Hello, Crossroads Family !

This is early for a TMG, but while my mind is full of thoughts from yesterday, I feel led to send some encouragement and reminders for the week ahead.

I hope you had a good weekend !

I enjoyed having a few of you in my home for dinner and fellowship Saturday night, along with my daughter Esther who joined us for the evening.

I was blessed, as I hope you were, through our worship yesterday morning. There is always good fellowship before and after the service on Sundays. I’m encouraged when people extend the service through meaningful conversation afterwards, many times with your Bibles still open. What a blessing ! We had one first-time visitor yesterday which has become a regular occurrence at Crossroads. Let’s pray that God will bless those who visit us. Some need Christ, some may be looking for connection with a local church, and some may simply be seeking some love, encouragement, and/or hope ! Let’s pray sincerely that God would give the leading they seek and would supply their needs.

The elders had a marathon meeting after the service with our primary accomplishment being that we hammered out an initial proposal for a 2025 church budget. We were helped by the input several of you gave us prior to the meeting. Thank you ! (We came to the realization, too, that this is the fourth year Stacey Wilson has served as Treasurer at Crossroads. Unfortunately for us, our church by-laws limit a person’s service in that position to four consecutive years only. We’re so grateful for Stacey’s good help these past four years !) Don’t forget that we’ll have a congregational meeting on Sunday, December 15, following the worship service. With God’s help, we will elect a new elder, approve a budget for 2025, and spend some time in prayer.

Yesterday evening, the Hymn Study Small Group enjoyed some Advent singing, meditation and laughter, and we were joined by an unexpected visitor ! December 1 will be the first Sunday of Advent. We’ll light an Advent wreath each Sunday, and I’m currently looking for some people who will read a short devotional thought and light the candle each Sunday. If I approach you to help in that way, I hope you’ll be open to that ! Thanks !

The message of “No one can serve two masters” is such a simple one, it seems hardly worth repeating to people like you who read and study your Bibles on a regular basis. Yet, we should each take stock and ask ourselves if, perhaps, we’re trying to serve God and some other master. The master may not necessarily be money — it could be something else — but oftentimes the compromises we make in our relationship with God do revolve around a pursuit of more or better finances, or around a failure to believe that He would provide what we need in some other way if we threw off the yoke of that second master.

If we want to experience (and really believe we can experience) a life full of all God desires for us (what Jesus called an “abundant” life), what should we not compromise on ? The answer that comes to my mind are those five basic needs of all followers of Jesus Christ have :

Bible : regular time reading God’s Word, even if it’s just a little bit each day
Prayer : some regular time each day spent speaking to the Lord (and hearing from Him)
Fellowship : provides the energy and sharpening we need to believe and follow
Witness : telling others about God’s work in our lives
Worship : times of personal worship (which can be very simple), and worship with others

Simple things. I was struck this morning by another simple statement in Psalm 128 :

How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord, who walks in His ways. (Psalm 128:1)

To say a person should “walk in God’s ways” seems, again, to be kind of an old-fashioned idea, doesn’t it ? Surely we’re beyond such a simple concept as that ! “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus,” seems like a song from the distant past. Yet, there it is still, a promise to be believed and acted upon : “How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord and walks in His ways.”

May God help all of us (myself included !) to walk in His ways this coming week. May He give us minds to understand and accept what His ways are. May He also grant us an ability to recognize and repent of “other” masters in our lives.

Thanks for joining me in this wonderful pursuit which is not only a path of blessing for today but which is preparing us for an eternity with God in a new heaven and new earth !

