:  Why would anyone still believe that God created the world in 6 days?  YES, we are talking about CREATION and EVOLUTION!  You were forced to endure science class as a kid.  I know you wonder about this stuff; so does everyone else in the world.  So get here this weekend with someone you know that has questions about God and science and the Bible!  I promise you that I wrote this talk with seekers and skeptics in mind.  Be the church that makes disciples like Christ called you to be in Matthew 28:19-20.  INVITE and BRING someone with questions about this stuff.  Help someone else meet Christ this weekend!  GET YOUR FRIENDS TO THE HOUSE!

3. I believe YO MOMMA is SO IMPORTANT that…

• She should have a weekend service where we celebrate and honor her.
• We're gonna spend a weekend encouraging women to live out their God-given design.
• We're gonna spend a weekend teaching men how valuable women are and HOW TO BETTER VALUE the women they love!

That is what May 12-13 is all about!  It's Yo Momma Weekend at The Crossing!  But it's really for every woman you know.  Plus, we have super special creative stuff planned!  So whatever you have to do, GET YO MOMMA TO THE HOUSE ON MOTHER'S DAY WEEKEND!
Ladies - This weekend is all about YOU! You'll be blessed and encouraged.
Dudes - Come with a lady on your arm -- MOM, GIRLFRIEND, WIFE, DAUGHTER, OR SISTER! You'll learn stuff and score some major points if you bring a lady with you that weekend.  (I have my momma from Iowa AND my mother-in-law from Alabama coming to all 5 services!)


See you TONIGHT for Crossing Wednesday Nights, and THIS WEEKEND for a conversation on Creation and Evolution, and then NEXT WEEKEND for YO MOMMA WEEKEND!

Kelly and I love you all,

Pastor Eric

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner,

I have 4 things I need to share with you today that I believe are super important.

1. This weekend is what Christians believe about Jesus. We are talking about who Jesus REALLY is, according to Scripture. Not according to your mom, or pop-culture, or your Sunday school teacher... but who is CHRIST really? What did He actually say about Himself? What does Scripture really teach? I promise you do not want to miss this weekend because we want to blow up your misconceptions of Jesus and get back to who He really is, and why He is worth following.

2. As part of the weekend we will participate in communion. We only take communion at The Crossing when we believe it will be most meaningful in light of what we are teaching. So don't miss this opportunity to worship side-by-side with tons of other people, remembering Christ's sacrifice on the cross for us. It is near the beginning of the service, so DON'T BE LATE!

3. This talk about Jesus is PERFECTLY DESIGNED for you to bring a seeking or skeptical friend to hear about Christ. I am praying for a guy and his girlfriend to be here this weekend who I KNOW need to hear this and commit to Christ. Who can you ask or bring to the house to hear about the hope of Christ? (If you came Wednesday night, don't forget you are called to BE A FAITHFUL WITNESS. Faithfulness is connected to witnessing. Revelation 2:13)

4. You all are BLOWING MY MIND at Crossing Wednesday nights! We had a full house again last night! Thank you! I am loving the worship, the energy, the prayer, and getting to dig deep into the book of Revelation in our series called SEVEN. Keep showing up and bring along a believing friend, as these services are designed to THRILL believers. We are even discussing the idea of two services on Wednesday nights if we keep growing like we are right now. The Spirit of God is moving, church!

Thank you all once again. I believe I serve at the greatest church in the world with the most amazing people on planet Earth. It is a privilege and honor that I don't take lightly or deserve. Thank you for being on this spiritual journey with Kelly and I seeking Jesus! You all are amazing, self-sacrificial, godly people. If you need anything, please contact our offices and we will see how we can help or pray for you.

Always only Jesus,

Pastor Eric

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner,

Here is my heart for our church right now.

1. That The Crossing would become a house of prayer. I believe God is calling Christ followers to come to Crossing Wednesday Nights and pour out their hearts in worship and prayer to Christ. I believe that if we will pray and seek Jesus we will see amazing signs wonders and miracles like the ancient church. The early church would pray and then the place where they were praying would be shaken with the the power of God. [Acts 4:31; Acts 16:26] I believe God wants to do miracles like that in our meetings. I believe He wants to move and heal and empower and transform in amazing ways if we will become people of prayer. Be here tonight at 6:43 for worship and prayer!

