WEEKEND UPDATE (091911)

Greetings and salutations Crossroads family!  Smashing day Sunday as we "kicked-off" a new football-themed series called Game Plan.  I don't know about you, but this series is EXACTLY what I need in my life, and the timing couldn't be better!  This series, though not original to Crossroads, is like every series we do, in that I personally learn as much as anyone, and I get as much as anyone out of it.  I trust that you get everything God has for you out of the next four weeks, and that you're able to apply what you are learning to your life! 

Here's a few of the many things that stood out to me yesterday:

• The trend continues with first-time attenders!  We are experiencing a HUGE wave of growth in the number of people coming through our doors!  Reach out to those coming for the first time.  Walk across the lobby to shake hands with someone you've never met before.  And continue to invite BIG!
• Many people made high quality life-changing decisions to renew their relationship with Christ, or to go public with their faith through baptism!  (Don't forget: Beach, BBQ & Baptism, Sunday October 9th, 3:00PM Lake Tholocco, East Beach)
• Loved the band Sunday!  Great job on worship and the 'Queen' tune!  You guys absolutely ROCK.  I think Crossroads is blessed with the most awesome worship team going, period!
• This new series is incredible.  Just sayin'.  If you were not there on Sunday, you must-must-must go to our website, click on media and watch Game Plan, Part 1! 

Here's just a few of the things you might have heard if you were there Sunday:

• "There IS a God, and this God has a GREAT PLAN for your life!"
• "If you don't understand the Fundamentals of the Game, you're not going to understand the Game Plan."
• "When you understand Who Jesus is, and the potential on the inside of you, you live life on a higher plan (like Lazarus, the second time around)!"
• "God's answer to the question, 'God, what is Your will for my life', is this: "I AM your life!"
• "When you understand that God IS your life, and not just a COMPONENT of your life, you begin to understand that the focus of your life is not a FUTURE.  The focus of your life is a person.  Jesus."
• "When your focus is on Jesus (and not on a future), He leads you to the future He has for you!"
• "Maybe you have heard that God loves you, and that's true.  Maybe you have heard the God is for you, and that's also true.  Maybe you have heard that God is with you, and that is true as well.  but maybe you have not heard that God is actually LIVING on the INSIDE of you!"
• "As you shift your focus from your FUTURE to your SAVIOR, the BIG QUESTION of our lives actually changes from 'God, what do you want me to do with my life?', to 'God, what do you want me to do with YOUR life, that is WITHIN ME?'"

    Favorite comment from Connection Cards on Sunday:

• (In reference to the way I was dressed), "It's a referee!  It's a Foot Locker employee!  It's Pastor Gene!"

Remember how we ended things Sunday: "For the next seven days, will you just allow God to be God, and stop trying to control the future?  For the next seven days, will you simply...rest?"  Have a GREAT week.  See you next Sunday for Part 2 of Game Plan!