December 31st, 2009 by Tim Moore

Today is the last day of 2009.  I’m always excited about what the next year will bring.  But I also want to take a moment to reflect back on all that happened in 2009.  In 2009, our church more than doubled in size and we saw incredible miracles happen.

Here’s a quick look back to all that God did in 2009.

• We launched a capital campaign in the spring and God provided all the money we needed to get started.  We are under construction now and hope to launch our new kids ministry facility by Easter of 2010.
• We now have a new driveway and parking lot as a result of everyone’s giving!!  That is SO awesome!  (I won’t miss the gravel)
• We saw over 80 people baptized in 2009 and 30 of them were baptized as of a spontaneous decision!!  What an electric day that was.
• We saw record attendance in the fall as we launched our series 180.
• I went blond as we launched 180!  Still blond right now. 
• We hired a full-time Creative Arts Director, part-time Youth Pastor and full-time Executive Pastor.  It’s not just me anymore.  Praise God!!
• We took up a special offering this Christmas season to give to people in need in our church and community and the church stepped up in a big way!!!
• We gave nearly $5,000 to people in need within our own church.
• We gave a check for almost $3,500 to Human Services to help families in our community who are struggling right now.
• We blew the doors off this place for Christmas with 4 full experiences with about 800 people.  (A new record for us!)

It truly was a great year for me, my family and our church.  But I believe it is just the beginning.  I believe God has MUCH more in store for us as a church.  I pray that God will use us to reach more people with the Gospel in 2010 than all of the years of our church history combined.

Are you ready Crossroads?

December 24th, 2009 by Tim Moore

It’s Christmas Eve and as I write this we are getting ready for our last 2 Christmas Experiences.  There is still time to get down here for them.  If you are missing them, I feel so sorry for you.  Last night was incredible.  The band and the tech team knocked it out of the park as we filled the auditorium with crowds of people.

Today, we are expecting more of the same. For us this is probably our biggest production of the year. It’s a lot of hours and hard work, but worth it when we see the end result.  I truly believe there were many people touched by God through our experience.

I just want to take a moment to say how proud I am of the people in our church and how incredible thankful I am for the amazing talent we have.  We have so many volunteers who GIVE of their time and talents to make it an incredible experience.  I give all the glory for it to God!  He is putting together something special and it is an honor to lead it.

I hope to see you tonight.  But if not, have a Merry Christmas!!

December 22nd, 2009 by Tim Moore

I must admit something.  I am not the most generous person in the world.  I know some people who LOVE to give and are BIG givers.  Over the past 2 weeks God has been speaking to me about what it means to be generous.  He took me to a passage of Scripture in 2 Corinthians 9:6-8.

⁶Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. ⁷Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. ⁸And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.

As I chewed on this text for a while I realized that we can be FAITHFUL without being GENEROUS.  There is a difference!!

I am FAITHFUL when I RETURN the tithe to God.  I think a lot of Christians think they are generous people because they return 10 percent of their income back to God.  But the truth is we only see ourselves as generous because we compare ourselves with those who never give anything to God.  In reality, this is what God EXPECTS of us…bare minimum.

However, I am GENEROUS when I GIVE to God above that because I want to be part of what He is doing on this earth.  This level of giving is not from duty but more of a condition of our heart.  The Bible says that God loves a cheerful giver.

God has been challenging me about being GENEROUS.  If I really want to be like Christ, then I must become a giver.  He gave EVERYTHING for us.  In fact, He gave his life for us even when it didn’t feel good and the human side of him didn’t want to face the cross.  He gave his body anyways.

As I approach 2010, I feel like God is calling me to be more GENEROUS.  I am faithful.  But I want to be a giver.  I am taking steps of faith in a level of giving I have never done before.  It might not feel good and might be stepping out on a limb, but I believe God’s Word is true and that we will reap what we sow.

Would you consider yourself GENEROUS?  Perhaps you struggle with simply being FAITHFUL.  We all must take steps of faith to move forward in following Christ.

For some of you, it might be stepping up to be faithful with the tithe.  For others, it might be exploring a level of generosity that causes you to live by faith and not by sight.

Together, let’s make 2010 a year of incredible generosity towards God’s work!!

