Eric Offstage

OH, YEAH! Story from Pastor Bruce Rauma

The other night before the service, a young man came up to me and say, "Tonight is my night."  I asked him what he meant, and he said that he wanted to be saved.  He said, "Before I can do that, I need to go help on the PIT team, but right after I want to come and be saved and I want you to lead me to Christ." I was blown away by all of it and couldn't wait for the opportunity.  He went out to the corner and served on the parking team, and then came back in for the service.  Immediately following the service he came and found me.  He was so excited, and I too couldn't wait to bend a knee with him.  We went to my office with several of his friends and a couple of other leaders. We walked through his decision and what it means and looks like to give your life completely to God.  He loved every minute of our discussion and asked a ton of questions.  I could see in his eyes that this was going to be the turning point of his life forever.  Shortly thereafter, I asked if he was ready and he said, "Boy, am I ever!"  We dropped to a knee and he repeated after me, "Jesus, forgive my sins.  Lead my life.  I'm sorry for my past.  I want to follow you and trust you.  Lead me and guide me.  Amen."  With many hands on him and over him, that young man's life was changed right there in my office.   Every one of us clapped for him and gave him high fives, and then he asked what his next step is.  I told him the next step from here is to get baptized.  He said, "You mean I get to be baptized now?  YES!"  He was so stoked, and he and his friends left my office laughing and filled with joy. Undoubtedly, there are some monumental moments in life--like getting married, having a child, buying a home. But there is no greater experience then to share in that moment on a knee with someone.  I am blessed and honored that he came to me to lead him through his decision.  Yay God!

 

A Life Literally Saved...Guest Blogger Pastor John Hill

Part of our code at The Crossing is that “we will not take this for granted.” I feel like sometimes this is really difficult not to do. When I first gave my life to Jesus, a sunny day would be a God thing. I don’t know what changed, but after working in the church for years sometimes I forget to stop and smell the roses. This weekend The Crossing, I feel, had one of those weekends that you just can’t miss God working. I got to pray with so many people and see God rescue over and over again. I could share story after story for hours, but one in particular was too good to pass up. It really got my heart. (This is man-speak for "made me cry like a little baby.")

At the end of the 1:00pm service (for those of you who don’t know this is always the best, highest energy service except maybe the Sunday night--WOOT!) I was praying with several people. The last lady in line captured my attention immediately. When she got to me I could both see and feel the hurt. I asked her how I could pray for her and she looked at me in the eye and said “I don’t want to live anymore…” (Insert choked sobs here) I feel like guy reflex at this point is to run around screaming like we are on fire and there is a bear chasing us, but God made me calm, and I just knew that this girl was going to ask Jesus to forgive her sins and lead her life that day.

I led her and a friend out of the auditorium and myself and another pastor talked to her for a little bit. She was homeless, had two kids and a drug problem. She had people in her life who abused her in every way. Pastor Diane asked her if she wanted freedom from her past today and she timidly replied “yes.” I made her look me in the eye and I said “You know that if you do this, God is going to forget your past… ALL of it... and only see the HOPE and the FUTURE that He has for you? Do you understand that there is NOTHING that you have done in your past N-O-T-H-I-N-G at all that God will not forgive? Do you know that He looks at you right now and is enthralled with your beauty?”

She began to weep and replied saying she had not known these things. We prayed together and both she and I were weeping as we felt God’s Spirit come to live in her heart. Sometimes in these situations I wonder if the person actually gets it, but this time I KNEW she did. She wept saying “I’m forgiven.” And for the first time I saw her face light up with a smile that reached all the way from her eyes to her heart. 

I left that room wondering why God chose to do something like that through me. Then I realized that I just got to carry the baton across the finish line. It was a FIT team member who convinced her to come in (after she sat debating whether to come in or just kill herself), it was a Production team that set the table of her heart to hear the hope of Jesus for the first time from Pastor Eric. It was a Scrubs team that made the bathroom suitable for her to clean herself up before she came into service. It was Jesus who died for her and me and everyone. It was God who created His church to reach people just like her. I can’t believe I get to be a part of it! Don’t take it for granted. God is good! I LOVE MY JOB!! Thank you Crossing Church for seeing God’s heart and giving our all to it!!!

The Craziest Twirl Story

Check out this cool story from guest blogger, Pastor Kasey Pupeza:

God totally blew my mind yesterday!! Here’s the story:

It started at Twirl. (Pastor Kelly’s event for the women of The Crossing and their friends). At the end of Pastor Kelly’s talk she challenged the women of The Crossing to ask Jesus into their lives for the first time, recommit to following him, or to come up front for prayer. Probably around 50-75 women stepped forward for prayer. It was so cool to watch these brave women step forward and ask their Heavenly Daddy to give them freedom! After we prayed for these women we handed them a little booklet to help them identify the next steps in their faith. Inside the booklet was a post-it note. We asked them to write their name and phone number on it so a pastor could call them and follow up. The women who filled out the post-it then stuck it to the window in the back of the auditorium.

As if God moving in radical ways at Twirl wasn’t enough, what you’ll read next is how God was really showing off:

As I write this, it’s the day after Twirl. I took all these post-it’s home and began to call through them. I get to this one post-it written by a girl named “Allie”. (That’s what we’ll call her anyway) I called her and here’s kind of how my script went; “Hi, is this Allie? Hi Allie this is Pastor Kasey from The Crossing Church. I’m calling you today because last night you went to Twirl, and I first just wanted to say thank you so much for coming, and I hope you had a great time.”

She hasn’t said a word yet. “And second, I just wanted to see if I could help you to figure out the next step in your faith. Did you make a commitment to follow Jesus for the first time last night or were you recommitting?”

Finally Allie spoke, “I wasn’t at Twirl last night."

Um. OK.

She added, "My mom probably wrote my name down on something.”

I said, “OK?? Well, have you ever been to The Crossing before?” She said, “A couple of times.” My next question was, “Do you live in Elk River or anywhere close?” She said, “No, I don’t live anywhere.”

So I just kept digging. She admitted to me she is an addict who doesn’t have custody of her kids and that she is indeed homeless. She then inquired about making a commitment to follow Jesus. We talked for a while about what it meant to follow Christ. I asked her if she was ready to do that right now over the phone. She started sobbing and said that she was ready to ask Jesus to forgive her sins and lead her life. I asked her to go somewhere more quiet because she was visiting her kids at a family member’s house, and they were pretty noisy. She did. I asked her to get down on her knees, and had the privilege of leading her through a prayer as she asked Jesus into her heart for the very first time.

Personally, this was one of the most awesome experiences of my life! It was way beyond cool to see how God was using people, situations, and events to get to this girl.

After she made the commitment to follow Christ, I encouraged her to set up an appointment with one of our Crossing Recovery Pastors for the very next day. Hopefully she’ll be at CR tonight!!!!

Church, please pray for strength and courage for “Allie” today!

-Pastor Kasey Pupeza