Meet Real, Live Missionaries This Friday!
That’s right friends! Not just people on a slide show, flannelgraph, or a ten year old video, but real, live normal people who feel called by God to live on mission with Him in Hungary! And you have the chance to meet them, pray for them, and learn how you can help them be a part of God’s redemptive plan for Hungary.
This Friday from 7-9 p.m. in the Elementary Room at 1049, Terry and Christina Cokenour (long time friends of Crossbridge and founding Partners) will be hosting a time for us to learn more about the mission God has called them to. There will be coffee and dessert but no childcare. What an awesome way to spend a Friday night! So call the sitter and make plans not just to watch another movie, but come hear how the Gospel can change a nation.
Terry and Christina have raised 20% of the support they need to go full time to Hungary and are praying to be there by January 2011.
RSVP to ccokenour@gmail.com.
Learn more at www.budapestalive.org.
Saturday Seminars
Depth takes time, and training is intentional. Saturday Seminars provide an opportunity to study a particular topic or issue and get equipped to grow in your faith. The purpose of our Saturday Seminars is to equip us through teaching, practical instruction, and interaction. We will cover various topics from how to Study the Bible to issues in contemporary theology to practical training on parenting. The topics are far-reaching and impactful. The teaching is beyond what is usually available on a weekend or in a group. Come ready to learn, receive training, and grow.
May 1st, 2010, 9:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.
Three seminars to equip you to be “growing followers of Jesus Christ.”
Partnership Class – taught by Lead Pastor Chuck Land
Partnership helps create a sense of belonging, purpose, and unity within our church and gives you the chance to be part of something bigger than yourself. Join us for an overview of the history, beliefs, and vision of Crossbridge, and find out how partnership can make a difference in your life. There is no pressure to join the church, but this class is a prerequisite to join.
Managing Your Money Well in Uncertain Times – taught by Associate Pastor Glenn Smith
In this seminar you will discover what the Bible says about managing money, common money myths in American culture, how to attain financial peace in uncertain economic times, how to create a plan that will give you financial freedom, and how to live like no one else.
Prayer Skills – Breaking It Down To Basics – taught by Bob Jeffries, Community Group Leader and Elder/Pastoral Advisory Team Member
Someone once said we are not born or reborn with the capability to pray. Prayer is learned. Although many of us recognize prayers importance, George Barna says: “Six out of ten adults who engage in prayer say they are “absolutely certain” that prayer makes a difference in their lives.” Yet this same surveyor goes on to tell us: “The average amount of time adults spend in prayer is about five minutes.” Join us as we take the opportunity to look into the basics of enriching your prayer life and experiencing a more intimate relationship with God.
Financial Update – February 2010
God is blessing Crossbridge in many ways. There is a tremendously sweet spirit in our fellowship. Our weekly attendance is up 22% over last year at this time. Three-fourths of our adult attendance is in small groups. Our leadership team is growing and the number of attenders who support the church financially has increased as well. However, due to the economic times that we are in, our total giving is down about 25%, which is very significant to our operations. Our building fund gifts have decreased as well.
Please be in prayer for the families of our church as many have lost jobs and incomes have dropped. Also, please pray for the staff and the Pastoral Advisory Team/Elders as we seek to adjust our operations to enable us to live within our means. We trust God for His provision within our families and for our church as a whole. Let’s continue to pray and seek the Lord for His provision and guidance.
Crossbridge Church is Feeling the Effects of the Recession
The first half of 2009 was looking good for our general giving. However, the past few months have been very tight. In September alone we fell below our expenses by more than $14,000. We are watching our expenses very closely.
Our building fund giving has been dropping behind most of the year. We will need to re-address this issue by the first of the year. Please be in prayer for our church family as many have lost jobs or taken pay cuts this year. Also pray for our church ministries that God will continue to provide as He has so faithfully in the past.
Notes from Chuck
Hi Everybody!
The last few Sundays have been such sweet but meaty times worshipping and learning from God’s word. I hope you have been encouraged this week by His word to us Sunday; “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure”. (Philippians 2:13) I hope you will take time this week personally or with your Community Group to celebrate and rest in our God that is working!
I want to make you aware of few things coming up on the calendar!
Next Saturday is Halloween. Don’t be afraid of this day. In fact why not use this as an opportunity to serve our city. In the years past Community Groups have thrown block parties on Halloween night to show their neighbors God’s love in a practical way. Let me encourage you Crossbridge to be a light on this night. Turn your front porch light on and give away the best candy on the street. I try to give our full size candy bars to the kids the come by. We’re not endorsing witches and all the junk about Halloween; we are endorsing loving the people that come to your door. So how can you love your neighbors this Halloween? Full size candy bars, grill and give away free Hot Dogs, rent a bounce house for the neighborhood kids or throw a block party with your group? Be creative and have fun loving people.
