Eric Offstage

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

Important Thoughts From This Past Easter Weekend!

To all my Crossing peeps:

I am totally in shock and awe over what happened this last weekend in our Easter services!  JESUS SHOWED UP!  LOST PEOPLE SHOWED UP!  THE GOSPEL WAS PREACHED!  LIVES WERE CHANGED FOREVER!  YOU WERE A PART OF AN EPIC MOVE OF GOD, CHURCH! 

Here are a few of my thoughts from the most amazing weekend in our church's history:

#1 – THANK YOU to everyone who tried to accomplish the Titus 1:8 challenge (which was not easy), and bring people to a worship experience. 

We saw 948 people stand up and cross the line of faith and ask Jesus to be the forgiver and leader of their lives!   WOW!  We had a record-setting total attendance of 6,085 people in 16 services! AMAZING! WE saw 214 people go public with their faith and get baptized! 

Guys, you OWNED your responsibility to be a welcome mat to our community just like Rev 22 says, and I am so PROUD OF YOU for bringing your family and friends and helping them meet Jesus!  WELL DONE! 

#2 – I did this on Twitter…but wanted to do it here as well.  THANK YOU to the thousands of volunteers who sacrificed their time and gave hundreds of hours to make sure that every person who arrived at The Crossing this weekend was loved, accepted, and welcomed home to Jesus.  You made a HUGE DIFFERENCE in thousands of lives!  THANK YOU!  Keep using your life to love and help people. 

#3 – I want to encourage everyone who invited someone and they did not show… or that brought someone who is far from God, and they did not give Jesus their life this weekend.  Don’t give up on them!  Remember, Jesus is patient!  He was patient with you.  Many times a person needs to hear the Gospel 7 times before they make a decision to follow Christ.  Keep praying for them, loving them (not judging them), and look for opportunities where you might be able to speak about the love of Jesus to them.

#4 – It’s not over!  God’s is not done! WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED, CHURCH!  There’s still so much to do! The friends and family and neighbors and co-workers you brought with you this last weekend NEED to be here again this weekend too.  So I need you to do what I asked the week before Easter and personally call or talk to each one and invite them back this weekend.  Sit with them again in a worship experience and help them move ONE STEP closer to a real relationship with Christ. 

I will be continuing our series Jesus in 3D.  I will be teaching from John 11 and the story of the resurrection of Lazarus.  This week I want people to understand how Jesus goes 3D in your life.  I want people to know how Jesus interacts with you, and how you can hear him and follow him on a day to day basis.   

#5 – WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR CRAZY AWESOME GOD STORIES FROM THIS PAST WEEKEND!  We have heard so many stories but we want to hear more.  I watched people in every service hit so hard by the Holy Spirit that they wept uncontrollably.  I watched as a girl got down on her knees and begged God to save her before I ever even asked people to stand up.  I had a guy chase me out into the parking lot and give his life to Christ after a service.  I know of gang members, and people in really bad marriages, and guys fresh out of prison and teenagers who should be a prison, who all gave their lives to Christ this weekend.  WE WANT TO HEAR EVERY STORY!  YOU HAVE ONE TO SHARE!  Please email the church at office@crossing-church.com and tell us your stories of what Jesus did for you, your family or friends this past weekend.   

Once again.  I want to say, THANK YOU CHURCH FOR PRAYING AND SERVING AND INVITING THOSE WHO ARE FAR FROM GOD TO THE HOUSE OF GOD! 

I LOVE YOU.  I AM SO PROUD OF YOU!  I LOVE OUR CHURCH, AND I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE WEEKEND BECAUSE JESUS IS GOING TO SHOW UP AND CHANGE A TON OF LIVES AGAIN! 

Pastor Eric

Important Announcement about My Health & Emotional Sanity!

One of my doctors, my personal counselor, and my mentoring pastor have all told me that I can not continue to preach six times per weekend.  It is damaging me physically and emotionally in several ways:

• I lose my voice every weekend, and if I keep up this pace, I will eventually ruin my vocal cords permanently and have no ability to speak at all. (I do have a vocal coach who helps me.)
• The last service I preach live I am less coherent, joyful, and excited, due to being so exhausted.
• Each service I speak, my body releases 6-10 shots of adrenaline through my system.  If I speak 6 times on a weekend that is up to 60 shots of adrenaline.  My body can not come down from that much of a rush till Wednesday.  So I don't sleep well, and my body snaps back awake for at least two nights following the weekend.
• On an emotional level, I am cranky and irritable because of no sleep and the adrenaline till Wednesday (which sucks for my wife, my family, and my staff).
• The end result of all this is that I put TONS of wear and tear on my body and soul, so I must make a change.  

