What does it look like to run hard and chase after a life of purpose? We are called to make aggressive decisions that fuel life change, go after people in our community, and break out of our comfort zone to meet God. Join us this week and look at the past 25 years to see all the great work God has done through us and where he is calling us to next.

  • 00:00:02
    This is $2.5 million,
  • 00:00:06
    and we're going to give all of it away.
  • 00:00:09
    I'm Kyle. I'm the online pastor for Crossroads Church.
  • 00:00:12
    Now, why are we giving away that money?
  • 00:00:14
    Who is it going to?
  • 00:00:16
    I'll explain it in just a little bit,
  • 00:00:17
    but you have to understand, we're giving it away
  • 00:00:19
    because our 25 anniversary happens to be this year.
  • 00:00:24
    So $2.5 million for 25 years. See what we did there?
  • 00:00:28
    Now the money is going to go to organizations
  • 00:00:31
    that are changing the world.
  • 00:00:33
    People like Restavek Freedom,
  • 00:00:35
    who are trying to end child slavery in Haiti.
  • 00:00:39
    More on them in just a little bit.
  • 00:00:41
    But to understand why we're giving it away,
  • 00:00:43
    you have to understand that this is the kind of stuff
  • 00:00:46
    God has been doing for 25 years that Crossroads.
  • 00:00:49
    We believe he need us to be a community
  • 00:00:52
    where people like you and like me
  • 00:00:54
    can actually change the world.
  • 00:00:57
    How are we going to give the money away?
  • 00:00:59
    Where is it going?
  • 00:01:00
    I'll explain, but I have to start at the beginning.
  • 00:01:04
    In 1996 in the suburbs of Cincinnati,
  • 00:01:07
    a handful of regular people who followed Jesus
  • 00:01:10
    had a crazy idea to start a new church
  • 00:01:13
    to reach their friends who had given up on churches.
  • 00:01:15
    They knew it, but were still seeking God.
  • 00:01:19
    – We were so tired of church being a place
  • 00:01:22
    where everybody that was really good at faking it
  • 00:01:24
    got together to compare notes, you know?
  • 00:01:26
    And just the idea of being a real place that
  • 00:01:28
    that was through everything.
  • 00:01:29
    We're not getting together to fake this.
  • 00:01:32
    We're not going to pretend that we have it all together.
  • 00:01:36
    That, for me, was a huge breath of fresh air.
  • 00:01:38
    – For 25 years, God has used a scrappy group of people
  • 00:01:42
    willing to say yes to whatever He asked,
  • 00:01:45
    no matter how bold the vision,
  • 00:01:47
    no matter how impossible.
  • 00:01:49
    He took our yes and exploded it
  • 00:01:51
    way beyond our expectations every single time.
  • 00:01:56
    Today we celebrate more stories than we can possibly tell.
  • 00:02:00
    This isn't us. This is God.
  • 00:02:22
    – Hey, this is Brian, great to have you with us today.
  • 00:02:25
    Today we're going to talk about
  • 00:02:27
    this thing called Crossroads has been around for 25 years.
  • 00:02:31
    You are already going, "25 years, you're kidding --
  • 00:02:33
    But what the heck is in your hand?"
  • 00:02:36
    I have a 12 pound sledge, that's what I have.
  • 00:02:39
    You go, "What would you do with such a thing?'
  • 00:02:41
    Well, you might just find out later on.
  • 00:02:44
    This day is about celebrating the things
  • 00:02:49
    that God has done over the last 25 years
  • 00:02:52
    in this thing called Crossroads.
  • 00:02:54
    We've been meaning for 25 years.
  • 00:02:55
    We're celebrating that today: 25 x 52 weekends.
  • 00:02:58
    I don't know how many thousands of messages I've given,
  • 00:03:00
    but it's pretty, pretty crazy.
  • 00:03:02
    And I want to admit right now that there's a show
  • 00:03:05
    that I like and I hope I don't have to turn in
  • 00:03:08
    my man card to admit this publicly.
  • 00:03:11
    Any fans for This Is Us out there? This Is Us?
  • 00:03:15
    I know it pulls every heartstrings it possibly can
  • 00:03:18
    and puts every emotional tear twister
  • 00:03:21
    you could possibly get in there.
  • 00:03:23
    But I'm telling you, every single time
  • 00:03:25
    I'm on the corner of my couch watching it,
  • 00:03:27
    I look at my wife with wetness in my eyes,
  • 00:03:30
    going, [sobbing]
  • 00:03:34
    This is not actually about us today.
  • 00:03:36
    This is not about us. This is God.
  • 00:03:38
    That's what today's entitled, This Is God.
  • 00:03:40
    We'll talk about the things that have happened
  • 00:03:43
    inside of our community, what God is doing
  • 00:03:45
    through our community.
  • 00:03:46
    But get real serious, this is God.
  • 00:03:49
    It's His story.
  • 00:03:51
    There are way too many stories to recount today.
  • 00:03:54
    And I want to highlight three things that
  • 00:03:57
    we've been saying for 25 years.
  • 00:03:59
    We've been praying about these things.
  • 00:04:01
    We've been doing about these things.
  • 00:04:03
    We've been sweating about these things.
  • 00:04:05
    We've been bleeding over these things.
  • 00:04:08
    And these are the things,
  • 00:04:10
    these three phrases I want to highlight today,
  • 00:04:12
    I think are the reasons maybe why God
  • 00:04:14
    has chosen to bless us and why we've learned so much
  • 00:04:17
    about God and His story.
  • 00:04:20
    One of them is this: We will do anything short of sin
  • 00:04:25
    to reach our friends for Christ.
  • 00:04:26
    We do not like that there's people in our country
  • 00:04:30
    that don't understand the life saving impact
  • 00:04:33
    of a personal relationship with Jesus.
  • 00:04:35
    And we will do anything, anything short of sin.
  • 00:04:37
    Whatever is, if it's not sinful, we'll do it.
  • 00:04:39
    And that's we're looking at right now
  • 00:04:42
    – From the beginning, God put a bold call on our hearts
  • 00:04:45
    to do anything short of sin to share
  • 00:04:48
    the Good News of Jesus.
  • 00:04:49
    And He's used every step of obedience to show us
  • 00:04:52
    an even greater step beyond it.
  • 00:04:54
    Here are some of the crazy things God
  • 00:04:56
    has called us to these past 25 years.
  • 00:05:01
    God is a creator and if we're truly made in His image,
  • 00:05:04
    we're made to imitate Him.
  • 00:05:06
    We took that seriously and invested lavishly
  • 00:05:09
    on making the best creative moments possible
  • 00:05:11
    to introduce people to their Creator.
  • 00:05:14
    We drank some beers on stage.
  • 00:05:15
    – People always leave the church over it,
  • 00:05:17
    but I do it because it communicates a point.
  • 00:05:19
    – This got religious folks really upset,
  • 00:05:21
    but we believe you should be the same person in church
  • 00:05:23
    that you are on your back deck.
  • 00:05:26
    We felt God calling us to make an aggressive move,
  • 00:05:29
    to make space to invite our friends
  • 00:05:31
    who live in the north suburbs,
  • 00:05:33
    expanding our reach even before our first building was full.
  • 00:05:37
    Beyond the weekend at Crossroads sites,
  • 00:05:38
    Kids' Club videos have been seen online
  • 00:05:41
    more than 22 million times, in multiple languages,
  • 00:05:45
    and in every single country, bringing God's story
  • 00:05:49
    in a language they can understand
  • 00:05:50
    to kids and families all over the world.
  • 00:05:53
    – God used David, who was just an average kid,
  • 00:05:56
    to rescue His people.
  • 00:05:58
    And that's the story of David and Goliath.
  • 00:06:01
    – God gave us an idea to turn
  • 00:06:03
    the lowest attended Sunday of the year into a big party.
  • 00:06:06
    – Gross.
  • 00:06:07
    – Doing epic Super Bowl services with tailgating,
  • 00:06:11
    a halftime show, commercials, and a message about Jesus
  • 00:06:15
    in a language anyone could understand.
  • 00:06:17
    – Jesus knows your name.
  • 00:06:20
    – God use that silliness to reach folks
  • 00:06:22
    that otherwise might not have ever heard about God.
  • 00:06:25
    – At first, there was a, "No, I'm not going to church.
  • 00:06:27
    I hate that guy and I want nothing to do with Him."
  • 00:06:31
