@The
Intersection
Spring 2017| The Crossroads Newsletter
Are you at an Intersection?
Mark Your
Calendar
4/30/2017
Baptism Sunday
5/7/2017
Throw Back Service
5/13/2017
Men’s Breakfast
Choices that change us.
Have you ever stopped at an intersection and just sat there
wondering which way you should turn? Let me tell you that
I’ve been there way too many times. If it wasn’t for my wife,
or what I like to call her, ’my navigator,’ we may still be
sitting at one of those intersections. With the advent of
GPS, I find myself less confused and lost, but there are still
times that I get turned around and wonder which way to go.
We not only face this same predicament while driving but in
life we see the same scenario. We get to an unfamiliar
intersection and sometimes we just sit there waiting for the
wisdom to tell us which way to turn. Some of us may sit
there for years while others may get impatient and make a
turn regardless of the consequences, and finally, some of
us may just turn around until we find something familiar.
Are you at an Intersection Continued …
Student Ministry involves reaching into a
generation that has lost sight of who Jesus truly
is. This can be challenging, especially when the
world we live in is full of media, technology,
and changing culture telling our students
otherwise. Many teenagers, and young adults,
find themselves questioning whether or not God
is real. Their faith in Christ is constantly
challenged and it can be difficult to stay on the
“straight and narrow.”
Enter 4:13 Student Ministries. Our ministry
exists to combat all the lies the world tries to
tell our students, and to build up a generation
that is not afraid to boldly share the Gospel of
Christ. Acts Chapter 4, verse 13 says,“Now
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
and perceived that they were uneducated,
common men, they were astonished. And they
recognized that they had been with Jesus.”
We named our ministry after this verse because
ANYONE can go out and cause people to
realize we have a real relationship with Jesus
Christ. It doesn’t matter how old you are, how
much scripture you know, or how much dirt is
in your past. God doesn’t call the qualified, he
qualifies the called, and our students are called
to rise up and be the generation that the world
sees Christ in.
4:13 has a big year planned! Some of the things
we've already done this year where:


Great Lakes Regional Lock-In with
250+ youth from across Chicago and
Wisconsin
Smoky Mountain Winterfest
o 3 day weekend worshipping with
10,000+ youth from all over the
country.
Proverbs 14:12 says: “There is a way that appears
to be right, but in the end it leads to death.” This
scripture makes me think of the story where
someone was using the GPS, it told them to take
a left turn and the person blindly made the turn
only to find out the only thing to their left was a
cliff. You guessed it - the end of their turn was
death.
So how do you and I avoid making turns that lead
to death? The simple answer would be to not
make any turns at all. Unfortunately I think this
has become an acceptable answer in our world:
the decision to not do anything at all but stay right
where we are. If I don’t do anything different, if I
don’t make any new turns (decisions), I will not fail
and therefore I won’t die. There is some logic in
that but the Word doesn’t uphold that way of
thinking. You see it’s very clear that we are to
grow and produce fruit, to run and not grow weary,
to walk in the Spirit. From Genesis through
Revelation there is a mandate that we must GO
and GROW, so sitting at an intersection is not the
answer.
Then what do we do when we are at an
intersection? The first thing we must consider is
how the possible turn lines up with the Word of
God. If any moment of the turn is contrary to the
Word of God, then it’s not the right road. I
remember speaking to someone once who said
that he felt he was on the right path but it was
leading him to neglect his family. The Bible clearly
speaks that our first ministry should be to our
family.
Not only should we ask ourselves whether this
turn lines up with God’s Word we should consider
whether this is for our good or for God’s glory. If
we are truly on the right path then we will bring
glory to God but that doesn’t always mean that it’s
for our good. Or at least not what we sometimes
think of as our good. When we are on God’s path
then it will be for our eternal good, but it may not
feel good.
Finally, we must realize the car (our life), the gas
(our power), and the road aren’t even ours; they
are all God’s. We are here for His purpose, for His
plans, and to bring others to Him. Therefore any
road we are on must be about Him, for Him, and
bring others to Him.
Praying that each turn leads you closer to all that
God has for you.
4:13 Student Ministries continued…
fdads
L.I.F.T. Ladies In Faith Together. We spend time
our time together building relationships and
building faith
Each meeting we have is a little different from
the last. We have had a painting party, a dinner
party, game night, and devotion times. We also
focus on praying for each other. We have a
program called “Secret Sisters.” In this
program, each lady that would like to be
involved picks another lady’s name. For a year
they pray for their sister and once a month do
something special for her – a card, a note, a
small gift. We want all of our ladies to feel
connected to each other and to never be alone.
