Not sure it’s a resolution, but it is my intention to find more time to blog this year.. Things will always be busy, but we should be staffed as such at the church now that I will actually have time to put some thoughts into this and not neglect it any longer…

I will make you this promise, if 2013 rolls around and I have continued to ignore this site, I will remove it.

~jfm3~

So someone needs to put an APB out on 2011, cause it is gone. Not sure where it went, but sure as next month is December, it’s gone.

With that, Christmas is almost here… We have some pretty cool things planned for this years Christmas program. We were hoping to be into the new expansion by the time the services come, but that is not going to be a reality… SO, we will be having 6-7 experiences this year… ugh.

It will be different this year and it will be good. You won’t want to miss it.. Tickets will be available starting BLACK FRIDAY!!

~jfm3~

Christian Rockers, SPOKEN are going to be playing a show at Crossroads Church on March 15th! And I am excited that my old band, thehungr will be opening the show.

SPOKEN has a new record coming out and they have a single currently climbing the charts and getting some serious airtime on stations like RadioU.

We have actually partnered with RadioU for the show and they are going to come out and be a part of it. They are also going to be advertising the show for us live on the air! Which essentially means that they are going to say “Crossroads Church” on the air about 700 times in the next 30 days!

Anyways, tix for the show are $10 and can be purchased here- http://spokencrossroadschurch.eventbrite.com/

Tickets are very limited and I anticipate them selling out….

See you at the show!

~jfm3~

We stand at an interesting Crossroads… (every PUN intended)…..

Sept 14, 2008 Crossroads launched it’s new facility in Lithopolis OH with an average attendance of about 120 people. Since that day, we have grown, and continued to grow and are still growing.

We started with 1 service. Soon we were at 2 on a Sunday. Then we went to 3 experiences. December 4th of 2010 we moved to FOUR experience times. 2 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. And once again, we are quickly running out of room on Sunday mornings…

The question always seems to be, “Where are we going to put these people?”

Until now, the answer has been adding an additional service, however,….I am not sure that is still the answer.

The Bible speaks of reaping where you have not sown. Surely, we did not build this building but merely acquired it. And reaping we are.

I thank God for those laborers who poured their lives into the construction of this building 3 decades ago…. unfortunately, they didn’t build it big enough and we can no longer sustain the growth. Something has to change and it has to be something more than just being creative with service times.

People need Christ….whether they “know” it or not,…. they are searching, and praise God, they are being lead to Crossroads and they are meeting Him. But we are drawing close to the point where we cannot squeeze another person in the room to hear the Gospel. We don’t have enough workers to serve them, or to reach out and love on them. We, as leadership have done all that we can.

The end of that verse says to “ask the Lord of the Harvest to send out workers…” So…..

Lord, I come before you today with a simple request. You have blessed the work of the hands who went before us, and You are blessing the work of our hands. God you are sending us people who need You. People who are searching for Your light in a dark world. People who are trying to find hope in a hopeless land. Lord this is Your vision. We are just the caretakers. However, we need You now more than ever…. We can no longer do this with limited resources and too few hands in the field. God, if this truly is Your vision, please send the workers. Please send the resources. Please, meet us now.

Amen.

~jfm3~

And I LOVE IT!

Alright,…I am about to admit something… I LOVE CHRISTMAS and believe it or not, I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC! lol.

Probably hard to believe if you know me personally, as I am not much for sentimentalism or mushy-ness. But there is something about this holiday/season that I love.

I listen to Christmas music in the car…. I love Christmas movies…. I love buying gifts for people…. I love spoiling my wife and my kids…. It’s just an awesome time of year.

I find it so hard to believe how many people hate on the season though. I mean really? Your life is such that you hate Christmas?? I just don’t get it. Be happy….rejoice, be cheerful….. HUG SOMEONE.

So, with the Christmas Spirit in mind, I will tell you all what my favorite Christmas song is,…..

Nat King Cole’s – “The Christmas Song”

I have embedded a live version of Nat singing it….

Here is the radio version…

I have a couple of his Christmas albums and it is tradition at the MILLER home to listen to Nat on Christmas morning while we open gifts….

Dude is just smooth and soulful….. No one sings like Nat did.

Least favorite?

ANYTHING JOSH GROBAN SINGS!!!!! I cannot stand the fact that he has become the voice of Christmas for our generation. Someone shove a fork in my eye!!!!!

So, what’s YOUR favorite Christmas Song??!!

~jfm3~

Last time I posted I teased you with the concept of “who” we are after as a church.

You may be surprised to hear that Crossroads gets a lot of criticism from other churches in the area…..or, maybe your not surprised by that.

Essentially what it comes down to is fear.

When a new church pops up and people start flocking to it, and a buzz starts about it, Pastors get afraid that their people may leave and go there too. The knee jerk reaction is to begin to criticize what they are doing and why they may or may not be wrong in their “worship” or “teaching.”

Instead of checking it out for themselves, it apparently makes more sense to glean information from someone who went there “once” just to check it out. Sit back and listen to their story of how wrong it was with the “reeeeeeaaallllllly?….” type reaction. Essentially, gossip.

You see, Churches and Pastors are very territorial. It’s almost inherent, and I totally get it. I often feel slighted or hurt if I hear someone left our church for another one. It happens often….people leave. But we have to get to a realization that sometimes we aren’t a fit for some people instead of wrapping our arms around our territory and growling at all trespassers.

SO,……Here’s where we are at folks. Are you ready? Cause I am going to lay it on ya….

Crossroads Church is NOT looking to steal Christians from other churches.

Crossroads Church is NOT trying to create a worship service that is “comfy” for the believer, so he can just come and sit every Sunday morning without being challenged by the Gospel.

Crossroads Church is NOT trying to please Christians. Especially Christians who are not already invested in our vision.

