Meeting the Neighbors

Last year my church, Crosswinds Community, bought a church building in the middle of a neighborhood on the south/west side of town. A church has been there for the last 90+ years. But it was no longer feasible for them to continue to meet and keep up the building. My church was thrilled to go into this neighborhood.

Last summer was a time of renovations and making the building reflect Crosswinds. But there was an eye on trying to reach out to the community. Indeed, several homeless men have come on a regular basis and been welcome. Last week one of them needed antibiotics. Those were taken care of for him.

All year there has been an eye out for ways to meet the neighbors. This week we had our VBS -- Kamp KidStuf. It is an offshoot of the children's ministry each Sunday during the school year. It involves drama, singing, dancing, and every crazy thing you can imagine. We hoped the neighbors would come and had gone door to door inviting.

As a culmination, we had a neighborhood block party last night. We were pleased that people who hadn't come to VBS showed up. Who can resist the bouncy inflatibles or the huge slide or free food? Some of the neighbors watched from safety across the street. One of the church members walked across and doled out ice cream sandwhiches because sometimes you have to go to the world rather than expecting the neighborhood/world to come to you.

Everyone seemed to have a grand time. Some neighbors I've been getting to know came. They are Christians and attend church, but I thought it would be fun -- especially for their 3 year old. Apparently, he sang/shouted a song we had sung "We are the children of God!" all the way home.

40 to 40 (Gratitude 11)

I am thankful for my church. I go to a nondenominational church called Crosswinds. I'm not sure of the year, but I think it started 8 or 9 years ago with some people in my pastor's living room praying and dreaming about starting a church.

I've been going there now for 4-5 years. One of the things I'm grateful for is that people are very involved. Recently, we purchased a building from an aging congregation. We went from this warehouse:




to this 97 year old building that was filled with 97 year's worth of stuff! It was amazing how many people helped on the remodeling that was done. (My contribution was food and hauling stuff like wood to the burn pile and carpet to the dumpster. Yes, I am very skilled in these types of things . . . .)


We've moved from the edge of town into a neighborhood. There is a real desire to serve the neighborhood we are in. The pastor planned a lunch for the neighborhood school teachers before school started. We are also a polling place. One person spearheaded the idea of feeding the election officials at our site from 5:30 AM to 10:00 PM. A variety of people contributed.

So I'm thankful for a church that has people who are really involved and that wants to reach out.

40 to 40 (Gratitude 4)

(Click graphic to find
out about 40 to 40)

I am thankful for my church. When I write that, I don't necessarily mean the building. I definitely mean the people. A building is just a place to meet. The real heart of the church is the people.

I started going to Crosswinds about five years ago. I had been having a difficult time and was angry with God. I determined that if I didn't seem to matter to God then I shouldn't bother getting up for church on a Sunday morning. This lasted about 9 months. Finally, in desperation I called my doctor's office. It is a Christian practice. I asked the nurse if there was a church they could recommend. They listed 3 but only 1 had a pastor's name attached. I called there.

I'm so thankful that God brought me there. I was as jumpy as a frog and prickly as a porcupine, but God used the people to really minister to me and bring some measure of healing.

Glad I Don't Have To Be Perfect-- Hope Chronicles 67

This post is inspired by Lisa Whittle's book Behind Those Eyes: What's really going on inside the souls of women. I'm reading it as part of an on-line study over at Lelia's. Click the book cover to hop over there and get connected. We are only on chapter 2, so if you want to join the soul searching, hop right in.

Perfect. That is what we always had to be growing up. We had to look like we had it all together even when we were falling apart. At one point my dad had moved out. We actually took phone messages as if he still lived there. No one heard us argue in public. We were definitely expected to behave and excel in school. I got "in trouble" exactly twice in school. I was shy and quiet. Both times the teacher moved me to break up a ring of chatter bugs. I found myself responding when I should have been listening to the teacher. But, I only had to be told once! Neither time was a true reprimand, but I did the "eyes forward, mouth closed" routine the rest of the year.

There was also a sense of competition between me and my twin. I'd get a 94% on a test and she'd get a 98%. She did better at almost everything After 3 years of piano, I gave up because she was farther along in the books than I was. When we took violin, she sat in a higher chair than I did. When the class ranks came out our senior year, she was 9/441 and I was 13/441. Those 5 points made me feel like a failure. For me to remember something like that, means it was pretty significant in my world.

