Guest Post: Jeff Crawford: The Cross Church School of Ministry – Lessons Gleaned at the One-Year Mark
Today, RonnieFloyd.com welcomes guest writer, Dr. Jeff Crawford. Dr. Crawford is the President of Cross Church School of Ministry and a Teaching Pastor at Cross Church.
In just a few short weeks, we will graduate our first class of students from the Cross Church School of Ministry. Our one-year ministry residency is uniquely designed to prepare next generation leaders for life, ministry, and gospel advancement globally. As we approach the one-year mark, we are in evaluation mode, conducting exit interviews, and doing critical analysis, etc.
Part of this process has led me to some serious self-reflection on the program that just a short 18 months ago was only a vision on a piece of paper between Dr. Ronnie Floyd and me. I say “serious self-reflection” because this is serious business – the business of training up God-called men and women. Our current model of training, which relies solely on our colleges and seminaries, is in near crisis mode with 50% of those called to ministry QUITTING within the first five years. We can do better. We must do better.
While the jury is still out on ministry retention rates for our Cross Church School of Ministry, I have observed the following in our first year:
- The future is in excellent hands…with a generation of supremely engaged leaders who are called and ready to make a difference for the Kingdom. It has been my privilege to spend one year with ten of the finest men I have ever been around. They are passionate, humble, biblical, and godly. They are savvy to the culture and ready to go. In the coming weeks, you can meet them and hear a word about their experience with us on the Cross Church School of Ministry website.
- The need for the Cross Church School of Ministry is REAL. We definitely hit a chord with the idea of a one-year ministry residency. A whole year of learning HOW to actually DO ministry by being part of one of the most dynamic churches in the United States – Cross Church. Our first class has echoed this sentiment. I’ve entertained numerous phone calls and even site visits from other churches seeking to learn more about what we are doing and how it can be duplicated. We have shared freely with all those wanting to talk and dream. I’ve lost count of the number of people inquiring about coming to us, even from around the world. And next year, we will nearly double our numbers. Some will be bringing whole families to us. Women will join our program for the first time, and we will even have international students with us.
- Iron really does sharpen iron. Because the Cross Church School of Ministry utilizes the ministry residency approach, the caliber of our own ministries at Cross Church has gone up, even as we have taken this first class of students “up” in their calling and competency to ministry. I know that personally, I am a better minister of the Gospel for having these next gen leaders to rub shoulders with. They have encouraged, enlightened, and informed me. They have also accelerated the ministry of our church with their contribution. When they graduate next month, they will leave a massive hole. BUT…it’s a hole that will be filled just two weeks later by the next cohort coming in. They will be green and raw, but ready to go! And thus it will start all over again.
Our program was great in year one. And it’s going to be better in year two. If you know of a God-called man or woman who needs the unique experience of a ministry residency, send them to us. Let us pour the best of who we are into them for one year. Let them engage one of our many partnerships for academic credit toward a degree. Then, let us send them back to you to take you and your church “up”…all for the sake of the Kingdom!
Dr. Jeff Crawford
President, Cross Church School of Ministry
Teaching Pastor, Cross Church
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
Connecting in Christ
It is a danger in American Christianity when church membership is viewed no differently than membership in a club or organization. You attend, pay your “dues,” carry out some responsibilities, and you’re a member. Many seem to think church membership has its privileges; the right to complain, the right to command, etc.
But this is wrong. Very wrong.
The Church is not a Club
Part of the danger of the club mentality of church memberships is this: we believe the benefits of membership are truly about us. But, according to Scripture, each person is a member because it benefits the entire body of believers. Thom Rainer, the president of LifeWay Christian Resources, says it like this: “We’ve all belonged to organizations where we pay our dues and are entitled to certain benefits in return. The problem occurs when we bring this same mentality to church. Church membership isn’t about having our needs met.”1
The Apostle Paul was clear about the relationship believers have with each other in the local body. Each person in the church has a role just like arms, legs, eyes, and ears have functions in the human body. The distinctions are real and necessary to complete everything God plans to accomplish in any local body. “But now God has placed each one of the parts in one body just as He wanted. And if they were all the same part, where would the body be? Now there are many parts, yet one body.”2
Connecting in your Church
The best way to connect in the local church is not through attending worship. The larger the crowd, the more difficult it is to connect. Connections are more likely in smaller groups where burdens can be borne, concerns shared, conversations held, and life lived together.
Every believer needs community. None of us are “lone rangers.” Paul again reminds us, “So the body is not one part but many.”3 There are no individual bodies of Christ, only corporate bodies. We support and are supported as one body.
In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul teaches the same truth using the metaphor of marriage, “In the same way, husbands are to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hates his own flesh but provides and cares to it just as Christ does the church, since we are members of His body.”4
To experience community, get connected to small groups in your church. Whether it’s called Sunday School, small groups, LifeGroups, Community Groups or something else, be sure to get involved. Growth happens best in community.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Senior Pastor, Cross Church
General Editor, Bible Studies for Life
1– BSFL Fall 2014, Connected: My Life in the Church, by Thom Rainer.
2– 1 Corinthians 12:18-20, HCSB
3– 1 Corinthians 12:14, HCSB
4– Ephesians 5:28-30
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.