Archive for July, 2016
This Week at Cross Church | Because of You, Cross Church
Summer has been phenomenal at Cross Church. The Gospel has been taken to the nations, lives have been changed at home and across the world, and it’s all because of you!
Kids Camp
In June, our Children’s Ministries took 152 children to camp. They not only had a great time, but learned about God’s love for them. 27 children will now spend eternity in heaven because they accepted Christ at Kids Camp. To God be the glory! 
Beach Camp
Our Student Ministries from all five campuses took 634 high school students to Beach Camp. It was a phenomenal week of strong messages and growing in the Lord. 83 students accepted Christ as their personal Lord and Savior at Beach Camp. Praise the Lord! 
Fireworks/Baptism at the Crosses
Our annual Fireworks and Baptism at the Crosses saw approximately 7,500 people gather at our Pinnacle Hills Campus. We celebrated not only our nation’s birthday, but the baptism of 63 people to the glory of God! This is always such a special day for our Cross Church Family, and I am grateful for it. 
Middle School Camp
Our Student Ministries from all five campuses took 329 middle school students to camp. They had a great week of challenging messages and opportunities to grow in the Lord. To the glory of God, 14 students gave their lives to Christ at camp and will never be the same. 
VBX
Across our five campuses, 1,909 children attended VBX and discovered the treasure of God’s work. 94 of those children made professions of faith, to the glory of God! We are so grateful for the opportunity to minister to children and families through VBX. 
IMPACT Clubs
All summer, our local IMPACT Clubs have been operating at full speed. We have eight different locations across Northwest Arkansas, and have seen 2,055 people in attendance. I am beyond thankful for this ministry that reaches our own communities with the Gospel of Christ. 
Mission Trips
Cross Church has reached the world this summer as well. We have sent 90 people on five different trips, nationally and internationally. We will not stop until every nation and people group has heard the gospel. 
ALL IN
This could not happen without you, Cross Church Family. Your faithfulness to give of your time, talents, and treasures to the glory of God is the only reason any of this has been able to happen. Let’s finish the summer strong. We must all be faithful in our giving, even when we are elsewhere. There are five ways to give, and you can sign up for recurring giving here. Thank you for being ALL IN to the glory of God!
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Guest Post | Preaching Sanctification by Nick Floyd
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Dr. Nick Floyd. Dr. Floyd is a Teaching Pastor at Cross Church.
When I was a kid, I always enjoyed going to the playground and playing on the seesaw. If you’re not familiar with this childhood joy, a seesaw is essentially a flat board with a handle on each side connected to something that makes it go up and down. You get on one end while your friend gets on the other. Up and down, up and down, and so on. Now all ten-year-old boys have done the same thing at some point. You wait until your friend is up in the air, you jump off, and your friend slams to the ground in pain. What happened? The seesaw got out of balance and it caused a crash.
All of us have an intense desire for our preaching to take root in our congregation’s heart and produce change in their lives. In other words, we want our people to be actively walking toward and through sanctification. In every sermon, there are two basic components that keep us balanced in preaching sanctification. These two are guided by an overall understanding of sanctification. Sanctification is closing the gap between your identity and your behavior. When our behavior lines up with our identity, we look more and more like Jesus. In many churches, the sermons usually lean to one end, resulting in a spiritual crash for people in pursuit of becoming more like Jesus.
We need look no further than Paul’s word to the Ephesian church. It is a beautiful picture of both components as he is pushing these Ephesian believers toward Christlikeness. In the first three chapters, Paul speaks in deep, rich theological language that powerfully exhibits the identity of the believer. In the last three chapters, he deals very specifically with matters of their behavior and what it practically looks like to follow Jesus. Paul preaching both topics gave a healthy perspective of what sanctification looks like.
Many times we have a tendency to only give the identity side of following Jesus. Pastors are usually people who have been to seminary, studied the Bible, and understand the absolute importance of embracing your identity in Christ. So, we preach the identity of the believer. The danger in only preaching on our identity is that it could easily produce a big head but a cold heart. We may be able to learn a lot in a sermon on Sunday but how is this affecting Monday?
The danger in only preaching on behavior is that we easily slide into a moralistic gospel. This gospel believes if I can continue to improve myself, then God will continue to love me. This type of preaching doesn’t produce cold hearts, but usually tired hearts. Preaching behavior without identity is a hopeless endeavor that leaves the people of God exhausted.
What we need is both. Preaching sanctification biblically means that we lift high the identity of the believer and the change that Christ has produced. Preaching sanctification also means that we lift high the call of Jesus to deny ourselves and follow Him in every aspect of our behavior. When both are preached faithfully from the Scriptures, we exude that we are serving Christ from our identity, not for our identity. We clearly proclaim that because Jesus has changed the very core of who I am, I begin to follow Him in every area of my life. Preaching both produces the people of God with a clear path towards Christlikeness. May our goal be to produce a congregation full of hot hearts ready to follow Jesus regardless of the cost!
Dr. Nick Floyd
Teaching Pastor, Cross Church
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.