November 1st is also time change Sunday! Set your clocks back one hour and enjoy the gift of sleep!
Please mark your calendars for November 15th. We will be having our second “On the Patio” Sunday. This summer we did “Floats on the Patio” and on November 15th we will have “Hot Dogs on the Patio”. Following each service will have free Hot Dogs and drinks for the whole family on the patio of 1049 Eldridge.
These Sundays are designed to introduce your friends and family who don’t have a church home or are outside the faith to Crossbridge. We will have our normal Sunday worship service and continue through Philippians but we will use this little social event to as an opportunity to invite someone who God has put on your heart to Crossbridge. Start praying now that God will open a door for you to invite someone to this special day and that He might do a work in their heart.
I know this might seem a little cheesy to do but let me tell you God uses these specials Sundays in people’s lives. One of the men that will be helping roast the dogs that Sunday was invited by a Crossbridger to our “Floats on the Patio” Sunday. That was his and his wife’s first Sunday with us and now they are regular attendees, going through our Gospel Class and will be serving up some good Hot Dogs on our next Patio Sunday!
I am always blessed by your commitment to advance the gospel Crossbridge.
Thanks for making it a joy to be your pastor!
Chuck
PS – Please remember to join us for First Tuesday – November 3rd!
The Call for Godly Men
This Sunday: “The Call for Godly Men” – Philippians 2:17-30
Crossbridge Men, this Sunday’s message will be aimed at encouraging us to take the next step in living God-Centered lives for the sake of our families, city and world. I would like to ask you to make every effort to be here this Sunday, for our time of worship. Whether you are married or single, you will be encouraged by God’s word this Sunday.
Ladies, there will be a lot for you too in this passage, but I will be specifically addressing our men and encouraging them to take the next step in being all Jesus is calling them to be. Let me encourage you married ladies, to make every effort to get your man (or men if you have teenage sons) here for this service. If you are a single lady, please encourage the men in your life to be here and be praying for the men in our church.
See ya Sunday!
Joy in the City
The book of Philippians is a little book that packs a big punch. It is only 4 chapters but the truth in it can change our lives. It’s really a letter written to them by their founding pastor the Apostle Paul.
One of the main themes of the book is joy that is found in knowing Jesus as our savior and Lord. In our culture there are thousands of books and ideas on how to be happy. Our whole nation is founded on the idea of “the pursuit of happiness,” but despite all our books, ideas and talk shows we continue to be a nation of unhappy people. We still strive for more, better, new, faster and thrilling. Nothing seems to satisfy us.
In the book of Philippians though we don’t find a guy living in his perfect million-dollar home, with his perfect teeth telling us how to think positively and actualize our perfect future. No in this book we find a guy in jail writing a letter not telling how it’s wrong for him to be in there but that it really advances the Gospel (Phil 1:12). He doesn’t write to complain or beg them to break him out. Paul actually says he rejoices (1:18), calls his friends to rejoice, and work toward relational unity for the sake of the Gospel.
We have titled this study, “Joy in the City.” We’re using the word “city” as a metaphor for where we live. The great writer Augustine wrote about the “city of man” and the “city of God.” The “city of man” is where we live now. We live in a place and time where people have rebelled against God and we all live under the curse of the fall (Genesis 4). The values of this city are not the values of God. The end of the Bible speaks of the “city of God,” the place where Jesus rules and reigns and His will is done perfectly and joyfully. This city is described this way…
“1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea.
2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven
from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3And I heard a loud voice from the
throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men,
and he will live with them. They will be his people,
and God himself will be with them and be their God
4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There
will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away.”
Revelation 21:1-4
Jesus entered the city of man and lived a sinless life and then died as payment for the sins of humanity. He was buried and on the third day rose from the dead, defeating Satan, Sin and death. Jesus will one day return and bring the “City of God” down from heaven as it is written in Revelation 21. Right now we live in a time where Jesus reconciles people to His Father by the Holy Spirit yet they still dwell in the “city of man.” God in His sovereign wisdom has chosen to use these redeemed people (the church) to demonstrate and declare the reality of this new city where Jesus is King.
