Cross Creek Church Blog

Generosity Season – Awana Ministry Fruit!

Each year we could highlight many ways God is on the move, in and through Cross Creek Church. I hope you take a few minutes to hear from Andy and Anna Jones below, about just one area of the Lord’s work in our midst for 2023. As we ask each household to pray and prepare to present by Nov 12 a “First Fruits” Planned Giving Card for 2024 and our church takes a step of faith to expand our ministries we hope this will encourage all with the fruit from our kingdom investment.

AWANA

Last year we launched this time-tested initiative for children’s discipleship, on Wednesday nights. Thanks to the Lord and His working, through many volunteers and staff, we are reaching 30 children for Christ, including a number whose families do not attend our church regularly. Your generosity propels this equipping and outreach.

Video Transcript:

Andy
Hi, everybody. I’m Andy Jones. And this is my wife Anna. And we have three little girls who are actively involved in the Awana program here at Cross Creek Church. The Lord has really used the Awana program to be a big blessing in all five of our lives.

Anna
Our kids have made some wonderful connections through that program. Every Wednesday night, they are excited to go and they’re learning so much. They have even started memorizing a lot of scripture this year. So that’s really cool to watch.

Andy
Anna and I both grew up going to a private Christian school as kids and we learned a lot about our faith, just in our daily lives at school. So when we made the decision to send our kids to a public school, we knew that we would have to kind of bridge that gap by what we did at home and by making sure we had a church that was actively engaging them in the Word. The Awana program has been a huge part of that for our family.

Anna
It’s really exciting to watch how the Lord is using this program to help our kids grow in their faith.

Quiet path in a forest

Quiet

[Written by William Monroe]

Quiet.

It’s a rare commodity these days. It seems like everything about our lives is not only busy, but noisy. Often, our schedules are just as cluttered as our minds (and that room we let none of our guests see!).

Quiet.

Quiet is important. Jesus often sought out desolate, quiet places to rest and to pray.

Mark 6:30
The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.”

Matthew 14:23
And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone…

Mark 1:35
And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed.

When you need rest, do you search for quiet? Do you seek space and time to pray?

Let me be honest first. I don’t. 

I don’t look for quiet when I am overwhelmed, emotionally or physically. I try to fill up that mental space with noise, whether it be music, activity, social media, TV shows, almost anything. 

The most quiet moment I have is every now and then when I force myself to not turn on the radio in the car. When I do this, it takes about 20 minutes of driving in silence for my brain to stop running in circles and for me to start to enjoy the rest that comes with the quiet.

Quiet doesn’t mean blank or boring. It means having space for intentionally directing my brain and heart. It sometimes means having time and space to pray. Sometimes it’s the space I need to be creative. It’s always a time to reset, and always a place to begin.

Quiet.

Of Carrots and Kingdoms

Of Carrots and Kingdoms

[Written by Ben Halbrooks]

A few months ago, I ran in Home Depot to grab the essential materials needed for a new, highly anticipated family project: the Halbrooks Home Vegetable Garden. (We’d taken a vote and narrowed our first crop to lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots.) It was easily my cheapest purchase of the week: 3 seed packets. It felt like buying air.

When I showed our girls, they couldn’t believe how incredibly small the seeds were; I think they thought I got conned, actually. But no, I assured them: See these tiny beads of nothingness? Despite their unimpressive appearance, they contain the mystery of life somewhere deep within – the ability to grow into something amazingly, surprisingly different. Sure, it’ll take soil, water, sunshine, and caretaking – but trust me! I promise.

I think they still thought I got conned.

Nevertheless, we slapped together some raised beds with scrap wood and got to planting. And watering. And w a i t i n g. And more watering.

Truth be told, I’m not much of a gardener – even though Genesis tells me my earliest relatives were, by divine commission. And of course Scripture is full of agricultural illustrations, many from Jesus himself. But after a rogue rabbit ate most of our sprouts, I had the sneaking suspicion I might not be able to prove my 7-year-old doubters wrong after all. The whole enterprise was shaping up to be pretty disappointing.

That put me right in line with what people had to be thinking when they heard Jesus compare the coming kingdom of God – that highly anticipated, eternally powerful and glorious fulfillment of thousands of years of prophecy – with a measly mustard seed, the smallest known seed at the time. A mustard seed – really?

“He said therefore, ‘What is the kingdom of God like? And to what shall I compare it? It is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his garden, and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air made nests in its branches.” (Luke 13:18-19)

You can imagine the disciples probably weren’t thrilled with the analogy. Yes, we eventually get to a tree, but what’s the deal with the tiny seed? I mean, we’re staking our lives on this Jesus as the Messiah, and he has to go and make our kingdom sound so… unimpressive. So small. We want greatness!

But this is how the kingdom of God operates – in small, unimpressive, humble, and seemingly insignificant ways. But, rest assured, it’s growing. God’s Word is working (Isa. 55:11, Phil. 1:6). Perhaps invisibly, underground, taking root. Perhaps breaking through the hard soil of our hearts.

Case in point: Think of the ragtag crew of outsiders Jesus ministered to: social outcasts, tax collectors, lepers, paralytics, fishermen, zealots, and more. What a start to a kingdom! Could anyone have guessed it would outlast the mighty Roman Empire, and every kingdom since? Think of your own life. Do you ever doubt God working his kingdom personally in you? Do you continue to struggle with the same old sins? Is it sometimes hard to feel or sense God moving in your heart? Does the movement of the Spirit seem slow at times? Trust Him. He is working. Remember the mustard seed. His kingdom may not seem as impressive as you would expect, but he’s not done. The glory of the living God has come and is making all things new (Rev. 21:5).