2. That Crossing people would grow in spiritual depth. Crossing Wednesday nights also has a new teaching series that started last week called SEVEN. We are working our way through the seven letters of Christ in the book of Revelation. Each week I am explaining a different letter from Revelation 2 & 3 and how it applies directly to our church. As we go through these seven weeks, I believe God is going to grow our people in spiritual knowledge THAT LEADS TO ACTION. [Knowledge with no action is stupid and sinful - James 4:17.] So I challenge you to come to each of these seven weeks and see what Christ might say to you from the book of Revelation.

3. That Crossing leaders would continue to push toward excellence. The third Wednesday of every month is still Community of Leaders. We are combining our Crossing Wednesday nights and our Community of Leaders meeting into one meeting. So tonight, as part of our Wednesday night experience, there will be a time for Crossing leaders to get together and learn and push for greater excellence for Christ and his mission for our lives. So leaders - BE HERE! It is going to be incredible!

4. That our weekends will continue to reach your friends who are far from God. We did great on Easter, but we are not interested in reaching people only on Easter. We want to reach your family and friends with the GOOD NEWS of Christ EVERY WEEKEND! This weekend we are answering the questions: Where did the Bible come from? Who wrote it? How do we know it is from God? I know MANY PEOPLE ASK THESE QUESTIONS! So my challenge to you is to bring the friend, neighbor or family member that you know has questions like this about the Bible. BE A BRINGER and see what God might do in the life of your family and friends.

5. That our 12:55 service would continue to be packed out. Last weekend was unbelievable! Our largest service was our 12:55 AFTERNOON DELIGHT service! Thank you Crossing people for being so selfless that you gave up your regular worship hour to fill up this new service time! Please continue to be committed to this worship time so that we can reach more people who are far from God at other hours! I was seriously impressed with your flexibility and selflessness to come to this new worship hour. Thank you!

6. That the Spirit of God would be undeniable among us. I want us to walk in the Spirit and not in the flesh. [In my flesh dwells no good thing. -Romans 7:18] I don't want to teach in the flesh, or sing in the flesh or invite in the flesh or make decisions in the flesh. I want to be overwhelmed with the spirit of God. I want to sense His presence, be guided by His voice, feel His love, know His grace and then lead others to experience this as well. This is my heart for the Crossing. If we can walk in the Spirit we will THRILL believers and MOVE seekers.

Thanks for being on this ride with me Crossing Church,

Pastor Eric

Four Important Things I Wanted You To Know

Dear Crossing Attender or Partner, 

1. GOD DID AMAZING THINGS AT THE CROSSING ON EASTER! Thank you to all our Crossing volunteers and staff who worked so hard to create a fantastic environment for people to worship Christ this Easter! We had our second highest attendance EVER and our HIGHEST non-give-a-way weekend attendance EVER! WAY TO GO CHURCH! We are so grateful for you! More importantly hundreds of lives were changed as people committed themselves to following Jesus as their forgiver and leader! We have heard tons of great stories from the weekend! We love you and really appreciate your dedicated hard work helping people meet Jesus. We know you don’t do this for Kelly and I, but for Christ and His glory and so we just honestly and humbly tell you thank you!

2. JESUS LOVES VIP'S. If you came to church for the first time this Easter, know that we love you, Jesus loves and he has a Victorious Destiny for your life! As a VIP at the Crossing we hope that you were treated with respect and grace. Jesus died for you, so we believe you deserve to be treated with great honor. We invite you back this weekend for Episode # 2: How do we know God exists? I believe this talk will give you confidence that God really is there for you, whatever you are going through in life!

3. CROSSSING WEDNESDAY NIGHTS LAUNCHES TODAY! It is our new weekly event dedicated to extended worship, praying for each other and our city, and a teaching series dedicated to helping Christians grow in their faith. Our first teaching series is called SEVEN. Be here at 6:43. IT IS GONNA BE SO GOOD! We also have a GREAT KIDS PROGRAM designed to teach your kids the Word of God. So bring the whole family!

