Hello, Crossroads Family !

Thank you to everyone who made the Hot Dog Dinner outreach such a good time last Sunday !  We were blessed with good weather, good fellowship, and opportunities to rub shoulders with several who joined us from the community.  Thanks to everyone who organized, contributed food, cooked, and facilitated interactions with people who came !  We also enjoyed a night of singing, Scripture, and prayer last night at the church.  Thanks to all who organized and to those who came to sing praises and prayers to God.  Immerse will resume next Wednesday night at 7:00.

A Need 

We’re still looking for five people who are members of the church and who would be willing to serve on the Nominating Committee this fall.  The job of the Nominating Committee is to seek God’s will concerning a nomination for a position on the Elder Board that will be open next year.  The person nominated will be voted on at the congregational meeting December 14.  In December, Forrest will finish his first term as elder and is eligible to be nominated for a second term.  Please let one of the elders know if you would like to serve on the Committee.  Thank you !

Men’s Recharge Tonight, 6:30

Looking forward to a great study tonight on the 9th commandment.  Hope you’ll be there tonight, men !

Coming Up

• This Saturday :  Women’s Breakfast and a Bible Study, 8 am, at the church.

• This Sunday
  • Worship at 10:00.
  • Children’s Church available for 0-7 year olds during the sermon.
  • 8-13 year-old Bible Class during the sermon.
  • Crossroads 101 membership class immediately following the worship service.
  • NO Sunday Night Bible Study this week.

• Next week :  Immerse — Wednesday, 7-8:15 pm.  We’ll begin discussing the book of Jeremiah.  This is a good time to jump in and join Immerse !  Contact Forrest if you need information or need a copy of the Immerse Bible.

Looking Ahead 

Erin Reedy will be attending the EFCA Worship Leader Gathering next week at New Hope Church, an Evangelical Free Church in the Minneapolis area.  Please pray for Erin, that she would be encouraged, make some great contacts with other EFCAers, and bring back some helps for worship ministry.  Thank you !

Our elders will meet next on Sunday, October 26, following the worship service.  If you have anything for the elders to include on their agenda, or if you have items to include on the church calendar, please let them know before the 26th.  Thank you.

On Sunday, November 16, you’re invited to the church at 3 pm to create some small crafts and gift baskets for residents at Nathan Richard Health Care Center, right across the street from our church.  Please speak to Jenny if you need more information.  We’ll deliver the gifts to residents and do some caroling on Sunday, December 7.  

The Crossroads women are having a Christmas Party for all women and their friends.  Mark your calendar :  Sunday, December 14, at 5 pm for celebrating the reason for the season together !  More details to come.

Please pray for Heather Hall and her family.  Heather’s dad was hospitalized this week and is undergoing tests.  Thank you !

Final Thoughts

I received this week, from a former missionary colleague, a review he had written of a book called The Local Church : What It Is And Why It Matters To Every Christian.  Here are eight thoughts from that book he found significant.  What’s your response to these eight thoughts about the church ?

1)     The church is not a human project ; it is God’s project from start to finish.

2)      Christ creates and commands the church.

3)      Belonging to and participating in a church is not an option.

4)      A churchless Christianity has no relation to Christ.

5)      The local church is the primary institution where your relationship with God happens, where your relationship with the Christian family happens, and where you are assigned to do ministry and missions; rather than being an add-on or helpful addition to your Christian life, your local church is your spiritual headquarters, your home, and your place of work.

6)      The local church nurtures God’s children, through preaching and teaching, counseling, pastoral care, ministries of mercy and service, and real authentic relationships.

7)      The church is not to be equated with the kingdom, but is an outpost and embassy, born from and bearing its authority (Matt. 16:18-19), serving as a sign, an instrument, and a foretaste of God’s kingdom.

8)      The church is the universal, international, and eschatological community of the new covenant between God and humanity, whom Christ creates and rules, whom the Spirit indwells and directs, through whom the Father is glorified, and to whom all Christians throughout history belong.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, are at least 18 years old, and have been through the Crossroads 101 class, we would love for you to join Crossroads as a voting member, in addition to your current involvement.  Please let one of the elders know if you’re interested.  Voting members are involved in decision-making such as will take place at our December congregational meeting (election of an elder, by-laws changes, vote on a church budget for next year).  We would love for you to participate in life at Crossroads in this way !

Finally, thank you so much for all the kind words, gifts, and cards I received last week for Pastor Appreciation.  I’m thankful for the relationship we have !  I have one of the kindest congregations in America, I’m sure !  I’m thankful to serve with you in Christ’s church, and I’m grateful that you are willing to accept the ministry of a less-than-perfect pastor.  Let’s continue to grow in love for, and obedience to, Christ in the coming year.  Thank your prayers for my family in the loss of a pre-born grandbaby last week.  Henry Decker Harms was the name that had been chosen for him, and was given to him, last week.  Thanks for your prayers for Emma and Jason and all our family.

I hope to see you Sunday !

— Tom

Hello, Crossroads Family!

One of my favorite speakers and authors shared a podcast last weekend about a little verse in Jeremiah where God says to Baruch, the companion and note-taker for Jeremiah, “Are you seeking great things for yourself?  Do not seek them ; for behold, I am going to bring disaster on all flesh” (Jer 45:5).