As for the Halbrooks Home Vegetable Garden, I’m happy to report the wild rabbit didn’t eat everything. After months of waiting and watering and doubts, we had an enthusiastic carrot harvest, and the girls absolutely couldn’t believe how much those small seeds had grown underground into something amazingly, surprisingly different. It just took us awhile to see it. Guess I didn’t get conned after all.

August 6 Church Vision Meeting

Join us for a Church Vision Meeting on August 6 at 9:30-10:15 am (during Adult Sunday School time)

 

Video Transcript: 
Well, hey, Cross Creek Church family. So glad to be able to catch up with you in this little video announcement. A great end of summer that I’m sure we’re all enjoying and much to give thanks to the Lord for over the last few months in the life of our church. We’ve had a number of new visitors that have been coming to our church over the quiet weeks of the summer. We had a great Summer Nights season with wonderful help and service from our life groups, pouring into the young ones in our church and many friends and family that came to visit and to hear about the Lord and relationship with him. We had the biggest group ever that went to our RYM, reformed Youth Ministry conference at the beach for our middle schoolers earlier in June.

And a recent high school retreat, as well, with a good number of kids having a chance to grow in community and grow with each other and the Lord during that time. So, it’s been a great summer season. I hope your household is enjoying the favor of the Lord, and it’s a time in the next few weeks to reengage with a new season of ministry for our church.

I want to mention, in particular, August 6th. I know some will be getting back in town, but many will also already be back and in the groove. We’re going to do a special Sunday school gathering for our adults and look at the church vision that the Lord has given to us. We have an opportunity there to look back at the last couple of years, see how God has blessed us with new ministries like Awana and Mother’s Morning Out, with new staff that the Lord has brought, and also through the Twelve – Called by Him, Called for Him campaign to purchase the facility that we have and to see the renovations here. So we want to just remind everybody of where we’ve been the last few years and also look ahead to the next couple of years as we plan and pray and envision where the Lord would take us. His work through us and his work in us. So we hope you’ll join us for that day. It’ll be a Q&A time as well for those that have questions. We’d love to hear more about where we believe the Lord’s taking us in the years that are upcoming. August 6th, again, combined Sunday school time and Room 4, 9:30 is our regular Sunday school time.

If you’re new to our church family, we’d love to have you start in with coming to Sunday school. And the week after that, August 13th will be our main kickoff for our new season of ministry, with the kids moving up to their new class level, and a special new adult Sunday school series.

We’ll be running new classes beginning for all the other age groups in Sunday school, and of course Life Groups resuming soon after. And men’s and women’s small groups as well. Beginning a new series preaching in the book of Deuteronomy on August 13th. So join us August 6th for that special adult Sunday school vision, strategic discussion time, and we hope to see everybody as well on August 13th.

PCA 50th Anniversary – Adam Tisdale

We are so thankful for the Kingdom of God, which extends across centuries and nations and languages, as well as denominations. But within that broader kingdom work, we give praise for the particular expression of churches united for gospel mission and biblical accountability, known as the Presbyterian Church in America. May this denomination ever fulfill her founding motto – Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission

PCA 50th Adam Tisdale from Roundtree Agency on Vimeo.

PCA 50th Anniversary – Lloyd Kim

We are so thankful for the Kingdom of God, which extends across centuries and nations and languages, as well as denominations. But within that broader kingdom work, we give praise for the particular expression of churches united for gospel mission and biblical accountability, known as the Presbyterian Church in America. May this denomination ever fulfill her founding motto – Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission

PCA 50th Lloyd Kim from Roundtree Agency on Vimeo.

PCA 50th Anniversary – Tara Gibbs

We are so thankful for the Kingdom of God, which extends across centuries and nations and languages, as well as denominations. But within that broader kingdom work, we give praise for the particular expression of churches united for gospel mission and biblical accountability, known as the Presbyterian Church in America. May this denomination ever fulfill her founding motto – Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission

PCA 50th Tara Gibbs from Roundtree Agency on Vimeo.

PCA 50th Anniversary – Freddie Fritz

We are so thankful for the Kingdom of God, which extends across centuries and nations and languages, as well as denominations. But within that broader kingdom work, we give praise for the particular expression of churches united for gospel mission and biblical accountability, known as the Presbyterian Church in America. May this denomination ever fulfill her founding motto – Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission

PCA 50th Freddie Fritz from Roundtree Agency on Vimeo.

PCA 50th Anniversary – Susan Hunt

We are so thankful for the Kingdom of God, which extends across centuries and nations and languages, as well as denominations. But within that broader kingdom work, we give praise for the particular expression of churches united for gospel mission and biblical accountability, known as the Presbyterian Church in America. May this denomination ever fulfill her founding motto – Faithful to the Scriptures, True to the Reformed Faith, and Obedient to the Great Commission

PCA 50th Susan Hunt from Roundtree Agency on Vimeo.

Good Faith Debates – Public Schools

The following video is part of a helpful series on topics facing Christians in American life today. We will be posting one each week and hope they will stimulate godly consideration of these matters from a Biblical perspective as well as model for us how sincere believers can disagree over important topics with grace toward each other.

Christian parents are right to give significant thought to where and how they educate their children. For many, the decision involves not only faith convictions but also financial realities, among other factors. Why, or why not, should a Christian parent have their children attend public schools? And if not, what are the best arguments for investing in a nonpublic education option (e.g. Christian private, homeschool, private classical school, and so on)? Whatever a parent decides, how might they compensate for the downsides of their choice?

View the Good Faith Debates website