Eric Offstage

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

 

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!!!

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.   

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

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

Easter Weekend Thoughts

After waking up from my holy hangover this morning I wanted to share some of my thoughts from this past Easter weekend. 

1.  Jesus Saves!  This weekend 492 people walked across the line of faith and made Jesus the forgiver and leader of their lives.  That is what all our work and prayer and fasting is all about, church!  Jesus changing people!  WELL DONE!

2.  God grew His church and the gates of hell could not prevail against it!  We have had several attendance weeks over/around 1,500 for 3 months now.  What God did on Easter was unbelievable.  3,757 people (+2 reporters) attended our 10 services!  That is amazing.  Numbers matter because we influenced almost 4,000 people to worship Christ this Easter.  Well done CHURCH!!

3.  Prayer and fasting works. I believe all my heart that our services were successful because our people flooded the gates of heaven with prayer.  The more we pray and fast, the more God blesses us.  I want you to know we are going to call our church to an extended prayer and fasting time every year from now on.  We want God to bless us and our church. 

4.  Your partnership with me paid off.  So many people have told me thank you for leading their brother, sister, mom, neighbor, dad or friend to Christ.  But I didn't do it alone.  YOU DID IT WITH ME!  We were the church of Jesus this weekend, guys!  See what awesome things can happen when the church of Jesus works together.  The reason people gave their lives to Christ was: you prayed for these people and worked with these people and invited these people for months.  Your hard work and prayer worked in partnership with me; and Christ's message and God did the rest.  We are a team.  Never forget that.  Christians are at their best in partnership with other like-minded Christians.

5.  Volunteers made the magic happen.  The core of any church changing the world is its volunteers.  I have never seen so many dedicated, focused, passionate Christians working side by side to reach the world in my entire life.  To every volunteer who worked so hard and gave up their weekend to help people meet Jesus THANK YOU!  Jesus used your hard work to de-populate hell.  Thank you for: cleaning bathrooms, painting, constructing, loving 506 children, playing music, pushing buttons in tech, setting up the stage, greeting, ushering, parking cars, directing traffic, checking in kids, working at the book table, and 100 other jobs.  Kelly and I can not thank you enough.  People are in heaven because of your tireless, passionate work.  WELL DONE, CROSSING!  I watched a miracle happen this weekend at church, and one of the main reasons was that our volunteers BROUGHT IT!  THANK YOU! 

6.  The best is yet to come.  5 years ago I stood up and said eventually The Crossing will be a church of 20,000 people.  I said I hoped by 2011 we could have 1100 people attending The Crossing.  Wow!  JESUS IS AMAZING!!  He has done way more than we could ever have asked or imagined.  If God brought us almost 4000 this weekend in 2010 what must our future look like? THE BEST IS YET TO COME!  JESUS IS GOING TO BLOW US AWAY WITH BLESSING!  We are going to change the world, and God is going to use The Crossing to change not just hundreds or even thousands-- but hundred of thousands of lives are going to be changed with this church.  The best is yet to come. 

Thank you Church.  You are amazing.  I am the most privileged pastor in the world.  Thank you for being on a THRILL and MOVE mission with me. 

See you this weekend.          

Another Great Weekend

Once again Crossing, we had a thousand people in church for the weekend.  God is so good.  The services went great, and so many people have told me how extremely helpful the talk was for their personal finances. 

• I know people who are selling tons of stuff and doing the 90 day tighten your belt thing.(Hopefully they still buy deodorant.)
• I know a ton of people who actually made a budget and some goals, and are going to try to live by them. 
• And several couples have told me how they are starting to get free from the chains of debt. 

God is so good, and I am glad that we were able to help so many people with this super practical series. Next week is going to be our final week of the series, and it is going to be OFF THE CHAIN.  You do not want to miss it. 

Also, I went to the first set up of the Zimtown campus on Sunday night and HOLY COW THAT CAMPUS IS GOING TO BE SO AWESOME!!  It was incredible.  Our Zimmerman team is on their game, and in 3 weeks we are going to launch an amazing new Crossing adventure.   

I know God is going to do great things with that group in Zimmerman. 

Way to go, church!  What a honor it is to serve alongside such hard working, passionate Jesus people. 

Yeah God!

Stories... Thank You... Keep moving forward church...

We promised you we would write you some cool stuff about the last weekend, and I really want to do that, but first I need to say thank you to the staff and volunteers who put on a great great worship experience for people this past weekend. 

The entire weekend was exactly what we dream for church to be at the Crossing every week, and I want you all to know how proud I am of all of you.  I can't believe I get to be the pastor of such an amazing church. 

Now on to some of the dirt from the weekend:

-  We had 1,496 people show up for church.  That is a record for the Crossing.  That means we got to influence like 1500 lives for the kingdom of heaven!  Nicely done church, that is what it is all about. If you invited people invite them back for week # 2.  Buck Naked is going to be a good talk. 

-  We know of tons of skeptics and seekers that came for the first time and were so excited they have agreed to come for the rest of the series at least and keep "kicking the tires." 

-  I know of several hard core atheists who were so intrigued they are coming for the rest of the series. 

-  We had over 300 first time guest cards! That is record for the Crossing, and as we've called them, almost of them were so excited to find a church like ours. 

-  Tons of people got help by taking money out of the offering.  One of our services almost all the cash was completely gone.  Yeah God. 

-  About 150-200 people (I am guessing here based on those who looked up at me at the end of the services) made some sort of commitment to either give God the leadership of their lives or began to take steps to seek Him.  That is what it is all about.  (That is de-populating hell.)  Thanks for getting them to Jesus. 

