thechurchblog

Fair warning — this is a very cynical post. It doesn’t mean to assert that every experience is or will be this way, but the sad truth is that more likely are than are not. I used to be a worship leader. That is, I used to lead a band standing on a stage in front of hundreds of people singing spiritual songs. It was a tremendous experience, and one which I cherish to this day. It’s a great feeling to feel the Spirit move in worship. But it’s also a great feeling to know that I helped the Spirit to move…or maybe that I caused the Spirit to move. Looking back on that time (now that some years have passed), I find myself questioning what it was that I actually accomplished. Did I really do anything that God wasn’t already planning on doing in that service? Was anybody really touched by God’s presence — or were they simply impressed with our musical ability? Did anybody’s life change as a result of our worship? Or, just as a can of cheap room freshener can temporarily remove the smell of rotting garbage from a room, did we only manage to cover up people’s real problems for a short time with music and singing, just to have them return as soon as the service was over (and the “fragrance” dissipated)?

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I’m not real big on New Year’s resolutions, but if it’s something you should be doing anyway, then I say “go for it!” As for me…I’m going to try to write a new article every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting today. We’ll see how it goes. If you start to become a fan of thechurchblog and notice that I’ve been slacking, please feel free to shoot me. I mean, shoot me an email!

Who are we, again?

Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. –1 Corinthians 12:12-14 (NIV)

How many times have you heard that verse – either quoted in a sermon, referenced in an article, sung in lyric form, or posted on a Christian blog (ha ha)? This is one of those key verses in the pastor’s verse-book which gets used whenever a discussion arises over what the Church is, and what our role should/could be in it. As part of a relatively new church planting movement, we’ve developed a slightly different view of this verse from the traditional way it is taught.
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So, I’ve taken a LONG break from this site – only maintaining the server and the archives over the past few years. However, God has been active in our church throughout this time. Trouble is, nobody knows about it because we haven’t been writing about it!

I’m not big on New Years’ Resolutions, but this seems like as good a time as any to bring thechurchblog back to life with new stories, insights, challenges, frustrations, encouragements, etc.

Welcome back to thechurchblog!

Since I haven’t written anything new in awhile (even while Crossroads Church continues to develop and thrive) — I’ve compiled a new category of posts for thechurchblog consisting of the “best-of” everything that has been written over the past five years.  You can jump to it by clicking here.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. What is a Southern Baptist/Independent church blogger doing writing about Advent, you ask? Well, I’ll tell you if you want to keep reading…
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The Southwestern New Mexico Chapter of the American Red Cross honored Crossroads Church today by inducting us into the “Clara Barton Society.”

Earlier this month, the local Red Cross chapter in Las Cruces announced that they were going to close due to lack of funds. This would leave our community (and most of the Southern portion of our State) without a local Red Cross chapter for the first time in, well…, a long time. They expressed an immediate need to raise $10,000 which Crossroads Church was able to respond to and meet.
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I am completely embarrassed by how long it has been since I’ve posted anything here. For those of you who have frequented thechurchblog in the past, let me assure you that the dreams, visions, plans, and progress reported to you previously has continued, and that Crossroads Church is healthy and vibrant. I guess I owe you an explanation, then, for why we’ve been so quiet here on this site, and why the posts have slacked of so drastically. The best answer I can give is that we’ve been busy being a church!
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I arrived at my email this morning with over 300 “bounced” messages which appear to have originated with random people emailing from our thechurchblog.com domain. Let me assure you that these emails are most certainly spoofs — no email has originated from our servers, nor are any of these addresses actual email accounts on our system.

If any of you have sought out and found thechurchblog as a result of receiving one of these bogus, spoofed spam messages, we apologize for the unauthorized use of our name. This action was conducted completely without our knowledge and consent. We are taking steps to see if the spoofed messages can be stopped.

Again, our apologies for any spam you may receive that looks like it is coming from us.

Sincerely,
Mr. Editor