Crossroads Celebration Church

I was standing at the Crosswalk this morning again. It’s been six weeks crossing kids on their way to school and standing with four 6th graders waiting for the bus to pick them up at this corner. Kaylee said, you have your ear pierced. 30 days of standing together for ten minutes a day and she finally realizes my ear is pierced.

Observation. I remember vividly twenty years ago standing at my living room window one wintry Sunday morning. A squirrel passed by with what seemed to be a mouse in its mouth. Then came back empty. Again came by with something in it’s mouth. I finally realized the this was a mother squirrel moving her babies. It is the only time I have seen something like this. I was moved to tears at this scene. What a thing to observe.

One vacation morning we packed up the camper in the dark and headed out onto interstate out west before the sun rose. As the sun was rising, the sage brush had this emerald glow to it like the Wizard of Oz. Had we travelled this highway in the day it would not have been so amazingly beautiful. What a thing to observe.

Are you awake? Are you alive? Are your senses alert to the movement of God all around us. Even in our own back yards [and front yards] we can see things out of the ordinary, life happening and God moving. Are you experiencing life? Try going a different route to work today. Turn your head and look left if you happen to always look right. Be aware of your surroundings and ask God to reveal Himself in the things around you. Ask God to reveal new and fresh insights in your self.

God is still at work. God is still mysterious and miraculous. Pray for God to breath new life and insight into you today.

This spring and summer I have been out walking the lake area with my friend, Doc. Both of us enjoy a good walk and both of us have had some scouting experience. I know the sight and sound of a blue jay, robin and cardinal. But Doc knows way more birds and bird sounds than I will ever know.

He has records of bird songs and has memorized them. In fact, Doc, knows so much trivial kind of stuff I told him he needs to be on Jeopardy or Who Wants to be a Millionaire. Or I can go on and he can be my lifeline.

Doc showed me birds, local birds, that I was not aware of. I had my camera and sure enough there was a bird high up in the trees that Doc heard and then we spotted. This happened several times on our walks through the woods.

This got me to thinking about God and creation and the mysteries of the universe. It seems like those who do not believe in God or think there is some kind of evolution are like me. I know a few things, a couple birds and bird songs, but am very limited. Doc, is like those who have had more experience first hand with God. They’ve studied a few more things and memorized certain things that increase their knowledge.

I think if those who do not know God would do a little more research, expand their local world, and be open to knowing that there is more to this world than they might know or see, they might find God. I am amazed at what Doc knows, but even he is human and limited. What if I learned from others who know more about birds, I would find further knowledge about birds. What if we took this approach to finding out about God? All this time I was satisfied with knowing a few birds and bird songs, but now I know there is more, even in my own back yard.

God is a God of great mystery, but to those who have the interest, God is a God of great revelation. God gives glimpses of Himself as we need. Not any more than we can handle. If we had the full revelation of God, we could not handle it.

I hope you are open to finding out more about this world, even starting in your own back yard. I hope that you find interesting people who have a different knowledge base than you, so you can learn from their knowledge. And in being open to all things, I hope that God reveals more of Himself to you. Whether you know God or not.

I am glad to know Doc. I you want to talk with him, come and join us in our place of worship – Crossroads Church in Ankeny, Iowa.

I am about to embark on a new and scary adventure for me. I have been teaching Ethics and Philosophy for over two years at our local community college. I have really enjoyed Ethics for it seems to be right up my alley. But Philosophy scares me.

The history and concepts of Philosophy are vast. My boss said he has a hard time finding people willing to teach Philosophy and so I told him I would find a way to love teaching it. So here is the adventure for this fall semester. I am scraping the big books, sticking with a simple book that seemed to work last spring. I am using movies as story illustrations to get us thinking about philosophical things like: is there a God, how was the world created and what is the meaning of life. I am thinking about asking the students to blog or journal about there thoughts and trying to answer these bigger than life questions.

