WEEKEND UPDATE (2nd Anniversary Service)

Sunday was the second anniversary of Crossroads launch at the College Cinema!  It was a wonderful, wonderful day with a service that was a fitting expression of our JOY over what God is doing in our community!  Such a privilege to get to participate in His work!  Here's just a few of the many things that made yesterday so special:

• Everyone got an extra hour of rest as we combined our services into ONE BIG service.
• Second biggest crowd EVER at Crossroads, second only to Easter Sunday 2010!
• HUGE outpouring of love by people who brought enough food for emergency food boxes to fill the bed of Dave's pickup!! He spent the afternoon building food boxes!  Keep it up guys, feeding the hungry is one of our BIGGEST assignments.
• Worship band - two words: BEST EVER!  Love the song at the end of the service. too!  Do it again soon!  Great job!
• Cake and Ice Cream!!
• NOISEMAKERS!!!
• So cool having Cinema One PACKED!!
• Biggest crowd in Filling Station in a long time, too!  So much fun when there's tons of jumping, screaming elementary-aged kids in the house!!
• Third favorite quote: "The Lord blesses the church with growth when the church is characterized by authenticity." 
• God reveals Christ.
• Christ builds the church.
• We do the work.
• Kudos to Shawn for the great FPU piece and awesome giveaways!!
• Second favorite quote: "Having cool graphics and making cool videos and having musicians in your worship band with cool facial hair doesn't make your church authentic.  Doing the things Jesus said to do makes your church authentic."
• I'm blown away that so many people at Crossroads are faithfully commited to doing the work - feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, sheltering the homeless, welcoming strangers, nuturing the sick, caring for widows and orphans, visiting people in prison, fighting injustice and opression.  We need to do those works continually, and do them more and more.  If we're not doing those things it doesn't matter how cool we are.
• Still, I'm really glad that we have cool graphics and make cool videos and have a cool band (with a moderate amount of cool facial hair).  I know it doesn't make us authentic...but it is undeniably cool. 
• Great looking back through the pics from the House, the Annex and the launch at the Cinema.
• The MIKE and CARRIE video!  Oh my goodness!!  That was AWESOME!!!  I miss those guys like crazy.  In the three short months they attended Crossroads, they walked out EXACTLY what we hoped and prayed and planned that people would be able to experience.  And they're taking it with them to PA.  God is so awesome!  FYI: There's a full-length version of that vid.  We'll get it up on facebook or on the website so you can see it. 
• What they experienced as a family is what gets me out of bed in the morning.  How great is God to allow us to stand at the intersection of His Word, and someone's thirst for God!      
• Favorite Quote (Ben Rice at the end of the service coming back from the future, and don't even ask me how that happened): "We've got to go back...to the FUTURE!"

I'm sitting here and great stuff from this weekend just keeps pouring into my head.  What an incredible ride this has been so far!  I gotta get to work, so I'm going to close this out now.  Can't WAIT for this coming weekend as we kick off a brand new original series about THE END TIMES that we have been planning for months!  OUTTATIME is going to be out of this world!!  Heading back to Haiti tomorrow morning.  I'll be home late Friday.  Peace & Love.