Well it’s been a long time since I posted to this blog…again! I need to post more than once every six to eight months. There has been a lot of stuff going on since my last post. We have had our first, second, and third monthly services. Our first service was on Easter. It was a great service! I was moved to tears when I saw parts of my vision coming to fruition. It was definitely a God moment. I can take no credit for the work I haven’t done. I have only been obedient to the call and doing the work I am supposed to do.
We are doing the launch process to start this church. The launch process involves doing monthly preview services. Our attendance has been pretty decent. We are not adding to our numbers daily like the early church but we are definitely adding to our team. I have set a prayer goal of 60 adults on our launch team for our launch service. This is a very large team and with the help of God we can accomplish this goal. Our Comeback Events (opportunities for people to hear the vision of the church) have not had great attendance but we continue to move in the path God is leading us. My wife, Tina, and I are looking at doing a mid-course evaluation of the way the launch process has been going. This evaluation should allow us to make mid-course corrections as necessary.
We have already touched one life with our new church. The custodian responsible for opening and closing the building for us has started to attend our services. I had been praying about this but had not spent a lot of time on it. Well, she seemed to be ready to hear from God! I was expecting months or years of prayer. I pray everyone is open to God like that but the reality is that some people will require lots of prayer. I need to be ready to dig in and pray for a long time for some folks. Our church is about touching lives. If we are not touching lives then we are not doing the very thing our Heavenly Father has called us to do.
Members of our team went to Transethnic Transitions Conference at New Life Providence last week. It was truly a great experience. There is a move of God to return the church back to being multiethnic. If a church planter doesn’t have multiethnicity in at least a part of their vision for a new church then, in my humble opinion, they are missing the very heart of God and the call of our society. I will make polarizing statements like this from time to time. But at times there is a need for me to be polarizing, this is one of them. The church should always be the head and not the tail. This means we should be leading society and not following it. Too many times the church has to play catch up. We are doing it again when it comes to a multiethnic worship experience and church. God’s heart has always been for an integrated church. Does this mean that monoethnic churches are ungodly? NO! It is sort of like looking at the Jerusalem church and the church in Antioch. Both churches were godly but the Jerusalem church was made up primarily of Jews. So they were only exposed to the Jewish culture. While the church in Antioch was multicultural and they experienced life in a church where there were many cultures. These many different cultures capture the fullness of God. God is not the God of the Jews only. God is not the God of the gentiles only. In today’s vernacular it would look like this. God is not the God of the whites only. God is not the God of the blacks only. God is not the God of the Hispanics only. God is not the God of the Asians only. ETC…ETC…ETC! I hope you get my drift. God is the God of all nations. Isaiah 56:6-7 says, “And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD to serve him, to love the name of the LORD, and to worship him, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold fast to my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations” (emphasis added). Foreigners worshipping along side of the Jews were unheard of in Isaiah’s day. God was setting a new standard for worship. His standard for worship would be an integrated worship experience.
Our next service will be June 29th. I really look forward to this service because I will be setting the foundation of being a giving church. I want us to be the church that is known for giving up everything for the cause of Christ. It all starts with me and my family. We have always made huge sacrifices but we cannot hold on to our old sacrifices. Our Heavenly Father wants to stretch us more and more. He wants to grow our faith. I’m glad that he loves us enough not to just let us stay where we are. He wants us to move as he moves. He wants to grow us to be perfect (mature) in Christ. One way for him to grow us is through our finances. We truly show our maturity in how we handle our finances. It doesn’t matter if it is tithing, giving, or spending. I believe our bank account can be a great indicator of our spiritual condition. It can show if we’re patient or if we have to spend every dime as soon as we get it. It also shows if we have made good or bad decisions. It shows how disciplined we are and so forth. Many people wonder why the church talks about money. The church talks about money because in our society money plays a huge role in our lives. It makes a big difference in our marriages, our family, and our personal lives. So, if money were not talked about in church then we would be doing the community a huge disservice because we would not be talking about one of the things that affect so much of their lives.
I have put it in my schedule to blog more frequently. As of right now I have it scheduled to post a new blog on Saturdays. I may blog at other times as well but at a minimum Saturday will be my day. Until next time…keep leaning hard into your Heavenly Father because there is nothing too big or too small for him to handle!
Crossroads Vineyard Church