    But then finally, I decided we're going to go to church.
  • 00:06:35
    So we went. That day I cried.
  • 00:06:37
    That day I laughed that day.
  • 00:06:39
    I felt like blood was pumping through my veins again.
  • 00:06:42
    – And God kept showing us bigger creative visions.
  • 00:06:45
    What started as a blessing to our people at Christmas
  • 00:06:47
    blew up into a citywide tradition
  • 00:06:49
    with nearly a million people hearing the story
  • 00:06:52
    of Jesus's birth to the Awaited Christmas show.
  • 00:06:56
    Meeting up in our atrium for free Wi-Fi and coffee,
  • 00:06:59
    God brought together a handful of entrepreneurs
  • 00:07:01
    to share their faith and then gave them a vision
  • 00:07:04
    to encourage other entrepreneurs.
  • 00:07:06
    That became a group called Unpolished,
  • 00:07:09
    which became a conference, which grew to become Ocean,
  • 00:07:12
    one of the most sought after
  • 00:07:13
    accelerator programs in the country.
  • 00:07:16
    God kept planting new ideas in front of us,
  • 00:07:19
    which led to more ways to reach people.
  • 00:07:21
    Anything short of sin, we heard.
  • 00:07:24
    And that took us across the world
  • 00:07:26
    to film God's story in Israel, in Rome,
  • 00:07:29
    to the Rockies to make an Amazon Prime show.
  • 00:07:32
    God's vision has always been bigger
  • 00:07:34
    than we could ever imagine.
  • 00:07:36
    God nudged some of us to start camping.
  • 00:07:39
    What started as a cheap vacation option
  • 00:07:41
    turned into spiritual growth and became a vision
  • 00:07:43
    for reaching people outside the walls of a building.
  • 00:07:47
    The first Man Camp happened with 500 guys
  • 00:07:49
    on a freezing snowy weekend in February.
  • 00:07:52
    Hundreds of kegs later, guys exploded it
  • 00:07:56
    into a spiritual off the grid experience
  • 00:07:58
    for over 20,000 people.
  • 00:08:01
    Woman Camp, Couples Camp, camps for veterans
  • 00:08:04
    and fathers and sons, and students,
  • 00:08:05
    and college kids and families.
  • 00:08:07
    Even our own land to steward it on.
  • 00:08:10
    God's vision is in– credible.
  • 00:08:13
    – I don't necessarily have a relationship with God.
  • 00:08:16
    You know, I knew I would be surrounded by
  • 00:08:18
    a lot of women who do believe in God.
  • 00:08:20
    And so I was kind of intimidated.
  • 00:08:22
    Last year was crazy for me.
  • 00:08:24
    I thought I'd moved on from that, but I haven't.
  • 00:08:29
    – God called us to go where people are
  • 00:08:30
    and people are on their phone,
  • 00:08:33
    so we double down on our digital infrastructure,
  • 00:08:35
    like a custom app where people all across the world
  • 00:08:38
    can read the Bible, journal, and pray for each other.
  • 00:08:41
    Over 4.2 million prayers have been prayed in the app.
  • 00:08:47
    Last year when we couldn't meet indoors,
  • 00:08:49
    we went where people could go,
  • 00:08:51
    outside for Worship at the Cove
  • 00:08:53
    and Worship at the Bluegrass.
  • 00:08:55
    God planted a seed in our hearts
  • 00:08:57
    for racial reconciliation.
  • 00:09:00
    The Undivided program grew from a pilot group
  • 00:09:02
    with a few hundred people to a national organization
  • 00:09:06
    set to make our communities look more like the Kingdom of God.
  • 00:09:11
    Anything short of sin.
  • 00:09:13
    God has blown our minds with His creativity,
  • 00:09:16
    faithfulness, and dreams that were way bigger than ours.
  • 00:09:23
    – Love all that we see there.
  • 00:09:25
    Anything short of sin to reach our friends
  • 00:09:29
    to understand who Jesus is.
  • 00:09:31
    This is the story of God.
  • 00:09:33
    This is what He said all through the Bible.
  • 00:09:34
    God keeps calling people to do aggressive, unusual things
  • 00:09:37
    that haven't been done before.
  • 00:09:39
    Like Noah building an ark,
  • 00:09:41
    a prophet being on his side for long periods of time,
  • 00:09:45
    people stepping on water and walking over water,
  • 00:09:48
    just thing after thing that there was no precedent for,
  • 00:09:51
    but God was pushing them to do it.
  • 00:09:53
    This is the way the people of God are still to be.
  • 00:09:58
    This idea of being aggressive didn't start with me.
  • 00:10:01
    Actually, it's all the people who actually invited me
  • 00:10:05
    to be the founding and senior pastor of Crossroads.
  • 00:10:08
    I don't know if you know that or not.
  • 00:10:09
    There was eleven 30 year olds who had a vision
  • 00:10:12
    to help people who had given up on church,
  • 00:10:16
    but hadn't necessarily given up on God.
  • 00:10:17
    And these 30 year olds, they placed an ad
  • 00:10:19
    in the back of a magazine that
  • 00:10:21
    I and some other people around the country answered.
  • 00:10:24
    That is crazy.
  • 00:10:26
    I was 30 years old, but Lib and I had been married
  • 00:10:29
    longer than anybody in the group
  • 00:10:31
    and had more kids than anybody in the group.
  • 00:10:33
    It wasn't some like some well-heeled foundation
  • 00:10:35
    or some well-heeled denomination that thought this,
  • 00:10:39
    because this was way too aggressive
  • 00:10:41
    for anybody who had had brains.
  • 00:10:43
    These 30 year olds, they did things
  • 00:10:44
    like guaranteed my salary for a year.
  • 00:10:47
    Let me ask you this. Let me ask this.
  • 00:10:48
    If you think about what God has done through Crossroads
  • 00:10:51
    over the last 25 years,
  • 00:10:53
    it started with those eleven 30 year olds.
  • 00:10:56
    Today how many 30 year olds do you know
  • 00:10:58
    who want to start a church?
  • 00:11:00
    For those of you who are 30, would you place an ad
  • 00:11:02
    in the back of the newspaper or do something audacious?
  • 00:11:04
    Would you say to a pastor, "Move to another city
  • 00:11:08
    and we'll take care of you and your entire family,
  • 00:11:11
    we'll actually give you medical insurance,
  • 00:11:12
    we'll give you a retirement plan."
  • 00:11:14
    You haven't started the whole thing yet.
  • 00:11:15
    Would you do that?
  • 00:11:16
    How many 30 year olds would do that?
  • 00:11:18
    How many 30 year olds would say,
  • 00:11:19
    "We're going to guarantee your salary for a year
  • 00:11:21
    and if it doesn't work we're going to tap into
  • 00:11:23
    our home equity credit lines
  • 00:11:24
    and make sure you're whole after a year"?
  • 00:11:26
    That is aggressive. It's amazing.
  • 00:11:29
    The more of that spirit, that spirit of God
  • 00:11:31
    that we have going through us today,
  • 00:11:33
    the stronger our future is going to be.
  • 00:11:36
    And it wasn't just looking at what happened in Cincinnati
  • 00:11:39
    way back in '95. It's also in Lexington.
  • 00:11:41
    It's very aggressive to come together
  • 00:11:43
    and bring churches together.
  • 00:11:44
    Crossroads of Lexington, Kentucky.
  • 00:11:46
    Crossroads of Cincinnati, Ohio.
  • 00:11:48
    Glen Snyder's recently retired.
  • 00:11:51
    Man, it was an incredible thing to celebrate him
  • 00:11:54
    as a man who's been godly and aggressive
  • 00:11:57
    for his entire career, started off incredibly aggressive,
  • 00:12:00
    a phone call campaign to start the church.
  • 00:12:03
    That is aggression.
  • 00:12:04
    That is doing anything short of sin.
  • 00:12:07
    I'm in this building right now,
  • 00:12:09
    the original Oakley building.
  • 00:12:11
    There's actually -- this is the wall right here
  • 00:12:14
    that goes between the original former lumber warehouse,
  • 00:12:19
    and then the new part that was over here.
  • 00:12:22
    It was interesting, right when we blew out,
  • 00:12:25
    blew out this new part and we were rebuilding
  • 00:12:27
    or expanding to 3500 seats auditorium
  • 00:12:30
    because we had doubled in three months,
  • 00:12:32
    tripled in six months inside the original thing,
  • 00:12:34
    we had to build on.
  • 00:12:35
    I went down to see my former pastor
  • 00:12:38
    and my friend Dan Lazich,
  • 00:12:40
    who had started a church in Orlando.
  • 00:12:43
