Hello, Crossroads Family !

We had a good elders meeting last Sunday following the worship service !  We’re grateful for your prayers for all of us on the Elder Team.  It’s good to have Bryan and Tommie joining us on that team.  I’ve shared a few notes below from our meeting, and Forrest will give us a report this coming Sunday morning at the end of the worship service.

It looks like the church schedule is set in regards to ongoing activities for the spring semester :

Immerse

Everyone is invited to the start of the new session of Immerse.  We’ll begin Wednesday, February 11, 7:00-8:15, at the church.  This semester’s session will be in the poetical books of the Bible (Job, Psalms, etc) and will last twelve weeks.  Good times of midweek connection and encouragement !  If you need more information, please speak to Forrest.

Women’s Breakfast & A Bible Study

Women, you’re invited to sign up now for this semester’s Saturday morning studies which will begin February 14, 8-9:15 am, at the church.  A sign-up sheet is at the church, or you may contact Erin Townsend (ektownsend12@gmail.com).  The group will follow a study of the Gospel of Luke called Luke : Gut-level Compassion, by Lisa Harper.  (Don’t forget there is a women’s fellowship breakfast this Saturday, the 17th, at 54 Cafe at 8 am for anyone interested.)

Men’s Recharge

Men, our second year of Recharge begins Thursday, February 19, 6:30-8:00 pm, at the church.  This year’s theme is “Practice What We Preach.”  We’lI look at practical action steps we can take for living out what we believe.  Good fellowship, accountability, and personal growth for all men !  Hope you’ll join us ! 

8-13 Year-olds Bible Class

The upcoming dates for the 8-13 year-olds Bible class are February 1 & 22, March 15 & 29, and April 19.

More …

24-Hour Prayer Vigil

Our 24-hour prayer vigil is coming up !  We’ll be praying as a church continuously for 24 hours starting at 6 am on Monday, January 19th.  If you haven’t signed up for a 1-hour time slot, please sign up at the church or reach out to Catherine Moss.  Catherine will have available for you a set of prayer requests and help for spending an hour in prayer.  There’s still room for you !  Let Catherine know if you have any questions !

Easter Cantata ?

Are you interested in joining others in preparing a cantata for Easter ?  We have a cantata in mind made up of seven contemporary, worshipful songs for Easter !  If you’re interested, please let Jessica know soon so we can gauge the level of interest and work out a schedule for practices.  (You can also let me know by responding to this email if you’d like.)  Singing together is a great way to get to know a small group of people !  In addition, this would be a wonderful way to bless others and yourself through a special Easter service !  Don’t be bashful !  We can use you !

Fellowship Meal

We’ll have a fellowship meal after the worship service on Sunday, February 22.  Please mark your calendar !  We’ve haven’t eaten all together in a while !  More information coming on what you can bring.   

Bible Quiz Night

Have you signed up yet to be part of a team for the Bible Quiz on Saturday, March 28 ?  We’ll be competing in teams of three against each other and against teams from two or three other area churches !  Let’s have fun and grow in our love for God’s Word !  Quiz questions will be from the Gospel of Luke.  You can sign up at the church, or you can contact Clayson.  There’s still time !   

A few notes from the Elders meeting …

• We’ll be meeting on the second Sunday of each month.  If you have something that needs to be addressed by the elders, please keep the second Sunday in mind.

• Among our goals as a team :

• Help guide the church in reaching the goal of paying a full-time pastor’s salary as the first step in moving towards a home of our own.

• Begin to meet with some of the current ministry teams in an effort to help them fulfill their goals.

• Schedule a quarterly study session for the elders on topics that concern the local church.

• Implement some practical steps to help us be better shepherds of the church and to better facilitate relationship-building.

• We discussed some of the needs among members of the church and prayed for them.

This Sunday, January 18 

I’ll be preaching on the subject of prayer in preparation for our 24-hour prayer vigil and as part of my series on Real Life Christianity.  The text will be Genesis 32:1 – 33:17 which includes a prayer of Jacob which we’ll look at more closely (32:9-12).