So, going to college and being out on my own, you'd think I'd be able to give up some of that perfect world. Nope. Not at all. The voice in my head is probably louder than my mom's ever was. Like so many adults, I picked up where my parents left off.

But I know I'm not perfect. I just keep up a pretty good facade. I look put together but you haven't seen my house or how much I scurry to try to hide the mail pile and other things that needed to be put away long ago.

Several years ago, I stopped going to church for awhile. Honestly, I was angry at God. If He wasn't going to step in and lend me hand then why should I go? What was the point? My life was on a down hill slide and when I had to choose, I jumped, with Satan cheering, on the red hot one labeled "Express." Whoosh! I chose to slide away from God.

About 9 months later I was a wreck. I called my doctor's office. It happened to be a Christian practice. I asked for church recommendations and said I really needed to talk to someone. They gave me 3 possibilities but only one came with a name. So, that is the one I called.

That is how I ended up at Crosswinds. But even there I kept most people at bay. In my small group I was mute. I high tailed it out as soon as service was over.

Fear ruled my life at that point. Honestly, for 6 months I didn't take communion -- convinced that God would strike with a lightening bolt from heaven if I did. I had confided in one woman there. She patiently sat with me. One day I whispered, "Do you think God will zap me if I take communion."

"No," she said. "Not at all. Will you let me serve it to you?"

I did. I still remember the flood of relief that swept over me. I had gone back to church after 9 months, but I think this prodigal daughter went back to the Father in that moment.

Do I still try to look perfect? Yeah, sometimes. Okay, since this is about getting real -- most times. But I think I am taking more and more risks to let people in and see the real me. I'm finding that I'm relieved to not have to be perfect for them. But I'm even more relieved that I don't have to be perfect for God. That's the whole point of the cross, isn't it? If we were as perfect as we may pretend at times, there would have been no need for Jesus to die for our sins.

I'm so glad I don't have to be perfect. There is hope in knowing that this wayward daughter was embraced the moment she admitted her continued need and slipped back into place at His table.

Move That Church

Today was a very moving Sunday at church. Our church bought a 97 year old building in July. The summer has involved lots of sweat equity through food, hammering, cleaning, clearing, etc. It culminated today in the actual move!

The leadership decided that we would move everything in one trip. With God's grace and lots of amazing planning, that is what we did. We started with a brief worship time and then some words of encouragement and instructions. With everything labeled and a detailed plan of which of the 5 doors each item was to go out and which truck or vehicle each thing was to go in, it only took us about an hour to load! That is amazing!

Then we all went to unload. That was a bit trickier but still went very smooth. By 1:40 we were eating hot dogs and hamburgers.

I happened to bring my camera and between carrying things took 138 pictures. If you want to take a look, they are at http://movethatchurch.shutterfly.com/ A few other people will be uploading to the site as well. Who knows how many pics there will be!

Take a look at the excitement! The move was done in typical Crosswinds fashion with everyone pitching in.











And of course people were a bit tired after. Tomorrow is cleaning the old building and somehow unpacking boxes! I wonder how long we will say,

"Where did we put that?"

"In the youth storage room."

"Oh. And where is that exactly?"

How different to go to from a warehouse to a building with multiple levels and more rooms than we probably know what to do with!

Coming Back Around

My church has just purchased a new facility (new to us that is). Actually, we've purchased more than that. We've purchased a piece of history. Parts of the building are 97 years old. A church has been meeting there all of those years. Those are prayer soaked, worship filled walls.

Today, we had a first/last service with the members of the congregation we are purchasing it from. They called it a "baton" handing service. It was a bit of an emotional service as they said goodbye to a place filled with memories, hopes, and dreams and we said hello to a new area of ministry. They prayed many years ago for the parking lot to overflow. Today it did. We were forewarned that we would be parking on the street and walking. (It was a lovely day for a short walk.) I know that it looked differently than they anticipated, so that makes it bittersweet.

It will be different for us -- going from a mutlipurpose warehouse with 2 bathrooms (yes, lots of standing in line) to a bigger building with 27 bathrooms, a balcony, lots of beautiful old wood, a wing of classrooms for the kids, . . . The biggest change will probably be being in a neighborhood instead of off the highway going out of town. There are lots of ministry opportunities there.

It was a bit of coming around for me. My parents were not overly religious but we belonged to a United Methodist Church. I was baptized as an infant. While I don't know that my parents were faithful to the promises made that day, I do know that God was. We went on Christmas and Easter and a few other times. The Sunday they were giving third graders Bibles, we "happened" to go. I remember it distinctly as it was the first time I had held a Bible. And since I loved reading, it seemed like a challenge -- a book that had to be read.