One of our main events is the annual Women’s
Retreat. This event is a great weekend of
connecting with God and other woman in our
Region. We spend Friday night and Sunday
morning in an amazing time of worship and
focusing on the Lord. Saturday we have
discipleship and enrichment classes. The
afternoon is a time to hang out with the ladies
from our church. Finally Saturday night is a
great time of fun & fellowship.
This past retreat’s theme was “Season’s
Change.” The highlight of the retreat was “the
atmosphere of fellowship and all of us coming
together as church and women.” (Solange
Smith)
But one of our main focuses is getting the
students involved in outreach. Every other
month we look for opportunities in our
community to share the love of Christ
through acts of service.
Ultimately we believe the greatest thing we
can do is to ensure our students get together
for not only fun but also to experience Jesus.
Having a true relationship with Christ means
Loving God, Loving People and Intersecting
Lives with Christ. Our students can impact
this church, community and the world by
having an intimate relationship with Christ.
We are looking forward to what God is
doing, and will continue to do in 4:13
Student Ministries. For further information
see Corey Karr or email him:
[email protected]
The Students on their way to the Great Lakes
Regional Lock-In
Senior Adult Ministries
Our newest ministry looks to
connect one of our most valuable
assets; the senior adults. We believe
that our senior adults are the
foundation of the church. In March
we kicked off a Thursday morning
Bible Study meeting at 11am. Be on
the lookout as we expand this
ministry to include monthly events
focused on building community and
empowering ministry.
For more information contact Pastor
Becky, stop by the Connections
Center or email
[email protected]
“Train up a child in the
way that they should go.”
Proverbs 22:6
At The Crossroads, we believe it’s important to train our children:
“Train up a child in the way he should go.” Proverbs 22:6.
We believe the best way to do that is to Konnect them with God through the Word, Prayer, & Worship
and to Konnect to each other through relationships & involvement in ministry. We want our kids to not
only be involved in ministry in the Children’s Ministry but also in the big church during our family
services. Every quarter we join with the adults in worship service and the kids volunteer by being
greeters, ushers and even help with worship. We want them to know that the whole church is their church
not just the Children’s Ministry area.
Our services look similar to the big church: Worship, Vision Casting, Offering, Message, & Prayer time.
The difference is we add in a game, which is related to the message, and our messages are geared toward
kids. In all we do through the services the most important is to Konnect each child to God!
We do 2 big events each year: Youth Camp in the summer & Kidfest in the spring. Youth Camp is a
weeklong adventure where the kids build a stronger relationship with God and other church kids in our
region. Kidfest is a high energy weekend at Great Wolf Lodge water resort where the kids encounter God
along with kids from across the Midwest.
For more information please see Pastor Jenn or email [email protected]
Isaiah 56:7
“A house of prayer for all
nations.”
Prayer
Ministry
3
For You are my rock and my fortress;
Therefore, for Your name’s sake,
Lead me
guide
me.
The house of worship
thatand
is not
first
a house of prayer has become a house of cards. The Lord has
mandated that for any place of worship to be truly known as His house, it must be also called "a house of
prayer for all nations” as Isaiah 56:7 declares. At the Crossroads we are rebuilding our altars to seek anew
God's visitation among us. To "pray always" (Ephesians 6:18) is the foundation to intentionally pursue
that we may see our world transformed as He responds to our cry for Him to revisit our land. It is a vehicle
of outreach as well as a ship of refuge. And the Lord delights in answering prayers made in faith according
to His will. It's time to pray!
Our Prayer ministry seeks to be as accessible as possible for our church family and anyone else needing
prayer. Our church leadership will gladly take your prayer requests on the spot - just ask! Two other
dedicated groups of prayer warriors take seriously our need to stand in the gap for others in prayer. One of
the focuses of our prayer team is serving our pastor and worship team by pre-worship prayer time, ongoing
prayer during service and during the worship services as an altar team. Our other team is involved in the
ongoing prayer to intercede when urgent prayer needs are made known, and communicate those prayer
needs by a special voice broadcast by phone. If you would like to be added to the phone message list
please sign up at the Connections Center.
If you should find yourself in need of prayer at any time please feel free to contact Pastor Rafael at
[email protected] or call the church at 708-300-2281. We meet for corporate prayer Tuesday
nights at 7pm. We are looking to have prayer walks in our community to seek God's blessing. We invite
any and all believers who want to renew prayer as a foundation of their lives to join with us as we seek the
Lord on Tuesdays and throughout the week.