December 16th, 2009 by Tim Moore

This may sound weird, but I don’t want you to go to church…at least not on December 27th. That’s right, you heard me correctly. Skip church. Stay home. Sleep in. Goof off with your family.

We are NOT going to hold any worship experiences on Sunday, December 27th.   Why?   Because it’s my birthday and I don’t want to work on it.  No, I’m just kidding.

But truly, we are not going to have church that day.  Here’s the real reasons why.

• We want you to celebrate this Christmas season with your family. Enjoy a full weekend for a change. It might actually mean something to your unsaved family when you say I have more time to be with you this weekend because our church wants us to be with you!
• We want to give our many volunteers who are putting tons of extra hours into our 4 Christmas Experiences a break. Not only is all the planning intense, but many of the volunteers will be at the church all day on the 23rd and 24th. Many have been away from family throughout the month of December to make these experiences special for you. Let’s give them a break!
• We will have just had church on Wednesday and Thursday.  C’mon, isn’t that enough for the week?    (maybe not)

Seriously, enjoy the season and the time off and then we’ll see you again in 2010!  By that time you will be so pumped and ready for another Crossroads Experience the place should be electric.  We have a powerful series planned for January.  I can’t wait.

December 15th, 2009 by Tim Moore

A Pop-Culture Christmas

Our Christmas Experiences begin in only 8 days! Wow, Christmas is almost here. Our band and tech team are putting in SO many hours on this service. You haven’t even seen the half of what we can do with lights and I’ve been told by our tech team that there are some “surprises” in store for these experiences.

So, I want to let you all know, get your tickets now. We have given away well over 750 tickets already for the Christmas Experiences. If you are planning to come, we want to know so we can be prepared. If you haven’t picked up any tickets and you are planning to come or you know you are bringing some people with you, go to our website and get tickets ONLINE.

Click here to get tickets.

December 11th, 2009 by Tim Moore

Another thing I noticed very quickly about Disney was that they pay great ATTENTION TO DETAIL. Everything “t” is crossed and “i” dotted. One thing that really stood out to me was the inside of the castle at Magic Kingdom. I have been to the Magic Kingdom park probably more than a dozen times in the past several years. Every time I’ve been there we could only see this amazing castle from the outside perspective.

But on one of our visits this last time, they had the castle open so you could walk through it. As I walked through the main hallway I noticed the incredible murals on the walls of famous Disney characters. But these weren’t just painted on. They were small mosaic tiles put together into works of art. I was amazed that they would put that much work into an area that is very seldom open to the public.

As well, everywhere you look in Disney you probably don’t realize what you DON’T see. You don’t see cables exposed, trash lying around, or things out of place. Disney pays close attention to the details and they create a place that looks as magical as it feels.

I believe the church or any organization could learn a lot from Disney. Perhaps we need to take a tour with fresh eyes and see how many things are out of place and wires exposed. Some people take the approach that superfluous stuff like that doesn’t matter in a church. As long as we sing and preach, that’s all that matters.

I disagree. We are serving the most important thing to our community – the Bread of Life (Jesus). He deserves better!

The details matter.

December 9th, 2009 by Tim Moore

I’m back from our family vacation. We spent half of our trip at Disney World. I am always impressed with how Disney runs their operation. That place is AMAZING. If you have never been there, you should go. In fact, I would love to fly all of our volunteers to Disney World for 1 day to see how they operate. I truly believe the Church could learn a lot from Disney. In the next few days I’ll post some of my thoughts about what Disney could teach the Church.

The first thing you notice is their SERVICE. The service at Disney is the BEST. Everyone is smiling and willing to help you do whatever you need. You could ask any cast member (worker) a question and if they don’t know…they’ll get you to the right source. They never say, “That’s not my job”. They understand that in order to make your experience the best it can be, that service MUST be a priority. And that is what brings people back!

We should be the same way in the church…and then some. We are not just trying to provide a good experience when people come to our churches, but we are trying to lead people to meet Jesus. When people come to our churches, they should receive the BEST service you can find. We should do anything we can to put them at ease so they can truly encounter Jesus without their defenses up. Disney does it right and the Church should do it better. When we learn to do this, many people that visit will want to come back!

When you come to church, don’t just be an attender, but be a cast member. Even if you are not an official greeter. Be willing to do whatever it takes to make another person’s experience the best it can be.