From now on:  I will only be speaking live 4 or maybe 5 of our 7 services in Elk River.  The other services will be shown on video like they are at our other campuses. 

A couple thoughts here:

I will be rotating around so no service always has video or always has me live.  Don't try to figure out what service I am live in, and constantly switch service times. More than likely you won't be able to figure this out, and you will just end up seeing more on video.  Just keep attending the service you always attend; sometimes it will be live and sometimes on screen. 

Over the last few weeks as we have experimented with this teaching technique, we have watched hundreds of people give their lives to Christ--and I (or Kelly) was not even present. (Remember: it is not about the speaking we do; it's the speaking Jesus does through His Word.)

If you get me on screen, know that it is better for you--because when it was recorded, I was still joyful, excited, and articulate--not brain dead. 

I want to be leading people to follow Jesus for another 40 years. To do that we must make this change. 

When our new building is built we will reduce the Elk River service times down to 3-4 so I can speak live at all the services again.  We are only a year away from this because of your audacious Code of the Samurai commitments!  Thank you!

Be patient.  Pray for my throat, my exhaustion level and my emotional health.  Together we are running a marathon; not a sprint. I need to pace myself so I make it across the finish line for Christ and not burn out halfway.  

Thank you for understanding, Crossing Church.  I love you all. 

Pastor Eric

 

 

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

Press Release: The Crossing Church Giving Away Free Vikings Season Tickets

Press Release

The Crossing Church (campuses in Elk River/Zimmerman/Big Lake) will give away four pairs of VIKINGS Season Tickets on the weekend of September 11-12, 2010.

 The Deal:

As part of the Fall Launch series “First & Goal: Learn to Succeed in Life” theme, the church will be giving away season tickets to first-time guests.  Lead pastors Eric and Kelly Dykstra feel that it's easier to invite unchurched friends to church when they have a chance to win something cool.  The Crossing's regular attenders are spreading the word through Facebook, Twitter, emails, and conversations with friends, family, and the community. 

The church (as seen on Fox 9 News) gave away 3 cars this past Easter, which drew a crowd of over 3,700 people to a church that was averaging 1,500.

 

The Details:

First-time guests will be entered into the drawings for a pair of tickets: one winner will be drawn on Saturday at the Elk River campus, one on Sunday at the Elk River campus, and one on Sunday at each the Zimmerman and Big Lake campuses.

 

The Doors Will Be Open:

Starting September 11 & 12, The Crossing will have 9 service times available each weekend for church attenders.

 

Elk River Campus (829 School St.)

Saturdays, 5 and 6:30 pm.

Sundays, 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 am, and 1:00 pm.

 

Zimmerman Campus (Westwood Elementary School)

Sundays, 10:00 & 11:30 am.

 

NEW! Big Lake Campus (The Friendly Buffalo—Church in the Buff!)

Sundays, 9:15 am.

 

5 Things (Actually 12) I Am Excited About In 2010

Ok I was supposed to give you only 5 but I have a butt-load of things I am excited about in the upcoming year so here goes. 

1.  Crazy Train.  Our new series starting Saturday January 9.  It is going to be "off the train" amazing. Here is a link explaining it: http://www.crossing-church.com/Video/Trailer/CrazyTrain-Trailer.htm

2.  My Cellar Class Called:  God 401. It is going to be so intense.  It starts Tuesday January 12th, 7-9pm at the Elk River Campus.  Cost is $20.00 per family.  Don't miss it. 

3.  A potential partnership with a inner-city African American church in Minneapolis.  (I can't give more details than this because it isn't sure yet.)  I'm praying about this.

4. A partnership with a mega-church pastor who is wiser and older than me.  There is strong possibility that one of my heroes in ministry will begin helping me and the Crossing do ministry wiser and better in 2010.  (I am so excited for this, but once again, not a sure thing so I am not giving you more details.) 

