Archive for December, 2009

Looking to grow closer to God in 2010?? We have just the thing. We are starting a new Grow Group and want to formally invite YOU to join us. Details:

Host/Leaders: Bill and Cheryl Cooke

When: Tuesday evenings from 6:30 to 8:00 starting January 5th

Where: Webster Conference Center

What to expect: A relaxed come as you are (Christian or not) atmosphere where you can feel comfortable sharing and getting to know others in our faith community.

If you are interested in trying out this Grow Group or have questions about another please feel free to contact Ryan Booth at 785-829-0166.

On the eve of the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus, I wanted to take a moment to tell you Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I hope that the next several days are relaxing and reflective of what we are actually celebrating. Take this time to enjoy every moment spent with your family (even if thats not so easy). I believe that the family is important to God. He has put us in the family we are in for a reason. Kristen and I received an e-mail today from Focus on the Family that puts a little perspective on the importance of your family this season.

At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus the Christ, the King of kings, the Lord of lords, whose kingdom is everlasting to everlasting. We often focus on the miracles of Christmas–the virgin birth, the great company of angels that appeared, the star and the wise men. Yet the Christmas story is also very much a story about family …

On that first Christmas night, the Creator of the universe chose to make His grand appearance on the human stage through a non-descript family in crisis, facing intense social, cultural and economic pressures as well as death threats that forced them to flee under the cover of darkness.

In the cradle of a family, Jesus made His introduction and He continues to introduce Himself to a hurting world through families.

God Bless

EF

Our Christmas eve service will be in Hutchinson at the Grand Prairie Hotel. If you would like to go down to Hutchinson with us, meet us in the parking lot at Webster Conference Center (check the Where We Are At page for directions) at 4:45pm on Thursday and we will head that way together. It will be an experience you will want to make a tradition!

Ok, the title is lame I know but at least I have your attention right??? Some of you may have asked yourselves this question, “When are there going to be more programs at Cross Point Salina?” The answer is….probably never. You see, we are excited about helping you grow closer to Jesus Christ or maybe even meet him for the first time if you haven’t already. What we don’t want to do is become an institution that simply fills up your calendar with every event that we can fit on the schedule. Now, I am not saying we are anti-program because we are not. We could offer a buffet line of programs and it could be a good thing. You could pick and choose what you want and don’t want. God has laid it on our hearts to go a different direction. We offer something else…..simplicity! This doesn’t mean we are lazy. This isn’t the latest and greatest church model. It just means we are focused on the prize. What we offer is going to come in the form of a Filet Mignon and not a buffet of so-so food that we don’t have the manpower to keep stocked.  By Filet Mignon, I mean we are going to focus all of our resources into the Discipleship Process we feel God has given us. (For more on this you can reference the “what we’re about” blog that Eric posted. The link for it is on the upper right-hand corner of the home page.) The process and how we implement it goes like this:

1.Connect- We want you to connect with God, each other, and us. The primary route for this is the Saturday night service. When you come through the doors here at Cross Point our goals are to greet you, make you feel welcome, and get to know you as much as we can in 1 hour. When you come on Saturday nights we want you to have an awesome worship experience, connect with a few people and leave wanting more. We want to get to know you well enough that you feel comfortable accepting an invitation to try out one of our Grow Groups.

2. Grow- From Saturday nights to Grow Groups. It’s that simple. There is nothing in between. No Sunday school, no Wednesday night Bible studies, etc.(not that those are bad). Grow Groups meet weekly usually in someones home and talk about the previous weeks sermon, the Bible, life, and all kinds of relevant things. If you want to experience Cross Point Salina fully then it is ESSENTIAL that you join a Grow Group. Try one and if it’s not the right one for you then try another. It’s my job to help guide and make it as easy as possible to get involved and feel comfortable in a Grow Group. Grow Groups are the launching pad for involvement at Cross Point.

3. Serve- There are always places to serve during the Saturday worship service. Contact Pastor Eric and he would love to work with you in finding the best way to use your gifts. As far as serving the community and serving outside of the worship service goes the main route will be through Grow Groups. Grow Groups will have service projects through out the year based on what each group feels led to do.

4. Reach- Once again Grow Groups are the place for this. There will also be mission opportunities as a church. Pastor Andy’s preaching also encourages us to invite friends and strangers alike to church.

So for those of you curious about why there are not fifty different programs at Cross Point I hope this helps. For those of you waiting to get involved until we offered more, guess what, it’s time to climb aboard because this train is rolling.

You may see several new faces this Saturday. Two different groups from our Westbrook campus will be in town to lead us in worship and help us celebrate the season.

Led by Josh Holmes, the youth band will take us through our worship experience this week. The band has several students with great talents that they are giving to God to use on us. When asked how he would describe the band, Josh said;

They are abnormally skilled for their age.

I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing.

When you come in this week, you will receive a little gift. Beth Pisano’s small group in Hutchinson will be here spreading holiday cheer and spending some time with us.

Our small group members are uber excited to be at your campus on Saturday this week. We have LOTS of candy canes to hand out and may even come in our Santa hats!

This weekend will be a picture of what it means to be a church in many places, caring for each other and experiencing what it means to live life on purpose together.

See you Saturday night!

EF

“God thank you for our beds. Thank you for my family. Thank you for our church. And most of all, thank you for Santa Clause. Amen.”