Several years later, we were told we needed to go to confirmation class. My parents took my twin and I and dropped us off. Over a couple of weeks, we found we enjoyed the nursery and soon we were going to youth group as well. One night after a Sunday school lesson earlier that day had talked about giving your life to Christ, I prayed and did just that.

While I've gong to various denominations since, I guess my roots are United Methodist. While we are not a United Methodist congregation, it is interesting to find myself back in a building with those roots as well.

We officially have the keys, but won't have a grand reopening until September. There is lots of work to be done until then.

I'm thankful for all the faithful people who have been in that building before us. As that old Steve Green song says, "May all who come behind us find us faithful."

Crosswinds Community Church -- KidStuf

Each week there is dancing, singing, stamping, laughing, and glorifying God at KidStuf. (Don't start me on what spelling it that way will do to the kid's spelling abilities!) Anyway, it's generally a good time. Lots of the youth help with skits or power point or lights. I've added a slide show of it at the bottom. (Couldn't get it to work here.) Enjoy! The kids love it!

Warming the Heart

It is cold in central Illinois today. I don't just mean a little cold. I mean down right bitter. I think it was suppose to be -3 last night and that probably wasn't taking into account the wind chill. With the wind, the cold bites right into the bone!

So, I think my dear Katy has the right idea. Curl up in a patch of sun and try to stay warm.

Today in church God brought to mind my first year at Crosswinds. I had abandonned church for a time and I think that when I acutally started going again, I was afraid of getting zapped for stepping in the door. I'm glad to say that didn't happen!

From what I understand, Crosswinds has always been a praying church. When I started going they had several weeks where they did a lot of prayer ministry at the end of the service. For someone who was afraid of getting zapped, this really set me on edge. It wasn't that I was theologically opposed or even that it was a holy roller kind of thing. It was actually somewhat sedate. But every time it happened I wanted to flee. To be honest, there were a number of times I did. For whatever reason, I just couldn't tolerate it. Looking back, it seems silly now, but that is where I was at.

They didn't pray every week at the end of service. However, I started getting vibes about it. Seriously, I did. At that point they had 2 services. Sometimes I would turn to my friend who went to both services and ask, "They're going to pray aren't they?" She said that they weren't going to, that they hadn't prayed during first hour. But as sure as I would say it, it would happen. I cannot explain it. But it was if God was whispering in my ear before service even started. I believe He was attempting to prepare me so I could respond appropriately.

Eventually, I did learn to respond appropriately and listen when He was speaking to me. In May 2004, I was over come with an urge to write one Sunday during service. It was a compulsion. So I wrote all around the margins of the bulletin and squeezed things in here and there.

Typically, when I write, the general idea flows, but there are "do overs" and scratch marks and what not as I make changes and perfect it. A friend can attest that this is what I wrote without the "do overs". Rather than what I typically think of as writing, this seemed more like dictation.

Give Me Your Past

I cannot have your present and future unless you give me your past . . .
It shackles you and you limp along
You try, but where you could dance, you crawl,
where you could run, you stumble and fall.
Why do you hold so tight to a bush of thorns in the cold
when I could hold you have wrap you in blankets of softness?
I cannot have your present and future unless you give me your past . . .
You do well by the world's standards.
Imagine what you might do if you didn't wear those chains.
How much more might you glorify me?
How many people would be blessed if I had all of you?
What would you have seen if you could have looked through my eyes?
What would have changed . . .
when you taught My Word
when you ministered to others
when you studied
when you prayed
when you interacted with your family or even
when you looked on the hurting.
How much more might have been done?
I cannot have your present and future unless you give me your past . . .
Let go of the bush of thorns.
Let me put salv on your wounds and hold you close.
Let go of the past and embrace me instead.
Let go of your fears. Let me deal with them. Look at me, not them.
I cannot have your present and future until you give me your past . . .
While the past won't change,
I can change what it means for you
and even that may be used for me

Amy Brooke -- May 2004
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!
2 Corinthians 5:17

I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenword in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14

It was a difficult week on an emotional level. Sometimes when it is a difficult emotionally, my heart kind of freezes up. I believe God brought this to mind to help my heart thaw a bit. Just as things that happened 30 years ago are in the past, so is last week. I can move on from here.

May God warm your heart today where ever you need it most.