Personal

Thank you for your prayers and understanding during this busy season of show choir at the high school.  Thanks, too, for your prayers for my granddaughter, Jazlyn, in Portland.  She is making slow but steady progress, although a date for discharge from the hospital is still uncertain.  Of particuar concern at this stage is a condition related to underdeveloped retinas in her eyes.  Treatment and progress for this are among the things that need to take place before she can go home.  Thanks for your prayers for Jazlyn and her parents, Dan and Betsy.

“All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

I hope you have a great week and, Lord willing, we’ll see each other this Sunday morning !

— Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family !

This is going to be really quick and probably full of errors !  I desire very much to be with all of you and want to communicate at least a little something before I head to the high school for two hours of show choir rehearsal tonight.

This is the super-busy season of the year for me at the high school.  I will greatly appreciate your patience as we begin the competition portion of our season.  In addition to three hours every morning at the high school, I will need to be at an extra 4-hour rehearsal next Tuesday night, a performance next Thursday night, then about 12 hours of extra rehearsal the following weekend.  Beyond that, I’ll be away with the choirs on seven of the next eight Saturdays for all-day (and part of the night) competitions at other Missouri high schools.  It does limit me in my availability and ability to serve in the church to the degree that I want and you need.  This is one of the reasons we’re moving to a full-time pastor’s position starting in September !  Please lean on our other elders and each other too !  I know you’re already doing that !  Thank you !

I’m so looking forward to Sunday !  I hope you are too !  At Sunday’s worship service, we’ll be hearing some information on some special things coming up :

• Catherine will share some details about our 24-hour prayer vigil, January 19.  Please sign up for a 1-hour time slot on the sign-up sheet in the back of the church.  There are many creative ways to pray for an hour, and if you want to pair up with someone, feel free to do that too !  Our focus will be to really pray earnestly for the people and ministry of Crossroads.  Thank you !

• Clayson will have some details to share about our Bible Quiz competition on Saturday, March 28.  Please mark your calendar !  We’ll be competing in small teams against each other and against some teams from another local church !  Clayson will have a sign-up sheet this Sunday as well so that you can form your team.

• There will be a women’s fellowship breakfast at 54 Cafe at 8 am on Saturday, January 17.  All women and your friends are welcome !  Then, Women’s Breakfast & Bible Study starts back up again Saturday, February 14, 8-9:15, at the church with a study in the Gospel of Luke.

• There are some exciting preparations being made for Men’s Recharge which begins Thursday, February 19, at 6:30 pm.  The theme will be “Practice what you preach.”  Men, if we had 75% of our Crossroads men there, what an amazing group and amazing fellowship we would have !  Would you please mark your calendar, commit to coming, and invite a friend or neighbor to come with you.  Cris will share more information and have a flyer available soon.

• Finally, Jessica and I are interested in knowing who would be interested in being part of an Easter cantata.  Yes, that means a choir !  Wouldn’t that be exciting for Easter !  We’ve looked at a cantata we feel really good about but are curious to know … are you interested ?  Once you let us know, we can discuss options for practice times.  If we had 15-16 people, it would be a great choir.  We’re capable of that !  Think about it !  Fun times !

• A praise :  The giving at Crossroads for 2025 was at what must surely be an all-time high.  Thank you for your generosity.  This is a healthy sign of your commitment and faith.  Also a wonderful blessing from the Lord.

See you Sunday, Lord willing !

Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family !

It was great to be back with you last Sunday following a few days away to visit my children and new grandbaby Jazlyn in Portland, Oregon.  Thank you for your prayers for my trip and for my family members on the West Coast !  It was a wonderful time, and I’m thankful little Jazzy is growing and getting good care.  She was up to nearly three pounds in weight when I was there.

