Hello, Crossroads Family !
Thank you for thinking of each other, praying for each other, and caring for each other throughout the week ! What a blessing it is to belong to a church family ! Our picnic last Sunday was a reminder of that. I’m glad so many were there ! Special thanks to Bryan and Erin for hosting us and preparing the main dishes and sides. Thanks to everyone who came, shared food and drinks, served, and helped set up !
Here are some reminders concerning life at Crossroads this week :
Immerse tonight
The goals of Immerse are to connect with God, build community, and grow our faith. That’s a good use of time on a Wednesday night ! Come on out tonight, even if you’ve missed one of the earlier sessions. The reading assignment for tonight is pp 63-81 (Genesis 41-50). We always have interesting and lively discussions. Thanks to Dave, Forrest, and Mark for leading the Immerse discussion groups !
Ministry Team Meeting this Sunday
We’re hoping to have everyone participate in this meeting who is currently serving in some capacity at Crossroads. We have several ministry teams — Children, Finances, Missions, Youth, Worship, Decorating, Yard, Website, Small Group Leaders, Greeters, Bulletin, Facebook, Elders, along with others who are serving in the church. (We also have a growing team of people providing refreshments on Sunday mornings !) So many of you serve through prayer, giving, and personal ministry, too. Thank you !
Our goals for Sunday’s meeting, immediately following the worship service, are these :
- to coordinate activities happening at Crossroads for the remainder of 2024
- to update each other about things happening in various areas of ministry at Crossroads
- to address ministry needs
- to have some initial discussion about 2025 budget needs
- to pray together
That sounds like a lot, but we should be able to accomplish all of that in an hour or less. Please come if you’re part of one of those ministry teams. We had a meeting similar to this earlier in the year, and it proved to be helpful in communicating and coordinating with each other. With our church growing in number, ministry will grow accordingly ; we want to seek God’s vision for what that should look like !
This Week :
- Immerse tonight, 7:00
- Breakfast & a Bible study for women, Saturday morning, 8:00-9:15.
- Worship Sunday morning at 10:00. Ministry teams meeting following the worship service.
- Hymn Study Group, this Sunday evening, 6:30-7:30. Everyone welcome for an hour of relaxing fellowship and worship before starting the new week. We’ll study the words and stories behind “O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing” and “And Can It Be That I Should Gain.”
Game Night for Crossroads Youth, October 5
A night of games and fellowship is being planned for all high school age students at Crossroads and friends you’d like to invite. Saturday, October 5, starting at 6 pm at Bryan & Erin Townsend’s home, 13454 E. Nelson Road. Reserve the date ! For information or questions, contact Jessica Baker or Bryan Townsend.
The Big Serve, September 28-29
Many of you are familiar with The Big Serve, a weekend for people in Vernon County to help their neighbors through volunteer projects such as brush pick-up, mowing, painting, yardwork, etc. If you would like to help on a project or organize a team of people for a project, you’re invited to find out more at BigServeVCMO.com or go to Facebook at BigServeVCMO. There is also information posted at the church.
Amendment 3
The “Fair Ballot Language” accompanying Amendment 3 was changed by Circuit Judge Cotton Walker, who alleged that the original language by Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft was inaccurate. The new language reads as follows :
Fair Ballot Language :
A “yes” vote establishes a constitutional right to make decisions about reproductive health care, including abortion and contraceptives, with any governmental interference of that right presumed invalid ; removes Missouri’s ban on abortion ; allows regulation of reproductive health care to improve or maintain the health of the patient ; requires the government not to discriminate, in government programs, funding, and other activities, against persons providing or obtaining reproductive health care ; and allows abortion to be restricted or banned after Fetal Viability except to protect the life or health of the woman.
A “no” vote will continue the statutory prohibition of abortion in Missouri.
If passed, this measure may reduce local taxes while the impact to state taxes is unknown.
You can read all of the state ballot measures for the November 5 election here. I hope in October to preach a sermon on the sanctity of human life, and a sermon on a Christian’s relationship to civil government.
Concluding Thought
My friend and former missionary colleague, Hank Griffith, writes that it’s impossible for us to fathom how much sheer knowledge the human race possesses cumulatively. One website lists more than 1800 different undergraduate majors available at all universities and colleges in America. Others have determined that every day the average American consumes about 34 gigabytes of information.
Despite this, we know only a tiny fraction of what God knows ! And even if we have knowledge, the Bible seems to put as strong, or stronger, an emphasis on wisdom. Proverbs tells us that fools despise wisdom.
Andrew M. Davis writes, “When you arrive in your glorious home He will teach you even more of what He knows. The inventory of the treasures of Christ’s wisdom and knowledge will take eternity to explore. And it will be your delight to take in each glowing piece of His knowledge with your glorified mind ….”
All that should keep us humble this week, attentive to God the Holy Spirit leading us, and hopefully it makes us eager for our future life in the Lord’s presence and under His reign !
— Tom
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