Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
This coming Friday is the last Friday of the month and therefore, we will be offering our monthly free Community Meal. If you’d like to volunteer your time to carry the meals from our little kitchen to the cars lined up in the parking lot, you’ll need to be here from 4:50 to about 6:10. Please let me know if you plan on helping out. Once again, we thank our local Lions’ Club for sponsoring this outreach.
How about a little Jesus humor to get us going this morning?
A well-known pastor was attending a community event, walking along taking sips from a bottle of water. After passing a security guard, the officer stopped the pastor and said that he thought he could smell alcohol as the pastor walked by. “May I ask what’s in that water bottle?” Why, it’s water,” replied the pastor. “Do you mind if I check that?” “Not at all.” The officer took the water bottle, held up to his nose and said, “Pastor, I hate to differ with you, but this doesn’t smell like any water I’m familiar with; it smells like wine.” The pastor says, “That Jesus is at it again.”
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Wednesday afternoon, I met Chief Polar Bear, Alan Robbins, and his trusty wife, Vanna, inside the Chippy costume, out by our church sign for a final Where’s Chippy photo op; in which Alan presented me as CrossPointe’s representative a check for $10,159! Yes, you heard right . . . $10,159. We are so blessed to be one of the recipients of the proceeds from this marvelous event sponsored, of course, by our local Chippewa Lake Lions Club.
I would like to thank fellow Lions, Alan and Vanna who provide leadership for this event every year, Tom Melter and Claire who did the yeoman’s share of the work running the website and ticket sales, Eric Niger, who superbly played the part of Inspector Beatty, and of course, our Club President, Mike Ross and all the other Lions who gave in many ways that I am not aware of, but am sure took place.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
A great big thank you again to all of you who participated in any way to support the Chippewa Lake Lion’s Club Where’s Chippy? Fundraiser. What a huge success. $50, 500 was raised! What a great effort. Those funds will help many people living in and around our community. I thank the good Lord for allowing CrossPointe to be involved in it.
Gail and I will be traveling to Florida Monday afternoon and will not return until Tuesday, April 13th. We are so very fortunate that Jim Brandenburg will not only be leading the music but also filling the pulpit. I am privy to the theme of message that he will be sharing with you and I can say with confidence that you will be blessed by what he has to bring you.
CALL TO WORSHIP
He is risen! And I know that you just responded with He is risen indeed!
Since we have been studying in the Gospel of John, here is his version of Easter Sunday morning:
Early on Sunday morning, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved. She said, “They have taken the Lord’s body out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put Him!”
Peter and the other disciple started out for the tomb. They were both running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. He stooped and looked in and saw the linen wrappings lying there, but he didn’t go in. Then Simon Peter arrived and went inside. He also noticed the linen wrappings lying there, while the cloth that had covered Jesus’ head was folded up and lying apart from the other wrappings. Then the disciple who had reached the tomb first also went in, and he saw and believed— for until then they still hadn’t understood the Scriptures that said Jesus must rise from the dead. Then they went home.
Mary was standing outside the tomb crying, and as she wept, she stooped and looked in. She saw two white-robed angels, one sitting at the head and the other at the foot of the place where the body of Jesus had been lying. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” the angels asked her. “Because they have taken away my Lord,” she replied, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”
She turned to leave and saw someone standing there. It was Jesus, but she didn’t recognize Him. “Dear woman, why are you crying?” Jesus asked her. “Who are you looking for?” She thought He was the gardener. “Sir,” she said, “if you have taken Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will go and get Him.” “Mary!” Jesus said. She turned to him and cried out, “Rabboni!” (which is Hebrew for “Teacher”). “Don’t cling to me,” Jesus said, “for I haven’t yet ascended to the Father. But go find My brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”
Mary Magdalene found the disciples and told them, “I have seen the Lord!” Then she gave them His message.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s on-line worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Today, as we record this, it is Friday. By now, Sunday morning, we will know how much money was raised by the Chippewa Lake Lions Club Where’s Chippy? Fundraiser. As of Wednesday, CrossPointer’s were responsible for 82 tickets. That equals $4,100! I thank each and every one of you who purchased and/or sold tickets. A special shout out to CrossPointe’s Alan Robbins, who heads up the entire project and has spent countless hours going back to last year planning this event along with his team of fearless Lions! And to his wife, Vanna, for being lost Chippy who was found and then jumped in the swimming pool at SHC. I also want to thank Annie Dean for her efforts to communicate all the pertinent information about what the Lions do for our community, how much they have given to CrossPointe and how we have used those funds over the last several years to accomplish many mission goals.
As it concerns Easter worship, I am still trying to decide on whether to add a 9am service. So far 19 persons have e-mailed me to say they plan on being in worship on Easter at 10:30am. I know there will be more than that. We have been averaging 40 since we re-opened. And we can accommodate 60 safely. SO, please let me know if you plan on attending so I can plan accordingly.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s on-line worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We only have until Friday to purchase and/or sell raffle tickets to show our support for this year’s version of the Lion’s Club annual Polar Bear Plunge. The funds we receive from this event are very important to our mission ministry at CrossPointe. They help defray the expense of our Free Community Meal. They have enabled us to get training and even purchase some materials for our Grief Support, Divorce and Addiction Recovery and Stephen Ministry of caring. More recently, we have made up Care Bags containing food and gas gift cards as well as a Bible and DVD of the new YouTube series on the life of Jesus called the Chosen. So let’s do our best to show our support for this cause. Doing so is as easy as taking a minute of time to access the Chippewa Lake Lions website and clicking on the yellow “Buy Raffle Tickets.”