Prayers Needed

Please pray for our Nominating Committee as the committee members seek God’s will for a nomination for Elder. The best qualifications for elders (even better than the ones given in our church by-laws Emoji) are found in the following passages of the Bible :

1 Timothy 3:1-7
1 Timothy 5:17-25
Titus 1:5-9
1 Peter 5:1-4
Acts 20:17-32

If you’re unfamiliar with those passages, or if you need to review them, take time to read those passages this week. Some of the qualifications mentioned are the following :

desires to serve as an elder / overseer
lives a life above reproach
faithful to his wife (a “one-woman man”)
exercises self-control
manages his household well
hospitable
has a good reputation with those outside the church
is able to teach
a gentle person
not a heavy drinker, or quarrelsome, or a lover of money
leads eagerly (1 Peter 5:2)
is an example to the flock (1 Peter 5:3)

It’s not a perfect person we’re looking for, but the bar is a high one and not to be taken lightly. Elders are shepherds (really, pastors) and must be able to guide the flock in God’s ways (Psalm 128 again).

Thanksgiving Dinner next Sunday !

We’re looking forward to a wonderful time next Sunday following the worship service ! Thanks to Heather Vestal who has organized this Thanksgiving dinner several years in a row ! If you need help knowing what you can or should bring, please contact Heather (417-549-0051). She will be happy to help you or remind you. Tables for the meal will already be set up by the time you arrive for worship at 10:00 next Sunday. Thanks to everyone for their help and flexibility for a special day !

Finally …

Don’t forget Immerse this Wednesday night at 7:00 ! Reading assignment is pp 248-269 in the Immerse Bible (Numbers 25-36).

Ladies, don’t forget to sign up for the Women’s Cookie Exchange which will be held December 8 at 3pm at the church. And you can also sign up for next semester’s women’s Bible study if you’re interested. Information at the church or contact Erin Townsend (ektownsend12@gmail.com).

Westview Evangelical Free Church, where my son-in-law and daughter serve, had a prophecy conference this weekend featuring Jeff Kinley and Todd Hampson who are known as the “Prophecy Pros.” If you’re interested, you can watch Sunday’s sermon here. Don’t forget that Crossroads sermons are also available on our Crossroads Facebook page.

Have a wonderful week !

— Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family !

Just back home from a meeting of the Vernon County Ministerial Alliance.  It was a meeting that lasted over two hours and was much different from our ordinary meetings, as it was dedicated to building relationships among those present and discussing what the future of the Ministerial Alliance should look like.  I enjoyed it.  I enjoy the connections I’ve made over the years with other pastors in town, mostly through the Ministerial Alliance.  It’s hard to believe I’m actually now one of the long-termers in that group, having been at Crossroads ten years.  I appreciated today’s commitment to Scripture, prayer, and relationship-building.  I hope you’ll plan to attend the Community Thanksgiving service on Monday, November 25, at St Mary’s Church in Nevada.  Yours truly will be preaching, and I’d love to have you there for support and to “show you off” !   Maybe I’ll even preach from Exodus !  The offering that night provides an important part of the Alliance’s Emergency Relief Fund for the coming year.  7 pm on the 25th.  (No Chiefs game that night.)

Crossroads Calendar

Immerse tonight, 7:00

Everyone is invited !  The discussion will be from pages 225-248 in the Immerse Bible which corresponds to Numbers 12-24.  Even if you haven’t done all the reading (or any of it !), you’ll enjoy the discussion and the fellowship !

Worship this Sunday morning at 10:00.

It’s great to see our worship area filled up with enthusiastic worshipers !  Thanks to everyone who prepares the facility, prepares the worship, and for all who prepare in prayer !

Elders Meeting following worship this Sunday

Thanks for your prayers for our elders.  The main item on our agenda this Sunday is to work through a budget proposal for the church for 2025.  Please pray that God will supply wisdom and vision !  A budget is not only a projection of future finances but also a statement of vision.

Hymn Study Small Group Sunday evening, 6:30

We’ll meet this week at the church rather than at the Knoches’.  We would love you to join us for some quiet, thoughtful study and fellowship to end the day.  We’ll be taking a look at two Advent/Christmas hymns :  “Good Christian Men, Rejoice !” and “O Come, O Come Immanuel.”

Thanksgiving Fellowship Meal, November 24

Sign up at church this Sunday or contact Heather Vestal (heather.vestal@yahoo.com) if you’re able to contribute a dish to our Thanksgiving meal on the 24th.  It’s always an enjoyable time with lots of delicious food !