    And he took me to this this bar, this hick Everglades bar.
  • 00:12:47
    And inside that bar there was an aquarium
  • 00:12:50
    with a alligator in it.
  • 00:12:53
    And I picked up that aquarium and I was looking at it.
  • 00:12:57
    And I said to the bar owner,
  • 00:13:00
    "What kind of alligator is this, this small?"
  • 00:13:03
    He said, "Oh, just an alligator."
  • 00:13:05
    I said, "Really? Well, how old is this one?"
  • 00:13:09
    He said, "It's an adult."
  • 00:13:11
    "Wait a minute, it's an adult regular alligator,
  • 00:13:13
    but it's only this big. Why is that?'
  • 00:13:16
    He said, "Well, we put it at birth inside this aquarium,
  • 00:13:19
    and the aquarium will dictate how big the alligator gets."
  • 00:13:25
    [FX explosion] Mind blowing.
  • 00:13:28
    Without knowing that guy just given me
  • 00:13:29
    a scriptural principle: the longer we stay
  • 00:13:32
    inside of our aquarium, inside of our box,
  • 00:13:35
    the less big we can be of people of faith.
  • 00:13:38
    And I was thinking we would just build this 3500 seats,
  • 00:13:40
    it's a huge building
  • 00:13:41
    that's going to last for a long, long time.
  • 00:13:43
    God said to me at that moment and all of us was,
  • 00:13:45
    "We've got to get outside the aquarium, man.
  • 00:13:47
    We can't be in love with our aquarium, whatever,
  • 00:13:49
    wherever they are in Lexington and Cincinnati,
  • 00:13:51
    someday in Dayton and Columbus,
  • 00:13:53
    we can't be in love with our aquarium.
  • 00:13:55
    We got to get outside, outside the aquarium."
  • 00:13:59
    That's when we started different sites, like in Mason.
  • 00:14:02
    We started a multisite with Mason
  • 00:14:04
    when we didn't even have this building
  • 00:14:06
    anywhere near complete, anywhere near full.
  • 00:14:09
    We started camps, Man Camp, Woman Camp, Couples Camp,
  • 00:14:12
    Student Camp, Vet Camp, chiwawa camp, Family Camp.
  • 00:14:15
    All different kinds of camps.
  • 00:14:16
    We're getting outside of the aquarium.
  • 00:14:19
    If you're right now part of our church
  • 00:14:21
    and you've never been to a physical building
  • 00:14:23
    in Kentucky and Ohio, you're an equal part of our church.
  • 00:14:26
    And it's because we got out of the aquarium a long time ago.
  • 00:14:29
    You don't have to be in a building
  • 00:14:30
    to be part of Crossroads.
  • 00:14:32
    We've also gotten out of our religious aquariums.
  • 00:14:35
    The constructive ideas that religion has for us
  • 00:14:39
    that the Bible doesn't have for us, like having fun.
  • 00:14:42
    Twice in Crossroads' 25 year history
  • 00:14:45
    I've cracked open a beer on stage,
  • 00:14:47
    two times, two different weekends.
  • 00:14:49
    And when I do that, the last time I did it,
  • 00:14:51
    we had I think it was --
  • 00:14:53
    yeah, we three Sunday morning services.
  • 00:14:55
    I cracked open that beer that morning.
  • 00:14:57
    I said, "Woo, when's the last time
  • 00:14:59
    you had 3 beers by 11:00, 11:30 in the morning?
  • 00:15:01
    That's a good Sunday."
  • 00:15:03
    I did that to explain that if you do do alcohol,
  • 00:15:08
    which, by the way, is a very first miracle of Jesus,
  • 00:15:11
    if you do do alcohol, it's not a good idea for a lot of us.
  • 00:15:13
    Some of us should not have alcohol at all
  • 00:15:15
    for family history and all that kind of stuff.
  • 00:15:17
    But if you do, we shouldn't be having separate rules
  • 00:15:20
    for when we're outside the church
  • 00:15:21
    than when we're inside the church.
  • 00:15:23
    That was an aggressive move.
  • 00:15:25
    We've given away assets to other churches.
  • 00:15:28
    That's an aggressive move.
  • 00:15:30
    We reach out to help people who are in poverty.
  • 00:15:35
    That's an aggressive move.
  • 00:15:36
    Do anything short of sin.
  • 00:15:37
    One of the things that is sad, but also interesting
  • 00:15:40
    is Compassion International, which we sponsor
  • 00:15:42
    thousands and thousands of kids who are fed
  • 00:15:44
    and educated all the way up to their 18th birthday.
  • 00:15:48
    During the year of COVID, every church in the country
  • 00:15:51
    canceled their Compassion plans to enlist new folks.
  • 00:15:56
    We were the only church tat actually had to done
  • 00:15:59
    a full on push during COVID to get kids sponsored.
  • 00:16:04
    I believe that's why time after time God shows up.
  • 00:16:08
    I believe that's why He smiles.
  • 00:16:10
    I believe we're doing that because
  • 00:16:11
    this is the story of God.
  • 00:16:14
    Romans 10:14, it says:
  • 00:16:38
    I believe God thinks our feet are beautiful
  • 00:16:40
    because we are aggressively doing anything short of sin
  • 00:16:44
    to tell people who He is
  • 00:16:46
    and second thing, to be a blessing,
  • 00:16:50
    – I cannot selectively look at the parts of the Bible
  • 00:16:53
    that talk about God's love and then see
  • 00:16:55
    what's happening to my brothers and sisters
  • 00:16:56
    around the world and not somehow
  • 00:16:58
    try to be part of the solution.
  • 00:17:00
    So I'm going to stand before God someday,
  • 00:17:02
    not from a guilt standpoint, but from a
  • 00:17:04
    what have I done to radically share His love?
  • 00:17:06
    I'm going to stand before Him and I want to say
  • 00:17:08
    I showed up when I knew
  • 00:17:09
    these things were going on in the world.
  • 00:17:12
    – Immediately after launching Crossroads in 1996,
  • 00:17:15
    we felt God calling us
  • 00:17:17
    to be a blessing to our community.
  • 00:17:18
    This started with a monthly financial commitment
  • 00:17:21
    to City Gospel Mission who empowers
  • 00:17:23
    homeless people to break the cycle of poverty.
  • 00:17:26
    We moved in faith
  • 00:17:27
    and God has been faithful every step of the way.
  • 00:17:31
    Most large churches in the '90s
  • 00:17:33
    would charge people to purchase their message series.
  • 00:17:35
    We reproduced ours on cassette tapes and CDs
  • 00:17:38
    and said, "Give this to as many people as you can."
  • 00:17:42
    In 1996, a couple of volunteers chimed in
  • 00:17:45
    and said, "I think God might be calling us
  • 00:17:48
    to provide Thanksgiving meals
  • 00:17:49
    to people who can't afford them."
  • 00:17:51
    Yes, let's do that.
  • 00:17:53
    We provided nearly a million meals since.
  • 00:17:57
    In 2006. God said, "I think this community can do more."
  • 00:18:01
    Go Cincinnati, later Go Local was born.
  • 00:18:04
    A one day serving blitz,
  • 00:18:06
    making God's goodness tangible in our neighborhoods.
  • 00:18:08
    Over 5,500 service projects completed.
  • 00:18:13
    When Brian met a South African pastor
  • 00:18:15
    at a conference, he heard God say,
  • 00:18:17
    "Crossroads can be a blessing
  • 00:18:19
    to more than just Cincinnati."
  • 00:18:21
    Go South Africa was born.
  • 00:18:23
    In 2004 we partnered to build
  • 00:18:25
    the largest privately funded AIDS hospice
  • 00:18:28
    in the history of that country.
  • 00:18:31
    Go trips were born.
  • 00:18:32
    A group of crazy people following a God
  • 00:18:34
    who says, "Go, change the world."
  • 00:18:38
    Since 2006, thousands and thousands of people
  • 00:18:41
    have sacrificed money and vacation time
  • 00:18:44
    to show the world that God is
  • 00:18:45
    in the business of restoration.
  • 00:18:47
    We built homes in New Orleans after Katrina,
  • 00:18:50
    distributed food in Puerto Rico after Maria.
  • 00:18:52
    We even built schools
  • 00:18:54
    on the side of mountains in Nepal
  • 00:18:57
    and dug wells in Nicaragua and Bolivia.
  • 00:19:01
    We believe God called us to be
  • 00:19:02
    a blessing in our city too.
  • 00:19:04
    He planted the idea of CityLink,
  • 00:19:06
    a single place to help people
  • 00:19:07
    overcome generational poverty.
  • 00:19:09
    Through five years of zoning battles,
  • 00:19:11
    court cases and bad press, God stayed faithful.
  • 00:19:15
    CityLink opened in 2012
  • 00:19:17
    and has served 4200 clients so far.
  • 00:19:22
