TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
April 4, 2019
What does it take to grow and plant a church? I think really two main ingredients:
- Love. A church should be a place where, perhaps more than anywhere else, love is experienced. As I’ve thought and prayed about Crossroads Church, it seems to me that it’s made up of people who both possess love and who need love. I’ve thought recently about my own role as pastor and have come to the realization that the best thing I can do as a shepherd of the flock is to love the flock. I don’t do that easily; I’m often too tied up with my own life and its needs. And my natural inclination is to want to teach and to get things organized! Teaching and organization are good and necessary things, yet perhaps love is our greatest need. And love is what lasts (as we remember from 1 Corinthians 13). It’s the love of Crossroads’ people that has caused people in the past to say, “When I get back to church it’s like walking back in the house after a vacation. It’s good to be home.” I hope that’s true for you. Who at Crossroads is the Lord directing you to love in some practical way? How will you express that love? A loving church will attract others to it. People avoid unloving churches.
- Reaching out. Many people you and I know either … (a) haven’t yet experienced the joy of personal faith in Jesus as their Savior and Lord ; (b) have taken that initial step of faith but haven’t found the joy of connecting with the Lord’s people in a local church; or (c) have been hurt by some bad church experience in their past. We should be intentional in praying for, and reaching out to, people like these. Wouldn’t it be great for them to have a part in the blessing we’ve received of being part of a loving church that is growing in healthy ways! What are some ways at Crossroads that we can all take part in reaching out?
- Easter is a great time to reach out and invite a friend or family member to join the church family for a special celebration and special message. “Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised on the third day” (1 Cor 15:3-4) is a message God says is “of first importance,” and it will be the message of Easter morning. Be in prayer about someone you know who could join us that day. Easter breakfast will start at the Y at 8:30 and will be followed by worship at 10:00 … and an Easter egg hunt for the little ones.
- Young Life is an outreach to college, high school, and middle school students that some in Crossroads are working hard to launch in Nevada. Others of us can be praying for that effort as part of the outreach of our church. A special event for high school students is coming up on May 15th at Marmaduke Park. You and I can pray for God’s blessing on that outreach. There is also a need for financial support for the Young Life ministry; and maybe there will be a need for some practical act of service to get ready for the May event. Be listening and ready to help. Let’s show our support for a ministry that could have long-term spiritual impact on young people in our community.
- Alpha: The Alpha course has been around for some time and is a kind of Christianity 101 course for people who want to learn more. I’ve been contacted by a gentleman who serves the YMCA on a national level and who is trying to get the Alpha course started in Y’s around the U.S. He and I are going to visit by phone next week about what we could do as a church to help bring Alpha to the Osage Prairie YMCA. Would you pray for me as I interact with him next week!
All of that can be a part of reaching out! Jesus said to his disciples, “Lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest” (John 4:35).
Calendar
Worship this Sunday morning at 10:00 at the Y. We’ll experience wonderful worship, and we’ll consider a passage of Scripture from 1 Corinthians 15 on the resurrection. “Does the Resurrection Really Matter?” Is it true that we will rise one day from the grave? And does it really matter? And … how does it matter?
Youth Bible Study this Sunday morning at 9:00 at the Y. This study time is open to all high schoolers and middle schoolers. A great time to connect and get renewed spiritually and with friends! We would love for you to be there!
Home Group next Wednesday evening at 6:30 at the Rodriguez Home. This will be our last Home Group and Youth Group for the winter season. We’ll take a break for Easter and for these next several busy weeks in people’s lives.
Men’s Fellowship & Discipleship, Monday, April 15, 6:30 pm, at Precision Coffee. All men – come connect over a cup of coffee and some practical encouragement from the Bible … and from each other!
Children’s Church
We have a great team of people serving in Children’s Church in April. Thanks to those who serve! Let’s support them with our prayers. They are a blessing to the kids and to all of us! Sometimes we need an extra helper in Children’s Church on Sundays. Would you be available? Please don’t hesitate to let me know! Thank you!
Prayer Needs
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What a mighty God we serve that he is always there to hear our prayers and even desires us to come to him with them.
Waiting for an Answer?
Many of you are waiting on answers to prayer. Psalms 78, 79, 80, and 81 tell a great story of a God who skillfully answers prayer at the right time and in a loving way. Here are just a few hopefully encouraging nuggets from those three psalms:
- “He rained downmanna upon them to eat and gave them food from heaven. Man did eat the bread of angels.” (78:24-25)
- “Then the Lord awoke as if from sleep.” (78:65)
- “So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart.” (78:72)
- “Let your compassion come quickly to meet us, for we are brought very low.” (79:8)
- “O God of hosts, restore us and cause your face to shine upon us, and we will be saved.” (80:7)
- “I relieved his shoulder of the burden; his hands were freed from the basket. You called in trouble and I rescued you.” (81:6-7)
- “I, the Lord, am your God who brought you up from the land of Egypt ; open your mouth wide and I will fill it.” (81:10)
I encourage you to read through those four psalms – great psalms of waiting in prayer on a powerful, caring God.
Also take a look at Proverbs 16 which tells about God’s providence in our lives. The dictionary defines “Providence” as “the foreseeing care and guidance of God over the creatures of the earth.” See if you can find yourself in Proverbs 16.
See you Sunday!
— Tom
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