5. 2 more services.  We are hoping to launch another service in Zimmerman sometime in 2010.  This will happen as soon as possible.  Maybe by Easter.  And we are hoping to start a "not so loud service" for people who don't like loud music at the Elk River campus.

6.  C3 2010 The Rise of the Iguana.  Like 20 staff and key volunteers are headed to Fellowship Church in Texas February 17-20 to learn from Ed Young and the best and brightest church leaders in America.  Every year this conference blows my mind and grows my passion for God and his church.  Here is a link if you want to see where we are going:  http://www.c3conference.com/

7.  Salida Campus.  We are starting a Crossing campus in a biker bar 2 miles north of Big Lake September 12, 2010.  The team is already praying and preparing for us to launch church in a bar. 

8.  Campus in Buffalo or Anoka.  Practice worship starts December 2010 with a grand opening set for January 9, 2011.  We are still working out the details of which city to put this campus in, but the time-line is already set up. 

9.  Our Easter Series.  This year's Easter series is going to blow away any series we have ever done in the history of the Crossing.  God is going to do some awesome things, and tons of people are going to come to Jesus, but I have to keep the lid on the plan right now.  BUT IT IS GOING TO BE EPIC!! 

10.  A double purple cow series is set for October 2010.  This series will blow the Crossing up again!  It is going to be amazing.  I can't wait.  I already have so many ideas.  We are only 10 months away. 

11.  My 15th anniversary with Kelly (May 6).  I am taking her on a trip someplace for a week just the two of us.  I can't wait.  I have the greatest wife on planet earth.  I am so lucky.  We are going on a second honeymoon.  YEAH!!   

12.  Thousands of people coming to Christ in 2010.  I am asking God to double the size of our church again in 2010.  I am asking Him to make us a church of 2000 by the end of 2010, and to bring thousands of people to Himself as we give and serve and sacrifice and teach and worship and love people.  God is going to do it.  God is going to flood us with blessing. 

WOW!!  I CAN'T WAIT FOR 2010!  I KNOW GOD IS GOING TO SHOW UP! 

Christmas On Location Is Coming This Weekend!!

I have spent the last week driving 44 hours.  I have shot videos in 3 very cool places.  I have been in the most powerful city in the world.  I have walked across huge trackless sand dunes and stood on the edge of a monstrous cliff in the Tennessee mountains all for this next series.

I promise you CHRISTMAS ON LOCATION is going to be amazing.  The bands are getting ready, the stage is being redesigned, the talk is being written with extra special care. 

So...

WHO ARE YOU BRINGING THIS WEEKEND?

We gave you Christmas cards to give out, have you given yours out yet? 

Which neighbor, friend or co-worker is coming to hear about Christ this weekend? 

Remember church YOU ARE THE STAR at Christmas.  YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF WORLD.

If we don't point the way to Jesus this Christmas people will not find Him.

CHRISTMAS ON LOCATION IS COMING!! 

 

Jesus is up to something at the Crossing - Here are 5 ways you can help.

Jesus is really up to something good at The Crossing. 

We have now had 2 weeks in a row of over 1,000 people in worship.  God is really blessing us.  Jesus is really moving right now.   

Thanks to all of you who have been inviting your friends and family.  It is so exciting to see so many new faces who are starting to find hope and help and forgiveness in Jesus.  

Here are 5 ways you can work to see that continue. 

1.  Invite someone again this weekend. 

God shows up when we love the people He loves.  Don't ever forget the heartbeat of God is lost people.  They matter to Him more than anything, and Jesus is there to meet them even in the middle of a series, so invite someone this weekend.  If it helps, we are giving out movie tickets to all first time attenders again this weekend. 

Just so you know, this weekend's talk is called Balance.  It will help anyone no matter what they think about Jesus and faith. We are going to be teaching people very practically how to begin to set up a plan to climb out of debt and save money.  So invite someone.  This weekend is going to be so good. 

Also, we don't want people to just come for a week or two and then drop off the face of the earth.  So invite the friend you brought on Grand Opening to come again this weekend.  Jesus will continue to become real to them as you keep pointing them to Him.   

