When we built our new building...

...we talked about thinking beyond ourselves and creating a space that wasn't just for us- but for the community to use.

Recently we compiled a list of ways we have opened up our facility to people who don't necessarily attend our church. Take a peek:

ATHLETICS
• Sunday night open gym
• Weeknights – Basketball, Volleyball, Dodgeball, Soccer, Wiffleball teams/leagues
• Kids Basketball and Soccer programs (Including parents – over 400 people/week)
WEEKDAY PRESCHOOL
• 152 FAMILIES
CIVIC ACTIVITIES
• Election polling location for 4 precincts
• Red Cross Emergency Shelter
• Mentoring afterschool program for Hayes Middle School
• Hayes Middle School teachers meetings
• Home school associations for events, i.e., graduation, drama, clubs
• Blood drives
• Multiple Neighborhood Association meeting
• Boy Scout/ Girl Scout meetings
• Eagle Scout Ceremonies
• Henry Clay Baccalaureate service
BUSINESSES
• Corporation meetings
• Jazzercise
• Spanish classes
• Corporate Memorial Services –after major tragedies
SUPPORT GROUPS
• Alcoholics Anonymous
• Al-Anon
• Emotions Anonymous
• Divorce Care
• Divorce recovery for elementary kids
• Grief Share
PARKING LOT
• Mowing company
• Hayes Middle School events
COMMUNITY PARTIES
• Big Bunny (Easter)
• Pumpkin Patch (Halloween)
ARTS/CULTURAL
• Ballet Winchester – Ballet Magnificat production
• Kidz Artz Institute
• Summer Music Classes
• Spirit Wind Dancers
ON SITE COMMUNITY CHARITY SUPPORT
• Inner city dinners
• Step By Step fund raisers
• Clothes and food drives
• Christmas gift drives
LOCAL COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
• Weddings
• Funerals
• Showers
• Birthday parties
• Pre-marriage Counseling
GROUP MEETINGS
• MOMS group meetings
• Game Night
• Handwriting Analysis

Isn't it great to be a part of a church that puts its building where its mouth is???

Did You Know...

...that we offer interpreting for the deaf at our 11:15 Sunday services?

Interpreters are stationed up front on the left side of the room.

If you have some friends in the Deaf community, feel free to pass the word!

On Steve Colbert

Bret Foster has a friend named Steve Beard who runs a website called Thunderstruck.org. Thunderstruck links to stories on the internet that deal with faith and pop culture. While visiting his blog one day I saw a quote by Steve Colbert from Comedy Centrals hilarious Daily Show spin-off The Colbert Report. Here's the quote:

"I love my Church, and I'm a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout. I was raised to believe that you could question the Church and still be a Catholic. What is worthy of satire is the misuse of religion for destructive or political gains. That's totally different from the Word, the blood, the body and the Christ. His kingdom is not of this earth."

I thought that was a great quote.

It's tempting to get excited whenever you find out a celebrity or someone you look up to believes the same way you do. Unfortunately, that feeling is usually rooted in a whole "Look! I told you Christians were cool!" attitude, which really isn't very useful. The joy should come from the fact that one more person is aware of Jesus' love and trying to live it out in their daily lives. It should be the same feeling whether you find out a celebrity is a Christian or the guy that delivers your mail is.

The rest of the short interview can be found here.

And yes, in case any of you think this sounds familiar, this is a repost from the old Reverb blog. I was watching Colbert last night and remembered writing about all of this and thought I'd use the new blog to revisit the idea.

I predict...

Back in the 1900's Ladies Home Journal made a series of predictions about what the future would look like. Here's a link to all of the predictions. I've posted some of the most interesting below.

-The American will be taller by from one to two inches. His increase of stature will result from better health, due to vast reforms in medicine, sanitation, food and athletics. He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs. The city house will practically be no more. Building in blocks will be illegal. The trip from suburban home to office will require a few minutes only. A penny will pay the fare.

-There Will Be No Street Cars in Our Large Cities. All hurry traffic will be below or high above ground when brought within city limits. In most cities it will be confined to broad subways or tunnels, well lighted and well ventilated, or to high trestles with “moving-sidewalk” stairways leading to the top. These underground or overhead streets will teem with capacious automobile passenger coaches and freight with cushioned wheels. Subways or trestles will be reserved for express trains. Cities, therefore, will be free from all noises.

-Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later. Even to-day photographs are being telegraphed over short distances. Photographs will reproduce all of Nature’s colors.

-No Mosquitoes nor Flies. Insect screens will be unnecessary. Mosquitoes, house-flies and roaches will have been practically exterminated. Boards of health will have destroyed all mosquito haunts and breeding-grounds, drained all stagnant pools, filled in all swamp-lands, and chemically treated all still-water streams. The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly

This got me in the mind to start predicting what life will look like 100 years from now. I predict in 100 years we'll no longer use Fossil Fuels (at least I hope we won't). I predict that all media whether it be television, radio, the internet, etc will be accessible through one device. I predict politicians will still lie a lot. I predict conventional guns will be replaced with laser guns that give anyone they hit uncontrollable diarrhea (at least I hope they are).

