Archive for April, 2017
This Week at Cross Church | People Came to Christ on Easter Weekend
This past weekend on Saturday and Sunday, we had 238 people who indicated they are standing for Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord. In our fifteen services on the five campuses of Cross Church, people were changed by the power of the gospel. If you missed Easter weekend with us, you can watch the message here. Please share this link with friends who may need Christ or with Christ followers who need to further their stand for Jesus today.
Attendance and Reach Expanded
We experienced a 10% surge in overall worship attendance on our campuses over last year’s Easter weekend worship services. We give praise to God alone. Cross Church was able to reach just over 17,500 individuals in Northwest Arkansas last week! Again, all praise to God alone. In addition to the 238 individuals who indicated they were standing for Christ in one of our weekend services, we also had 68 individuals come to Christ, for the first time in their life, throughout the week for a total of 306 decisions. Pray for our pastors this week as diligent, personal follow-up continues to occur. As in any experience in church life, the time of year, type of weather, and where Easter falls relating to Spring Break affects everything. While Easter and all relating to the week can demonstrate our stretch and reach as a church and give us opportunities to engage many people on a given weekend, we each know, it still comes down to Sunday by Sunday, day-by-day, making a difference for Jesus Christ here in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri. 
“Living With Purpose,” 4-Week Series Begins Sunday at Cross Church
Over the next four weeks, we will be preaching a series on the subject, Living With Purpose. Last May, we commissioned a survey of thousands of our members and non-members. From it, we learned that finding purpose in life is a major need for people on every campus and across every age range. It was surpassed only by the desire for teaching through books of the Bible and on marriage. Forty percent of the people who indicated they were not Christians but were present on the day we took the survey listed finding purpose as their #1 need for help. It is the #1 topic for new believers and for Christ-followers not serving in a ministry. Finding purpose was also listed as the #1 topic for those who are single, divorced, or separated. Finding purpose is a universal need. Invite people to attend worship services with you for the next four weeks . . . people want to find purpose. We are under the mandate as church leaders, according to Ephesians 4:11-12, to equip the saints to do the work of the ministry in order to build up the body of Christ. This series is a direct response to that charge. We want our people to become all God has intended them to become in Him.
Send Your Children and Teenagers to One of Our Summer Camps
Invest in your children spiritually. I promise you, one of the most effective ways this can occur is sending your children to one of our summer camps. We have links to each one for more information and how to register your students today. Again, of all the things you do for them, nothing will move their hearts to God more than a few days away at a church camp.
- June 12-15 – Kids Camp
- June 25-30 – Beach Camp
- July 4-6 – Middle School Camp
I will see you Sunday at Cross Church as we begin “Living with Purpose,” our new 4-week series.
Invite a friend, family member, neighbor, business associate, or an acquaintance. People are looking for purpose. Let’s do all we can to help them find it in Jesus Christ.
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Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Every Hill You Face is Not Worth Dying On
The greatest leadership lesson I have ever learned is: Every hill you face is not worth dying on. If I had practiced this in my previous churches and perhaps during the first few years here, I believe my influence would be greater and the ministry would be more effective.
I have seen ministers let their stubbornness and pride wreck their leadership in the home and in the church. When you have the clarity and wisdom to not die on every hill, your leadership can be long and effective.
Whether you are a rookie pastor or an experienced minister: Every hill you face in leadership is not worth dying on. When the pastor practices this, the church will flourish. The fellowship will be sweeter, the growth will be greater, and the preservation of this growth will be more successful.
How I Learned This
How did I learn this important truth? It did not happen at a particular point, but through a process. Some things in leadership you can only learn through the growth of the entity you are assigned to lead. The growth of the organization in structures, personnel, dollars, and expectations requires the leader to operate by the conviction that every hill he faces is not worth dying on.
There are times that I could have carried more people with me along the church’s vision path if I had been more patient and personal along the way. In the name of “urgency” or “reaching,” we can sometimes push “hurry” too much and too often. This is not an asset, but a liability.
The Christian life is not about being right — it is about being Christ-like
Most Christians are more interested in being right than they are in being Christ-like. Pastor and church leaders, the Christian life is not about being right — it is about being Christ-like. If Satan cannot get you to do the wrong thing, he will get you to do the right thing in the wrong way. When you think you are always right, you will die on needless hills. When you constantly have to prove you are right and don’t take the time to work toward making the best decision in the right time and in the right way, you lose influence and leadership.
3 Hills Worth Dying On
There are three hills that are worth dying on no matter what anyone else thinks.
1. Truth – You must be willing to die on the hill of God’s truth found in Scripture.
You must stand in your pulpit, in your meetings, and everywhere else you go with the confidence that the Bible is God’s truth for today and always. In my ministry, I have seen more people willing to die for their tradition than die for the Truth of God’s Word.
2. Morality – Jesus was very clear that we are to be the salt and light of the world.
We must be the moral conscience of our region, nation, and world. Biblically, we have no alternative. We have to impact our culture. When we do, there are times that our faith will collide with the culture.
3. The Great Commission – The Great Commission should consume every Christian and church.
For a church to advance toward the future in terms of health and growth, the church needs to be emblazoned by the Great Commission. There is no one in the church who ought to be more fired up and passionate about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with every person in the world and making disciples of all the nations than the pastor.
When You Go to the Hill
Pastor, a good leader determines not only which hills to die upon, but he also chooses the timing.
Let me give you a strategic grid to go through before you ascend the hill:
- Leadership has to be clear
- Processes have to be thorough
- Timing must be right
A wise leader does everything in God’s timing, by God’s Word, and in God’s power.
Now is the Time to Lead,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.