    There are more stories than we can possibly tell.
  • 00:19:27
    Stories about Whiz Kids, which partnered
  • 00:19:29
    again with City Gospel Mission to tutor
  • 00:19:31
    hundreds of kids in our city and across the world.
  • 00:19:33
    Stories of the time God called us
  • 00:19:35
    to eat beans and rice for a week,
  • 00:19:37
    then give away the money we saved on food,
  • 00:19:39
    which kept local city pools open
  • 00:19:40
    and funded the fight against heroin,
  • 00:19:42
    or how we've come together to put
  • 00:19:44
    100,000 gifts under trees for kids at Christmas
  • 00:19:47
    or given over a thousand cars away
  • 00:19:49
    through the Wheels program.
  • 00:19:50
    Stories like individual people
  • 00:19:52
    in our community banding together
  • 00:19:53
    to pay off $46 million of medical debt
  • 00:19:56
    for 45,000 families in the Midwest,
  • 00:19:59
    reminding people that God loves them
  • 00:20:01
    and hasn't forgotten about them.
  • 00:20:03
    Stories like sewing 45,000
  • 00:20:05
    for health care workers when
  • 00:20:07
    a global pandemic came to our front door.
  • 00:20:15
    But maybe the most daunting story
  • 00:20:17
    where God has invited us to be a blessing is an India.
  • 00:20:21
    We partner with an organization called Jevin Adha.
  • 00:20:24
    To date, we've helped create six aftercare homes
  • 00:20:28
    where hundreds of girls are healing
  • 00:20:30
    from the trauma of the rape for profit industry.
  • 00:20:34
    – The Central Bureau of Investigation,
  • 00:20:35
    which is India's premier law enforcement body,
  • 00:20:38
    about four years ago, said they estimated
  • 00:20:40
    about 1.3, 1.4 million children in forced prostitution.
  • 00:20:45
    – Since opening 5.5 years ago,
  • 00:20:47
    we started with 15 girls, and today
  • 00:20:50
    we have had over 150 who've come through the Mahima Home.
  • 00:21:14
    – One of the main reasons of having
  • 00:21:16
    the Mahima in Calcutta 5.5 years ago
  • 00:21:18
    was not only just to provide better care,
  • 00:21:21
    professional care to them, but also
  • 00:21:23
    to be able to be a place where
  • 00:21:25
    they could come to know the love of God.
  • 00:22:13
    – We get to be in a front row seat
  • 00:22:14
    to watch God work, to see a broken
  • 00:22:17
    and upside down world turned right side up,
  • 00:22:19
    to see young girls have a new life.
  • 00:22:23
    That's what we get to do.
  • 00:22:31
    – So why are we giving away all of this money?
  • 00:22:33
    It's because we're a church
  • 00:22:35
    and this is what the church does see.
  • 00:22:38
    See, our world is broken,
  • 00:22:39
    but we have the power to make a difference.
  • 00:22:41
    Isaiah 1:17 says:
  • 00:22:51
    It's amazing to see how God can use each of us
  • 00:22:55
    who are part of Crossroads for something so much bigger.
  • 00:22:57
    I mean, most of us could never
  • 00:22:59
    give away $2.5 million on our own.
  • 00:23:01
    But when we give, we get to do
  • 00:23:03
    just that together as a church.
  • 00:23:06
    See, the thing is, this isn't our money,
  • 00:23:07
    it's God's money.
  • 00:23:09
    And it comes from a faithful
  • 00:23:10
    and joyful response to Him.
  • 00:23:13
    That's what's fueled us for 25 years
  • 00:23:15
    and will continue to fuel us far into the future.
  • 00:23:17
    If you want to be part of that together with us,
  • 00:23:21
    you can do that by giving.
  • 00:23:23
    Now all the money you give actually
  • 00:23:25
    goes to being the church.
  • 00:23:27
    Not being held in some bank vault like this.
  • 00:23:29
    We are actively using it, spending it,
  • 00:23:32
    investing it as wisely as we can to change the world.
  • 00:23:35
    I'm telling you, when you give,
  • 00:23:37
    God will show up in your life
  • 00:23:38
    and you'll sense Him in a new and powerful ways.
  • 00:23:40
    Now, you don't have to take my word for that.
  • 00:23:42
    You can try it on your own.
  • 00:23:44
    We have something called the 90 Day Tithe Test.
  • 00:23:46
    It works like this: You try giving for 90 days.
  • 00:23:49
    If at the end of 90 days you haven't sensed God
  • 00:23:52
    in a more powerful way in your life
  • 00:23:54
    and you want your money back,
  • 00:23:55
    we'll give it all back. No questions asked.
  • 00:23:58
    Now let's catch back up with Brian.
  • 00:24:02
    – Man, that is so good.
  • 00:24:05
    Hey, let me just give a shout out
  • 00:24:06
    to the thousands and thousands of people
  • 00:24:08
    that have done a Go Trip, a Reach Out Initiative.
  • 00:24:11
    Way to go. You have been a blessing.
  • 00:24:13
    We've been blessing because Crossroads
  • 00:24:15
    has been under the story of God doing that.
  • 00:24:17
    I want to be a blessing to you right now.
  • 00:24:19
    I've been carrying this thing around.
  • 00:24:21
    I've got to do something with this.
  • 00:24:22
    Like, I just bless you and you can see
  • 00:24:26
    what a 12 pound sledgehammer
  • 00:24:28
    does to something like this. Let's see.
  • 00:24:31
    Oh, man,
  • 00:24:33
    that's a heavy sledgehammer. Let me tell you.
  • 00:24:36
    I'm actually in front of one of the stations
  • 00:24:40
    where we've wanted to be a blessing for 25 years.
  • 00:24:43
    Inside of Crossroads facilities,
  • 00:24:45
    we've always given away coffee for free.
  • 00:24:47
    We started doing this in 1996.
  • 00:24:49
    We didn't know any other churches
  • 00:24:50
    that we're doing it at that time.
  • 00:24:51
    Our thought was, we bring our friends in here,
  • 00:24:54
    we want to bless them with something free,
  • 00:24:56
    a cup of coffee.
  • 00:24:57
    And people kept saying, "Well,
  • 00:24:59
    you're never going to afford it as the church grows."
  • 00:25:01
    Oh, we keep affording, we keep paying for it
  • 00:25:03
    and it's because we want to bless people as they come in.
  • 00:25:07
    That's a core DNA to us because it's of God's DNA.
  • 00:25:11
    In Genesis 12:2, God says to Abraham,
  • 00:25:14
    who started the nation of Israel:
  • 00:25:24
    As God blesses us, He wants us to bless others.
  • 00:25:29
    At the beginning, when we started Crossroads in '96,
  • 00:25:33
    we didn't have a giving strategy.
  • 00:25:35
    We were just trying to get the church going and survive.
  • 00:25:38
    And what do you know, after a few weeks,
  • 00:25:40
    realized, "Oh wow, I think
  • 00:25:43
    we're going to last for a little bit of time."
  • 00:25:44
    We hadn't really thought at all
  • 00:25:46
    about how to give us a church.
  • 00:25:48
    So we had a board meeting
  • 00:25:50
    in Jim Becktold's living room and we said,
  • 00:25:51
    "What are we going to do?"
  • 00:25:53
    Well, there's this local organization in Cincinnati
  • 00:25:55
    that works with the homeless and the poor.
  • 00:25:57
    And we said, "Let's just by faith,
  • 00:25:59
    make a monthly commitment to them of $1000 a month,"
  • 00:26:03
    which was a big sum for us at that point.
  • 00:26:06
    And we did, we did that.
  • 00:26:08
    We learned that that gift made us
  • 00:26:12
    the largest contributor,
  • 00:26:14
    monthly contributor to that organization.
  • 00:26:17
    And we were church that was only a few weeks old.
  • 00:26:20
    Crazy thing is, when we made that decision
  • 00:26:22
    to do that, that week,
  • 00:26:24
    we got an anonymous gift for $100,000.
  • 00:26:29
    This caused Brian Wells,
  • 00:26:30
    who's part of the original eleven,
  • 00:26:31
    still on the board, to give all of us
  • 00:26:34
    one hundred thousand dollar bars to remember that.
  • 00:26:36
    He's wanting to be a blessing
  • 00:26:38
    because God has directed His people to be blessings
  • 00:26:40
    and we want to be a blessing.
  • 00:26:42
    We started getting engaged in South Africa,
  • 00:26:44
    the AIDS hospice was -- AIDS epidemic was rampant,
  • 00:26:48
    and especially in South Africa
  • 00:26:50
    where the government wasn't taking
  • 00:26:51
    any responsibility for it at all.
  • 00:26:53
    Here in America, in the mid '90s and early 2000,
  • 00:26:57
    there were some people who still believed
  • 00:27:00
    that the AIDS epidemic was God's judgment
  • 00:27:02
    on people who were gay.
  • 00:27:04
    There's people who weren't gay who had AIDS as well.
  • 00:27:07
    I had a close friend of mine
  • 00:27:09
    when I lived in Pittsburgh,
  • 00:27:10
    he died because he got a blood transfusion.
  • 00:27:12
    And he was told, the former church he was a part of
  • 00:27:14
    that God's judgment was on him as well.
  • 00:27:17
    Weird, just -- just weird.
  • 00:27:19
    But we said we need to engage in this.
  • 00:27:22
    So we built the largest privately funded
  • 00:27:24
    hospice for AIDS victims inside of South Africa,
  • 00:27:29
    and then we carried the operating costs of it.
  • 00:27:31
    And then it failed.
  • 00:27:33
    And failed because we had the wrong partner
  • 00:27:35
    and also failed because the government
  • 00:27:36
    kind of took away the market share, if you will,
  • 00:27:39
    because they started getting engaged in the fight,
  • 00:27:41
    the South African government.
  • 00:27:43
    But we're happy that we said, "Look,
  • 00:27:44
    we'll be used, we'll be aggressive,
  • 00:27:46
    and we want to bless as we've been blessed."
  • 00:27:49
    We want to bless some people this weekend
  • 00:27:51
    we will announce it.
  • 00:27:53
    Normally when you have a birthday celebration,
  • 00:27:55
    you get gifts.
  • 00:27:57
    We want to give gifts.
  • 00:27:58
    That's what we want to give for our 25th birthday
  • 00:28:02
    we're going to give away $2.5 million.
  • 00:28:07
    25th birthday, $2.5 million, we want to bless people.
  • 00:28:11
    We don't want just fatten ourselves up.
  • 00:28:12
    We want to bless other people
  • 00:28:13
    cause it's not about us.
  • 00:28:15
    It's about God and God's been faithful
  • 00:28:18
    and He is the hero of the story.
  • 00:28:20
    So here's what we're going to do with this money.
  • 00:28:22
    We're going to give it out over the next 25 weeks.
  • 00:28:26
    This week, we're going to give out $300,000.
  • 00:28:28
    Our partners are not expecting this,
  • 00:28:30
    so they're learning about it right now.
  • 00:28:32
    First, we're giving $100,000 to City Gospel Mission,
  • 00:28:35
    which is our very first partner.
  • 00:28:38
    We're going to give you an additional $100,000
  • 00:28:40
    above and beyond what we give you right now.
  • 00:28:42
    Jeevan Aadhar, which is our organization
  • 00:28:44
    we work with to help girls who've come out
  • 00:28:46
    of the rape for profit industry.
  • 00:28:47
    It's not the sex slavery industry.
  • 00:28:49
    It's best understood as the rape for profit industry.
  • 00:28:52
    We're going to put an additional
  • 00:28:53
    $100,000 check to you this week.
  • 00:28:55
    We're also starting something new
  • 00:28:57
    with the Restavek Freedom Foundation
  • 00:28:59
    that's about ending child slavery in Haiti.
  • 00:29:02
    This was a couple that wanted to be a blessing
  • 00:29:05
    and came out of Crossroads and started that a decade ago.
  • 00:29:09
    And we're going to pour $100,000 check
  • 00:29:11
    into that ministry today.
  • 00:29:14
    We want to see child slavery in Haiti
  • 00:29:17
    end in our lifetime.
  • 00:29:19
    And soon you'll have a chance to go there
  • 00:29:22
    and get your hands dirty.
  • 00:29:23
    Here's more of that story.
  • 00:29:37
    – 838 miles off the coast of the U.S.
  • 00:29:40
    is the beautiful and broken country of Haiti.
  • 00:29:44
    Haiti is the poorest country in our hemisphere
  • 00:29:47
    and it's home to a culturally accepted
  • 00:29:49
    child slavery practice called restavec.
  • 00:29:53
    Restavec is when a poorer family
  • 00:29:56
    sends their child to live with another family
  • 00:29:58
    in promise of caring, clothing, feeding
  • 00:30:01
    and educating the child.
  • 00:30:03
    Heartbreaking, this is not the reality.
  • 00:30:06
    These children become household servants,
  • 00:30:09
    denied basic care and education and affection.
  • 00:30:13
    They live a life of forced labor
  • 00:30:15
    and frequent beatings.
  • 00:30:19
    – Restavec is a form of human trafficking.
  • 00:30:22
    They believe that their child is going to go to school.
  • 00:30:24
    They believe their child is going to be fed
  • 00:30:26
    and taken care of.
  • 00:30:27
    But typically, the child ends up being a household slave.
  • 00:30:31
    These children get up
  • 00:30:32
    before anybody else in the morning
  • 00:30:34
    and they start the coffee
  • 00:30:36
    or they build the fire
  • 00:30:37
    or they go get the firewood
  • 00:30:39
    or whatever they need to build the fire.
  • 00:30:41
    They wash the dishes.
  • 00:30:43
    They might get the kids up for school.
  • 00:30:45
    They could carry the kids to school.
  • 00:30:47
    They come home, they make the beds,
  • 00:30:48
    they clean the house, they sweep the floor,
  • 00:30:50
    they sweep the yard, they do the laundry.
  • 00:30:54
    And that's what they use is the child
  • 00:30:56
    to go and get the water every day.
  • 00:31:02
    – I sometimes go to bed like 11 or 10,
  • 00:31:08
    and then I have to wake up at 4
  • 00:31:11
    because I have to clean the house
  • 00:31:13
    before I go to school.
  • 00:31:15
    Because I remember my happy place
  • 00:31:17
    was only when I was at school.
  • 00:31:19
    But when I got home, it was like I'm exist,
  • 00:31:24
    but I'm not living.
  • 00:31:26
    Yeah, I want them to understand that people,
  • 00:31:29
    the kids was in the restave,
  • 00:31:31
    they feel like they exist,
  • 00:31:33
    but they are not leaving because that's not life.
  • 00:31:36
    – We've been going to Crossroads
  • 00:31:37
    since Crossroads was in Clark Montessori.
  • 00:31:40
    So Crossroads, it's our family, it's our community.
  • 00:31:44
    – The reality is that we're a reflection
  • 00:31:48
    of what Crossroads teaches.
  • 00:31:50
    Crossroads is about doing things.
  • 00:31:53
    It's about reflecting what you're learning
  • 00:31:57
    about a relationship with God
  • 00:31:59
    and learning how to put that action in the world.
  • 00:32:03
    So when I see the confidence
  • 00:32:05
    that these children begin to have,
  • 00:32:07
    just because someone loves them,
  • 00:32:08
    someone cares for them, it changes them.
  • 00:32:11
    And seeing these women in the literacy programs,
  • 00:32:13
    once they learn to read and write,
  • 00:32:15
    it gives them dignity.
  • 00:32:17
    – For us to think we do not have
  • 00:32:19
    a role to play in helping Haiti
  • 00:32:23
    improve itself and do– better is just a mistake.
  • 00:32:27
    The foundation, they are doing like a great job
  • 00:32:30
    because those kids, they don't really, like,
  • 00:32:32
    have somebody to listen to them.
  • 00:32:34
    – And that's what we're hoping to change,
  • 00:32:37
    is that people begin thinking
  • 00:32:38
    of these children as human,
  • 00:32:40
    that they begin to see them as human.
  • 00:32:43
    – Coming here, I have people that tell me
  • 00:32:49
    I'm beautiful, I'm smart, I'm powerful,
  • 00:32:52
    like I can be everything.
  • 00:32:56
    – Restavec Freedom is infusing change
  • 00:32:58
    and hope in the lives of these children
  • 00:33:00
    and in the communities of Haiti.
  • 00:33:02
    Together, we can end child slavery
  • 00:33:05
    in Haiti in our lifetime.
  • 00:33:12
    – That stuff is great, that stuff is of God.
  • 00:33:15
    This is not our story, it's His story.
  • 00:33:19
    It's a story of God.
  • 00:33:20
    And God directs His followers
  • 00:33:24
    not to just hang out and help people
  • 00:33:27
    who are in difficult medical and poverty situations,
  • 00:33:31
    but He directs us to do the one thing
  • 00:33:33
    that we have to do that has eternal ramifications.
  • 00:33:36
    All of this stuff is futile
  • 00:33:38
    if we don't run after our friends and neighbors.
  • 00:33:40
    That's what we do here at Crossroads. We run.
  • 00:33:45
    – My life is totally different now,
  • 00:33:47
    and I see that change in a lot of different ways.
