TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
August 1, 2019
www.nevadacrossroadschurch.org
Hello Crossroads Family!
I’m looking forward to Sunday worship this Sunday and to our continuing journey into the idea of “Scrappy Church,” from Thom Rainer’s book Scrappy Church: God’s Not Done Yet.
Here’s a reminder of those transitions in attitude that help foster the resourceful, courageous, outwardly-focused church we’ve been talking about the past two Sundays:
- a transition from excuses to ownership (taking ownership of the church as it is, rather than making excuses for what it’s not)
- a transition from obstacles to allies (unconditional love for everyone in the church, instead of viewing some people as obstacles)
- a transition from limitations to abundance (Your church has everything it needs to do what God wants it to do right now.)
- a transition from discouragement to joy (focusing on the positives rather than the negatives)
- a transition from fear to courage (willing to cast vision and take positive steps toward the future)
- a transition from an inward focus to an outward focus (avoiding the danger of becoming insular, and experiencing instead the joy of reaching out to people outside our current group)
I hope you’ll spend a few minutes thinking about each of these attitudes – how they affect you and our church together. Make them a part of your prayers for yourself and for Crossroads! I think they’re key to the life of a small church in a culture of mega churches! I’m so glad to see these attitudes being lived out at Crossroads! Let’s let them carry us into the new school year!
This Sunday we’ll focus more specifically on that last attitude transition – developing an outward focus. We’ll look at John 4 and consider things Jesus did to reach out to people who were not in his immediate circle of friends and family. I look forward to worshiping with you this Sunday morning at 10:00 at the Y!
Calendar
There’s a lot going on, and coming up, at Crossroads! Take a minute to look over the calendar and to mark your own calendar for some special times of fellowship, service, and growth!
— Thursday Afternoon Prayer: Today will be the last of our summertime Thursday afternoon prayer sessions. Come join a few others from 4-5 pm on my front porch, **contact us for address**. Come when you can; leave when you need to.
— Worship this Sunday: 10:00 at the Y. Starting September 8, I’ll be offering an adult class prior to worship, at 9:00 on Sundays. We’ll study where our Bible came from. Where does the Bible come from, and is it reliable? How do we know?
— Barbecue: Sunday, August 25. We’ll enjoy some fellowship after worship on the 25th — hamburgers and hot dogs straight off the grill! Plan to stay after the worship service! The church will provide meat, drinks, and paper products. Can you bring a side dish and/or dessert? A great Sunday to bring a friend, too!
— Children’s Back-to-School Party: Friday, September 6. We’re organizing a back-to-school party for all the kids in the church and their friends. Games, food, and fun at Angi & Shane Dahmer’s farm **contact us for location**. 5:30 – 7:30 pm. Bring a friend! The party is for all the kids who are Children’s Church age and any others who would like to come on up through Middle School age. Lots of fun in store and a chance to connect with other kids and parents! For more information, contact Angi.
— Congregational Meeting: Sunday, September 15. We’ll do some planning for the fall at this short meeting following worship on the 15th of September. These are always good, informal, “family” meetings and are actually an important part of what goes on at Crossroads. Hope you’ll be there if you consider Crossroads to be your church home!
— The Big Serve: Saturday, September 28 & Sunday, September 29. We’re going to try to put together a team from Crossroads to participate in The Big Serve this fall. The Big Serve, as you may know, is a weekend for Nevada residents to help each other out with service projects such as yard work, painting, or clean-up projects. If you think you might be interested, and have some time to offer that weekend, please contact me or Heather.
Pray for Nevada Young Life
If you weren’t in church last Sunday, Donna shared a Nevada Young Life update and some prayer requests. Let’s make these needs a part of our praying during the month of August!
Momentum. Please pray that Young Life Nevada would continue to build momentum and enthusiasm in the community, at Nevada High School, and at Cottey College. Pray for meaningful relationships between YL adult team leaders and students. Pray for a growing interest and desire among students to learn more about Jesus Christ.
Ministry Partners. Please pray for Adult Team Leaders who have a heart for the Lord and for students. Pray for the Leadership Committee members and especially for a Fundraising Chairperson (very important need at this time).
Financial Support. Thanks for funds that are currently in the bank and for annual pledges of support. Please pray for the additional funds needed. About $7700 is needed to operate Nevada Young Life annually. Would you pray for this need? Can you help, or do you know someone who would like to help?
Fall Young Life Camp. Pray that we might be able to send a group of high school students and team leaders to a weekend camp this fall at Clearwater Cove near Branson.
Our Assignment
Our assignment, from last week’s sermon in 1 Timothy on “Nuts & Bolts of a Scrappy Church” was from 1 Timothy 6:20:
“Guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called ‘knowledge.’”
What has been entrusted to us is, among other things, the Church! Paul’s first letter to Timothy was all about how we should conduct ourselves in the church, what he called the “household of God” (1 Timothy 3:14-15). The assignment given at the end of the letter puts a cap on a series of instructions Paul gave to Timothy about ways people talk in the church!
- “Some have turned aside to fruitless discussions.” (1:6)
- “They don’t understand either what they’re saying or the matters about which they make confident assertions.” (1:7)
- “Have nothing to do with worldly fables.” (4:7)
- “Some have a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, … abusive language,… suspicions,… and constant friction.” (6:4)
What a beautiful church is the one where its members set aside fruitless discussions about worldly or divisive things! “Avoid worldly and empty chatter,” is how Paul puts it in 6:20. That’s a worthy goal for my life, and I hope it will be a goal for all of us at Crossroads! Here are a handful of other verses that give a positive vision of what the speech of a church member can be like:
— “All of you be harmonious, sympathetic, brotherly, kindhearted, and humble in spirit; not returning evil for evil or insult for insult, but giving a blessing instead. For the one who desires life, to love and see good days, must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit. He must seek peace and pursue it.” (parts of what Peter writes in 1 Peter 3:8-12)
— “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Jesus, in Matthew 5:44)
— “The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life.” (Solomon, in Proverbs 10:11).
This is at the heart of a scrappy church! Such small and simple – yet important – habits that we can develop!
Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday morning!
–Tom
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