Hello, Crossroads Family!
We had a special and busy day last Sunday. I hope you feel refreshed as you’ve started the new week. I hope you have a growing sense of God’s presence and power in your life!
Below are three paragraphs summarizing different parts of our day on Sunday: (1) a summary of the elders meeting; (2) a summary of Sunday evening’s home group study; and (3) a brief summary of Sunday’s sermon. May God continue to lead us as a church!
Elders Meeting Summary
- We reviewed the church calendar for June and July.
- We discussed and added precision to the proposed changes to the church by-laws. There are two changes: One is a one-word correction in the Statement of Faith; the other is a provision for absentee voting at congregational meetings. We’ll need to vote on these changes at a future congregational meeting (probably this fall).
- We had further discussion on the need for ministry to families with children.
- We discussed what should be the church’s approach to use of our meeting space and chairs or tables for non-church-related activities. We are looking for someone who can help oversee those sorts of requests and help us establish some guidelines.
- We made a decision to contribute funds to support Gospel Night at Bushwhacker Days, as we’ve done in the past.
- We discussed updating the church phone directory (hard copies and/or a digital version).
- We concluded the meeting with a time of prayer together.
Sunday Evening Home Group
We would love to have you join us this Sunday evening as we continue our study of “Israel : Past, Present, and Future.” We’ll start at 6:00 and finish around 7:15 or so at the home of KJ and Alexandra Nelson. If you need a ride, let me know and we’ll arrange some carpooling. We had a small group last Sunday night but good discussion!
- We took a look at God’s covenant with Abraham and Abraham’s descendants. This covenant is established in Genesis 12, then repeated in Genesis 15, then passed down to Isaac, Jacob, and beyond. It was an unconditional covenant on God’s part, promising three things to Abraham and his descendants: (1) the land of Canaan (and beyond); (2) numerous descendants; and (3) a blessing. Through Abraham’s people, the whole world would be blessed. (This is true, of course — today the world has the Bible, a book written by Jews, and our Savior is a Jew.)
- Later, we saw the land covenant God made with the Israelites in the book of Deuteronomy. This covenant was a conditional covenant: If the Israelites obeyed God, they would dwell in the land and prosper both spiritually and materially. If they strayed from following God (which they did), they would be driven from the land and scattered among all the nations (which they were).
- We talked about why the land of Israel (sometimes called Canaan or Palestine) has been, and still is, so important to all the nations of the world. It’s a piece of property that has been ruled by fourteen or more groups of people over the course of the past 4000 years. Why? God placed Israel there because He intended them to be a light to the world, and much of the world traveled through this little strip of land which forms a bridge between three continents.
- We reviewed some other important Old Testament events in the history of Israel, and we had discussion on the relationship between Israel and the Church.
Hope to see you this Sunday evening at 6!
Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs (Part 1)
Thanks for going along with me in an exploration of music in the American Church! I had a lot of fun, and I hope you did too. I’ve been encouraged and challenged by this material, much of which comes from an online course by Robert J. Morgan. (You can find out more about Rob’s course at http://www.robertjmorgan.com.)
Below are the four takeaways from Sunday’s sermon:
1. Except for the meditation of Scripture itself, meditating on great songs of worship and faith is perhaps the best source of life-encouragement we have access to.
2. Every culture, every people group, and every generation of people will have a collection of songs that express in their own heart language what’s important to them about their relationship with God. (It’s one of the reasons why church music has always been changing. We shouldn’t discard the old, but we shouldn’t complain about and reject the new, either.)
3. We are products of the worship music we grew up with. (Many people did not grow up with the worship music you and I grew up with. Jesus didn’t. Neither did Paul and Silas who sang worship songs one night while in jail! Whatever we grew up with is only one tiny slice of a wonderful music repertoire that goes back at least to the Song of Moses in Exodus 15, some 3,500 years ago!)
4. Our worship, and our worship music, should not be based on stylistic preferences but on God’s Word and on our growing relationship with Him.
Thanks for your willingness to be open to God teaching us about worship and the wonderful gift of music. If you have a musical offering you would like to share with the congregation on June 15 or 22 — or if you have a story about how God has used a particular song in your life — please let me know so you can bless the church family musically on one of those two Sundays. Thank you!
Don’t forget these upcoming dates :
- Thursday, June 12: Gospel Night at Bushwhacker Days on the square in Nevada. If you would like to serve but haven’t signed up, please contact Julie Kemper.
- Thursday, June 19: Men’s Recharge at the church starting at 6:30 pm.
- Friday, June 20: Women’s “Drive-In” Movie at Erin Reedy’s home. If you would like to carpool from the church, please let Erin Townsend know. Departure from the church at 6:30 ; fun begins at Erin Reedy’s at 7:00.
- Saturday, June 21 : Women’s Breakfast, 8 am, at 54 Cafe.
- Sunday, June 29 : Church Picnic at the upper park of Radio Springs Park following worship.
- Monday, June 30 : Our 24-Hour Prayer Vigil begins at 6 am and continues through Tuesday, July 1, at 6 am. Many of you have already signed up to pray for one hour! There are times remaining if you haven’t yet signed up! Let’s make an effort to have as many people as possible take an hour of prayer that day. There will be helps available to aid you in how to spend an hour in prayer.
Some praise reports and prayer requests :
- Elena Rodriguez will be married to Drew North this weekend. Prayers for all the Rodriguez family and especially for Elena and Drew.
- Prayers for those in new jobs — Heather Hall, Micah Lyons, teachers with new summer schedules.
- Praise for healing, and prayers for those with physical needs: Forrest, Cris, Mark Tice (sciatic nerve pain), Catherine (foot), Angi, Billy Rea (back).
- We’re glad to have Grace Smotrilla safely back from New Hampshire!
- There are many family needs in our congregation, both in immediate and extended families. Thank you for praying.
- Praise and thanks to God for our wonderful 8-13 year-old Bible class that meets once a month during the sermon. Thanks to Emily for teaching!
- Thanks for God’s provision for church finances, and continued prayers for the growing needs and growing budget at Crossroads. Many thanks to Donna for her hard work on finances.
- Let’s be in prayer as preparations are made for Kamp Keirsey high school camp, July 20-24.
- For Kourtnee as she finishes her week of training and prepares for a summer-long season of ministry with CentriKid camps.
Psalm 121 is a ready-made prayer that allows you to pray for anyone you know. Here’s how you could pray this psalm for a friend or family member named Jim!
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains;
From where shall Jim’s help come?
Jim’s help comes from the Lord,
Who made heaven and earth.
He will not allow Jim’s foot to slip;
He who keeps Jim will not slumber.
Behold, He who keeps Jim
Will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is Jim’s keeper;
The Lord is Jim’s shade on his right hand.
The sun will not smite Jim by day,
Nor the moon by night.
The Lord will protect Jim from all evil ;
He will keep Jim’s soul.
The Lord will guard Jim’s going out and coming in
From this time forth and forever.
Or you can re-word the Psalm to make it more specifically a series of requests:
- “Lord, be Jim’s keeper.”
- “Lord, be Jim’s shade both day and night.”
- etc
Have a wonderful rest of the week !
— Tom
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