What’s Up Crossroads

The Oklahoma Mission Trip team is collecting items for a May/June garage sale!

Proceeds will go towards the costs of the mission. 

Do you have items for donation?  You can bring them to Kevin and Julia Clarks home @ 8841 M-50, Onstead

Need someone to pick up the items you wish to donate?  Call 517-467-2103.

Baby items and furniture are welcomed!  Thank you for your assistance!

Ahhh…remember the days… friendship and fun in the sun?  Well, no matter what your age or stage in life, we have a great opportunity for you to enrich THIS summer for youth attending Crossroads!

Summertime is just around the corner and Crossroads Youth have an awesome opportunity to attend Lake Ann Camp for the first year as a group!  The program and facilities are top notch.  Youth leadership has chosen this as THE place for growth with its values and ability to provide a Christ centered camp experience.  According to Pastor Milan, “This week is one of the best time and money investments I have encountered in ministry with students”. 

Pastor Milan also knows that money is tight for families these days.  Lake Ann Camp has offerred a $90 discount for each Crossroads camper, as first time campers.  But, the full cost (including transportation) is $305.  This is an opportunity for all Crossroaders to partner with parents to send kids to camp!  Our goal is to send 100 Crossroads Youth to camp, and more importantly take another step with Christ!   Here are some opportunities:

           Sponsor - Make one or more contributions to cover the full cost of a child’s camp fees.  The family/child receiving the contribution will know that their camp costs have been generously covered and in appreciation will ”give” back to the ministry or church.

SupporT- Provide supplemental monies to a fund that will assist families with their balance for the camp.  Your extra cash may add up to be the final nudge these youth and families need to turn in their registration! 

           Employ- “the best things in life are free”… Nah!  We don’t feel that giving a child a trip to camp is going to enrich their experience. There are youth who are eager to earn their costs to go to camp.  Want some raking done?  Need some help moving things around the house?  Spring cleaning or car washing to do?  Let us know and we will connect you with a bundle of energy in exchange for financial support for camp!

          Pray- for our Youth, our families, our ministry, and Lake Ann.  Let this be a fantastic journey with Christ to assist these young people in their personal growth.

Camp registration has begun and will continue through the week.  To connect through one of the ways listed above, or to learn more about the camp or youth ministry please call the church at 517.266.1919 or email milanbittenbender@ilovemychurch.org

The Cruisers are in full swing for what could possibly be the best Bike Blessing event ever.  We have had inquiry via communication cards for two possible new members and this is always exciting.  The members of this group make this an absolute joy to be involved.  As for needs, all we need is prayer for good weather on the 10th of May for the event, and for any way to promote the event to those we are trying to reach.  The first of two radio tapings has been done and it was a blast.   If anyone knows if there are any face painters that might be willing to be at the event for any children that might be there that would be great.   

Crossroads Cruisers Bike Blessing, Show and Rodeo

May 10th 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

CFC Grounds

All are welcome!

For more information check out the What’s Happening Centre or Call/Email the church office.

• Co-Ed Recreation - Thursday night games (game times 6-9 pm).  The games begin May 22-July 31st.  Cost is $20/player or $30 if player needs a jersey.
•  Men’s Rec league-Monday night games (game times 6-9 pm).  The games begin May 12-July 21st.  Cost is $20/player or $30 if the player needs a jersey.    
•  Men’s Competitive - Tuesday night games (game times 6-9 pm).  The games begin May 13-July 22nd.  Cost is $20/player or $30 if player needs a jersey.

Hurts, habits, and hang-ups: that’s life, right? Everyone encounters them and Celebrate Recovery is committed to helping you experience Christ’s healing and freedom from them. Celebrate Recovery will help you find community and celebrate God’s healing power in your life through the “8 Recovery Principles.” On Wednesday, April 23 at 6 p.m., Celebrate Recovery will be offering an open house designed to give you a taste of Celebrate Recovery without any obligation. Enjoy refreshments, stories of life change, and more.Questions please feel free to call Randy Lighthall 517-605-7958 or e-mail
celebraterecovery@ilovemychurch.org.

The stories of how Project Share 2007 impacted this community continue. Here’s another one…exciting for sure! It comes from Burt Fenby, Director of Community Action Agency in Adrian. We partnered with Burt and CAA last December to help identify, screen, and select food recipients from our Project Share.

Burt called the church office last Friday afternoon and explained (very excitedly) that last week he received a call from Feed the Children wanting to know if they could use excess food that they had up in Jackson. The short of the long story is that CAA ended up referring the food to Salvation Army and they transported 14,000 pounds of food to the Salvation Army here locally last week. He said it took 2 trips to get it all. In Burt’s words…  “We continue to benefit from the Project Share partnership!”

God is amazing! This story comes in the wake of a Daily Telegram news report that the food pantries in the Lenawee County area were nearly empty!

We’re going to see Project Share again. Mark your calendar… Project Share 2008 is coming! The date for food distribution is Saturday, December 6.

Some Easter photos courtesy of Joe Oliver are posted on Crossroads Flickr site. Click here.

There is a small group of Crossroaders who are training for the Chicago Marathon. We have a page at:

http://www.mapmyrun.com/community/groups/329213350

People are welcome to join us. If your a runner or even if your not, we’d love to have you join us!

Pastor Milan and the Students team is praying for and would appreciate partnership in prayer for:

Small group leaders. In particular, we have positions open for a minimum of 14 adults who can adopt and embrace a specific small group of students for whom they can become a mentor and friend. We are praying for people who have a passion for helping young people get a vision for a life fully devoted to Christ. Highly relational adults who want to develop a small community of students who can sharpen one another through deep discussion, prayer, encouragement and accountability. We are looking for people who can love teens and pray for them and encourage them as they “do life together”.

Foyer Event Creative Team. We hope to be able to create some irresistible events where students can’t wait to invite their not-yet-believer friends. For this team, we have openings for people who are wildly creative, outgoing, spontaneous and fun - but also have a deep passion for reaching that student who is far from God with a compelling Gospel message. These types of events will be a huge turn-off if they are not done right. We are praying for God to provide about five to seven people who can work together to make it happen right.

Living Room Environment Coordinators. There are several trips/events throughout the year that are designed to get teens interacting as they explore the truths and wisdom of scripture and God’s calling on His people.There are about six openings for people gifted in the area of organization who can help us coordinate these events and make it possible for lots of teens to come together and take steps toward Christ after conversion.

For each of these three areas, we also have openings for people who can provide leadership to these teams. I know that leadership rises over time, but I am praying that God will begin bringing these people to our attention so we can begin building into them now.

So, we are praying and would appreciate prayer for God to begin to speak into these people a vision for reaching students. I am praying that they will develop a hunger and when the time is right, God will open the doors of communication so we can meet and begin the assimilation process.

I do want to give praise to God for answering our prayers last time. As I wrote before, after the first time I posted, God has revealed five new leaders. We are in the process of getting them involved now. That is awesome progress, but we have so far to go.  For more information on any of this contact Milan @ 517.266.1919 or milan@ilovemychurch.