So why did I bring this thought about teaching Philosophy to our church blog? Well, I have been thinking about what I would put in my personal philosophy blog would be: what is my life verse [what scripture do I not only have memorized, but how and why does it help me live my life], how do I put into thoughts and words my belief in God, why do I believe in creationism and so forth. One of the things that I am trying to add to my class outline is critical thinking. I need to better understand my beliefs so I can explain them to others. It is not so much an argument, but just being able to tell my story. I think it will help me be a better witness to my faith and to my christian life.

So what is your favorite song and why? Does it honor God? Who is God to you? Creator? or Some higher being? Do you worship God? Can you worship some less known higher being? Do you honor that being or is it some obscure point of interest that just sits at the back of your mind once in awhile? Is there eternal life? What is it like? How do you get there? Do nice people go to heaven if there is a heaven? What about not so nice people? Do dogs go to heaven? Are people who claim to be agnostic really atheists? What’s the difference? And so much more……

So what is my life verse? Revelation 3.16 [Mark's version] If you’re not radical, you’re spit! Jesus doesn’t want us sitting on the fence with our faith. He can handle – hot on fire for God and he can handle those who could care less for God – but those who claim to be hot, but do nothing and act as if they are cold; Jesus will spit out of his mouth.

It’s not being radical for radical’s sense, but being radical for God and living out everyday in every way one can.

So what do you believe? Why? What are you doing about it? If you were on trial for your belief, would you be witness enough to prove it?

While I was away at camp our 5 month old miniature daschund puppy learned how to escape under a fence gate. Now this spring when she was smaller I had to add some chicken fence to the gates to keep her from getting through. Last week she got smarter and learned how to nudge her way under.

So today. I felt like the farmer going out to mend fence and keep the livestock in. I was thinking sheep because that’s pretty biblical and I remember when my father-in-law rented out some of his land for another farmer to keep sheep in. They were constantly getting out.

Anyway, here I am lowering the gate hinges; boarding up to different ways to keep this little corner from being flexible and securing some more zip ties to more of the fence. All the while, Lily, our precocious puppy is watching me and in my pile of tools and things. She then watches as I go out front to get the mail, while she is stuck behind my new Fort Knox fence. Ha! I laugh and taunt her. Try to escape now you lively little puppy. So far so good.

I was thinking of the parable Jesus told of the 100 sheep. 99 were secure and one got lost. How did it get lost? Was the gate open? Did the shepherd not secure things enough? or Was the sheep as precocious as my little puppy? I guess we may never know the answer to that, but sure enough the shepherd went after it. Could have been happy with 99 but went the extra effort to get the one lost lamb. Aren’t you glad the story is about the Good Shepherd and we are so often lost and Jesus comes to search for us.

I wish the church had a Fort Knox fence to keep the flock in and out of harm. But the government my have their say if I started locking up church folk. So I will simply trust Jesus to search for the lost and I will do my best to keep them from getting away. And I do have a big flashlight to help in the search. I don’t want anybody lost either.

So for now Lily, the puppy is securely in the back yard. Wait, maybe I should go check again, she is very precociou………………………………………………………………

Crossroads Church in Ankeny has increased it’s worship attendance this summer. In the spring we averaged 16 and in June and July we have averaged 20. Not bad for summer. Then people head off for vacation.

I knew that two of our regular families would be gone yesterday from worship. They were on a well deserved vacation time. I knew that it would take away 9 people from our attendance. When you are a small congregation those kind of numbers are noticeable. I was gearing up for maybe 7-9 people in worship. We had fifteen. And yes we were missing 9 regulars.

God is always surprising me. Why should I doubt God. Two people whom I haven’t spoken to for over two years talked with me today. Both of them inquired how our new church plant is doing. I simply had to reply great. When summer attendance is booming, God must be doing the recruiting.

So today, I say, “Thank you God!” I praise your Holy Name! I’m just wondering what God will do this coming Sunday when our nine friends come back from vacation. Will we have 24? or more? I should never underestimate the power of God’s plans.

How about you? Are you holding out for your plans? or are you letting God prove himself. “Bring all the tithes into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my Temple. If you do,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, “I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won’t have enough room to take it in! Try it! Put me to the test! Your crops will be abundant, for I will guard them from insects and disease.[a] Your grapes will not fall from the vine before they are ripe,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” Malachi 3.10-11

Yes, God wants to prove himself to you. His plans are always better than ours. Don’t limit God. It’s not a wise thing to do.

