WEEKEND UPDATE (011611)

Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ!  I hope you had as much fun on Sunday as I did.  It was a big day at Crossroads for our third service of the New Year.  I am starting to feel that momentum swing that happens every year around this time, where people are done with the holidays and begin re-connecting again with church.  Here's a few of the things that stood out to me on Sunday morning:

• Trend for lots of first-time attenders continues.  Awesome!
• Many people made decisions Sunday to renew their commitment to Christ!
• Started a new three-week series called "play".  
• "play" is all about R&R (Remembering and Rejoicing).
• We talked a lot about how we tend to forget why we started doing things.
• I shared embarrassing pictures of myself from the 80's.
• We had some good laughs, but in reality, looking at those pictures is like looking at photos of a dead man.
• God wants us to celebrate because He knows that the MORE we focus on HIM, the LESS we focus on our PROBLEMS.
• Just as God proscribed festivals at appointed times to keep His people connected with Who He is and what He'd done for them, He has commanded that we continually praise Him, so that He stays bigger to us than our challenges and difficulties.
• We don't have to be in a GOOD PLACE to praise God, but praising God when we're in a BAD PLACE is something we can't afford to do without.
• Here's the great thing about R&R (Remembering and Rejoicing): You can't praise God at the same time you're cursing, nursing and rehearsing your troubles. (Look for tomorrow's short blog post on the Principle of Magnification)
• Love, love, loved seeing Pete and Katie's video.  Praise God!  He still does miracles!

Thanks to everyone who works so hard to make Crossroads work each Sunday.  There are many of you, and you don't get near enough credit.  But can I say there's something else I've noticed, too?  The work of setting up and tearing down would go so much quicker for those who grind it out each week if folks would stay just a few minutes longer after service gets out.  I know, I know, everyone wants to get out of there and get to lunch before the crowd, but what's happening is, so many have adopted that concern, that a handful of faithful folks are getting stuck with a HUGE workload.  Yesterday, we didn't get out of the cinema until 1:00PM.  

I am convinced, if we could get folks to stay 15 minutes past when they typically leave, we'd ALL get out no later than 12:30.  Think about what you might do to help that process next weekend.  Setup and tear down is as much about winning the world to Christ as anything else that happens at Crossroads.  Thank you in advance for hooking up your heart with what God is doing in our community by serving with energy, passion, and commitment!

Have a GREAT week!!