-  I know of at least one homeless dude who gave his life to Jesus and got help from us this weekend.

-  I know of a skeptic girl who hated church and the whole God thing who begged the person who brought her to let her come back with them next week.

-  I know of two people who came to church by being waved into the lot by our parking team.  (Go PIT CREW!)

-  I heard tons of comments on how awesome the music and the First Impressions Team (greeters) are. WELL DONE.

-  I know of several new families that put kids in our new kids programing, and they loved it so much they couldn't get them to leave when the service was over.

-  I heard of a pastor at another church that has been inviting people to come to our church because theirs isn't "seeker and skeptic" friendly.  And they showed up!!  

-  I got kicked in the shins for Jesus by a really nice Goth dude.  That was a new experience for me, and I was so excited to take a little abuse for the name of my Savior.

-  And lastly, Sunday night I went to a meeting with about 70 adults to begin to plan the launch of our Zimmerman campus.  Holy Cow!  That group is going to rock face off in Zimtown.  I walked away from that meeting so pumped by what God is going to do in that city.  Practice church starts the first weekend in October.  Grand opening to the public is October 25 @ 10:30.  

So yes God showed up in some pretty amazing ways this weekend.  He thrilled and moved seekers and believers exactly like we prayed He would.

But now I have to throw in a word of caution.  DON'T CHILL OUT, CHURCH!  We run a marathon not a sprint.  Many of you will be tempted to go, "Well we did it.  We had the Grand Freaking Opening.  Time to relax."  NO!!  Hell is real and Satan never sleeps.  We have so much more work to do.  So don't let up. 

-  This weekend is going to be amazing.  (Jesus will be there.)  SHOW UP!! 

-  Invite your friends back for part # 2.  They need life change and hope.   

-  Invite your friends and family who didn't come this past week to give this weekend a shot.  Jesus still wants to meet them. 

-  Pray that God meets people and changes them in the coming weeks as well.

-  Worship your guts out when you are here.

-  Lean in and listen for God to teach you something. 

-  Send our creative videos from last weekend viral.  Email 'em, put 'em on Facebook, etc.

But whatever you do, don't chill out and take a break now.  The grand opening service was not the goal, it was just the first step of a very long marathon in Elk River and the northwest suburbs.  It is not how we start the race that counts but how we run it and how we finish it that really matters.   

So pray like no one is praying... and work like no one is working, and God will use us to change the world. 

I love you all.  See you this weekend.

Questions and Answers...

So this past week I have had a ton of questions about the talk that I gave last weekend on being "off the chain ticket master agents" for Jesus.

The questions are pretty much all around the statement:  "Church for people who don't do church."

Many people have told me I explained that statement about as clear as mud so let me give you the three biggest questions I have heard, and I will try to answer them for you.  If you have more questions send me a comment about it.  

The questions I have received are as follows:

1. What about my friends that go to church but don't get anything out of it?  Should I invite them?
2. What about my friends that only go on Christmas and Easter and that is pretty much it?  Should I invite them?
3. Who do I invite if everyone I know says they are Christians already?  Total strangers?

Let me address all of these questions as best I can. 
1.  What about my friends that go to church but don't get anything out of it?

If you have friends that just go to another church out of habit or because that is where their family went but they don't really get anything from it, then by all means invite them to our place. 

I did not mean to imply that we should not help people who aren't learning and growing find a place to grow and learn. 

All I was trying to say that if your friends have a great church they love and are attending regularly don't invite them to switch to ours because the music is louder or the style is hip. 

Let them stay and help their church reach people who are far from God.  We need tons of churches to change the world.  I don't want to be a church that grows mostly by stealing sheep from other churches.  Too many churches grow through transfer growth because they are the cool place in town.  I don't want to be that church. 

I want us to reach people who have not been reached yet.  I don't want to, in the words of Rick Warren, be "rearranging the chairs on the Titanic while the ship is going down." 

We need to keep our mission focused on reaching people who are lost and hurting and far from God, so we don't invite people who love their church and try to get them to switch just because ours is cooler. 

There are tons of great churches.  But if you friend is not growing or learning at his own church then by all means invite them to ours.  We can help them get thrilled with an awesome God .

2.  What about my friends that only go on Christmas and Easter, and that is pretty much it?  Should I invite them?

HECK YES!!  If they only go to church a few times a year they are not really committed to the whole Jesus thing, and we would love them to come to our place and meet a God that wants to do life with them every week--not just twice a year. 

We want to reach people who don't regularly go to church.  That is a great invite. 

3.  Who do I invite if everyone I know says they are a Christian already?  Total strangers?
Just because someone says they are a Jesus follower doesn't mean they are. 

When I invite someone I always ask them where they attend church.  Usually they will say I am Lutheran or Catholic or Baptist or whatever, so I follow my question up by asking again, not what denomination are you, but where do you actually go to church every weekend?  

Most of the time they answer by saying they rarely attend (80% of Americans don't go regularly) so I invite them to meet Jesus at our place. 

Many people say they are Christian and believe.  But only a small percent of people actually go to church and worship Christ consistently.   

So if they are not regular attenders... INVITE THEM TO OUR PLACE.

But if you find our they have a church they love to attend and serve and learn in, then let them stay there.  We need tons of good churches to reach the world, and they all don't have to look like the Crossing. 

I hope this helps clarify what I said this weekend.  Many of you have friends who are far from God and claim to be Christian, but if they don't actually attend a church then invite them to ours. 

Jesus might just change them.  (Remember He changed the man the four dudes brought.)