  • 00:33:52
    – It changes the way I treat my children.
  • 00:33:53
    It changes the way I interact with my husband.
  • 00:33:56
    – It touches your heart and it touches your mind
  • 00:33:58
    and gets you to think, you know,
  • 00:34:00
    beyond the somewhat superficial things
  • 00:34:03
    that you go through during the week.
  • 00:34:04
    – I'm like, "God, this has got to be You.
  • 00:34:07
    I'll do it. I'll do it." You know?
  • 00:34:10
    – God has run after us and brought us
  • 00:34:12
    lives full of purpose, joy, freedom and connection.
  • 00:34:15
    We want that for our friends and neighbors,
  • 00:34:18
    so we run.
  • 00:34:20
    If you're here,
  • 00:34:22
    it's because somebody made room for you,
  • 00:34:25
    space for your story and thousands more like it.
  • 00:34:29
    – You can have my life.
  • 00:34:31
    You can have my world.
  • 00:34:32
    You can have my family.
  • 00:34:33
    You can have my kids.
  • 00:34:34
    You can have my job.
  • 00:34:35
    You can have my ministry.
  • 00:34:37
    You can have everything
  • 00:34:38
    because you're such a good King.
  • 00:34:40
    – I saw a grown man fall to his knees
  • 00:34:45
    and tell an entire community that
  • 00:34:47
    Jesus can have everything in his life.
  • 00:34:50
    Experiencing that was really the start
  • 00:34:53
    of me wanting to understand
  • 00:34:56
    who this Jesus person was.
  • 00:34:58
    – But the relief and the peace that I felt
  • 00:35:01
    it was like a peace, an inner peace myself.
  • 00:35:03
    I can't describe it like, "I trusted You, God.
  • 00:35:06
    And I know this is what You want."
  • 00:35:07
    And I just felt better for trusting Him for it.
  • 00:35:10
    – I just felt at peace and happiness
  • 00:35:13
    and all the weight lifted off my shoulders.
  • 00:35:15
    – My last couple of years of high school
  • 00:35:16
    I was actually a pretty outspoken atheist.
  • 00:35:18
    I think it's really welcomed God
  • 00:35:20
    into my life as a father,
  • 00:35:21
    instead of some huge dynamic being
  • 00:35:23
    that I won't ever be able to understand.
  • 00:35:25
    – My first time I didn't know how to worship.
  • 00:35:27
    I came here. I instantly learned how to worship.
  • 00:35:30
    First time I ever raise my hands was here.
  • 00:35:33
    First time I ever surrendered to God was here.
  • 00:35:35
    – There are people out there who still love us.
  • 00:35:38
    There are people out there just praying for us.
  • 00:35:41
    – He has taught me that it's OK to be vulnerable.
  • 00:35:44
    He has taught me and encouraged me
  • 00:35:46
    to open up more and to be able to share
  • 00:35:49
    as I'm doing now.
  • 00:35:50
    – I think that leaving your son when he's,
  • 00:35:52
    you know, just born and quitting on everything
  • 00:35:56
    and everybody, I was like, there's no way
  • 00:35:59
    that God can forgive me.
  • 00:36:01
    There's no way that God has a place for me.
  • 00:36:08
    And he let me know that I'm His son
  • 00:36:13
    and forgave me for everything.
  • 00:36:16
    So that Jesus was the best thing in the world.
  • 00:36:20
    – I believe that I have a purpose
  • 00:36:23
    and I believe that God loves me
  • 00:36:25
    and I'm learning to love myself.
  • 00:36:28
    – We just quit going to church,
  • 00:36:30
    and I really hadn't been since I was 12.
  • 00:36:33
    Growing up, we always would go camping.
  • 00:36:36
    We always went camping around train tracks.
  • 00:36:38
    So the first night at man camp, you know,
  • 00:36:41
    it's kind of surprising how emotional
  • 00:36:43
    and deep some of the conversations really got.
  • 00:36:46
    And so after everybody shared
  • 00:36:50
    their deepest, darkest secrets,
  • 00:36:52
    I went back to the tent to go to sleep.
  • 00:36:54
    And I actually-- actually prayed
  • 00:36:56
    for the first time for other people
  • 00:36:58
    since I was 12 years old.
  • 00:37:00
    And as soon as I said, "In Jesus name, I pray, Amen,"
  • 00:37:03
    a train whistle goes off in the background.
  • 00:37:05
    And it gave me chills. It really did.
  • 00:37:09
    Because, like, it hit home,
  • 00:37:10
    it kind of made me think, you know,
  • 00:37:12
    "All right, this Jesus guy, He really is here.
  • 00:37:15
    He's here with us, and not only that,
  • 00:37:17
    He really knows who I am and what I'm all about."
  • 00:37:20
    And that that was pretty amazing.
  • 00:37:22
    – I just wanted to run up to every single one of them
  • 00:37:24
    and hug them and wipe their tears
  • 00:37:27
    and tell them, "You're forgiven.
  • 00:37:30
    God's already forgiven you and you're so loved."
  • 00:37:34
    – God proved that He was going to take care of me.
  • 00:37:36
    And I think that I believe
  • 00:37:38
    in His faithfulness even more now.
  • 00:37:40
    – And I trust Him to
  • 00:37:42
    and to know what's best for me always,
  • 00:37:45
    and that He's not going to let me astray
  • 00:37:48
    and that He's not going to leave me alone
  • 00:37:50
    even in my darkest days, God's there.
  • 00:37:53
    – I feel the closeness and the comfort of God
  • 00:37:57
    within the center of me.
  • 00:38:00
    – In the midst of venting out my anger at God,
  • 00:38:02
    He was healing situations like right then and there.
  • 00:38:06
    – And I just started feeling the weight come off me.
  • 00:38:12
    And then I felt so light and surrounded by love.
  • 00:38:18
    – I felt like this has to be coming from God,
  • 00:38:20
    He has to be saying, "Hey, Manny, wake up
  • 00:38:23
    and I want to take you in."
  • 00:38:26
    – And that's when I realized
  • 00:38:29
    I did have someone fighting for me.
  • 00:38:33
    – This is mind blowing.
  • 00:38:35
    I'm finally in a place where I can, you know,
  • 00:38:39
    just love my children unconditionally.
  • 00:38:42
    – I feel like I actually have
  • 00:38:43
    a real relationship with God.
  • 00:38:45
    I feel like I have a purpose for my life.
  • 00:38:48
    – Knowing that God's in control
  • 00:38:49
    and it's Him that I'm serving has been able
  • 00:38:52
    to give me a little bit more peace
  • 00:38:53
    and comfort through the entire process.
  • 00:38:55
    – But it utterly depends upon God's grace,
  • 00:38:58
    His mercy, His strengthening me.
  • 00:39:00
    – I sat in the chemo suite
  • 00:39:01
    with so many other people who had it way worse than me.
  • 00:39:03
    That was God's way of saying to me,
  • 00:39:05
    "Yes, look, you can do this.
  • 00:39:07
    You can do this every day as hard as it is,
  • 00:39:09
    even though your kids are scared.
  • 00:39:10
    Put your eyes on me and I will lead you through.
  • 00:39:12
    I will get you through this storm."
  • 00:39:15
    – You know, I often wonder, you know,
  • 00:39:19
    I often wonder how I survived, honestly.
  • 00:39:21
    – Each day I feel like I'm getting even closer
  • 00:39:24
    to Him by listening to Him and by following
  • 00:39:27
    what He wants me to do and not doing,
  • 00:39:29
    you know, what I want to do.
  • 00:39:31
    – I actually felt like I heard God
  • 00:39:33
    as clear as day saying, "I am proud of you.
  • 00:39:38
    I am here for you.
  • 00:39:39
    I am going to always be there for you."
  • 00:39:42
    I am God's daughter.
  • 00:39:43
    I am not this thing or that thing
  • 00:39:45
    that someone tries to label me as.
  • 00:39:47
    I am not damaged. I know that I am beautiful.
  • 00:39:51
    I know that God has created me in His image
  • 00:39:55
    and God doesn't create bad and ugly things.
  • 00:40:00
    God is an amazing father and I am brave.
  • 00:40:15
    – Normal people coming into
  • 00:40:17
    a life changing relationship with God
  • 00:40:19
    through Jesus Christ has always been
  • 00:40:22
    the main thing, always.
  • 00:40:25
    We do anything short of sin to bring
  • 00:40:26
    normal people into relationship with God.
  • 00:40:29
    We want to bless people because God loves people
  • 00:40:33
    and we want to run after normal people,
  • 00:40:35
    no matter what it takes.
  • 00:40:36
    We were in a rented facility for five years