The podcast had to do with ministry in big churches vs. ministry in small churches.  Are you seeking great things?  Do pastors (or parishioners, for that matter) feel like it’s necessary to be part of a big church?  

The speaker on this podcast had served as pastor in both large and small churches, and he recounted that he was just as happy serving God in a small church as he was in a large church.  Apparently, Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of the famous evangelist Billy Graham who preached, some say, to over 200 million people during his life, said she and Billy would have been just as happy to have been missionaries in some remote part of the world where they would never have experienced the renown they did.

I’m happy that Crossroads Church is the church that it is, and I’m thankful for the changes we’re going through (and some of the challenges that go with growth and change).  Thanks for your patience, your involvement, and your prayers!  All of that is so important!  Your love for the church family and for those we’d like to bring with us into an ever-deepening relationship with God is also key.  Loving people is one of the best ways of serving in a church!

Jeremiah 45:2 starts this way:  “Thus says the Lord the God of Israel to you, O Baruch ….”  How would you like to be like Baruch and have a Bible verse with your own name on it ?  Something like, “This is God’s word to you, Jim, or Judy, or Tom!”  Even though we spoke last Sunday morning about the importance, in Bible interpretation, of determining who the audience is to which the biblical author was writing, the whole Bible is ours — God’s Word for us!  I hope you’re spending time in it this week and will take advantage of the opportunities we’ll have together this week to be nourished and built up in Him!

Some Notes & Important Reminders

This Sunday:

Worship at 10 am, followed by our Hot Dog Dinner outreach at the Walton Pool parking lot, 400 W Atlantic St.  Julie Kemper has been under the weather at the start of this week, so be ready for Julie to reach out to you as she starts to improve and as we get closer to Sunday!  Don’t forget, if you signed up, to bring part of the food or supplies!  Let’s all pitch in, and let’s be sure to pray for excellent connections to be made Sunday afternoon.  Thank you!

Other activities:

• There is a homeschool group using our building tonight, so we ask that you not plan on any activities at the church tonight.  Thank you!
• Immerse tomorrow night (Wednesday), 7-8:15.
• Women’s Breakfast & a Bible Study, Saturday morning, 8-9:15.
• Sunday Night Bible Study at the church Sunday evening, 6-7:15.

More:

• Oktoberfest:  Oktoberfest is this Saturday in Nevada.  The Vernon County Ministerial Association always has a pie stand at Oktoberfest as one its efforts to raise funds for its ministry.  If you would like to donate a pie, you may bring it to the Ministerial Alliance booth at the fairgrounds Saturday morning, or you may drop it off Thursday at First Baptist Church before 4 pm.

• 8-13 year-olds Bible Class:  The next class will be Sunday, October 19, during the sermon.

• Crossroads 101 Membership Class:  If you’re interested in learning more about Crossroads, and about membership at Crossroads, please join me following the worship service on October 19.  Lunch will be provided, and we should finish by 12:30.  Please sign up or let me know if you plan to be there!  Thank you!

• Wedding Reception:  Everyone is invited to the reception for Kylee and Dominick on Saturday, November 1, beginning at 5:30 pm at the Enchanted Prairie Farm.

• Gift Baskets:  Everyone interested — on Sunday, November 16, we’ll be preparing small crafts and gift baskets to deliver to residents of the Nathan Richard Care Center in December.  Meet at the church at 3:30 pm to help prepare the gifts!  Thank you!

• Congregational Meeting:  Don’t forget to mark Sunday, December 14, on your calendar for a congregational meeting following the worship service.  Everyone is welcome to stay for the meeting.  We will be voting on some by-laws updates, an open elder position, and a 2026 church budget.  If you are a member at Crossroads and would like to serve on the Nominating Committee, please let one of the elders know as soon as possible.  Thank you!

Prayers & Praise

• We thank God that David Prickett is home and feeling better.  Please continue to pray for David and Midge.  Thank you!
• Kim Reedy’s brother, Sean Murphy, has had a return of cancer.  Please be in prayer for Sean that he would find strength and help in the Lord.  Thanks for keeping all of Kim’s family in prayer at this time.
• Let’s pray for renewal in body and spirit for Julie Kemper.

Vocabulary

I had a request this week to provide some definitions to words used in the Bible, in church settings, and in songs.  But seeing as how this missive is already quite long, I’m just going to list a few of the words discussed and let you do the homework on them.  A couple of the words were used in the hymn we sang last Sunday, “May the Mind of Christ My Savior” (a great hymn and a great prayer — I hope you’ll work on learning it!  You can find the lyrics at hymnary.org or other websites.)  Other words on this vocabulary list come out of our Sunday night study in psalms, and one or two you’ll recognize from recent sermons.  How many do you know?  

It’s good to expand our vocabulary!  Some of the crude speech we hear these days results, in part, from people having a poor vocabulary.  Consider these two quotes as a motivation to keep learning!

“You can’t build up a vocabulary if you never meet any new words.  And to meet them you must read.  The more you read the better.”

“Words are important.  If you cannot say what you mean, you will never mean what you say.  And you should always mean what you say.”

Vocabulary list from last week:

• abase (verse 4 of “May the Mind of Christ My Savior”)
• channel (verse 6 of that same hymn)
• lament
• lamentation
• hermeneutics
• equity
• iniquity
• imprecation
• imprecatory

I hope you have a good week, and I hope to see you somewhere along the way!

— Tom