Archive for October, 2018
This Week at Cross Church | Thank You, Ben Mayes
Thank You, Ben Mayes
Twenty years ago, our church called Ben Mayes to join our team as Executive Leader of Finances and Operations. Ben is a great brother in Christ, highly competent, and with the growth of Cross Church, connected ministries, and Shiloh Christian School, he oversees the management of at least $35 million annually. Every year, we receive the highest grade on all financial audits. Our Board of Directors and staff team have complete confidence in Ben. We love Ben and Sue. Congratulations on twenty years and thank you, Ben and Sue Mayes, for all you do for the Cross Church Family and ministries, as well as Shiloh Christian School.
Speaking of Finances
On October 1, we began our new Ministry Budget of $20,800,000. I pray you will join us in practicing and living out first tenth giving and generosity weekly. This is imperative for each of us in our walk with Christ, but it is also a blessing for Cross Church. Our ministry has much before us. So many depend on this ministry and we depend on the Lord together to meet all these needs through Cross Church. Thank you, church family, for all you are doing for the gospel and its advancement across the world.
Speaking of Advancing the Gospel Globally
With our giving through the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention, we join in partnership with over 47,000 other churches across America to advance the gospel statewide, nationally, and globally. In this new fiscal year, we have increased our commitment to give through the Cooperative Program. Therefore, by the end of September 30, 2019, our Cross Church Family will give no less than $1.3 million through the Cooperative Program. This is another reason we need to give through the Ministry budget of Cross Church. Last year, Cross Church was the #2 church in total monies given through the Cooperative Program. It is a joy for our church to give in partnership with other Southern Baptist churches to advance the gospel through all of our Great Commission ministries across Arkansas, America, and the entire world.
No Greater Commitment to Advance the Gospel than Right Here in Northwest Arkansas
Northwest Arkansas is our highest priority in gospel advancement. It is incumbent upon us to reach every age of every generation of every ethnicity in Northwest Arkansas. This is a must, an imperative, and we believe a biblical command. Acts 1:8 calls us to reach Northwest Arkansas, America, and the World for Jesus Christ. From personal witnessing to preaching the gospel to compassion ministries to major events that stretch us into reaching the lost without Christ, Acts 1:8 is always on our hearts.
Who’s Your 1?
From mission ministries to worship ministries to small group ministries, we are asking you to join in mass participation and attendance on one of our four campuses on Sunday, October 21. On this day, we will preach the gospel clearly, simply, and evangelistically with the ultimate cause to call men, women, boys, and girls to a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. We will also welcome Sadie Robertson from Duck Dynasty on all three of our Northwest Arkansas campuses. Will you pray now about Who’s Your 1? Who is the 1 person you will invite, pray for, and bring with you? Who is the 1 who needs to come to Christ and be saved? Bring them to Cross Church on October 21. It is a major day for mass participation and attendance! Let’s make this a fantastic day for our great Savior and Lord Jesus Christ.
See You Sunday,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
The Way Forward Post-Kavanaugh
I don’t know about you, but the past three weeks have been some of the worst I have seen in my lifetime.
Rarely have I witnessed so much unrestrained hate and vitriol on social media. Shouting matches, offensive retorts and extreme profanity were not an uncommon sight.
One professor went as far as to call for the “miserable deaths” and torture of senators in a grotesquely graphic and violent way, while celebrities cursed off our elected officials with the foulest language.
Even if you were off social media, you couldn’t escape the chaos. It followed us into our workplaces, churches and homes and even invaded our most intimate relationships. It pitted men against women, conservatives against liberals, celebrities against politicians — you name it.
At some point, we lost sight of how to engage with each other in a sincere pursuit of truth. We worked feverishly to prove ourselves right, but we didn’t make an effort to understand each other.
Whatever your inclination on the whole issue — whether the confirmation should or should not have taken place — our infighting has left America divided more than ever before. It has left us more hurt, more tribalized and more cynical than ever before.
Sadly, when our opinions become more important than people, we all lose relationally.
So how do we move forward from here?
I believe there’s now one — and only one — way forward for America: we must pray earnestly for unity and work intentionally toward reconciliation.
It’s incumbent upon the church of Jesus Christ to be a force of unity, love and civility both within and without. Jesus appealed to us that we are to be distinguished from others by one thing alone: our love. “Love one another, just as I have loved you,” he instructed his disciples (John 13:34).
In fact, Jesus took it a step further and taught us that we ought to love and pray for not only those who agree with us but also those who oppose us. He put it this way: ‘If you love only those who love you, what reward is there for that?’, and ‘If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else?’ Matthew 5:46-47 NLT
But it has to start with us, the followers of Jesus Christ. The fellowship within each of our churches and our fellowship together as Christ-followers needs to be one that binds us together in love and unity.
This does not grant us a permission slip for moral compromise or an excuse for not standing strongly for our convictions. We have these and should have these even in this turbulent moment in history. But, in the following days and weeks, as tensions will continue to flare up across America, our greatest force needs to be the constancy of Christ’s love in and through us.
And remember: It is never enough just to do the right thing, but we must do the right thing in the right way.
If we want to see unity in America, we cannot only talk about it. We have to live it out — in our workplaces, our churches, our homes and in our own relationships. A divided church cannot call a divided nation to unity.
I hope that if you’re reading this you will take it to heart and resolve to pray for our nation’s unity and to work for reconciliation. We are only as strong as we are united.
Now is the Time to Pray,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.