2.  When you are at The Crossing on the weekends, please meet some new people. 

Stick out your hand, say hello, invite them to your small group or out for coffee. Develop friendships with people you don't know.   

People will make initial commitments to Christ because of a great worship service but for them to really grow and stick it out long term requires them to have a good support network around them where they are able to get their questions answered.     

So make it your goal to go out of you way to meet and get to know at least 3 - 5 people each weekend when you come to The Crossing.

3.  If you are a regular attender at the 11:00 service on Sundays, please consider moving to Saturdays at 5 or 7. 

We are totally out of good chairs at the 11:00 and it would be cool if no one had to sit on folding chairs.  Our Saturday attendance is good but, we definitely have more seats available than on Sundays at 11:00. 

So please, if you could, attend on Saturday night with your friends and family so that we can free up some more Sunday chairs. 

4.  Pray for Zimmerman. 

In 2 weeks our launch team will begin doing practice church at Westwood Elementary school in Zimmerman.  70 adults and about 20 children will be leaving us to launch that campus.  Pray that God blesses us with tons of new people who will give Jesus the leadership of their lives.  The campus officially opens October 25th at 10:30 am.     

5.  Pray for our staff. 

Someone said to me something like this today, (I am paraphrasing) "The Crossing will only continue to grow as long as your heart, Eric, stays in love with Jesus." And they are so right.   

I desperately want the hand of God on my life and on the life of our church. 

So please pray that I and the other staff members keep our hearts focused on Jesus and honoring Him. We don't want to build our kingdom; we want to build His kingdom. 

Pray that we stay on mission and God's message goes out loud and clear from us.

Pray that we grow in our integrity.  Pray that God fills us with mercy and grace. 

Pray that we always stay in love with Jesus.

Those are the 5 ways you can help us this week continue this march to de-populate hell and change the world.  Jesus is up to something good at The Crossing.  Will you join him? 

You all are pretty incredible!

I am sitting here this morning drinking a cup of coffee and putting the finishing touches on my talk for the weekend.  I am so stoked.  I believe God has really given me something awesome to say and many people are going to commit to following him with their lives.  I can't wait. 

But what is most awesome to me right now is all of you crazy Crossing volunteers.  You all have done an INSANE amount of work this week.  Holy cow, our building looks so flipping good!!  To all of you who have just worked your brains out this week behind the scenes...  THANK YOU!!  You guys are so cool and I feel so humbled to be your pastor.  You are servants of the highest caliber, and I feel so privileged to have you on the Crossing team with me.  

I feel so blessed that we have a church that works so hard to help people far from God meet Jesus.  I know we are going to depopulate some more of hell this weekend and pull some people free of some pretty deep pits. 

And honestly it would not be possible without all your hard work, effort and striving for excellence. 

So thank you for all you have done.  I love you all.  See you (and a friend ) Saturday or Sunday.

Calling all my Crossing Peeps!

We are only 3 days away from our big day now so I wanted to put out some last minute pieces of advice as to how to approach this weekend. 

1.  Be in prayer!  Prayer gets God moving in people and in our church well before the weekend comes.  Our staff is fasting and praying till Thursday at 4:00pm.  You are invited to join us if you wish. 

•     Pray for God to bring hundreds of people to Himself this weekend.
•     Pray that Satan would be bound and that people will clearly be able to hear the spirit of God calling to them. 
•    Pray for the staff.  (Bruce & I are sick.) We are all battling to reach people right now.  Please pray for each of us.
•   Pray for kids ministry, tech, the band, the talk, the greeting and parking teams.  
•   Pray that God takes our dirty water and makes wine for people. 

2.  Come to one of the Saturday services if possible to leave room for people on Sunday. 

3.  INVITE.  INVITE.  INVITE.  Bring someone you care about to hear about Jesus.  Don't just come alone.  I have almost finished the outline for the talk, and it will be a great one for skeptics, seekers and Jesus- followers.   

4.  Come early so that you and your friends get good seats.  (I promise you do not want to miss Ted and Ben's intro song.)

5.  If you are serving, bring your absolute best.

6.  Be thankful and joyful about whatever God does.  We do our part, and then we let God do what God wants to do. 

7.  Take your friend out afterward and ask him what he thought and to come for the whole entire series. 

See you this weekend.  (I am so excited, and really really sick.)