A sad goodbye

Fred won't want me to do this, but I haven't gotten where I am in life by listening to Fred Turner!

The following is an excerpt from a post I made this morning on my personal blog:

The loss of Fred and Jen to St. Awesome's is a terrible one. Fred brought sincerity, transparency and warmth to our church community. He was a voice of wisdom, humor and, when needed, healing. We'll never see another one like him come through the doors.

And though Jen wasn't a staff member, the loss of her to St. Awesome's is equally devastating. Jen is funny, and warm and enjoyably sarcastic at all the right times. Like a lot of the staff wives at our church, there's a realness to Jen that, unfortunately, you don't always see in women married to ministers. Jen, like Fred, is transparent and everyone is the better for it.

Worse than the loss to our church, though, is the loss to me personally. Fred has, over the past few years, become one of my best friends. He's one of the few people I know who can improve my mood simply by being in the room. There's going to be a big hole in my life that he and his beautiful wife used to occupy.

Fred, Jen, I love you guys. I'm excited about the greener pastures that lie ahead of you, and want nothing but the best for you. You're going to be missed, though, in ways that I can't even begin to elaborate on properly.

I know everyone is as devastated to see Fred and Jen go as I am. Use the comment section to let Fred and Jen know what they, Colston, and Addy have meant to you.

Thank you from the Carter Family

If you are new to the Crossroads community, you might have heard about a loss that the Carter family and our community has had recently with the death of Natalie Carter (an almost 2 year old at the time). The family wanted to thank everyone for their support. The following is from their words:

It's hard to form into words the emotions that have engulfed us over the past 4 1/2 weeks. We've always loved Jesus and Crossroads but never knew how much we needed them both until this tragedy. We continue to go through the daily motions but now cling to the hope and promises of seeing Nati again soon. Our eyes have been opened to look toward heaven and to see the magnificence of it. Our hope is others now see that too and personally know Jesus so they can see Nati and experience her "big hugs".

Thank you is too small of a word for you all to truly understand what you have meant to us. People we don't even know, yet are a part of the body of Christ, have come together and formed the truest definition of "church". Our thanks and gratitude for all the prayers (keep them coming!), cards, food, gifts, etc. Jesus is so proud of you all.

Much love,
Erika, Bryan & Brady Carter

A Place to Belong

This week, Glen talked about people in our life that have "Refrigerator Rights". By the way-I will personally give all of you refrigerator rights to ours, but I just hope you like jelly and Mountain Dew.

He also mentioned the fact that Crossroads has a community of people called the "Freebirds" that have started sharing life together. I wanted to share one email from a member of this group that has experienced this personally. This email reminds me of how God can work through others.


We moved to Lexington the summer of 2004. We joined Freebirds at the time it was formed. It was great to be able to meet so many people and to be able to have different experiences with them. The group has so many backgrounds and skills. We have found it to be a learning experience, a lot of laughter and caring people. The support, especially the prayer support has been important to me. Nola and I both believe in the power of prayer.

Last May I was diagnosed with leukemia and it was aggressive. The doctor prescribed 6 cycles of chemotherapy at about one per month, starting in May. After the second cycle, I was given a PET scan and a CAT scan. These results with the blood results, indicated I was in remission. The doctor was utterly amazed. I do not want to take anything away from modern medicine, but I consider this a miracle. I still have to complete the full six cycles, as the doctor wants to give me every chance of a long remission. The prayers, cards and phone calls were very helpful in giving me strength toward getting healthy again, so we can both participate in the Freebirds functions.
Terry and Nola

Xroads on Facebook

Okay, so all the talk about Facebook a couple of post back inspired me to start poking around in the account I opened a while back but then did nothing with.

One of the results of said poking around was the creation of a Crossroads group. I think this link should take you there. If not, do a search for "St. Awesome's (Crossroads Christian, Lexington, Ky)."

If you don't have a Facebook account but all of this sounds like fun (and for those of you who are worried, Facebook is not a dating service and is not something age-restrictive) then go to www.facebook.com and start an account. My page is here. Request me as a friend and we'll totally be best friends 4evah!

Extreme Team: Birmingham, Al

Crossroads is sending an Extreme Team to Birmingham, AL this weekend (Friday through Sunday night). The team consists of 11 folks from Crossroads and will be assisting The Church at the Well with their grand opening services in a new building. Brent and Lauren Birch and their staff are really excited about the extra help this weekend in the children's ministry, greeting, tech assistance, and distributing flyers. The team will also be serving afterwards at the church picnic by setting up and grilling food.

The team consists of the following.

Doug Durick
Laurette Durick
Lee Kemp
Hudson Kemp
Derek Inouye
John Pearson
Margie Wilcoxen
Wayne Bragg
Cindy Bragg
Emily Bragg
Rachel Bragg

Please keep these folks and The Church at the Well in your prayers