4. This weekend is the launch of our 12:55 service AFTERNOON DELIGHT! We moved our Sunday night 5:00pm service to this time slot for the next 6 months. If you are going to pick a service to support this weekend GO TO THAT ONE (you get free ice cream)! Our hope and goal is to see our crowds split up evenly among all our services. Switch to 12:55 for the next 6 months. It would be SO COOL!

Once again, we love you all and pray God’s special favor on you! God is doing great things with our church, and we are so glad you are a part of it!

Pastor Eric

 

What you might want to know about Easter at The Crossing

Dear Crossing Church,

I want to say how proud I am of you and all your hard work to prepare for this Easter. Kelly and I love you and are grateful to get to serve as your pastors. We believe God is going to use you in a powerful way to point people far from God to Jesus Christ this year.

Here is some important info about this year’s Easter experiences at THE CROSSING CHURCH. If you are an attender or partner, PLEASE READ!

1. We are not giving away anything this year. In the past we have given away cars and TVs and other stuff as incentive to get your friends in the door to hear about Christ. This year we are not doing a major giveaway and just want to focus on the simple message of Jesus and WHY HE STILL MATTERS AND CHANGES LIVES! (This does not mean we are not giving away stuff in the future, we just didn’t feel like God wanted us to do that this year.)

2. The services for Easter are average Crossing services. So they will be totally OFF THE HOOK like always! The new set design for the stage is ridiculously awesome, the worship is going to be SICK, and the talk is designed to THRILL believers with an awe inspiring God and MOVE seekers to a real relationship with Christ.

 We give away FREE tickets to our Easter services. Here is why:

– WE BELIEVE SAVED PEOPLE SAVE PEOPLE! As a church we want to make it is simple and easy as possible for you to INVITE your family members/friends to church on Easter so that they can experience Jesus in a way unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. These FREE Easter tickets are a powerful tool you can use to invite someone. “Hey, I picked up four tickets for the 6:45 service on Friday night for you and your family…” (I just did this for someone today. My friend took the tickets and is stoked to attend!)

– WE WANT TO MAKE SURE WE ARE ABLE TO GIVE ATTENTION & LOVE TO EVERYONE WHO SHOWS UP ON EASTER.  By distributing tickets, we can effectively staff the services with enough volunteers so that everyone from birth to adult has a fantastic worship experience. 

– MANY OF OUR PREVIOUS EASTER SERVICES HAVE BEEN STANDING ROOM ONLY, WITH OTHER SERVICES BORDERING ON EMPTY. By getting tickets, you are able to help your church split up the crowds evenly over all the services so that everyone can celebrate Christ as he was meant to be celebrated – WITH ENERGY, JOY, AND PRAISE!

3. Final details about Easter:

EASTER TICKETS ARE FREE!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO HAVE A TICKET TO ATTEND! If you (or someone you invite) does not have a ticket you can STILL come to any service at any campus and WE WILL FIND YOU A SEAT! I PROMISE WE WILL NOT TURN YOU AWAY! (You might wonder if this is the case then why get them at all?  GREAT question–the answer is that it really does assist the church in making sure we are adequately prepared to take care of everyone who will be in attendance with us at all of our locations during this season.)

IF YOU DON’T BRING A FRIEND, YOU CAN STILL ATTEND! We really want you to come, even if you can’t bring someone with you. We love you. We want you to worship Christ with us, and we want Christ to change your life. SO COME TO CHURCH!

WE ARE DOING BAPTISMS AFTER THE 6:45PM SERVICE ON SATURDAY! If you would like to be baptized please contact the church office at 763-633-9706 or email office@crossing-church.com.

THE ELK RIVER CAMPUS HAS SPECIAL SERVICE TIMES EASTER WEEKEND. Thursday 6:00pm, Good Friday 5:00 & 6:45, Saturday 5:00 & 6:45,   Sunday 8:00 9:30 11:15 & 5pm. Zimmerman, Princeton and Big Lake will meet at their regularly scheduled times.

So there you have it, Crossing! It's Easter again! People will come to church if you ask them! We have an opportunity to live out our calling as SENT ONES! We get to point people to Jesus! Join us and WATCH GOD CHANGE YOUR LIFE and the life of SOMEONE YOU LOVE!

Always only about Jesus,

Pastor Eric