Crossroads Church is NOT concerned with how a Christian thinks church should “look, sound, or feel.”

So, now your thinking,… “Uh….Joe. Pardon my confusion, but why does it seem like you have no interest in Christians coming to your church…. I mean, you’re a church…..why don’t you want to make it a nice, pleasant and attractive place for Jesus People to come too?”

Answer-

BECAUSE THEY ALREADY KNOW JESUS.

So, Pastor of “XYZ Church of Jesus”….. RELAX. We are not interested in your church members. We want the lost. The broken. The hurting……the poor in spirit. We want those who don’t know Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

I encourage you to continue in your passion for Christ and keep doing what you are doing!! If you need help, give us a call…..we have already helped a lot of other churches in the area with technical and media stuff. And we will help you too……We are all one body, just different parts….. And we are ALL necessary, and need each other!

God Bless you and your work!!!

~jfm3~

I have received a number of emails and comments regarding my last blog entry. Mostly from people taking ownership of my criticisms of the “church at large.” Meaning, when I described the “churchy” people in my last blog entry, some people felt like it was aimed at them….

I feel the need to clarify.

If you are the kind of person who goes to a church simply to be “fed” and could care less about whether or not that church is reaching the lost, which is God’s greatest “job” for us, His people, to be doing…… Then you are one of those “churchy” people.

If loving a non-believer enough to change your worship style is going “too far”….. Then you are one of those “churchy” people.

If your main goal as a Christian is to “find a good church home” and simply attend on Sundays, then you are one of those “churchy” people.

If you feeling welcome and “comfortable” sitting in the pew is more important than a person who DOESN’T KNOW CHRIST feeling welcome and comfortable, then you are one of those “churchy” people.

If you would prefer to go to a church that you would NEVER invite an un-saved coworker too, then you are one of those “churchy” people.

AND…if your idea of going to church on Sunday is to BE SERVED rather than TO SERVE, then you are most definitely one of those “churchy” people and you may as well head on down the road. Cause at Crossroads, we have one goal, one mission, one desire,….and that’s to do what GOD called EVERY CHRISTIAN to do…. “Go out and COMPEL them to come in”

I was told recently that we here at Crossroads are only interested in “getting people in the door.” To which I replied, “YEP.”

We can’t preach Jesus at them if we can’t get them in the door!!

Next time I will talk about “who” we are after as a church. You may be surprised….you may not.

Till then.

~jfm3~

Pastor Tim and I were talking today just about “church” related things. Essentially, the make up of our church, Crossroads Church here in Lithopolis.

We have seen God do amazing things here,… Salvations, baptisms, lives changed forever and truly seeing the vision God gave Tim come to reality. What’s that vision?…

“Helping people get on the path to God”

That’s it. That’s all there is.

We exist, here at Crossroads, to reach those who don’t know Jesus RIGHT NOW. Our services are designed as such, that if a person who currently doesn’t know Christ walks in the building, they will be able to connect with what’s going on immediately. Then, they hear the Gospel preached at them uncompromised. They hear THE TRUTH. They hear about JESUS. Hopefully, they open their heart to Him.

Where’s the rub?

Well, we don’t really fit in with the “Churchy” people.

What does that mean?

Well, when people come to Crossroads who have been in the church for a long time, or are leaving another church cause of some fracture they had with their previous church home, when they get to Crossroads, it doesn’t look like their definition or “view” of what church is.

The music is BIG. It’s edgy, it’s loud, it’s relevant. Is it worship? Uh…yes. It’s just not “God of Wonders” being sung by a praise team at volume levels pre-approved for an old folks home.

There are lights and haze. Needless to say, the experience is BUSY. The room is dark and the light is controlled to bring about an effect. It is something that the unchurched person is use too….it is something they identify with.

Sounds good. What’s the problem?

Well, the churchy person who doesn’t like our style is the person who gives. They don’t like what we do cause we don’t fit their “view” of what their church should look like. Therefore, we lack the funding we need to effectively reach MORE in our community for Christ.

Those “Churched” people take their wallets to another church where they can be “fed” some more and attend in a situation that is selfishly geared towards them. Church is for them……not for the unchurched.

Not for me. Not any longer. I used to be that way. I used to go to church so I could be “churched.”

But not anymore….

God saved us to BE the church, not to BE churched.

So they can take their money and their selfish church ideals,….. Send us the lost. Send us the broken. Send us the poor in spirit and those who need the love of Christ in their hearts. We are a church about the Great Commission….. Not about money.

I have a passion to reach those who don’t know Jesus with the Gospel. I will not compromise it to appease people who have known Jesus their whole lives.

Random rant over.

~jfm3~

So, I am about to launch two different sites…one I already have the URL for, which is www.wiredworship.com.

Wiredworship is going to be a site specifically for the Crossroads Sunday Morning worship experience. Meaning, we are going to start video recording the worship portions of the services and posting them online.

I am also going to create a “Progressive Worship Leaders” resource website for people/worship leaders who are in need of help and creative ideas. I got some cool people lined up to contribute. People from guitarists, song writers, worship leaders and even some sound and lighting guys….should be sweet. And hopefully will be a free resource for worship leaders trying to get to the next “level.” Cause right now, there is nothing out there.

~jfm3~

For those of you with smart phones, I have added a widget that now allows my website to be easily browsed via your device.

Also, look for a make over in the coming days. I have already acquired some sweet themes for my page, just have to manipulate them a little to my liking!

Also, please pray for Mack Harris. Mack is a regular attender here at Crossroads and he is the Father in Law of Tony Morgan. Tony is a leader and a serious catalyst to the way the church in America is moving. We value Mack and love him and will be praying for him earnestly. Get better Mack! I miss you already.

http://tonymorganlive.com/Mack

~jfm3~