This Week at Cross Church: Doctrine, Leadership, Fellowship, Cooperation, and Trust
After taking a week for Study and Vision Planning, then moving directly into leading our Staff Advance, with great anticipation I look forward to Sunday as I share with you from the Word of God. On Sunday, August 4, I will be completing our miniseries called, “When Jesus Comes To Church”. As I share with you from the book of Acts, come prayed up and ready to hear the Lord speak to you.
What We Will See This Sunday
On Sunday, our text will speak to us about subjects of great importance for any Christ-follower and local church. We will hear God speak to us about the importance of:
- Doctrine
- Leadership
- Fellowship
- Cooperation
- Trust
I promise, if you join us, God will have a word for you personally. If you will bring a guest with you, someone on the search for Christ or a Christ-follower already, they will leave encountering our Lord personally. Pray for Sunday. Bring your Bible. Invite others. Expect God to meet with us.
You Will Meet Several of Our Church Planters on Sunday
Since 2010, Cross Church has invested in and planted sixty-six churches across the world. You are an amazing church! Eighteen of our planters and thirteen of their wives have joined us this week for our Annual Staff Advance. As we have invested in them and their leadership, a few of them will be observing the ministry of Cross Church this Sunday. If you meet one of them…bless them, love them, hug them, encourage them, and pray for them. Many of them are in major cities, while others in some of our underserved regions of our nation.
Why Church Planting is Important
There are many reasons why church planting is important. As we learned together last week, it is biblical to plant churches. Each gospel church, regardless of size, can invest something with others in order to help plant a church. Tim Keller, a prolific author and influential Pastor in New York City said on July 12 (via Twitter):
A vigorous and continuous approach to church planting is the only way to guarantee an increase in the number of believers.
This is another reason why we invest in planting churches globally. Cross Church believes in church planting and church planters. This is why we want you to join us on Sunday, August 11. Our fellowship will be commissioning Drew and Emily Griffin on this date, as they leave for New York City, downtown Manhattan, to plant Cross Church New York City.
Preparing for the Fall
God is good. Football is beginning! Fall will soon be in the air. As we look towards the launching of our new church year on Sunday, August 25, let’s get involved. How?
- Attend weekly, rather than weakly
- Engage in a small group consistently, not coincidentally
- Serve in a ministry, not meaninglessly
- Give generously, not greedily
Will you do it? Let’s get after it!
Cross Church School of Ministry
The Cross Church School of Ministry welcomes its first students this fall. Cross Church is committed to developing leaders for the future, and the Cross Church School of Ministry is a unique way in which we can do this. Over the next year, our students will have the benefits of academia as well as hands-on ministry experience. We are convinced this will change the next generation of church leadership, all to the glory of God.
Thankful For Our Staff Team
I love our Staff Team. I am thankful for each of them. God is doing some wonderful things in and through each of them. Please pray for them daily.
Support them consistently. Encourage them frequently. Honor them publicly and privately. Give to them generously.
I Will See You Sunday
Yes, I will see you on Sunday. Let’s get ready for what God has to say to us.
Let’s expect God to meet with us and speak to us.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.
My Life Verses
On a spring afternoon in 1975, while sitting in my dorm room in the Sid Richardson Dormitory at Howard Payne University, I really sensed that God spoke to me some of the most powerful words in my life. Through His Word, the Bible, He shouted some words into my soul that still live today.
You see, I was about to complete my freshman year, and really did not want to get a secular job again for the summer. I knew God had something for me, but I did not know what it was. I wanted to preach. I wanted to make a Kingdom difference.
When We Are Desperate, God Speaks
I was so desperate for God to do something. As I cried out to Him, in time, the words written in the Scripture shouted at me. Surely you have been there in your life. You know, when the written words on the pages of the Bible stand up and shout truth to the deepest part of your soul.
Yes, to this simple college freshman preacher, desperate for God to use him, these words came to me from Psalm 75:6-7:
For promotion does not come from the east, north, or south; but God is the judge. He puts down one and sets up another.
Oh my, when He declared those words to me, I owned them! I claimed them. Better yet, those words owned me! Yes, when we are desperate, God speaks!
It Is Not Who You Know, But the God You Know
When I was growing up, I heard these words again and again from all kinds of people. You have probably also heard them: “It is not what you know, but who you know.” I bought into that phrase hook, line, and sinker, even though I did not know anyone of fame!
Growing up in my hometown of 5,000 people and being raised in a very small church, I did not know anyone with any great influence, and no one with great influence knew me. Yet, until that spring afternoon in 1975, I bought into that pseudo-counsel from the world, “It is not what you know, but who you know.”
Here is what I learned on that afternoon: “It is not who you know, but the God you know!” You see, that afternoon, it all connected. All of those private moments with God had helped me develop the most important relationship we have in life, our relationship with God Himself. Knowing Him is the key to your future.
God Uses People, But God Is Sovereign Over All People
Sure, God uses people, but let’s remember today: God is sovereign over all people! As I walked by faith in the power of Psalm 75:6-7, God placed people in my pathway of life. He used those people to lay the roadmap for my summer. I preached in all kinds of places, even in the state of Montana. He met all of my needs.
I am convinced God promoted me and raised me up that summer to teach me a long-term lesson about ministry. The life lesson was, “Ronnie, I will promote you, you don’t have to promote yourself.” I felt He did not want me to play by the bondage of the ministry game, but walk with Him and trust Him.
What happened in that dorm room in the spring of 1975 had a major impact on me. Psalm 75:6-7 are my life verses. I have tried my best to pray them consistently and to live by them daily.
Next week on Wednesday, August 7, I’ll talk about the Four Lessons Every Pastor Needs to Know that I have learned from these verses.
Yours for the Great Commission,
Ronnie W. Floyd
Dr. Ronnie Floyd is the President & CEO of the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee.