Top 5 Christmas Movies

Our family went to see Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” last week and really enjoyed it. The 3D was pretty good. I just did a quick poll of the Crosspoint staffers that are in the office right now, “What is your favorite Christmas movie?” Here’s 5 of them:

1. “Santa Clause” with Tim Allen. All 3 of them. The Guptill clan watches them over and over.

2. “Elf”. Mark Brewer’s unanimous selection with absolutely no hesitation. Actually, I could see Mark being a stunt double for Will Ferrel.

3. “Home Alone”. This was John Sherwood’s pick. Kids kicking bad guys never gets old.

4. “White Christmas” with Bing Crosby. Amy Smith went really old school with her choice. She’s also a big fan of “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” in the original claymation.

5. “Miracle on 34th Street”. Both Amy and Sally Hatfield chimed in on this one. Another classic.

Your turn. Let’s hear it. What are your favorite Christmas movies ever?

Sunday Wrap

I was going to open with ‘Happy Monday’, but it snowed today. We’ll have a special time of prayer this Sunday for all those who were praying for snow. OK, here’s the wrap:

- It was week 2 of our ‘Yankee Swap’ series. We looked at some of the characters in Matthew’s genealogy and others around the nativity who show us that God often uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

- This week’s ‘Yankee Swap’ was this: What we want is safety and security. What God wants is our availability!

- Really loved Jody Shealy singing ‘Who Am I’ after the message. Perfect song, done very, very well! Thanks Jody.

- Lots of new faces at church on Sunday. Gang, if we ever ALL show up on the same Sunday we will PACK the place out!!

- We talked about God having a purpose for every person… I threw out a challenge/offer/need that we really need 20-30 people to commit to going to Oromocto for church every week. That’s it. That might be the way God uses you to change a life. You don’t have to eat bugs or fight snakes! All we’re asking is for you to go to O Town to encourage the locals who are showing up every week. BTW – the folks who are showing up down there every week absolutely LOVE Crosspoint. They are in 100%.

Tickets for “Crosspoint Christmas at the Playhouse” are going super fast! Go to our site asap and reserve your tics for either the 6 or 8 PM service. It’s going to be an unbelievable night. Hey, the tickets are free. This is your absolute easiest opportunity to introduce anyone to your church. Everyone loves going to a quality event at the Playhouse. Can’t wait!!!

Week 2 of Yankee Swap!

How many of you have already had a Christmas party this year that had a Yankee Swap? C’mon, hit comment and give us the details. What did you take? What did you see that you wanted?? What did you get stuck with??? Was there one person there who was the ‘Yankee Swap Pro’ and they took it way too seriously?

Week 2 of our series is this Sunday and we’re totally looking forward to it! We’re going to look at some pretty normal, pretty average people and how God used their lives for great things. The bottom line is that God can use you too, for His glory, to do something amazing in someone else’s life. Opportunities are everywhere if we would make ourselves more available.

Gonna be a great Sunday at Crosspoint! Hope you are coming and bringing 27 of your best friends with you.

What if…

What if…you dropped what you are doing, called or emailed someone you know in Oromocto, invite them to Crosspoint O Town worship this Sunday, promise to meet them there, and go in and worship with them?

What if…everyone in our church sincerely asked God how they could be a part of the vision God has given to our church to see hundreds of people introduced to Jesus Christ?

What if…we spent more time praying about the future and less time chatting about the past?

What if…we told a family with kids or teenagers about the ways our church is ministering to young people?

What if…everyone in the church tithed?

What if…we came to church every Sunday ready to worship simply because we love Jesus?

Sunday Wrap Tuesday Morn Edition

Good morning Crosspointers! I hope your week is going awesome. Quick thought: Maybe the person who bugs you the most is the person you are supposed to invite to church! Hmmm. Here’s a wrap of Sunday:

- We kicked off our new series, “Yankee Swap: You don’t always get what you want.” Week 1 was about how we respond when God answers our prayer differently from what we wanted. “When God answers prayer, it is always the right answer.” “You don’t always get what you want, but you do get what you need!”

- Loving the graphics for the new series. Countdown, side screens, scripture, etc. We’ve got a few more goodies up our sleeves for this Sunday.

- Worship was stellarawesomegood! There was a great crowd there Sunday and it was good to hear you sing.

- We announced an ‘Ugly Sweater’ contest. Dig em out and wear em proud, Dec. 13th. There will be much laughter, good times, and prizes!

- Don’t forget about reserving your tickets for ‘Crosspoint Christmas at the Playhouse’, Dec 23rd, 6 and 8 PM. This night is one of the absolute highlights of the year for us. Invite everyone you know. It’s a free Christmas celebration at the Playhouse, no strings attached! Reserve your tickets on our website today. (we’ve had many reservations already!)

Looking Good

We are a visual generation and Crosspoint is blessed to have Mark Brewer doing what he does with video, editing, graphics, lighting, projection, print, web, signage, etc, etc.

You should go here right now and see the graphic for our new series, “Yankee Swap” and the graphic for the Youth Christmas Formal.

Sunday Wrap Tuesday Style

Hey Crosspointers! I hope you are having a great week, making a difference where God has you. Here’s a quick look back:

- It was the unofficial ’swine flu Sunday’ at CP! We were bumped out of our Oromocto facility due to a flu-shot clinic so we invited CP Oromocto to join us in the Ville. It was really cool for me to meet some of the folks who have been worshipping with us every week in O Town. Awesome!

- It was week 5 of our ‘5 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Life’ series. The theme of the day was ‘forgiveness and unforgiveness’. Holding bitterness, grudges, chips, and any other unforgiveness baggage will mess you up! The entire series was a huge success for us in terms of what God was and is doing in people’s lives. We’re going to package it all up into a DVD and make it available as soon as we can.