Community Thanksgiving Service, November 25

7 pm at St Mary’s Church in Nevada.

Crossroads Cookie Exchange, Sunday, December 3

All women and your friends are invited to bring some special Christmas treats to share, and then go home with a box of treats yourself.  3:00 at the church.  Contact Erin Townsend (ektownsend12@gmail.com) for more information.

Crossroads Christmas Eve Service, December 24, 6 pm

We’d love to have you join us for a special evening of worship on Christmas Eve.  Please plan to bring family members, a friend, or a neighbor.  We will finish no later than 7:00 so you can enjoy the rest of the evening as you choose.Finally …

I was thumbing through my files this week and came across this question in an old sermon I gave to my previous church, Emmanuel E-Free, in Hermann, MO :

“Do you believe God is growing His kingdom through Emmanuel E-Free ?”

It’s a good question to ask ourselves too.  We’re hopefully not just going through the motions of “doing church” from week to week but rather committing our time, energy, offerings, and prayers because we really do believe God is accomplishing an important part of His work through us right now.  Are you seeing that, too, like I am ?  Let’s keep up the good work ; let’s be prayed up as we come to the end of another week and prepare for worship.  May God fill us with His Holy Spirit so that we can accomplish His purposes for us !

This statement from one of Paul’s sermons comes to mind :

“David, after he had served God’s purpose in his own generation, fell asleep, and was buried among his fathers” (Acts 13:36).

May it also be said of us that we are serving God’s purposes in our generation !  A great time to be alive !

— Tom

P.S.  Since we were talking some last Sunday about the Evangelical Free Church, here’s a link to a short video on the history of this movement of churches.  Also, you can read the entire Statement of Faith of the EFCA at efca.org.

Hello, Crossroads Family !

I hope you’re having a good week. For most of us, life is busy right now. May God give us wisdom in the choices we make about our time. May we have hearts and wills to follow Him as He leads us through this new day !

Some thoughts to help with time management :

Psalm 127 says, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. … It is vain for you to rise up early, to retire late, to eat the bread of painful labors, for He gives to His beloved even in his sleep” (Psalm 127:1-2). In my Bible, the phrase “even in his” is in italics, meaning it has been added to make the English more understandable. If that phrase is left out, verse two reads even more simply, “He gives to His beloved sleep.” Sleep is also a gift from God ! He will take care of all the details and demands of life. He longs to renew our minds, bodies, and spirits. Rest is important too.

“Cease striving and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).

Jesus lived with a sense of God the Father having a purpose for each hour of His life. He often said things like, “The hour has come …,” or “My hour has not yet come.” Let’s ask God to sharpen our understanding of His purposes for our life.

I find myself up early again this morning which is either a reality of growing older or is perhaps, also, the reality that God often meets with us in the early hours of the morning. Many things in the Bible happened during those early morning hours : Jesus came walking to the disciples on the water in the fourth watch of the night, i.e., between 3:00 and 6:00 a.m. The resurrection happened during the night, likely just before morning. Jacob wrestled with the angel of the Lord just before daybreak. Is there a place in your schedule for some morning time with the Lord — not necessarily between 3:00 and 6:00, but a few minutes of quiet with Him before your busy day begins ?

A.W. Tozer wrote this : “How completely satisfying to turn from our limitations to a God who has none. Eternal years lie in His heart. For Him time does not pass, it remains ; and those who are in Christ share with Him all the riches of limitless time and endless years. God never hurries. There are no deadlines against which He must work. Only to know this is to quiet our spirits and relax our nerves. For those outside of Christ, time is a devouring beast” (from The Knowledge of the Holy).

Happening at Crossroads

Nominating Committee
Thank you for your affirmation of our new Nominating Committee made up of Emily Lewis, Catherine Moss, Tommie Ray, Dave Reedy, and Heather Vestal. Please pray for this team as they seek God’s leading for a nominee for Elder Board for next year. They may be asking for your input as they go about their deliberations. Thanks in advance for being a support to them !

Missions Team
I enjoyed meeting this week with our new Missions Team — Bobbie Barbour, Heather Hall, Julie Kemper, and myself. We’re seeking to understand how we can build upon steps Crossroads has taken in recent years in the area of world missions, and how we can have more involvement in local missions. Our meeting was mainly a time of brainstorming. Here are some questions and ideas discussed :
How can we help our church family grow its relationship with our current missionaries ? A quarterly update on Sunday mornings ? Including our missionaries and their prayer needs in slides before the worship service ? How can we make our missionaries’ newsletters more accessible to the church family ?
What is the difference between “Missions” and “Outreach” ? Both of those subjects currently have a line in our church budget.

What kinds of missions or outreach activities could be possible for Crossroads in the near future ?
Renew our experience of serving at Kamp Keirsey ?
Continue outreach to our neighbors, like our recent hot dog Parking Lot Party ?
Backyard Bible Club in one of our neighborhoods ?
A missions trip ?
Training in evangelism ?

Thank you for praying for this team !

On the calendar …
Worship this Sunday morning at 10:00.
Women’s Christmas ornament painting party this Sunday at 3 pm.
Immerse next Wednesday, November 13, 7 pm.
Elders meeting next Sunday, November 17, following the worship service.
A Thanksgiving dinner is planned for November 24 following the worship service. There is a sign-up list at the church if you would like and are able to bring food. Questions ? Contact Heather Vestal.
Crossroads Women’s Cookie Exchange, December 8, at 3 pm.
Congregational Meeting, December 15, following worship.
Christmas Eve service, December 24, at 6:00 pm. Everyone is invited !

Prayer

Thanks for being a praying church ! Here are some prayer needs that come to mind :
Our new Nominating Committee and its work ; the choice of a new elder for our church.
Our new Missions Team.
God’s protection of lives and relationships.
Spiritual growth.
Please pray for our current Elder Team ; they have a lot to accomplish in the final weeks of 2024.
Thank you for praying for me during a busy season of life.

Takeaways

Here are two thoughts I left with from Immerse last night (study in the early chapters of Numbers) :

1. The Israelites, while capable of great disobedience and sin, were also capable of great obedience, as evidenced by the many gifts they brought to support ministry in the Tabernacle. Isn’t that true of us as well ? While we are acutely aware of our failings, are we also aware that, with God’s help, we are capable of great obedience ? Oh, that it would be so !
2. When we complain about circumstances (as the Israelites did so often), we are saying, in essence, that we could have done things better than God did. May God put a check on our complaining ! It’s a bad habit most of us have ! Do we know better than God ? Could we do it better than He does ? How brighter and more hopeful our lives would be if we would learn to trust Him and give thanks in all things. How important it is to remember that our God is faithful — has been and always will be !

I hope to see you this Sunday !

— Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family !

We have so much to be thankful for as a church. It’s been an exciting year at Crossroads. I love watching you interact during times of fellowship and service and worship and outreach. It’s wonderful to see the love God is building among us, especially considering we’re a congregation made up of people from many different places, backgrounds, and experiences in life. It has been fun to watch our new rented location on Highland Avenue become a “home” to us over the course of the past year. (Of course, we want to keep praying for, and preparing for, a more permanent home too !)

The Parking Lot Party last Sunday showed me the heart for outreach God has given us. Thanks to everyone who helped make that party an excellent event ! And even though none of our neighbors came, we had some important contact with them both before and after the party through invitations given prior to the party, and leftover food shared with them after the party. I thank God for that ! The fellowship we enjoyed among ourselves, the simplicity of the meal, the use of our cooker (which we bought a long time ago, kind of on a whim !), the laughter and games, and the brilliant, beautiful sunshine were all ways that God blessed us last Sunday.

