TMG
Tom’s Midweek Greeting
Crossroads Community Church
Nevada MO
November 7, 2019
www.nevadacrossroadschurch.org
Hello, Church Family!
I’m looking forward to being with you again this Sunday for good worship and fellowship! We’re nearing the end of our sermon series in the book of Esther! Throughout Esther’s story a countdown has been going on … counting down to the thirteenth day of the twelfth month when, according to the law signed by King Xerxes, all the Jews living in Persia were to be attacked and killed. This Sunday we’ll finally reach the end of the countdown and read about what happened on that day of battle. We’ll also read about the Jewish holiday of Purim. We’ll consider together what we can learn from these two events about the battles we face in our own lives. I hope you’ll be there!
9:00 – “Why We Believe the Bible” class (our last meeting in this fall Adult Bible Study series)
10:00 – Worship
Thanksgiving Dinner
On Sunday, November 17, we’ve planned a special Thanksgiving dinner for everyone in the church and for anyone you’d like to invite to join us! It’s a carry-in dinner and will be held at the Enchanted Prairie Farm, 17557 Stockade Road, just south of Nevada, at 1 pm. Plan to join the church family for a relaxed afternoon of fellowship and thanksgiving! Erin will have a sign-up list at church this Sunday.
Young Life this Friday night
There will be a Young Life night of fun and encouragement this Friday evening, November 8th, at 8:03 pm, at the Auxiliary Gym at Nevada High School. All high school students are invited! The theme is ‘80s night! Lots of games, good food, friends, and also a message of encouragement. Contact Donna if you have any questions!
Prayers
Please be in prayer for needs in our church family. Let’s especially remember Joe S. who will be in for surgery tomorrow (Friday).
Some Notes from Last Sunday’s Elders Meeting
The elders met last Sunday after worship for regular business and for further discussion with Joe Chenoweth about building good ministry teams – and good systems – within the church. Here are some notes from our meeting:
- The Need for Good Systems in a Church
In building ministry gates and walls at Crossroads, we want to make our focus that of moving from being a “Team of Helpers” to being a “Mission Community.” Most organizations, churches, and non-profits are built on the backs of a few qualified people who “make it happen.” If an organization’s success is determined by the ability, capacity, and quality of just a few people, what happens when those people get tired, move, die, or change seasons in life? If there aren’t good systems in place, the organization has to start all over.
A system is an organization’s approach to getting things done. Systems create behaviors. When something goes wrong, we tend to blame the people involved; but more often than not, the problem is not with the people as much as it is with the system, because the system creates the behavior. Having a bad system (or no system) in place makes it hard to accomplish things in an organization. If you don’t change at the systems level of the church, nothing really changes.
- An Opportunity for Fellowship & Communication
On Sunday, December 1, we invite you to hang around following the worship service for a fellowship meal of soup and bread! We can all benefit from some warm food after church; and this will be a chance to connect with each other and to get to know better those we know less well.
We’ll also take time after the meal that day to interact with the church elders about anything going on at Crossroads.
And, finally, we want to invite any of the ministry teams that need to connect to take advantage of that day to do so. The elders also plan to connect with each other following the meal.
We hope by doing this that we can facilitate communication and fellowship at Crossroads, and that we can move the ministry of the church forward in an effective yet informal way. It’s like putting a new system in place – an approach to getting things done at Crossroads! Thanks for your willingness to join in! Please mark your calendar for a little extra time and some good food at the Y on December 1! It’s a new idea, so we’ll need to be flexible and to learn as we go!
- Christmas Eve Service
Cris will contact the Y to verify our use of the building for a Christmas Eve service at 6:30 pm on December 24th.
- January Membership Class
On the first two Sundays in January, Tom will devote the sermon time to taking all of us through the “Crossroads 101” course. This will be a chance for those new to Crossroads to be a part of this church membership course, and it will be a chance for all of us to review what the Bible says the church is — and specifically what ministry and family life looks like at Crossroads. Please plan on being with us for those two special Sundays!
- Building
Dave will try to set up a time for the elders to visit the former Jehovah’s Witness building in Nevada which is for sale.
Personal
Thanks for your prayers for me and for my family! I need them, and I appreciate the support you are to me!
I was re-reading, from a book called On Being a Pastor, by Derek Prime and Alistair Begg, what are the goals and priorities of a pastor:
- Feed the flock. John 21:15-17
- Proclaim the whole will of God. Acts 20:27
- Present everyone complete in Christ. Colossians 1:28-29
- Prepare God’s people for service. Ephesians 4:11-12
- Equip God’s people to be fishers of men. John 10:16
- Keep watch over yourself. Acts 20:28
Please join me in praying these things for myself and for our congregation. These are actually good reminders for all pastors and elders and for anyone who is in a shepherding role.
My good friend, Ralph E., passed away this past week at his home in St Louis. Ralph was a support to me over the course of the past twenty years of life and ministry. I will miss him very much. He and his wife, Carol, were influential in the raising of our family, and Ralph was among those who willingly accepted the challenge of planting a new church in Hermann, Missouri, where I served as pastor for fifteen years. I have a picture which I treasure of Ralph, myself, and three others from our church in Hermann, each turning over a shovelful of dirt at the groundbreaking ceremony for the building of our church home in Hermann. I look forward to having a part in Ralph’s funeral service next Friday, the 15th, in St Louis. Please pray that the Lord might be glorified through my contribution to that day.
I am getting a couple of iron infusions this month which will hopefully re-charge my energy levels and eliminate the “brain fog” that comes with iron deficiency! There is a new formulation to the iron used which, amazingly, reduces the time of the infusion from what used to be about six hours to only twenty minutes ! I’m thankful for the good care I receive when I go in for these infusions at Nevada Regional Medical Center. I’m thankful for the visit I had this week, while there, with our friend Dennis Painter, hospital chaplain and former pastor at Crossroads.
The show choir season is starting to heat up, and we have two Saturday trips out of town this month – one to Neosho, and the other to Seneca. It’s the start of a busy time of the school year! Our shows this year are a lot of fun, and I hope you’ll have a chance to take them in later when we perform here in Nevada.
As I was reading in the Gospel of Matthew this morning, I came to the end of a section that seemed to all fit together (chapters 16-20). At the end of that long section in which discussion takes place about the kingdom of heaven and how to enter it, Jesus has two encounters, one right after the other, in which He asks the question, “What do you want Me to do?” In response to that question, the mother of James and John says this: “I want that in Your kingdom my two sons will sit one on Your right hand and one on Your left hand.” Later, two blind men respond to that same question in this way: “Lord, we want our eyes to be opened.” It made me wonder what my requests of the Lord are most like – Do I most often say, “Lord, give me this or that”; or is my request most of the time, “Lord, open my eyes”? I know that I have need of my eyes being opened up in so many areas of life and ministry! Please pray with me along those lines. May the Lord open all our eyes!
I hope to see you Sunday!
— Tom
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