The Plan of Salvation hit home this year for me. At our Annual Conference our superintendent hit it pretty hard and celebrated the churches that had commitments made in their churches this past year. We were one of the few churches that didn’t have a commitment made. I could go into a long litany of reasons and other defenses about that, but I won’t.

Today I head off to church camp. One that I have directed for 19 years now. We have an altar call and probably have had commitments made every year. This year is different. This past school year we had a camper that died. We will have a memorial service for her on Monday night of camp and will plant a tree in her memory. Her pastor said it was a blessing doing her memorial at the church, because at camp last year she gave her life to Christ.

So this week please pray for us. I will really be hitting home the Plan of Salvation. It is a crucial time to approach this with young minds open to God’s Word. But it is something I want to bring home to our church as well. Sometimes we grow our churches by rearranging the chairs. Christians moving around from church to church, because of the flavor of the month. [Probably really has to do with the best coffee served at what church]. But what we really need to do to grow a church – to help expand the Kingdom, is reach the lost. Those who are not already Christians and show them the love and introduce to them the Plan.

I have not always been the best evangelist, but please pray for me to simply reach out in love to the lost and alone and hurting and show them Christ.

That’s why we are called Crossroads, because it’s usually when we are at a crossroads in our life that we are searching and in need of directions to find the right path for our souls. I know for me personally it was the most crucial decision making times in life that God blessed me with His Plan for me. How about you?

Do you know God’s Plan of Salvation for YOU?

I know some of you have heard this in a recent sermon, but it’s on my heart and bears repeating.

Compromise. Sounds so good doesn’t it! A compromise to bring peace. But at what cost? What is compromised in the process?

Think about it. If someone were to lay down new carpet in your living room and compromised 6 inches of carpet, would you be mad? Which end of the room do you choose to have compromised? Would you want your kids teachers to compromise your child’s education. Let’s just skip math this year.

Of course my biggest pet peeve is Christians wanting to compromise the Bible. Oh, let’s skip the virgin birth. We don’t really need Jesus raised from the dead. He was a good guy anyway. How about the truth when it comes to marriage and who marriage is designed for by God. Unfortunately these are things I have seen up close and personal in Christians compromising the Bible.

Here’s what I asked the congregation a few weeks ago. Would you want God to compromise your place in God’s plan of salvation for you? Like a divorce settlement for the kids. Hey devil you get Mark most of eternity, but I will take him for two weeks every summer.

Thank God, literally, that God is a God of promises and not compromises. I appreciate that my salvation will not be compromised. And I vow to not compromise on God’s Word. It is the Truth – no compromises!

If you are in the area and would love to hear similar messages on God’s Word, join at Crossroads Church in Ankeny, Iowa. We would love to share God’s Word and love with you and you with us.

19 years of directing a wonderful christian camp. That’s what it has been this summer and I am as excited as ever about being there. How about you?

We are at Hidden Acres – 10 miles north of Ogden, Iowa. This is our second year there. The people are friendly. The activities are phenomenal and the food is outstanding. Plus we are less than half the cost we were at another location two years ago.

But each year there is something new and exciting. This year our theme is GCI or God-Created Identity. Who we are in God’s plan and scope. We will answer some creation vs evolution type of questions and totally use the Bible for our answers of course. I just finished our theme idea in a large painting and it has a hidden surprise [have to find out about it by being at camp]. Our worship is totally being selected by our head band guy, Matt and he has selected some really cool songs to sing. T-shirts are about ready to go to print and will have this years theme on it as well. With a another special message for Thursday night at camp. We of course are focusing on Jesus and the message he brings us through his life about being God’s children and the unique design we are through creation. Jesus further helps us identify ourselves as heirs of God’s Kingdom through his blood. This is the greatest opportunity to witness the love of God through Jesus and set that into the hearts of our young people.

