Thursday, December 21, 2006

Professions of Faith

I hope you are having an extremely happy Christmas! We are enjoying our time and our church and all the glory of our Lord’s birth, life, death and resurrection!
Excitement continues to build around Crosspoint as we prepare to ‘particularize’ in a few weeks – elders are elected, the pulpit committee has officially selected me as their candidate for senior pastor and in the midst of it, many of our regular attenders are officially joining the church.

What a joy for me to sit down with each one of them and hear their professions of faith! We have people from such diverse backgrounds and spiritual journeys all uniting to become a church that seeks to grow the Kingdom of God! It is awesome!
My main prayer request is for our lost friends who don’t know the joy of Christmas, especially Steven and Quan. Both are grappling with the good news of the gospel and wrestling with the issue of trusting Christ. Would you pray for their salvation!
Pray too for our church as we seek to build bridges into the lives our unbelieving friends! Pray that dozens would come to faith in 2007.
Graced
Jim

Crosspoint Presbyterian Church4061 King Springs RoadSmyrna GA 30082O-770.333.1775C-404.423.5466www.crosspointsmyrna.orgSnail Mail: PO Box 1956Smyrna GA 30081

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS Crosspoint Family…

How are your Christmas check lists coming? >>> People to shop for >>> Christmas movies to watch >>> Ads to ignore >>> Family to see >>> Parties to get to

As a family ourselves I want us to pay attention to another list this week and begin talking to our Daddy about these prayer needs.

1- JEFF AND JAMIE FINCHER. Jamie wrote, “I just went for my follow up appointment after my MRI. I have one disc that is severely herniated and 2 others that are slightly bulging. The current plan of treatment is to continue physical therapy exercises and lift as little as possible (since not lifting is impossible with 2 little ones) and be very careful when lifting. If any of my symptoms change for the worse she said they would probably admit me immediately for surgery. Obviously I will be doing everything possible to avoid this so I will be following Drs. orders and get as much help with the kids as possible.”
2- MS. VALERIE. She’s in New Orleans this week due to the death of a family member. For those of you who’ve met Alice, it was her father who passed. Pray for her family in their grief.
3- STEVEN AND QUAN. These are two guys who Jim’s been meeting and talking with ab0ut trusting Jesus. Both of them are wrestling with the gospel and the claims Jesus has made on their lives. Pray they surrender.
4- TRAVELING SAFETY. Obviously, many people will be traveling this holiday season. Pray for God to grant mercy to us all.
5- GRATITUDE. I struggle to be completely thankful for what I have so I too often become bitter when my lust for more stuff isn’t satisfied. Pray that the gospel would be enough for every person at Crosspoint and our families. Pray that we would not get caught up in all that glitters nor satisfied with Christmas-toy joy. May the full, forever joy of Jesus be absolutely ENOUGH.

Merry Christmas,

anthony

Monday, December 04, 2006

Pagan Power and Housekeeping

Pagan power and housekeeping.
I was just combining the two old posts from the 'Prayer Blog' that no one added anything to for months and I just couldn't delete this blog. It is about my pagan friend Steven, who is fighting the power of God the whole way to redemption.

Pagan Power?
How do you show God’s power to a pagan or to a culture that is too busy for God? How can you convince a skeptic that God is real? Can you? I can’t.
This past month God has been hammering my thick skull with this point: ‘Jim, you can’t do My work. No matter how hard you try Jim, you are still a sin-sick, grace-filled PERSON. I am God. You aren’t.’
So I am thrust back into the proper position – I’m asking YOU to pray to God that He would show HIS power:- To Steven, my pagan friend. He has been asking good hard questions and saying, ‘I will NOT compromise my beliefs and experiences.’ But he is still (miraculously) interested in this God (‘your God of the Bible’) who sent a blood sacrifice of His own Son for me. Steven is throwing down the gauntlet to ‘my God’ to prove Himself more powerful than his pagan experiences.
How can I show him God’s power? His own sin? His need for a King and Savior? Only God can do that. Will you ask?

How can I show God's power to a culture that is addicted to self, comfort, sex, instant everything. There is a subtle pressure to preach and live like pastor’s are cultural helpers – just here to make everybody more successful.
Pray that I will and Crosspoint will be honest and winsome as we present the Truth. THEN PRAY that God will open the ears of the deaf, give sight to the spiritually blind and heal the sickness of successful people who don’t even know they are sick!
So pretty much I’m saying either the Holy Spirit shows up and transforms people (like me) or we ought to pack up and go back to the suburbs.Which God is more powerful; the God of Heaven and earth or the God of this world?
Thanks for faithfully praying for us in our mission to ‘Be One to Win Everyone’
Graced
Jim

Tactics and Countermoves

Tactics and Countermoves. Many of you have been praying for Q… as we discuss the gospel over 4 meetings. Well guess what? someone has been trying to derail things, and he is proving to be creative, if not a bit desparate.

Q and I have had 2 really good meetings. He is very hungry. He is reading John and asking good questions. Last Friday, we were supposed to meet at Zucca’s for lunch. He never showed, so I thought he got caught at the sandwich shop and couldn’t make it. Turns out he was catching a ride from a friend from the store to the restaurant and the Smyrna PD pulled his friend over doing a little, as he put it, ‘racial profiling and drug prevention.’ His friend had no liscense on him, and neither Q, so they spent the whole afternoon at the station trying to clear things up…. Can you believe it?

Either way, Q and I are on for lunch this Friday. And he asked me to pick him up this time.

If you have a minute, please pray for Quan again and
- Our baby church - Crosspoint’s first church plant, Emmanuel Church, in East Paulding/Powder Springs is in full fund-raising and prayer support-raising mode. Our Co-Pastor, José Mateo and his launch team will be starting public worship in March 2007 pending pledges for $180k over the next 4 years. Click on the link below for more info or to sign up to pray.
- The working poor – Several of our families and hundreds more in our city are struggling financially. Pray for God’s provision and mercy and warm clothes and meals for all the needy. Pray that God would lead us as we take action!
- Electing first elders – This Sunday December 10th Crosspoint will elect its first elder candidates! It is a monumental day for us as we take more steps to becoming an official church.
- Spiritual growth – We are 6 weeks into a series on Romans and it is very challenging! Pray for all of us to grow in faith and the grace of God’s gospel!

Thanks for praying for us! The Moon’s are doing very well. I hope to catch a good picture for you over Christmas!
Grace and Love,
Jim

Link to Emmanuel Church’s Prayer Email – emmanuelpca@comcast.net
Link to Crosspoint’s Prayer Blog - http://crosspointsmyrna.blogspot.com
Link to Crosspoint’s Website – www.crosspointsmyrna.org