Your turn. What do you think the world will look like in 100 years?

Church Under The Bridge

You've probably noticed lots of references to something called Church Under The Bridge at Crossroads of late - and with good reason. CUTB is a multi-church effort to provide a worship opportunity and some valuable rescources to Lexington's homeless community. Recently a group from Crossroads hosted CUTB. Pictures follow. If you're interested in getting involved, call the church offices and they can get you in touch with the appropriate people.

Click on images to make them bigger.

Prayers Appreciated

Over the past several years, Crossroads has had several people on something called a "Prayer Chain". These people simply pray specifically for people that want prayer. This is what the Church is intended for; to care for each other. Recently, thank you cards came to the church to say how much they appreciated this team. Here are is an excerpt:

"Thank you for your expressions of concern during my Father's recent illness and death. I appreciate the prayers, emails, cards, phone calls and visits. We fell very blessed to be a part of such a loving church family. We covet your prayers through the days ahead."

Prayer is such a vital part of the church. Our community is very thankful for all of the time that you devote to God and for others.

If anyone else is in need of prayer, please feel free to post.

Easter at Xroads

Easter weekend has come and gone. All that's left are little bits of plastic Easter basket grass, the last fleeting ebbs of a chocolate buzz, and a plate of ham scraps in the fridge.

If you made it out to Crossroads this weekend then you know that a lot of cool stuff took place. There was a well attended sunrise service despite the bitter cold, there were pancakes (which I didn't get to partake in, but I hear they were awesome. Of course, how can a pancake not be awesome? It's a pancake...), and there were lots of new faces checking out our community for the first time.

I was able to snap a few pictures and record a short video over the course of the weekend. Most of my pictures kind of center around the services themselves and none of the other cool stuff that went on. I was serving on the tech team this weekend so I didn't get much of a chance to walk around.

If any of you have pictures from the pancakes breakfast, the big bunny party, or anything else, feel free to email them to me at patchdrury@gmail.com and I'll put them up here. And in the future, any of you who'd like to start helping me document everything that takes place at ol' Xroads via cameras and videos - please feel free!

So, if you made it out this weekend, what was your favorite part of the whole Easter shebang?

(Click pictures to make them bigger)

Harrison Cash Foster

Picture, as promised:

Colston Matthew Turner

Bret has promised to get me a couple of pictures of their new arrival as well.

What's your Easter plan?

Okay, so this weekend we've got several options going on at Crossroads for Easter services. There's the 5:30 pm service on Saturday night. Then on Sunday you've got a special sunrise service at 6:50 am then services at 8:00 am, 9:30 am, and 11:15 am.

What service do you guys plan on going to? You all probably heard Glen recommend that regulars attend a service other than the 9:30 or 11:15 to make room for new faces. So what's it gonna be? What service time is tickling your fancy at the moment?

Because I'm volunteering on the tech team this weekend I'll be all all the services (except for the sunrise service as it conflicts with tech team call times).

Then what's your plan after the services? Hanging out with family? Hunting Easter eggs? Eating a bunch of ham and then collapsing in bloated exhaustion on the floor?

It looks like I'll probably be having lunch with Sara's family and then taking a loooong nap.

First Wednesday

Don't forget that tonight is First Wednesday! If you're not familiar with First Wednesday, it's something new that started last month. On the first Wednesday of every month (see how they came up with the clever name) the Crossroads family comes together for a time of extended worship and fellowship. It starts at 6:30 pm. Show up in the main lobby and there will be people to help you figure out where you need to go.

More congratulations!

As Greg pointed out in the comment section of the post below this one, Bret and Sally Foster have welcomed a new addition into their family this morning. Harrison Cash Foster! Congratulations guys!

We really need to figure out what's causing all these pregnancies.

Congratulations!

As of yesterday, Fred and Jen Turner are now the proud parents of Colston Matthew Turner. Mother and child are both doing great. Hooray!

Buried culinary treasure

Blame it on Hollywood's ability to romanticize seemingly mundane things, but I've always regretted that I didn't live in a city big enough to have roving hot dog carts (none that I've ever seen anyway).

This Friday, though, I came a little closer to that dream than I ever have. I was in downtown Lexington for lunch and ended up in a place that I must have walked by a thousand times without ever noticing: Sam's Hot Dogs.

Sam's is a little hole-in-the wall hot dog place across from the courthouse. I got a hot dog with everything on it (everything here being mustard, ketchup, sour kraut, relish, onions, cheese, and chili). It was awesome. To make it even better, I was with Sara and we ate our dogs outside on a park bench. I know hot dogs and park benches are silly things to get excited about, but I loved it - and now am looking for any excuse I can to find myself back downtown for lunch.

Everybody has hole-in-the-wall restaurants they love. Since I didn't know about Sam's, it's conceivable that I've never heard of your favorite greasy-spoon either. So educate me! Tell me what out-of-the-way diners and hidden pizza joints you like to visit. I promise I won't tell anybody else. It'll just be our secret.