- The pre-message videos for the series were completely off the chain! Very funny. Very creative. Very well done! Way to go Mark Brewer and crew. Thanks for kicking in an extra effort for us.

- We had a huge crowd yesterday, even in the rain. We’ve had so much sickness going around lately that we were beginning to wonder where everyone was. Thanks for coming. Keep inviting.

- I thought worship on Sunday was stellar and maybe in the top ten worship services we’ve had in a couple of years. Great songs, great energy, great sound, etc. It speaks well of Ruth Woodworth’s leadership – that she can be out of town for a week, not even on the stage, and we have that good of a worship experience! God is bringing the right people to us, and Ruth is giving them excellent leadership!!

- It was also great to have Bob and Brenda Bagley with us on Sunday. Bob is the new Area Director for Africa with Global Partners (Wesleyan Missions). Bob shared for 10-15 minutes in the service and then shared with a group in the fellowship hall for the remainder of the service, both services. Brenda and Debbie Symonds made fresh donuts for everyone. Uh, the donuts were a slight hit! You went NUTS over the donuts!! The Bagleys raised some much needed support and it was a great day for them!

- We had the Lieutenant Governor with us on Sunday morning! No joke. His Honour, Graydon Nicholas was in the house. Wow. He was interested in seeing Crosspoint and all that has been going on. It was our honour to have him with us! Thank you for coming!

Whew! As you can see, it was quite a day. Now our attention turns to our new series that kicks off this Sunday: “Yankee Swap – You don’t always get what you want!” Hope you are looking forward to it!

Very Cool!

If you need evidence of what God is doing at Crosspoint, check this out. This is a recent writing from one of our young adults as they listened to God speaking to them. It was forwarded on to me and I asked if I could post it here for all y’all. Enjoy!

“Flood gates are made to hold water back, to keep it from destroying man-made things. Satan’s gates do the same thing. They hold back God’s spirit, to keep it from destroying the mess we have made for ourselves. What if God broke down the gates in our church and flooded us with His spirit? Would we, as a church, try to rebuild those gates so we could live comfortable and dry? Or would we embrace the flood and help it pour into our communities? Would we let God drown our old selves and let Him flow freely through us? God is trickling now. He is beginning to break down the barriers and seep into us. He can break down the gate and refresh us all but we have to be willing. He wants to fill our church, He wants to overflow and surround us. If we allow Him to open the flood gates He will come crashing in. He will renew us and our passion will swell with His. His spirit, like water, is needed for thirsty souls. The more abundant His spirit is within us, the more fertile we will be. Water destroys the old and feeds the new. It’s the difference between the old and the new covenant. Water is nourishing. If a body is dehydrated and it drinks in water it can be healed. If the body will not drink others can intervene, we can seek medical attention. If the body of Christ is dehydrated it can also drink in God’s spirit. If the body of Christ will not drink we can still intervene, we can pray and bring it to the Healer.”

Sunday Wrap

It was a warm beautiful day in the Ville. Definitely unseasonal and totally awesome. Hope you enjoyed it. Here’s a look back at all things yesterday at Crosspoint:

- Week 4 of our ‘5 Easy Ways to Ruin Your Life’ was one of my favourite Sundays of the past 2 1/2 years! The theme was ’spiritual complacency’. Get ready O’ Town, it’s coming your way this week! There was definitely a lot of good tension in the room as the Holy Spirit did some major work on us. We’ve got to get it into ‘D’ for discipleship. Get it into gear and grow up spiritually!

- We had many people accept and invite Jesus into their lives yesterday!! Woo Hoooo! Think about it. Lives changed for eternity. Crosspoint has a vision to see hundreds of people in our city do the very same thing. Keep inviting everyone you know and some you don’t!

- OK, the pre-message videos just keep getting better! Unbelievable. Way to go Mark Brewer and John Sherwood! Be sure to check them out online, email the link to others so they can get a sense of what makes us tick.

- Mark also announced that we are going to be packaging up this series, the messages, videos, etc, onto a DVD. We’re not sure what it will cost yet, but we’ll try to keep it to a minimum. Drop us an email if you’d like to reserve a copy or 12.

- Thanks for the many positive comments we’ve been getting lately. The encouragement is GREATLY appreciated. Great days ahead!!

5 Easy Ways…Week 4

So, it’s been a bit of a crazy week, but we’re seriously ramping up for a great Sunday at Crosspoint this Sunday. This series has gotten more positive response, by far, than any other series we’ve ever done. Nice!

- I’m really pumped about my message this Sunday. It’s going to be intense, hopefully with a few funny spots, and a challenge that might be a ‘forever-change’ deal in our church.

- I got a ‘taste’ of the video for this Sunday (there’s one for every week of the series) and I’m thinking it’s going to be epic. Mark and the media crew have taken the creativity to new levels lately. Awesome!

- We’ll be remembering those who have served our country in military service and praying for those who are serving and protecting our country right now.

At the end of the service this Sunday we’re going to chat a bit about one of Crosspoint’s greatest outreach opportunities of the year – “Crosspoint Christmas at the Playhouse”. Be thinking about the people you can invite to this first class event!

One more thing. We’ve been spending considerable time lately at staff and board meetings discussing the vision of our church. We’re clear about the vision God has given us, we just want to be ultra-clear in the ways that we share that vision. One of the lines I dropped at staff meeting this week seemed to have a lot of traction with all of us: “Crosspoint has a vision to reach hundreds of people in our city.” You’ll hear me talking a lot more about this. There are a lot of reasons why we feel this way. The bottom line is that I honestly believe that God is calling us to be a church that reaches many, many people. Not for our glory, not to put seats on seats, but because we believe that people need a relationship with Jesus. Stay tuned…