We had a camper die this last year. We will be planting a tree in her memory and having a service to celebrate her eternal life. She gave her life to Jesus last summer at camp!

Camp cost is $175. The dates are July 26-31, 2009. If you have questions or would like to register contact me at sacredmessage@gmail.com. We would love to see our camp grow in faith and in numbers.

I grew up in an era where t-shirts were just white and an undergarment. Then when I was a Boy Scout and we were heading out to Idaho for a Jamboree, we collected things from stores to take and trade with other scouts. I got my first t-shirt with an ad on it. It was a white t-shirt with Dutchman Paints logo on it. [it was blue ink with a dutch boy and dutch haircut sitting on a board with a can of paint] What a booming business t-shirts have been since the early 1970′s.

I have just been to the printer with our churches third t-shirt order. Not bad for a church that is celebrating it’s third anniversary tomorrow, July 1, 2009. I have designed our t-shirts for camp and am now handing over the process of design to my daughter who does design professionally.

What an impact when in a town parade a dozen or more people are coming at you with the same t-shirt design. You see unity and pride in who you are and what you represent. Or someone is in the check out line and reading the back of your shirt and they make a comment about your message on your t-shirt. Usually I find positive comments from Christian t-shirts I wear. I was in Florida one day at a convenience store and a guy was reading my orange tie-dye shirt and we broke racial barriers and became instant brothers because of the message. We talked about our churches we come from. Shared a blessing of peace for each other before we left.

My children both received for high school graduation a t-shirt quilt of their favorite 12 t-shirts they kept when growing up. School bands and camps and church t-shirts. The bordering fabric was something that represented them. That was one of their favorite graduation gifts.

What public message do you portray? I had a beer t-shirt once when I was in college. But will no longer wear one that doesn’t portray a positive message. So, again, what public message do you portray? You are a walking billboard for someone. Are you a message for Christ in your attire? Do you lift up God on your shirt or break a commandment?

I think if Jesus were walking the streets of my town today, He would be wearing a t-shirt. It would have a print at the bottom with an arrow that says, “Touch here, for a Holy experience”

I’m excited about our church camp shirt for this summer. Our theme is God-Created Identity or GCI and we are going off a CSI concept. So the shirt will have a handprint on it and a red thumb print in the middle of the palm to represent Thomas touching the hand of Jesus where the nail scar was.

May you be a visual image of God in your t-shirt, Bless Him and not Curse Him!

Crossroads Church in Ankeny Iowa invites you to wear your t-shirt to worship anytime!

Free Garage Sale. Really? Are you sure? Yes, I am. We started our Free Garage Sale this morning. I just got done telling a guy that everything was free. He turned around and asked how much this little garden tiller was. I said it’s free! I don’t think he knew what to say about it. I’ll take it.

Many people had puzzled looks on their faces and weird little “hmph” noises going on. I wish I could have been in their thoughts. But it was good for everybody.

We had a wife come by whose husband had been laid off several months ago and hadn’t found work yet. They have three little children. Grandma sent them to our garage [free] sale. A new couple from a block away drove off with a queen sized bed. They were happy. Another couple are going to have a baby this year and drive half an hour to church, they said they might check us out for worship since we are within five minutes of their home and they didn’t want to drive this winter with a newborn. One lady came because she heard about us on the Christian radio station. Another family of five are taking a tv and futon and other things, they were dealing with little business with a slower construction market. Others grabbed sheets because they donate to some kind of mission.

We did not know what to expect. We hoped to help someone in need and I believe we did that several times. We certainly wanted to be connected to the community, to let them know we are here and I believe that happened also. Some people who came and took stuff are going home and searching their closets to bring for tomorrows Garage [Free] Sale. Who knows what God has in mind for our church have a Free Garage Sale. We had a tip jar out for our mission support, Teen Challenge. We raised over $130 so far. Our Superintendent wrote a response to our reminder email about the sale and he was thrilled.

Keep us in your prayers that Crossroads Church in Ankeny Iowa will still make an impact on the community and together we are all making an impact for the Kingdom! That’s what it’s all about…Bringing Jesus!