  • 00:40:39
    and we end up moving and buying
  • 00:40:41
    into this old lumber warehouse.
  • 00:40:45
    And we had a service where we just prayed for
  • 00:40:47
    all the people and dreamt about people,
  • 00:40:50
    some of whom, by the way,
  • 00:40:52
    were in the video we just saw,
  • 00:40:54
    prayed for folks that God would use our church
  • 00:40:57
    and maybe a service, a weekend service
  • 00:41:00
    to help bring that person to Christ.
  • 00:41:01
    And so at the prayer service we'd go around
  • 00:41:03
    and all these old green posts,
  • 00:41:06
    people would take markers and sharpies
  • 00:41:09
    and just write names down, write prayers down.
  • 00:41:13
    It's right here.
  • 00:41:15
    I haven't seen this like for a long, long time.
  • 00:41:18
    Behind this wall are names of guys
  • 00:41:22
    who weren't part of Crossroads
  • 00:41:26
    who came to our church and got baptized.
  • 00:41:29
    Right here is the name of my wife's best friend
  • 00:41:33
    who came to came to know Christ here, powerful.
  • 00:41:36
    That's just one.
  • 00:41:37
    I haven't seen it for a long, long time.
  • 00:41:39
    We're going to see it today.
  • 00:41:54
    Hello.
  • 00:41:56
    Oh, I see, I can see it.
  • 00:42:01
    Oh, gosh, that must be stud.
  • 00:42:04
    This is a heavy sledge, let me tell you.
  • 00:42:13
    I'm going to get little phone out here.
  • 00:42:15
    I haven't seen this for, like, ever.
  • 00:42:19
    I will make myself known to you
  • 00:42:22
    through others in this place.
  • 00:42:25
    Another one thanking God for awesome gifts.
  • 00:42:27
    The stories that these things could tell,
  • 00:42:31
    who would know?
  • 00:42:33
    Here's the deal, these are stories on one green post.
  • 00:42:38
    They're not stories written on buildings
  • 00:42:40
    all over the place
  • 00:42:41
    or stories on hearts all over the country.
  • 00:42:46
    And we're not done, we just -- literally we just started.
  • 00:42:51
    I think about the lives that have been changed
  • 00:42:53
    through how the story of God has impacted us
  • 00:42:55
    and I think about what can happen in the future.
  • 00:42:57
    It's like really, we just started taking
  • 00:42:59
    our first baby steps because we will always
  • 00:43:01
    run after our friends and neighbors who need Jesus.
  • 00:43:04
    Always. That's what we do.
  • 00:43:07
    In Ephesians 3:20, it says:
  • 00:43:26
    People ask me sometimes, like,
  • 00:43:28
    "Did you ever expect Crossroads to be what it is today?
  • 00:43:30
    Did you ever see it way back when?"
  • 00:43:31
    No, they can't even finish the question.
  • 00:43:33
    No, no, no, no, no, never.
  • 00:43:37
    If I had planted some brainstorming strategy
  • 00:43:42
    and wrote down what the dream scenario would be
  • 00:43:44
    for how God would use Crossroads
  • 00:43:46
    that would have been passed up
  • 00:43:47
    on like year four, year five.
  • 00:43:49
    That verse there says He's able to,
  • 00:43:51
    not meet expectations, but exceed more,
  • 00:43:57
    abundantly exceed more than you ever thought
  • 00:44:00
    or ever prayed about.
  • 00:44:02
    That is what God has done in our church,
  • 00:44:06
    blowing us away because we're understanding who God is.
  • 00:44:09
    What are the dreams for the next 25 years?
  • 00:44:12
    We're just getting started.
  • 00:44:13
    I feel like I just got started right now.
  • 00:44:15
    I hope I'm still around in 25 years from now.
  • 00:44:19
    What could God do for our church in 25 years
  • 00:44:23
    if we commit to being a part of His story
  • 00:44:27
    and lay it down at His feet?
  • 00:44:30
    Right now we're going to sing a song that we wrote.
  • 00:44:33
    It's kind of a fight song for us,
  • 00:44:35
    it's an anthem that's called Laying It All Down.
  • 00:44:38
    It says: We follow you, Jesus, wherever you lead us.
  • 00:44:41
    We want to lay it down.
  • 00:44:43
    This is our anthem of worship.
  • 00:44:46
    And I want to pray for us.
  • 00:44:47
    I want to cement this right now for us
  • 00:44:49
    to have our spiritual wits about us
  • 00:44:51
    thanking God for the last 25 years
  • 00:44:53
    and getting ready for the next 25 year run.
  • 00:44:56
    Let me pray for you right now.
  • 00:44:57
    God, I am -- I am so humbled
  • 00:45:04
    that You would count us as worthy of being used.
  • 00:45:07
    I'm so stunned by what You've done,
  • 00:45:13
    what You're doing and who You would include,
  • 00:45:16
    normal people, poor people, rich people,
  • 00:45:19
    addicted people, beautiful people,
  • 00:45:22
    not beautiful people, white, black,
  • 00:45:26
    different cultures, different backgrounds,
  • 00:45:30
    different even second Your ideas
  • 00:45:31
    on certain Bible passages.
  • 00:45:33
    You've pulled us together to be a team
  • 00:45:36
    because we're all one before You
  • 00:45:37
    once we've received You
  • 00:45:39
    we want more people in our family.
  • 00:45:41
    So I pray for the blessing,
  • 00:45:43
    the blessing of a building, the ability to run,
  • 00:45:45
    the ability to make strong, aggressive moves
  • 00:45:49
    and to bless people for another 25 years.
  • 00:45:52
    Thank for doing this and we celebrate You today, God,
  • 00:45:55
    and we lay it all down. Amen.
  • 00:49:51
    – I can't tell you how amazing it is
  • 00:49:54
    to be part of this, something bigger than myself.
  • 00:49:56
    And here's the thing, no matter who you are,
  • 00:49:58
    no matter where you come from, you can be part of it too.
  • 00:50:02
    See, I believe that God has designed you
  • 00:50:04
    for a specific purpose,
  • 00:50:06
    an adventure that He's made you for.
  • 00:50:09
    And we would love to help you start that adventure
  • 00:50:11
    and go further on it.
  • 00:50:13
    If you want you can sign up for Crossroads,
  • 00:50:15
    get unlimited access to teaching, content,
  • 00:50:18
    experiences, opportunities to change the world.
  • 00:50:20
    You in person.
  • 00:50:22
    Over the next 25 weeks we'll invest
  • 00:50:24
    close to a $100,000 in projects
  • 00:50:27
    led by our online community. That's you.
  • 00:50:30
    Tune in over the next few weeks to learn more
  • 00:50:32
    about how to be a part of
  • 00:50:33
    this world changing movement called Crossroads.
  • 00:50:38
    – The color of our skin has been weaponized
  • 00:50:40
    to tear people apart and keep us at odds.
  • 00:50:44
    But it doesn't have to stay this way.
  • 00:50:46
    We can reckon with our past
  • 00:50:48
    and reconcile to a better future.
  • 00:50:50
    We can celebrate diversity and unity as gifts from God.
  • 00:50:55
    We can live full of mercy, justice, and hope
  • 00:50:58
    for all of God's children,
  • 00:51:00
    regardless of their skin color.
  • 00:51:02
    Join us for What Color is God?
  • 00:51:09
    – Hey, I'm Brian. – And I'm Chuck
  • 00:51:10
    – I'm white. – And I'm black.
  • 00:51:12
    And that matters because we're starting
  • 00:51:13
    a new series called What Color is God?
  • 00:51:15
    We're going to be talking about race.
  • 00:51:17
    – Trigger warning, trigger warning.
  • 00:51:19
    I don't care if you're on the right,
  • 00:51:20
    I don't care if you're on the left,
  • 00:51:22
    you're going to be challenged.
  • 00:51:24
    We're going to look at what the Bible,
  • 00:51:26
    what we think we see in the Bible
  • 00:51:28
    as it relates to race in our country, in our lives.
  • 00:51:30
    – That's right.
  • 00:51:31
    If you're in the woke choir, you're going to be challenged.
  • 00:51:33
    If you're anti woke, you're going to be challenged.
  • 00:51:35
    So here's the thing, as we're talking
  • 00:51:37
    about this from the biblical perspective,
  • 00:51:38
    there's hope, there's a third way.
  • 00:51:40
    And that's what we want to lean into in the series.
  • 00:51:42
    – This can be a great time for you,
  • 00:51:44
    for all of us to put on your big boy pants,
  • 00:51:45
    put on your big girl pants.
  • 00:51:47
    Let's see what God has for us,
  • 00:51:49
    and we'll see you soon.

