MONDAY MIND DUMP (Late Edition)

What a fantastic Easter Sunday at Crossroads.  This was our second Easter Sunday together.  The first one was our very first meeting in the Annex at Morgan Square.  There were 65 people there, most of whom worked for three days non-stop to get the Annex ready. I wept my way through worship, so grateful for all God had done.  We shared communion together.  It was a day I will always cherish.  This Easter Sunday at Crossroads we had almost as many first-time attenders as we had in our whole church a year ago.  Here's the highlight reel from yesterday:

1. Nine people (that we know about) made first-time decisions to trust Christ, eight people (that we know about) made decisions to rededicate their lives to Christ, thirteen people made decisions to be baptized.
2. Refer to Item Number One. YES!
3. We had FIFTY first-time attenders (that we know about)!  That was HUGE.  That means that 50 people were exposed to Crossroads for the very first time on a day when the church looked the BEST it has ever looked, and functioned as well as it ever has.  We LOVE first-time attenders at Crossroads, and the comments from those who filled out communication cards were overwhelmingly positive!
4. Here something I love: It's not that WE have embraced our military community that makes Crossroads a great place for flight-school singles and families - it's that YOU have embraced Crossroads.  WE LOVE you guys and people that are serving at Fort Rucker shape EVERYTHING that happens at Crossroads.  THANK YOU!
5. Thanks again to CATB Youth from Tampa for putting out 5000 door hangers!  We owe our first-time attenders yesterday to their hard work for the Kingdom of God.  
6. The Lobby, Main Sanctuary and Children's setup people went WAY above and beyond yesterday.  Everything GOOD that happened yesterday (and there was a lot of it) was because people who love God showed up and worked their tails off to make the whole Crossroads experience special!  Thank you ALL!  
7. Adding a new Family Entrance/Main entrance access and signage relieved congestion in the lobby and opened up and brightened the hallway and Children's Check-In area's in a way that makes them even more appealing and welcoming than they already were.
8. The new directional signage throughout the lobby, the new curtains behind the refreshment area, the Crossroads streetscape in the Main Sanctuary entrance were all home runs.  Everything looked top-notch.  
9. Elementary ministry in the Filling Station was off the chain yesterday! New puppet stage, black-light puppets, awesome message, high quality, high-capacity volunteers did a fantastic job with everything. I had one friend comment that when he opened the door he was "overwhelmed at the number of kids in the Filing Station".
10. The new environments in the Big Wheels Pre-School and Peek-A-Boo Nursery looked exceptional.  I heard from several parents how friendly and helpful everyone was who work in our pre-school and nursery environments.  Great job!
11. Worship band sounded great - we are SO FORTUNATE to have such talented people singing, playing, running sound, doing video production - the entire main sanctuary experience was electric!
12. I'm going to leave someone out for sure, so don't get upset with me (I'm old, you know), but I want to give a special "Thank You" to a few people who worked above and beyond during the week leading up to Sunday's service to get everything in place.  You would not believe the amount of work that these people did to get us ready: Brian & Michelle Ordway, Will & Natalie Lurie, Jessie Brooks (thanks for keeping the kitchen clean, Chris), Laura Armstrong, Hollie Mendenhall and ALL of those who worked alongside them providing assistance.
13. Our LOBBY TEAM rocks!  (I apologize again if I leave people out...forgive me) Thank you Erin & Justin, Rachel Williams, Caitlin Martinez-Lee, Ivy Mabalot and Star Walters and thank you SHELLY MARTINEZ for making the BEST coffee in Enterprise!
14. Thanks to Nic & Janna for getting up and getting donuts for 300 people.  I KNOW how tough it is to commute back and forth from Dothan to Enterprise and we are ALL grateful for your commitment!
15. Great time with a handful of Roadies last night at the Annex watching Rob Bell's 'Everything Is Spiritual'.  It certainly is!

Guys, me and Leslie are blown away by God's goodness and the faithfulness of those he has called to serve at Crossroads. We are humbled that we get to do this.  So MANY comments from people that yesterday's service was EXACTLY what they needed to hear from God.  There has been nothing in my 48 years of life on this earth that has come CLOSE to the sense of belonging, meaning and purpose that we get from having  the privilege of DOING LIFE with all of YOU at Crossroads.  I know MANY of you feel the same way.  We are BLESSED!  

My prayer is that God teaches us how to reach those He loves so much with His message of forgiveness, acceptance in Christ, and eternal salvation.  You and I have friends at other area churches praying for the very same thing.  All over Enterprise yesterday people made LIFE CHANGING decisions!  Continue to pray for HighPointe and Christ-Life Church and their leadership.  Our UNITY will be seen by our WORLD and people will KNOW that God sent JESUS and that He loves them (JOHN 17:23)!

Have a GREAT week!