The Ignite Kaleide Event

At least once a quarter, Crosspointe cancels regular services and instead of coming to the church to be blessed, we go out and bless the community.   Since David-the-Artist-Pastor has been teaching the past several weeks on the life of John-the-Baptist being a light life that ignites others, Magical-David-and-Kylie came up with the idea to make this Kaleide event about blessing firefighters.

So this morning, we met at the parking lot of Killian Middle School and prayed together, then set out into the community with hams and steaming dishes in hand.

I love this concept of blessing.  In fact, I was trying to think of a different word to use in this post, and just couldn't find one.   So, blessing it is!  Anyway, it was really great to "bless" people with a meal who serve our community. And as it turned out, they blessed us by giving us a glimpse of a life we'd heard about, but never really get to see.

Tomorrow, we get to BE the church...

It may come as a surprise that tomorrow we are not having church--at least not in the traditional sense. Tomorrow, we are being the church in the most traditional sense possible.

Crosspointe has a partnership with Christian Community Action (CCA) an organization that "ministers to the poor by providing comprehensive services that alleviate suffering, bring hope and change lives."  CCA receives many requests from people in transitional economic challenges.  In most cases, the families are "the working poor" who have been hit by illness, layoffs or a major unexpected financial need. 

CCA often receives requests where the resources simply aren't there to complete the request for aid. Crosspointe is meeting the needs of some of these families that fall in between. We've divided up into teams.  Each team leader has called the family to find out what the needs are.  Then, each group is pooling resources to be able to not only meet that need, but go above and beyond where possible. 

It can be life changing stuff--both for those who give and those who receive.  Last year, when we did this we met the most incredible people. Two families which joined us beyond Christmas.  I share one e-mail received in September as one families journey took them back home...

I hold each and every one of you at Crosspointe in my heart and I could not have gotten to where I am in my life without your generosity. I so cannot believe how you blessed me and my girls.


We are doing extremely well here and I cannot express in words how "blissful" our lives are now that we are back near family. These are really good times. We found a good church here and I am looking forward to getting connected there with a small group.  I love my new job.............God has opened the windows of Heaven on us and it is a really extraspecial place to be in my faith. Love you guys so much...

A very real fulfillment of completing CCA's mission to "alleviate suffering, bring hope and change lives."   Which as it turns out, isn't only CCA's mission, but ours too.

Thoughts from KALEIDE

Hey everybody, our amazing WORSHIPCULTIVATOR, Karen Vincent sent in her thoughts on this weekend's KALEIDE event, check them out:

"I had a great experience going through the time of spiritual exploration at the Kaleide event. Some of the exercises I had done before, and some were new to me. The most significant moment was during my time of communion. I’ve probably taken communion over a thousand times during my life, but this time it felt more personal. I could hear Jesus urging me, “Karen, take the cup! It’s for you. Everything I sacrificed for and everything I have to offer is for you, today, at this moment.”

After completing the journey, I walked past the place where I had my time of centering prayer. I was reminded of the one word that came to me earlier - empty. I had felt empty and dry, in need of something - anything from God. Again I felt like God spoke to me and told me that I no longer needed to feel empty. He had now filled me with His mercy, grace, and presence. I had just drank from His cup and was now filled.

Overall this whole experience reminded me that when I choose to set aside time for God, He is there, waiting for me. He actually desires to communicate with me. I just need to make room in my life so that He has the opportunity.

I’d love to hear from others of you about your experience at Kaleide and how it impacted you." 

Being the Church

This Sunday, instead of meeting inside Killian Middle School for our Gathering and "going to church", Crosspointe canceled the morning Gathering and became the church. We met outside in 25 degree cold and enjoyed some hot coffee and donuts before we gathered together to sing a Christmas carol, pray, and get into our teams. Gifts in hand, we separated into 8 teams to head to the homes of 8 families that CCA had helped us identify who could use our help and encouragement.

Thank you to all the team leaders and everyone else who put much thought and prayer into this. I know the families feel very special and blessed that they were chosen to receive this godly kindness.

We would love to hear your experience of the day. How did this experience affect you? What was your favorite moment of the morning?