Church Drama!
Normally we try to avoid having drama in church buton Good Friday we had the “right”
kind of drama going on. This Easter season we presented a drama called “The Living
Last Supper” which featured the 12 disciples and Jesus recreating the Passover night.
The set was designed to mirror Da Vinci’s famous painting: “The Last Supper.” It was a
great chance to learn a little more about each of disciples, how they met Christ and
how they felt when Jesus made the statement: “One of you will betray me!” It even
featured communion with the Hebrew blessings of the bread and the wine.
The night finished with a shadow drama that recreated the life, death and resurrection
of Christ on two different screens. The actors did a great job running back and forth,
between the two screens, while the lights where off, finding their marks and doing their
parts.
If you are interested in being part of our future dramas: as an actor, set designer,
costume designer or anything else please contact Brittney Karr directly or email her at
[email protected]
Off-Ramp
Outreach
The most traveled route between
Galilee and Judea was to go
through Jerusalem and around
Samaria. But this trip Jesus
needed to go to Samaria. Why?
There was a woman there in
need of the Savior's love.
This is what Off-Ramp Outreach
is all about; the willingness to
slow down long enough to notice
those around us in need, and then
put feet to our faith on a regular
basis. Every month we will be
involved in at least one outreach
project. The Crossroads version
of market saturation! Our goal is
to make Jesus famous in Sauk
Village and the communities in
which we live and work.
Our first project five volunteers
prepared and delivered snack
baskets for the people in the
surgical waiting room at St.
James Hospital. I am sure most
of us have experienced a hospital
waiting room and know how
expensive vending machine food
is! Each snack had a card
attached that simply says:
John 4:3-4
“He left Judea and departed
again to Galilee. But he
needed to go through
Samaria.”
* Prepare snacks and pamper
single mom's while men change
the oil 3
* Work on the house rehab
For You are
my rockspots)
and my fortress;
(Limited
Therefore, for Your name’s sake,
Lead me and guide me.
In June we are planning a
weekend trip to Sevierville, TN
to serve at the Smoky Mountain
Children's home. (Limited spots)
A very small but simple way
to meet a need and share the
love of God.
We have various projects
planned, and there is
something for everyone. In
May we will be honoring the
Sauk Village school teachers,
single moms, new moms, and
helping rehab a home for a
family in Cedar Lake, IN.
Volunteers are needed to:
If our doors shut tomorrow
would our community miss us?
Through the efforts of Off-Ramp
Outreach I hope the answer will
be a resounding YES!
For information on any of our
upcoming events please contact
Sharon Wooden directly or via
email:
[email protected]
* Put together small gifts and
prepare food
* Donate baby items and
prepare gift bags for new
mom's
Joyce and Dorothy getting ready to
deliver snacks to the Surgery Waiting
room at a local hospital
Worship Arts Ministry
You may be asking yourself…’What is Worship Arts Ministry?’ and
I’m glad you did. The Worship Arts Ministry (WAM) is much more
than just singing songs on Sunday morning. The WAM Ministry is
engaged in all the media, from the slides with the words for the
sermon, to the website and the posters. We also work with Pastor
James on illustrations and graphics for the sermons. Finally, the
WAM Ministry is also involved in developing drama. So when you
say ‘Worship Arts’ you say a lot.
Media is everywhere nowadays. The goal is to catch people's eye,
entice them, and ultimately, to get them to buy into whatever
you're offering. The upcoming generation has grown up with
smartphones and tablets. They see hundreds of ads daily, and are
only going to pay attention to the ones that are relevant to them;
hence why the church has to work twice as hard to have a relevant
media ministry. Flyers, Facebook banners, event pages, our
website, logo, signs, and announcement slides/sermon slides are all
an integral part of church growth. We understand we must strive
for excellence in all that we do. We’ve made the following changes:
added a TV with announcement slides in the foyer, flyers and
banners for our events, sermon slides each week, updated website,
are all things that we have done to meet the needs of our
community. We are very excited to continue making relevant
changes so we can transform our church and our community
through media!
