Eric Offstage

Super Secret Staff Meeting Stuff

Psalms 9:1-2 I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

Scripture wants us to constantly tell of the good things God has done in our lives. As we praise Him for how good He is we are filled with joy! This morning in our staff meeting we shared many of the crazy cool things God is doing right now at the Crossing Church. Because most people don’t get to sit in on our staff meetings, I thought I would share a few of the things that we praised God for this morning:

1. Over 200 people in our services this past weekend made commitments to make Jesus the forgiver and leader of their lives for the first time or recommitted their life to Christ. It was amazing watching people giving their hearts and lives to Jesus! It gave me chills.

2. This summer is the largest summer attendance this church has ever experienced (by many hundreds of people!)  God is good.

3. Someone I love and care deeply about finally after years of indecision decided yesterday to go public with their faith in Christ and get baptized. I have the honor of baptizing this close friend next Friday. That made me cry when I heard the good news!

4. We just found out in the past week that ground breaking on our Elk River campus expansion will probably begin by middle to late September!!! Things are falling into place big time for our new building!!!

5. We had the privilege of spending the day learning from a great man of God last Wednesday. Pastor Larry Brey from Elevation Church killed it! He spent the day teaching our staff and key leaders and was really just a blessing to our whole team.

6. THIS ONE IS AN ACTUAL, LEGIT MIRACLE. During one of our services back in February I said, “If you know God’s will for your life and you don’t do it, you are a coward.” One couple (Samm & Angie Platt) took that literally and sold their house, got rid of most of their possessions and decided to obey God by taking their 3 sons and moving to New Zealand for a period of time, to reach people for Christ in that country. They were to leave on a plane last Thursday morning, July 21.

   Early in the week, they asked for us to pray over them before they left. We said, “How is your fundraising going?” Their answer: “Well, it's not all there, but we're going to the airport anyway. We know God is going to provide!”

   We had them come to our Community of Leaders meeting on Wednesday night; just 7 hours before they were to leave for the airport, where we could all pray over them.

   We were so encouraged by their faith that we decided to give an offering to help them meet their goal. I was hoping we could raise a few thousand dollars to help, and The Crossing was going to match what was given, up to the amount they needed. What occurred blew my mind.

   The offering was counted, and Kelly wrote the total on a piece of paper and took it to Angie. Angie looked at it, freaked out, and then said, “Wait, what was that total again?” Kelly: “$9,471.44.” Slowly, Angie said, “Nine thousand four hundred seventy one dollars? That's EXACTLY THE NUMBER WE NEEDED!!!!” We couldn’t believe it. What are the odds of that? Our leadership gave, and God worked it out so they gave the exact dollar amount! It blew my mind. God is so amazing. The Crossing didn't need to match any of it, but added $1000 anyway. GOD OVER-PROVIDED!!!

Crossing Church, church leaders, pastors, committed Jesus people, skeptics and seekers: GOD IS GOOD! “HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING! HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS.” Trust Him.

I don’t know your life story, but no matter WHO YOU ARE, God wants to give you His favor. He is for you and not against you. If you will seek Him and trust Him and follow Him, you will be surprised by all the great things He is will do in your life! I hope you will try it. He is good.   

The Greatest Weekend in the History of The Crossing Church

This past weekend I witnessed the most audacious worship experience I have ever been a part of!

• The karate kids' demonstration off the top was way cool.  (I am so glad no one in the audience got hit with a flying sword.) (Thanks, Professional Karate Studio.)
  
• The band was smoking hot! Probably the best I have ever seen them.  (Pray for our worship pastors; this week they are on a song writing retreat. Pray that God would give them amazing new songs for their album to be released in June.)
• The talk was solid.  (I liked it.)

But none of this was why it was the greatest weekend ever.  It was the greatest weekend in the history of our church for three reasons.

