Small Groups Great Beginning!

As I start out this morning trying to recapture, alittle of the glorier! Sorry old Bruce Springsteen son came out of nowhere! Ha ha yesterday was the beginning of small groups for Crossroads Community Church! Its something that has bubbling in dreamland for us for awhile until it couldnt stay there any longer! The timing was there in my opinion and it was evident yesterday! We had our biggest attendace since launch in August of last year and my small group had some late signees and guests! My group is studying a book called " Just Walk Across The Room " by Bill Hybals which focus' on relationship oriented evangelism! It was a very fast paced day getting ready for such a great event! I even got a nap in there, ha ha felt fantastic!

I am meeting at a couple from my churches house so I had my group meet me at the cinema and they would follow me! Ha ha well that could have been disasterous as I had only been th the house once, so I pulled off the road only to have pulled off at the wrong place and of course these people not knowing wehere they are going followed suit! Yeah it happened, nobody wrecked though although I did keep the angels busy keeping it from happening we made it to the house and everyone got acquainted! We have a variety of ages, backgrounds, and thats just the ones that showed up!

After a good time of talking and eating we dove into things alittle differently, we did a intro and let everyone intro themselves, then we took prayer requests and we prayed over them! Starting to dive into the book alittle bit we were introduced to the house guests birds we could hear singing in the basement! Not just your normal churping, but tv theme song churping! So we got alttile background music going as we have a great discussion about personal evangelism! A reoccuring theme of last night not from the book but from each other was where does our treasure lie? A great question that was presented last night and was something we all needed to hear!

One question that was asked was about Luke 10:19 where it says that The Son of Man came to seek and save that which was lost! He asks how did knowing the misssion free him up from the fears and insecurities we face today? It struck a cord quick with all of us! GReat discussion took place but the answer came back to us once again! Our insecurities and fears come when we take our eyes off of Jesus and put it on ourselves! Then it becomes no longer about Jesus but about how we look to others! Really hit the nail on the head and is something I think we all took away from last night, was when we are witnessing to others and following that leading to walk across the room to someone we are led to, its not about us winning them over, thats not our job! Its about showing them Jesus and not just telling them about Him!

We also dealt with an issue that I have struggled with and it came up as I began to study this book was this, when people witness to others and the person God has us witness to doesnt respond the way we think they should, we get defensive and no longer want to hear what that other person has to say! So we dealt with the intention aspect of evangelism as well! It was a very liberating night for some! Everyone enjoyed themselves and it was a great beginning!

Whats Causing All This?

What a great time while I have a minute to catch everyone up to speed whats going on in this life of a Roadie! A " Roadie " is a term that alot of us at Crossroads have nicknamed ourselves! We stay pretty connected, even with our traveling Roadies in the army that cant be with us on sundays, ( and man we miss our Kyle and Rosio ) but its also a term that I give people that follow after Jesus! A Roadie, not just along for the ride, not a groupie, God knows there are way too many groupies in churches today, but a Roadie! Roadies are in it to win it! We are a passionate, vibrant, community of believers who have a cause and that cause it to drive the hell out of you!

Yeah I said it and I aint taking it back! As christians its imperative that we never loose sight of Jesus! I mean after all we are following Him right? Isnt it His life we carry the banner of? Isnt His love we are supposed to be showing? Isnt His love in us that is making all the difference or is it sauving your concience when you go to church? Listen I have been there, been in a place where I got tired of being covered in the dust! Where I thought that I was so far behind Jesus that I will take a detour at the mall and catch up later! Or saying Hey Jesus, its too much, cant do it anymore! I have been there!

In my life as most people know I started doing the P90X workout training course with my friend and his wife. I was at place in my life where I was lazy, tired all the time, eating junk and well miserable! I didnt like myself, I let myself down and had no motivation and for me that was a breaking point! So when my buddy came to me and asked me I ordered it, you still in? I am and to this day I feel better than I ever have! I took the challenge to not only improve my outward appearance and health, I did it for my inner strength as well! Challenging myself and taking my body to its limits! I went into this praying asking God to help me! Help me be a better follower, help me to have the strength to be what you have called me to be!

I can tell you that after the first month God has answered those prayers, but it required the willingness and discipline on my part to show up and bring it! And to be a follower of Jesus in my opinion requires the same! To be a Roadie is to have that honesty that says hey I need help! It says that I dont have the answers, it shows me that if I am going to follow Jesus its going to take all of me! I can just imagine what it was like, when Jesus walked up to Peter and John and said follow me! Rabbi's didnt ask people to follow them back then, the students or kids asked the Rabbi! And if a Rabbi chose a kid, that kid would become his roadie! Being Jesus' roadie teaches us daily to love like He did! Teaches that no one is unreachible, that there isnt a place we dont go!

So whats causing all this? Whats all the commotion about? What is all this stuff about roadies? Its about a life long journey to follow after the author of Life! Its about the life change that Jesus' love makes in our lives, and in the lives of others through us! I challenge you, whoever you are reading this, to love others and treat those you come in contact with like you would Jesus! Just see what a difference it makes not only in your life, but in the life of others! Go ahead, I dare ya, I double dog dare ya!

Life of a Roadie!

It has been sometime since my last blog, I know I have been slacking but to tell you the truth life has been moving pretty fast as of late! 2 weeks ago I started the P90X workout traning system! It has totally changed my life! Not only that but life at Crossroads had been moving nonstop and it is about to get faster! Alittle over a year ago my life needed alot of direction and going to Pastor Gene's house that sunday morning and seeing for myself what Crossroads was all about was the catalyst for what is transpiring now! I will get to yesterday's service later in the blog, but the relationships I have made coming in and out Crossroads are the best that I have ever made!

This past sunday though was the best that I have ever experienced since being at Crossroads! The build up was incredible! I dont know what it was, I couldnt explain it any better than just when you stepped into the theatre, ( Crossroads meets at the College Cinema in Enterprise! ) you knew God was up to something! I knew it was going to be Kyle and Rosio Stojahann's last sunday with us and for me it was sad seeing them go, but also it turned into a homecoming service! A few families came back to Crossroads after some time away and it was absolutely glorious!

And the service was awesome! Natalie Lurie one of the Media Arts Pastors brought the message yesterday about unrealitistic expectaions in or going into marriages can lead to disappointment! Natalie brought her A game and really hit home with those in the crowd! The series during the month of Feburary is called " Game Show " and Natalie was the MC of the " Newlywed Game ." Not being married myself ( and for that fact dont know if I will be ) took away alot from the message and just couldnt get over all that God orchestrated to make yesterday happen!

Being a roadie is so much more than just meeting on Sundays and patting each other on the back and saying see you next week, its way more! Since day 1 we have encouraged everyone to stay connected through out the week! There's blogs , twitter, text messages and almost upon us is small groups! Its my belief that the roadies will infitrate this town and take it over with the love of Jesus one relationship at a time! After all Jesus said people would know we belonged to Him because of our love for one another!