So as we study this great book we are seeking as a church community to ask how do we have “Joy in the City?” How do we live as followers of Jesus whose motto is “to live is Christ, and to die is gain” (Phil 1:21)? How do we live in the city of man but let our “manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ” (Phil 1:27)? How do we have the joy of knowing Jesus Christ as the center of our life in the “city of man?”
We are also seeking to learn how we can bring joy to this city. Paul will challenge us to live in such a way to advance the gospel in whatever circumstance we are in. How do we bring the joy of Jesus to the place we live and work? The Church is on a mission to declare and demonstrate the joy of knowing Jesus to the world.
I am so excited to study this book with you and learn from the Holy Spirit how to be a community of people who have “joy in the city” and bring “joy to the city”.
Pray with me!
When we started Crossbridge almost seven years ago we (me and the team that launched the church) were young and idealistic. One of the things I said over and over is we will build this on prayer. So for the first couple of years we did that. We prayed for a different church every Sunday, we have 40 Days of Prayer and Fasting and different prayer emphasis. Then something happened.
We stopped praying.
Oh, we still prayed in our services and for each other in groups but the intensity, the frequency and the focus stopped. I can’t put my finger on any one specific incident but I looking back I see a pattern of busyness and inattention that caused us to drift from praying. I now know something I wish someone would have told me then:
You have to fight to pray.
I don’t drift into prayer. I have to choose to pray.
I also realized that Crossbridge doesn’t drift toward prayer. We drift toward activity. We drift toward unbelief.
We must choose to pray. We must fight to pray.
Well, I am seeking to repent of my personal prayerlessness and lead our church toward being a church that prays.
Beginning Tuesday September 1st we will have a once a month prayer gathering called “First Tuesday”. We will use these gatherings to pray for God’s work and blessing to be on our lives, church and greater community. This service will last for one hour. We will sing a little bit to warm ourselves up, have some guiding words, and then pray!
Will you join me this and every First Tuesday that you can to pray for and with Crossbridge?
First TuesdaySeptember 1, 2009
7:00 -8:00 p.m.
1049 Eldridge Auditorium
Childcare provided birth-Kindergaten
e-mail info@crossbridge.cc to reserve a spot
Gospel Spirituality: Thoughts & Resources
This past Sunday we dove into the amazing truth that the gospel is not just how we begin the Christian life but how we grow in the Christian life. Gospel Spirituality is very different from contemporary spirituality in that God defines Himself in scripture as Holy, all people as sinful, and Jesus as the savior for sinners.
Like I said Sunday it is impossible to get all the glories of a Gospel-Centered relationship with God out but we sure tried to hit the highlights. One of the things we said is that we have to seek to grow in our understanding and application of the Gospel. Remember we looked at this verse…
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly’ teaching admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs’ with thanksgiving in your hearts to God.” Colossians 3:17.
From that verse we talked about reading about the gospel and singing the gospel. Now we try to do that every week in our Sunday Services and in our Community Groups, but what about personally?
There are many wonderful resources out there to help embrace the gospel on a daily basis. I offer you this list below of books and music that might be of use to you and your family to let the gospel dwell richly in you!
Books:
Gospel-Centered Life Curriculum by Bob Thune
The Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney
The Gospel for Real Life by Jerry Bridges
A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent
The Prodigal God by Tim Keller
Music:
PSALMS by Sovereign Grace Music
Over the Grace: the hymns of Issac Watts by Sojourn Music
Children Resources:
Books:
The Big Picture Storybook Bible
Music:
To Be Like Jesus by Sovereign Grace Music
Awesome God by Sovereign Grace Music
SEEDS music
Getting Connected
Hi Everybody,
We are heading toward the end of summer vacation at a very fast pace! I can’t believe school is starting. Even as an adult I still cringe when I see the “Back to School“ supplies sale at Wal-Mart and I have been out of school a long time! As the Fall comes we have some great opportunities coming up for us to connect with others here at Crossbridge.
This Sunday we will start selling tickets for our Birthday Bash. We will be celebrating Crossbridge’s 7th birthday on September 13, at Safari Texas. For more details go here. We will also continue our sign-ups for Community Groups as well. Community Groups are our main environment for connecting with others at Crossbridge for care, encouragement and friendship.
If you are new, our next Newcomer’s Open House is on August 30th. It is an hour long reception Sunday evening from 6:30-7:30 PM, where you enjoy a meal, meet the staff, hear the story of Crossbridge and find the next step for you in getting connected here. I would love to meet you there is you are new and/or not connected yet.
The Christian life was meant to be done in community as the family of God. I hope you will take advantage of some of the opportunities coming up to connect further with Crossbridge.
See-ya Sunday,
Chuck