I’m looking forward to our Christmas Eve service tomorrow night at 6:30 and have heard from many of you that you’ll be there.  Be sure to bring along friends and family members or someone else you know who could be blessed by a few minutes focusing on the reason for all the celebration at Christmas !  It will be a simple service, mostly Scripture and singing of traditional carols.  About an hour in length so you can move on to other activities or family events you have scheduled tomorrow night.  Thanks to everyone who is helping in big and small ways to make the service possible !

Thank you too — a bit late — for the good congregational meeting we had two Sundays ago.  It was an important step for us as a church.  As was mentioned in the financial report, we will need our giving to increase by about $200 per week in order to meet our new budget goals which include a full-time pastor’s salary.  That’s not really all that much !  While I’m not involved in the church’s finances, if we were to suppose that there are 20 individuals or families giving to the church, that represents a $10/week increase for each of those givers.  I believe we can also anticipate new growth and giving in the church this coming year.  Thank you for your generous giving !  It’s a discipline and a quality of life the Lord wants to develop in us !

Today, I received an email from the Evangelical Free Church asking me to update information on Crossroads for their upcoming 2026 Church Directory.  There was quite a bit to update, including attendance (which I updated from 48 to 60), membership (which I updated from 20 to 28) and budget (significant increase).  I’m thankful for each of you !  This is a church only God could have imagined and put together !   

More …

Memorial Service for Deborah Jones

The memorial service for Debby Jones will be held at 1 pm this coming Sunday at our church.  You are welcome to join the Jones family, and thank you to those who have volunteered to be there already as a support and outreach to the Joneses.  Charlie and Ethel and their children have attended Crossroads off and on for a number of years.  (Debby is Charlie’s mother.)  We have been able to help financially, through our Blessing Fund, with some of the family’s funeral expenses.  This is an answer to prayer !  You may remember that earlier this year we had discussed helping a family at Christmas time ; It looks like God brought us the family we were thinking about.

Tom Vacation

I’ll be taking time off December 29-January 4.  Mark Tice will preach in my place Sunday, January 4.  Thanks, Mark !  I look forward to some personal time and will be doing my best to not respond to text messages, phone calls, and emails.   If you have a need next week, please be sure to reach out to one of the other church elders.  Thank you !

Elders Meeting

Our new Elder Board will meet for the first time Sunday, January 11.  We thank God for the new elders and for the entire team :  Bryan, Cris, Forrest, Ryan, Shane, and Tommie.  Please pray for God to make clear to us how we can best serve Him and the congregation in the new year.  Thank you !

Women’s Breakfast & Bible Study

Women, mark a couple dates on your calendar :  There will be a women’s breakfast fellowship at 54 Cafe on Saturday, January 17, at 8 am.  Then, the spring semester of women’s Breakfast & a Bible Study will begin Saturday, February 14, 8 am, at the church.  Feel free to contact Erin Townsend for more information (ektownsend12@gmail.com).

24-Hour Prayer Vigil

The January 19th Day of Prayer will be a 24-hour prayer vigil such as we took part in last July.  Catherine Moss will have a sign-up sheet for us at the church so you can sign up for an hour within that 24-hour period.  We’ll have more information and helps coming in January, but please sign up for a time slot now and join in one of the most important things we can do as a church for the new year.

Speaking of prayer, Sam Vigue asks prayer for a friend of his, David, in the capital city of Nigeria.  While Christians in Nigeria’s capital are not under serious threat, those who live in the countryside and small villages are suffering violent attacks from bandits and terrorists.  Travel for Christians in Nigeria is restricted due to the risk of kidnapping.  Kidnappers demand exorbitant ransoms, and sometimes the person abducted is killed whether or not the ransom is paid.  Thanks for making a difference in this spiritual battle by interceding for these brothers and sisters of ours.

8-13 year-old Bible Class

The next 8-13 year-olds class will take place during the sermon on Sunday, January 11.  Other dates for the class are February 1 and 22, March 15 and 29, and April 19.  Thanks, Emily, for leading the group so well !

I look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow evening at 6:30 !

We will worship on Sunday morning at 10:00.

Memorial service for Debby Jones, 1 pm, on Sunday.

Yours in Christ,

Tom