Yesterday evening at Immerse we had a time of meaningful, encouraging discussion around a difficult part of the Bible (the second half of Leviticus). I left feeling like I knew the book better and feeling like I knew my church family better. We tapped into some important themes that come from a book full of do’s and don’ts (mostly don’ts, it seems !). God had a difficult work to do to make the Israelites into a nation that would be a light to the world. He didn’t choose them because of their goodness ; they, like us, were deeply fallen people. God was so patient in the Old Testament in laying out His vision for saving fallen people. Leviticus is an example of that ; He used vivid “picture language” (just like we might do with little children) to try to impress upon them the way to a relationship with Him.

The following passages from the New Testament are some that have helped me better understand the role of the Law, and also the blessing we have to live at a time when the Savior, the One to whom the Law was pointing, has already come :

“No one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day, things which are a mere shadow of what is to come ; but the substance belongs to Christ” (Colossians 2:16-17)

“For the Law, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make perfect those who draw near” (Hebrews 10:1).

“For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire (Mt Sinai), … but to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant” (Hebrews 12:18,24).

Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures (the Law !) because you think that in them you have eternal life ; it is these that testify about Me” (John 5:39).

I hope you’ll join us next week on Wednesday for Immerse when we start a new book, Numbers. There are remarkable stories in Numbers, and I’m sure we’ll have lively, meaningful discussions. The reading assignment is pp 201-225 in the Immerse Bible, or Numbers 1-11 in other Bibles. Everyone is welcome !

Happening at Crossroads …

Worship this Sunday morning at 10:00
The Lord’s Supper will be a part of our worship this Sunday. Following the worship service, there will be an opportunity for those interested to gather for a few minutes of prayer ahead of next week’s elections. We would also like to get the new Nominating Committee together for a few minutes after the service to help you begin your work. Thank you ! Don’t forget that our time changes Saturday night ; we’ll no longer be on Daylight Savings when Sunday morning arrives ! Fall back one hour !

Nominating Committee
The proposed Nominating Committee includes the following people : Emily Lewis, Catherine Moss, Tommie Ray, Dave Reedy, and Heather Vestal. Our church by-laws require that this team of people be approved by a majority vote of the church membership. If you are a voting member at Crossroads, we’ll have a yes/no ballot available this Sunday morning for you to mark and turn in to one of the elders so we can help the Nominating Committee get started on its work. Thank you !

Hymn Study Small Group, Sunday evening at 6:30
Everyone is invited ! Fellowship, encouragement, and growth through the study of two great hymns of faith. Meet at the home of Marvin and Diane Knoche, 1605 W. Maple Street. Always a good time !

Crossroads Women’s Fellowship, November 10
Come join a time of snacks and fellowship while painting a nativity ornament with Jeanette Hawkins from I Heart Art ! Cost is $20, and this Sunday (11/3) is the last opportunity to sign up. Contact Erin Townsend (417-684-7067 or ektownsend12@gmail.com) for more information.

Thanksgiving Fellowship Dinner, November 24
We’ll share a Thanksgiving dinner together following the worship service on Sunday, the 24th. Mark your calendar and invite a friend ! More information coming soon.

Congregational Meeting, December 15
Don’t forget about the congregational meeting on Sunday, December 15, following worship. It will be an important meeting at which we hope to approve a church budget for 2025 and elect a new elder to replace Dave Reedy who is finishing his term of service. Thank you for praying in advance for the meeting and for the work to be done prior to the meeting !

They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region ; they did not find a way to an inhabited city.
They were hungry and thirsty ; their soul fainted within them.
Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble ; He delivered them out of their distresses.
He led them by a straight way to go to an inhabited city.
Let them give thanks to the Lord for His lovingkindness.
— Psalm 108:4-8

See you this Sunday, Lord willing !

— Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family !

I hope to see you tonight at Immerse at 7:00 at the church building.  This Wednesday and next Wednesday, we’ll discuss the book of Leviticus (tonight, pp 151-175).  These could be really unusual or really quiet conversations, I’m not sure which !  