Process, journal or discuss the themes of this article - here's a few questions to get the ball rolling...

Welcome to the Weekend Follow-Up. The questions below are for the weekend of May 22 & 23 2021.

  1. If you’ve been around Crossroads for 1 day or 11 years, share your favorite Crossroads memory.

  2. Read Romans 10:14. At Crossroads, we do anything short of sin to reach our friends so they can know God. Brainstorm ways you can lean in to reach more of your friends.

  3. Crossroads is a community that is generous. Discuss why generosity is important and what you’ve seen because of generosity.

  4. We are obsessive includers. Take two mins and think of a person in your life who doesn’t know God and share that name with the group and why that person came to mind. Then send them a text inviting them to something you’re doing — maybe it’s attending the weekend message together next week.

  5. Now close your time in prayer. Here’s an example: “God we thank you for the gift of community. We thank you for your generosity and love that you have for us and all the people who seek after you. We ask that you deepen our relationships and connect the people who are disconnected to the most loving community you’ve built. Amen.

More from the Weekend

Volunteers run this place. Click here to get connected and make this place feel a little smaller.

0 people are discussing these questions

(This stuff helps us figure out how many fruitcakes to make come December)

You must include at least one person

Got it! Enjoy your discussion.


May 22, 2021 52 mins 1 sec

Recent Series