Sunday November 22nd was our last service. We are closing Crossmark because God has done what he has wanted to do in us.

This has been made evident to us in several ways. The families in our core group just haven’t been able to give it the priority it needs to plant a stable growing church. Pastor Will and Olivia’s second child is due and will be born any day. Our other pastor has his fourth child coming in Dec/Jan. The church has had people with different health issues that haven’t been the best. None of these are bad things. They are just where God has us in life.

We want to be clear. There was no sin involved, no personality issues, and nothing that was leading us to having to close the church. We just felt as a core group it was time to close because we just weren’t accomplishing the original mission that we wanted to do. We wanted to plant a church that non-Christians would want to and would come to. We wanted to plant a church where nominal Christians would desire and allow God to work in them to become phenomenal Christians. We wanted to be a church that made Jesus known better.

We weren’t meeting that goal. If a church isn’t meeting its goal then it should evaluate its effectiveness in fulfilling its purpose. We attracted some who just wanted to attend a new church. We had a few church hoppers and visitors and they were always welcome and came regularly. We were and are thankful for them and their sojourn with us.

Our goal though was to plant a church that reached a community for Christ. We weren’t doing that and decided it would be wiser to step back and re-evaluate how best to do it. Our pastors evaluated their lives and consulted their spouses and chose to focus on building their families before attempting to build another church or continue a church that wasn’t meeting its goals.

We rejoice that in our time together we have seen marriages saved, nominal believers chase after the phenomenal God, families reunited, a man called and dedicated to pastoral ministry, children dedicated to God, and the name of God being magnified.

We look forward to seeing what God will do from the fruit of our labors. We believe God is going to something awesome in all our futures.

Thanks and God bless for all those who supported us. Be in prayer as we continue to chase after God. Pray for our families and pastors to move to where God will have us. Pray that the work God began with Crossmark will go on until the Kingdom of God comes into this present age. Pray that God will continue to call people to live lives marked by the cross of Christ.

On behalf of my family and what was the Crossmark family may God richly bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you. May he be gracious to you. May the Lord’s name be upon you.

Sincerely,
Will Adair
lead pastor/church planter of Crossmark

Sorry We are Closed for Service

A Open Letter To Chris Canuel on his Ordination,

I don’t like to brag. Okay actually I do. Call it a natural reaction to having adorable kids.I do try to be humble in it. On September 19th, we as a Church believe God had a reason to brag a bit. He put his seal on the ministry of Chris Canuel through our new church start. So who is Chris Canuel? Well he is the guy who is always on twitter @chriscanuel and facebook. Additionally, Chris is the guys that will shortly be getting some info on the staff page. What does he do at Crossmark? He is our Associate to the Pastor & Pastor to the Children. He has 3 kids and 1 on the way. He loves kids. God is working in his life and we love it that God has started doing it at Crossmark Church.

As a Pastor I have a awesome responsibility and judgment before God affirming those who express interest in ministry. I know that I do a lot of things wrong. I have made a lot of mistakes in my ministry.I have confidence that this is not one of those mistakes. The Bible tells us in 1 Timothy 5:22 that we are not to be hasty in the laying on of hands. This includes in confirming someone that desires to be an elder in the local Church.

I met Chris a few years ago. We became friends. He told me of his past and his desire to be in the ministry. He was a atheist for years until he met the Sovereign God of the universe in the person of Christ. His life began to change. He got married. He started attending a local church. He got plugged in and is the first to help set up most every week. He loves to talk about God. He loves to serve God.

I believe that God has called this man into the ministry. He’s a good guy. More importantly God is transforming him into a Godly guy. A few weeks back I believed the Lord said, it is time to make his ministry publicly official. So we did after our preaching service. We and Christian members of his family came and laid hands on him and prayed. We all hope God is going to do wonderful things through him.

We at Crossmark Church are proud of him. We believe God is going to do something great in his life and ministry. Come see what God is doing through him. Message him and tell him congratulations.

And Chris I didn’t tell you that Sunday but I am proud to be your pastor. I look forward to hearing God one day say to me, “Good call on that Canuel ordination.” I also have wanted to say, I have a few words for you borrowed from three different authors. The first is from Dr. Seuss.

Oh, the places you’ll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won. And the magical things you can do with that ball will make you the winning-est winner of all. Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.

Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.

I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.

All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.

And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants. There are some, down the road between hither and yon, that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.

But on you will go though the weather be foul. On you will go though your enemies prowl. On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. On and on you will hike. And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems whatever they are.

You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. So be sure when you step. Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)

That poem sums up my hope for you that you will learn to balance things well and learn to follow God as he shapes your words and way. The only one you ultimately have to prove anything to beside God is yourself. There was not much pomp and circumstance in your ordination. To that I leave a message from a theological author whom I think you may know a few things about. So without further ado, here some words from Spurgeon to you.

Whence comes the whole paraphernalia of ordination as observed among some Dissenters? Since there is no special gift to bestow, why in any case the laying on of empty hands? Since we cannot pretend that mystic succession so vaunted by Ritualists, why are men styled “regularly ordained ministers”? … We do not object to a recognition of the choice of the church by its neighbors and their ministers, on the contrary, we believe it to be a fraternal act, sanctioned by the very spirit of Christianity; but where it is supposed to be essential, is regarded as a ceremony, and is thought to be the crowning feature of the settlement, we demur.

My final words come from the greatest author of all. The Great Author is God writing through the pen of Paul. I charge you with nothing more and nothing less than this charge from Paul in Philippians 2:12b-16 to that local church and to all who are part of the Church.

“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that t I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

May God do great things through you.

Sincerely,
Pastor Will Adair

If you would like to read this sermon on how our choices and God’s ways coexist then please click Man’s Choices and God’s Way: reflections on the wisdom of God. Unfortunately the audio didn’t record it so there is no audio link. Pastor Will will be preaching through parts of Proverbs for the next few weeks. Come here him live.

Below was our worship for our October 4 meeting. We don’t have a band so we use multimedia. This past week we went the venerable youtube route. Provided below is what wasn’t on the outline provided in our Hand Out for October 04, 2009.

Liturgy Text for this sermon was:

PROVERBS FOR LIFE: reflections of wisdom from Proverbs 1

Leader: Those who want wisdom, listen to me. You must desire it!
Everyone: We desire to know wisdom and instruction, in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity.
Leader: Then Come to the Source.
EVERYONE: THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF KNOWLEDGE; ONLY THE WISE LOVE WISDOM AND INSTRUCTION.
Leader: AMEN, Lord may we receive Your Wisdom.

Music this week was:
Choose Life – Big Tent Revival
By Your Side – Tenth Avenue North
Mighty To Save

We will be studying together how God has used countless different types of individuals many with countless different problems and sins to proclaim the gospel from Genesis to Revelation. Each weeks message can stand alone so anyone interested can come any Sunday and join in.

The first message in this series is the gospel according to the Earth. In our day the word Gospel has lost its meaning in our culture. In the Church world as a whole the care of the Earth has been forgotten. How do we balance these two extremes? Imagine if the world could speak out on these two subjects. When we study the Scriptures we see that it has and that the answer is found throughout the Bible.

I will blog about this on Monday June 22, 2009 on willadair.com. We will be diving into this during our midweek small group. If interested just contact us. We will get back with you.