In response to the second of the Immerse questions (“What troubles you, or what questions do you have about the passage ?”), I made this note :  Is religion (or Christianity) boring ?  Leviticus is a hard book for many reasons, and may even seem boring to some.  I think it’s one of the reasons people have a hard time reading through the entire Bible after a good start in Genesis and Exodus.  My difficulty with Leviticus only changed a few years ago when I read a helpful study guide on the book that helped me see the organization of the book and understand its pictures.

I know that Christianity is not boring, and neither is God.  Consider these couple of passages (also from the Old Testament) that speak to us of God’s emotions :

In Hosea 9:15, speaking of the Israelites and their idolatry, God says, “I came to hate them at Gilgal (one of the Israelites’ original places of worship) !  Because of the wickedness of their deeds I will drive them out of My house !”  God’s anger, frustration, and disappointment are apparent all throughout the book of Hosea.  He consistently compares His people to a harlot.

Yet, later, in the book of Zephaniah, after declaring that He intends to rescue a remnant of people in Israel in the future, He expresses tremendous joy about that :  

“Shout for joy, O daughter of Zion !  Shout in triumph, O Israel !  Rejoice and exult with all your heart !  The Lord your God is in your midst, a victorious warrior.  He will exult over you with joy” (Zeph 3:14-17).  Some Bibles say, “He will sing over you with joy.”  That’s a beautiful and emotional expression.

God doesn’t ride up and down on His emotions like we do ; yet He is not disinterested, distant, or passive, either.  He made us with emotions because He Himself possesses emotion.  What a wonderful God to take such a passionate interest in us and in the affairs of our lives !  He is always offering to people a pathway back to Him and to the joy song He sings over us !  

More on Zephaniah this Sunday morning !

Coming Up …

We have two fun fellowship and outreach events this weekend :

Saturday – Women’s Breakfast & Fall Festival

Come join the women of Crossroads for breakfast then fellowship at the Fall Festival here in Nevada !  On Saturday we’ll meet at 54 Cafe (540 N. Subway Blvd) at 8:30 am, then travel to the Stor-Mor Fall Festival at 10:00 am (1419 W. Austin, in front of Woods Supermarket). We’d love to have you join us for both or either event regardless of whether you attended Breakfast and a Bible Study this fall.  Email or text Erin Townsend (ektownsend12@gmail.com, 417-684-7067) for questions or more details! 

Sunday – Parking Lot Party

On Sunday everyone is invited to stay around after worship for our Parking Lot / Block Party !  We’re grilling hot dogs, eating outdoors, enjoying fellowship, and playing games !  Be sure to invite a friend to join us !  Worship at 10:00, then food, games, and fellowship at 11:30.  If you have any questions, please contact Julie Kemper (417-321-3999).

Nominating Committee

We’re in need of four more people to serve on this year’s Nominating Committee.  The work of the Nominating Committee will be to discern a candidate for the position of elder for next year.  The work of the committee should be finished by the first of December.  If you’re a member at Crossroads and interested in serving, please let one of the current elders know.  (Our by-laws require the congregation to vote to confirm the Nominating Committee once it’s has been selected.  We will do that on Sunday, November 3.)

2025 Church Budget

We would still like ministry teams to submit a budget proposal to the elders by November 1 if you’re able so we can start constructing a 2025 church budget proposal.  We’ll vote on the budget proposal and on the nominee for elder at a congregational meeting December 15.

Thanksgiving Fellowship Meal

Don’t forget that we’ll enjoy Thanksgiving dinner together following worship on Sunday, November 24, at the church.  I hope you can join us and bring a friend or family member !

Prayers Needed

I’m grateful for all the high school and college students attending Crossroads !  I hope you’ll pray for them and take time to get to know them.

Tonight :  Immerse, 7:00

Saturday :  Women’s Breakfast & Fall Festival starting at 8:30

Sunday :  

• Worship at 10:00 
• We look forward to receiving Catherine Moss, David and Midge Prickett as new members to Crossroads at the end of the worship service !
• Parking Lot Party starting at 11:30.

— Tom