1.  The Holy Spirit powerfully moved in every service, more than I have ever seen the Spirit of God move at the Crossing.  God was all over our place!  You could feel the power and presence of God from the moment the service started until it was over.  People were crying all over the place.  (Me included.  I hate when I cry in church.)

2.  The people of The Crossing listened to God and responded with HUGE COMMITMENTS!  Every service I cried as people walked to the front and placed commitment cards in baskets vowing to honor God with more of their income than ever before. (Seeing couples walk up together, and even children...this was awesome.)

3.  I saw our church family live life--not as self-centered suburbanite "Christians"--but as REAL ACTS 2 Jesus followers. 

Acts 2:42-47  They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

This weekend was the catalyst that is going to take The Crossing Church to the next level.  And it wasn't about me, our building project or a teaching series. 

It was about HONORING JESUS and loving LOST PEOPLE!  I am honored, humbled and grateful to be a part of such a fantastic dedicated radical bunch of Jesus followers. Thank you all so much!

God is going to ADD TO OUR NUMBER DAILY THOSE WHO ARE BEING SAVED because of your generous sacrificial commitments. 

God bless you all.  I am looking forward with excitement and anticipation to GREATER THINGS!

Pastor Eric

Florida, the Vote, and Dodge Ball

FLORIDA:  This is Kelly blogging for Eric, because he is busy suffering in Florida this week with Dave, Chris (Zim campus pastor), and Eric Whitman (from the Exchange Church) at the Exponential Church Conference.  I suppose sunny and 85 is pleasant to some people, but I personally prefer windy and 48.  You?

THE VOTE:  Saturday night's Crossing members voted unanimously to purchase the old Alliance Church building.  Well, almost unanimously.  One witty staff member voted "or".  If you wonder why that's funny, you must have missed this weekend's talk, and it'll be online soon for you to catch up.  Barring any complications, we anticipate full possession of the building around June 1.

DODGE BALL:  Student Ministries Pastor John Hill held his first event for high schoolers on Sunday night.  The dodge ball tourney was a roaring success, with 80+ in attendance.  If you know a student who attends The Crossing (or should), tell 'em to hook up with John--at the weekend services (just ask around), or call 651.366.0508.  And today's his birthday, so feel free to flood his voicemail with birthday wishes.

OK, I'm off to get a quote for paint for the building!

A Building? What's Up With That?

At all our weekend services we announced that the Crossing might buy the old Alliance Church building where we do our Saturday services.  Before I explain this whole deal, let me put the emphasis on POSSIBLY!! It is all up in the air right now. 

But the reason why we announced it this past weekend is because according to Minnesota law and our church constitution, for us to purchase land or buildings, we are required to announce this to our membership 4 weekends in a row. 

So on the chance we might actually get to buy the thing, we thought it would be good to get our 4 weekends over with sooner rather than later. 

Ok, now on to why we are considering this.

1.  We have outgrown the theater.  It is now too small a space for us to keep reaching people.  The Alliance gym, on the other hand, can accommodate up to 400 in a service if we squeeze. (The theater can only seat 220.) 

2.  Rivers Christian Academy (which owns the building) needs to sell it immediately.  Right now they are a school board with no school and no income.  That is a bad spot to be in, so they need to sell the building quickly.  We, on the other hand, love the office space and worship space on Saturday, so it is a very good fit for us. 

3. The price is right.  That is all I will say about that right now, but God seems to really be opening up some doors.  Pray that the bank agrees, if this is God's will.

4.  Strategic location.  The building is located in the heart of Elk River, directly across the street from the high school, and our church is totally geared to that age group. 

5.  We can reach more people with this piece of property.  We are not about buildings we are about people, but this building can keep us in the heart of Elk River and give us an ability to keep reaching people.   

OK, so that is why we are doing this, and all I can tell you right now. 

If you are a Crossing member in good standing (you attend a small group; serve on a ministry team; tithe a portion of your income; and bring your friends) we have an informational meeting and vote on Saturday April 18th after the 7:00 service. 

Please pray about this. I'll keep you posted.