CALL TO WORSHIP
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in Me. There is more than enough room in My Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with Me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”
No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s on-line worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
In honor of Saint Patrick’s Day,
What do you get when you cross a four-leaf clover with poison ivy? A rash of good luck on St. Patrick’s Day.
How can you tell if an Irishman is having a good time? He’s Dublin over with laughter!
What do you call a fake Irish stone? A shamrock!
David: Mom, I met an Irish boy on St. Patrick’s Day. Mom: Oh, really? David: No, O’Reilly!
How can you tell if a leprechaun is sick of your joke? He’s green with laughter!
One last one as sort of a preview of today’s message:
O’Malley was leaving his favorite bar when he was run over by a bus. At the pearly gates, St. Pete tells him he cannot enter unless he passes a test. O’Malley is not the brightest bulb so St. Peter decides to go easy on him: “What has 5 fingers and is made of leather?” he asks. O’Malley scratches his head, thinks hard and finally gives up. “A glove,” says St. Peter. Let’s try again, “What has 10 fingers and is made of black?” O’Malley is clearly stumped, and after a few minutes, gives up. “Why it’s 2 gloves – don’t you see 10 fingers, leather,” says St. Peter. Being in a generous mood, St. Peter decides to give O’Malley one more chance with an even easier question. “Who is the patron Saint of Ireland?’ asks St. Peter. “It wouldn’t be 3-gloves, would it?” says O’Malley.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Last Sunday as we reopened for in-person worship, 48 persons attended! We still had enough empty chairs left to say that we can handle about 60 persons safely. That is, with everyone wearing a mask and individuals sitting six feet apart. Any way, it was very meaningful to be back together. The musicians and singers and prayer leaders did a great job in leading us in worship and we are all grateful. If you chose not to come for safety reasons, I fully understand. As time moves forward, more and more of you will return, and there will be some point where we need to add a second service. Won’t that be wonderful!
Last week I announced that I will be offering classes to train people who feel called to learn some practical skills in preaching. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have several people within our congregation who could step into the pulpit at any time? What a great asset to the church and to a future pastor this would be.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
You all know that I plan on moving into a new phase of my life in March of 2022. I will no longer be your pastor. You also know our Pastoral Succession Team is working toward this transition and plan to secure what is called an Intentional Interim Pastor; someone who has been specifically trained to lead a congregation in the process of securing the next pastor. There will be a time in the near future when you will have an opportunity to ask questions about that process.
At the same time, there are three dynamics that could make it difficult to find a new pastor. First, a large cohort of baby-boomer pastors across the country have been retiring for the last ten years. During that same time, the number of people entering seminary with the goal of becoming pastors has decreased 50%. Add to that the fact that many pastors have left the ministry as a result of Covid. I caught a blog by Church Consultant Thom Rainer last week, who said he is aware of hundreds of churches going without senior pastors.
With that in mind, it is my intention to prepare CrossPointe for any eventuality. So I am announcing that I will be offering classes to train people who feel called to it in some practical skills in preaching. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have several people within our congregation who could step into the pulpit at any time? What a great asset to the church and to a future pastor this would be.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s online worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
What did one light bulb say to the other on Valentine’s Day? “I love you a whole watt.”
What did the rabbit say to his girlfriend on Valentine’s Day? “Some-bunny loves you!”
A man and his wife were enjoying a fine glass of wine on Valentine’s Day. The husband . . . or the wife said, “I love you.” The other asked, “Is that you or the wine talking?” And the response was, “It’s me talking to the wine.”
What’s the perfect thing to say to a coffee-lover on Valentine’s Day? “Words cannot espresso what you mean to me.”
What did one mushroom say to the other on Valentine’s Day? There’s so mushroom in my heart for you!
By the way, this seems an appropriate time to let you know that two of the seven young folks ministered to by SHC that we were invited to adopt as pen pals are still available. If you would like to Share God’s Grace with Our Community by occasionally sending a note or card their way, please let Annie Dean know.
I am happy to announce that next Sunday we will re-open for live in-person worship! Rest assured, we will continue to do in a safe manner; asking you to continue to wear a mask. And we will spread out. Notice I didn’t use that phrase that we all come to loath, ‘socially distanced.’ By the way, what do you call an ant that has been shunned by his community? A socially dissed ant. Thanks, Sally Krall for sending that pun my way. And we turn on our exhaust fan and crack the windows enough to provide for the movement of fresh air. So you will want to wear a sweater or sweatshirt under your coat. But I know you won’t mind any inconvenience because we will get to see one another as we worship together.
Good morning and welcome to CrossPointe Community Church’s on-line worship presentation. I thank God for all of you and for the opportunity to spend these moments with you. If you’d like to reach out to me, I’d love to hear from you. You can e-mail me at randykmeyer@hotmail.com.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Looking back to last Sunday, which was Gather to Scatter Sunday, I thank you again for your generosity in assisting the Church-at-the-Lake Food pantry. I was privileged to be at the church along with Annie Dean, when Jay Baer who runs that pantry came to pick up. Again, he was overwhelmed with your kindness.
I also want to thank Jay, Alan Robbins, representing the Lions, and Shelly Wharton representing the Society for participating in last Sunday’s worship by sharing what they do for the community and how we partner with them.
Speaking of the Society, I have two announcements. First, I have a thank you letter dated January 17th from the director, Melanie Kasten-Krause, thanking us for a $100 contribution to their annual campaign. Secondly, my e-mail this past Wednesday contained information about becoming a pen-pal to some of the residents they serve. If you’d like to participate in that worthy cause, please contact Annie Dean at ane2corinth129@gmail.com.
Or feel free to call the new church office phone and leave a message. The number is (330) 975-4309.