Worship is not just getting up on Sunday mornings and singing
some songs. We view worship as so much more. It's living a life
where everything we do is centered on Christ and making him
proud of who we are. We, as a church, have to have a spirit of
worship at all times, especially when we come together as a church
body to exalt our Creator. I can feel God working in our church
family and the freedom in our worship growing. We are intentional
about including older songs that have a depth and legacy behind
them. It is important to look back on where we came from, but we
also have to look ahead to where we are going, which is why we
have been introducing new songs and will continue to do so. We are
so excited for where God is going to take this ministry and we will
continue to build our foundation on Christ through worship. If you
are interested in getting involved in either of these ministries,
please see Brittany Karr or email her at
[email protected]
Have you ever visited a church or been to a
place where nobody greeted you or
introduced themselves to you? Do you
recall how it made you feel? The feelings
are very real and can create an atmosphere
of awkwardness, uncomfortableness, a
sense of not belonging, and being
disconnected from everyone around
you. That would never happen at our
church now would it? The short answer is
not if we're connecting people to the
Kingdom!
This is why the Connection Ministry was
created. The Connection Team is
comprised of Greeters, Ushers and Security
that are ambassadors of hospitality. Their
purpose is to welcome guests and members,
connect them to the church to make them
feel comfortable through love and
encouragement, and create an atmosphere
of protection and belonging.
We are excited to have a new Connection
Center by the front entrance where we will
be sharing information with for our guests
and others that are interested. We have also
placed a TV by the Connection Center to
communicate events and announcements.
As we anticipate a growing number of
guests this spring we will continue to build
the foundation of this ministry by
expanding the Connection Team so we are
intentional about preparing for the harvest
to transform people through the love of
Christ. If you have the gift of hospitality
and are interested in connecting people to
the Kingdom, you are welcome to come
and join us! Stop by the Connections
Center or email us:
[email protected]
Merge Men’s Ministry
Growing up, in the church, I remember hearing about all the things our men ministry was doing
and wondering how I could be involved. I was fortunate to be in a church that had men that were
passionate about Christ, their families and about having fun. They worshipped, worked and played
hard and that’s exactly what I think of when I think of the future of Merge Men’s Ministry. In
fact the very name ‘Merge’ comes from the idea that we are merging Faith and Action.
I believe we are called to be men of faith. Men that are passionate about our God and seeking His
will for our lives. To be men that dive deep into His Word and apply it to our life. Men called to
pray for our families, work places and future. Men who aren’t afraid to sing praises to the King.
But faith without works is dead and therefore we must merge our Faith with Action.
The men of Merge are called to be servants, to be involved in outreach, to provide for the widows,
orphans and the poor. Each month we are engaged in ministry to those in need whether it’s going
and helping clean out a garage, rebuild a playground set or, like we will be doing May 13th,
providing oil changes for single moms. We want our action to speak out about how great our God
is.
If you would like to get involved then join us on the 2nd Saturday of each month, at 9 am, as we sit
down and have some breakfast together, have a short devotional and then go and do ministry. For
more information email: merge@thecrossroadscog.
March’s Men’s
Breakfast devotional:
What will you do
with your dash!
From Left to Right:
Frank, Wayne & Leonard
Want to know more???
Check us out our webpage www.thecrossroadscog.com
Like us on Facebook @thecrossroadscog
Download our App on either Google or Android
Follow us on Twitter @thecrossroadCOG
Or stop by the Connection Center
What’s
going on?
April 2017
June 2017
4/14: Good Friday “Living Last Super” Drama
4/15: Easter Egg Hunt
4/16: Easter
4/21 – 4/23: Midwest Kidfest
4/22: Comcast Cares Day
4/23: LIFT Ministry Lunch
4/30: Baptism & Family Sunday
6/10: Merge Men’s Breakfast
6/11 – 6/14: Great Lakes Regional Camp Meeting
6/18: Father’s Day Free breakfast (no Sunday School)
6/23 – 6/25: Missions Trip to Smoky Mountain
Children’s Home
6/30: Sauk Village Day
July 2017
May 2017
5/7: Throw Back Service
5/13: Merge Men’s Breakfast
5/14: Mother’s Day Free breakfast (no Sunday School)
5/20: LIFT Ministry Habitat 4 Humanity build
5/20: Great Lakes Teen Talent
5/29: Memorial Day
7/4: Independence Day
7/8: Merge Men’s Breakfast
7/9: 1st Anniversary Celebration
August 2017
8/7-8/11: Summer Camp
Service Times
Sunday School – 10am
Worship – 11am
Tuesday Pray – 7pm
Wednesday – 7pm
Thursday Senior Adult Bible Study – 11am
Don’t forget to check out the TV, in the foyer, for any new announcements or in the sanctuary before
or after service.