When your child begins praying at night thanking God for Santa Clause and not Jesus, it’s a good time to refocus the reason for this beautiful season! We began an ABC advent on December 1st, but it’s never too late to start counting down the days to the coming of our King!

I found the ABC advent idea online, but have rewritten it and added scriptures to fit our family’s needs. Thought I would post it for those of you who are interested…

Eric made this awesome advent candle holder for our kitchen table!!! I love it… someone from our small group said that it looks like a menorah on steroids. Couldn’t help but laugh….

Anyway…
Before we start Advent at night Sadie and Cole have to pick up their toys. Sadie will quickly pick up her toys to do Advent! I LOVE THAT! There’s something about children and the idea that we are going to light candles for them to blow out that is incredibly exciting. After toys are picked up, we turn off the lights and light a new candle and the previous candles that have already been lit. As we light the candles, we review what we have learned so far and what each candle stands for. I am amazed at what Sadie is remembering and how well she is telling the story of Christmas herself. Last night we tried something new and sang Silent Night before we blew out the candles. Short and simple, but teaching the truth of this season.

Here’s what we are learning as we worship together and scriptures to go with each letter:
A- Angel came to visit Mary (Luke 1:26-31)
B- Baby Jesus (Luke 1:31)
C- City of Bethlehem (Matthew 2:6)
D- Donkey (The Bible does not state exactly how Mary got to Bethlehem, just that she went with Joseph – Luke 2:1-5. It is possible that they used a donkey as a mode of transportation. Good opportunity to talk about the distance they traveled and the possibilities of how they might have gotten there.)
E- Everlasting – Share about God’s power and relate it to the season. (Psalm 90:2)
F- Family – As your family we want to teach you about the truth of Jesus. (Deut. 6:5-9)
G- Gift (John 3:16)
H- Holy Spirit (Luke 1:35-37)
I- Inn (Luke 2:7)
J- Joy ( Luke 1:39-45)
K- King (John 18:37)
L- Lamb (John 1:29)
M- Multitude of Angels (Luke 2:13)
N- Name of Jesus (Matthew 1:23 & Phil. 2:9)
O- Obey – Mary and Joseph obeyed Jesus (Matthew 1:24-25)
P- Perfect – Jesus is without flaw.
Q- Quiet time (Psalm 46:10)
R- Rejoice (Luke 1:14)
S- Sins – Jesus was born to save us from our sins. (Matthew 1:21)
T- Twinkling Star (Matthew 2:2)
U- Unto Us a Child is Born (Luke 2:11)
V and W – Visit from Worshiping Wise Men (Matthew 2:7-12)
X – is for Christ (2 Peter 3:18)
Y- Jesus will be a blessing to YOU! (Ephesians 1:3-14)
Z- ZZZZZ - We can rest in knowing that Jesus is Alive! (Psalm 91:1)

Happy Adventing and Merry Christmas!

About three weeks ago Eric and I were discussing our first “official” staff meeting that we were having that night. I asked him how many people were on staff and he said 3. I laughed for a second or two then I made a remark about how funny it was that we were so small. He replied by calling us “Small but Mighty”. I laughed again, but it got me thinking.

I’m a student at Central Christian College in McPherson. Last night during class my professor told us the story of pastor Burl. My professor told us that shortly after college he attended Calvary Bible Church in Emporia. The pastor at that church was pastor Burl. Pastor Burl had come from a church located in the hills of West Virginia. The closest town to that church had around 400 citizens. The average attendance at that church each sunday was around 800. Yes, that’s right I said 800. People came from all around to attend this church. It was a backwoods mega church. God called pastor Burl from that West Virginia wonderland to start a church in Emporia, KS. The average attendance for that church was around 15-20. On Easter and Christmas they might get as high as 25. Pastor Burl stayed at that church for 8 years. He invested in the lives of his congregants, but the church never grew in size more than those 15-20 people. My professor said that pastor Burl never seemed to question why God had sent him to a church that didn’t grow in numbers. After 8 years of teaching and training those faithful people pastor Burl moved on to another church. That was 35 years ago. The kicker in the story is this. At least 12 of those 15-20 people went on to full-time ministry. That is amazing to say the least. That church was “Small but Mighty”.

We all know the people and their stories. King David “Small but Mighty”, an uneducated fisherman “Small but Mighty”, the church at pentecost “Small but Mighty”, and of course the carpenter from Nazareth “Small but Mighty”.

Right now Cross Point Salina averages between 35-45 attendees each week. We fully expect to grow in numbers and are currently preparing for that. But right now we are what we are. Right now we are a small church with endless opportunities. We have the opportunity to be “Small but Mighty”.

Check out this blog post at perrynoble.com. Perry’s “I’m dreaming of a church…”  list will be a great measuring stick  for Cross Point Salina. Here are some of my favorites:

* Where the broken, hurting and lost are received with open arms…and the religious are challenged to repent of their “perfection.”

* Where JESUS is exalted…NOT a denomination or a political party.

* That champions the next generation instead of teaching them they are insignificant until they can get a job and begin to tithe.

* That embraces the fact that Jesus originally called “unschooled, ordinary men” to change the world…and He’s STILL doing the same thing today. (See Acts 4:13)

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Jason Waller will be leading us in worship on the 12th and 26th. Jason lets God use him in amazing ways…Lucky us!  Check out his newest video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE45XZOeHuQ]

You can see more at jasonacousticwaller