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.   

All I Can Say Is Thank You

This is just a shout out of gratitude.

First, to the multitude of volunteers that served so tirelessly at the Thrill and Move Conference last Tuesday - Thank You!  Our conference was a HUGE SUCCESS because of you!  Hundreds of pastors and church leaders from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa came for the day to our church; and you sacrificially served, encouraged, blessed and helped them.  THANK YOU!  The kingdom of Jesus is going to grow so much due to your hard work.  I love that we weren't just about our little church but about the entire kingdom of Jesus. 

Second, to Pastors Brad White and Shannon Odell - you guys rocked the house at our conference.  Your talks on vision and funding the church were amazing, and I am thankful to have such great pastor friends like you all.  Thanks for flying to Minnesota and encouraging pastors, church leaders and our team at the Crossing as well.  Our church and our leadership will be better because of your wisdom. 

Third, to Pastor Bil Cornelius. Thanks for being my friend, mentor, and wise board member.  Your talk all 6 services on Thrill and Move weekend were hilarious and great!  Our church was super stoked to have you preach the weekend services, and Jesus totally showed up!  But what I am personally grateful for is your friendship and wisdom.  Having a friend in ministry like you is something I will never take for granted.  So many pastors go through ministry solo, and I so thankful for your support, wisdom, and ability to get all up in my grill and explode my paradigm so I think outside the box. 

Fourth, to the Crossing staff.  You people are an amazing team, and I love you all.  You worked your guts out for the conference (not to mention every weekend), and I am so thankful you serve with me.  I have the privilege of leading the craziest, hardest working church staff on earth.  I know you love Jesus and are willing to do anything, everything or nothing to accomplish our mission to de-populate hell in the northwest suburbs.  Thank you for all you do.

Fifth, to Jesus.  Thank you for being the head of the church (specifically for being the head of The Crossing Church).  Thank you for allowing us to be part of your kingdom team and for blessing us with your presence every weekend and every day.  Without you, Jesus, we are nothing.  And once again you showed up in a HUGE way for us this past weekend and changed a TON of lives.  We are grateful, blessed, and we will not take this for granted.  We realize we serve the Greatest Savior (Jesus), on the greatest mission (The Gospel), with the greatest organization (the Church) in all the world.  Thank you Jesus for allowing us ring side seats to life change.  It is always, only about you.  

THANKS...

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

One Year of Blogging, Life, and Church Leadership.

Blogging:

As of today, I have been blogging for exactly one year.  I didn't know at first if I would really like this whole blogging gig but during the year I posted 111 articles and have have seen almost 23,000 hits.  End result:  Many more people have been influenced for Christ.  So it seems that this blogging thing will be continuing. 

Life:

This has been the best year ever of marriage for Kelly and I.  I am so thankful for the beautiful, Godly, intelligent wife that God blessed me with.  This year we taught each other a ton of stuff and pushed each other to look like Jesus more than ever before. 

My 3 kids also have been really growing and changing this year in amazing ways. 

• Braden is growing in leadership potential and listening to God. 
• Holland is growing more beautiful by the day and is a fantastic reader. 
• Aidan never ceases to shine.  He is starting to read well and is still growing as a demolitions expert.  (He loves to take things apart and see how they work.)

Church:

God blew my mind in 2009.  Our church is truly blessed.     

• A year ago our offices were still in our garage; now we have office space.
• A year ago we had no building. Now we have a permanent Elk River location.
• A year ago we were in one city.  Now we have a Zimmerman campus. 
• A year ago we had 8 staff members.  Now we have 11 and 6 interns. 
• A year ago our church was averaging 600 - 700 per week.  Now we are over 1,000 each week.
• A year ago Celebrate Recovery was averaging 50-60 per week.  Now over 100 addicts meet each week to ask Jesus to conquer their hurts, habits, and hang ups.    
• A year ago hundreds of people were headed toward hell, and now they are on their way to heaven.
• Our church is now larger than 98% of all churches in the country, and is one of the fastest growing as well.  

What an amazing year 2009 has been.  Thank you God for influence, a great family, growth of our church and changed lives. 

Can't wait for 2010 to start.  Tomorrow, I will tell you 5 things I am most excited about for 2010. 

A Look at the Past Year at The Crossing

Ever been on a whitewater rafting trip? If you haven’t, it is such an adrenaline rush. There are crazy fast rapids, and sudden stomach turning drops, moments where feel like you are suspended in mid air, followed by a huge wall of water that just about drowns you.

It is amazing. It is one of my favorite experiences. The guide yells something like GET READY GET READY GET READY! and then you just hang on and ride.

That is what I feel like this year has been like at The Crossing. It feels like we got into this little rubber raft with God, and then He took us through all the twists and turns and drops of a Class 5 rapids. It has truly been one of the most phenomenal rides I have ever been on.

Over the last 12 months we have seen:

• hundreds of people commit their lives to Christ

• 64 people baptized

• an attendance high of 1,275 for Easter

• a growth rate of 19% over last year

• the addition of 4 full time staff members

• and the blessing of a new building with the capacity to reach 4 times the number of people we have so far.

If you thought last year's ride was fast and furious, wait till you see the set of rapids God is pushing us down this year. I hope you have your helmets on and are strapped in tight, because the launch of this new year of ministry is going to be even crazier than the last one.

Here come the rapids:

• Our Grand Opening weekend for our new Elk River campus is September 12-13. It is going to ROCK FACE OFF!! We are praying for well over 1,000 people to be in attendance.

• We launch a second campus in Zimmerman on October 25, and we are expecting great things from Chris and the crew there.

• We may add another venue in February if God brings us the leadership, manpower and cash to pull it off.

• And most importantly, I believe that this year we will reach more people who are far from God than we ever have before.

God is about to do something HUGE with the Crossing. I can hear the sound of the rapids coming... So as your guide, I'm yelling: GET READY GET READY GET READY!!