On Sunday, May 12th, Mother’s Day, we announced the official date for groundbreaking for our new children’s building has been set. Lord willing, we will break ground for that new facility this fall on Sunday, November 3rd. It will be an historic occasion for our church as we celebrate our 43rd birthday. Crossroads began on Sunday, November 7, 1970, in Arlington. It will also be the weekend for our WORLD MISSIONS’ CONFERENCE with all of our missionaries/spouses home for the weekend. We want to involve them in the groundbreaking service as well.

The new children’s building will be built on the southeast corner of our main facility meaning we will lose lots of current parking spaces and will have to build additional parking areas. These new parking areas will need to be constructed and finished before we break ground for the new building.

Areas outlined in red represent the new parking areas that will be added to our current parking lots. There will be additional drives added, a larger drop-off area especially for kids, and more.

The areas in red represent the new parking lots being added. If you look closely you can see the location of the new children’s building on the southeast corner of the main facility and the proposed new youth building on the northeast corner of our main facility.

This picture shows the new parking areas along with our existing ones. The area in blue is the actual footprint for the new children’s building.

Thank you for your prayers and generosity in helping us see this dream come true. We’re excited to share with you that as of last Sunday we are now less than $700,000.00 away from reaching our goal of $15 million and having the entire building completely paid for – something only God could do. With God’s blessing, and the continued faithful generosity of our people, we will see the remaining amount raised and be ready to break ground on Sunday, November 3rd, with the building paid for.

It will be an amazing facility – just for children. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for praying, giving and BELIEVING!

© 2013. Barry L. Cameron

For those who don’t believe in tithing, I’ve got a challenge for you. Forget the Bible command in Malachi 3:10, to “Bring the whole tithe (10% of whatever income you receive) into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing you will not have room enough for it.” (NIV/1984)

Never mind what the prophet Malachi recorded that God said in that passage, or that Jesus honored His Father, affirmed the prophet and the practice of tithing in Matthew 23:23 when He said, “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.” Seriously. Don’t think another moment about that.

If you don’t believe in tithing, here’s what you do: just add up what you spend on yourself and your spouse (and your children, if you have them) each week and give God more than you give to yourself or your family during that seven day period. That should be easy enough.

Now be honest. You’ll have to divide your monthly mortgage (or rent) and your utilities, car payment, credit card payments, cell phone payments, cable or satellite payments, and whatever else you pay every month, by 4 or 5 weeks depending on the month. Then, be sure to add to that your food costs for the week, meals you eat out, movies, concerts, baseball games or other entertainment (including concessions), gas you put in your car, internet, Starbucks, snacks, soft drinks, magazines, newspapers, etc., whatever you get for yourself or your family during the week.

Just add up everything you spend on yourself and your family and then, when you get that total you’ll know how much more to give to God.  It doesn’t have to be that much more than what you spent on you or your family. Just more … right?  Because He’s #1. He’s Lord. He’s  God, right? Just write the check or send the amount via your online banking platform.

I think you’ll discover something pretty quick: when it comes right down to it, tithing is a pretty awesome deal compared to what we spend on ourselves each week.

And the bottom line? Whatever we give and however we give is a pretty good indication who’s really God.

© 2013. Barry L. Cameron

Yes, we’re under divine command to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every living creature. Yes, we’ve been called to “make disciples of all nations.”  But I want to be absolutely clear; “No. We don’t want to reach everyone we could.” Now, before you are tempted to shout “heresy!” hear me out.

Our target audience here at Crossroads, the people we are trying to reach, are the people in our world who have never been reached with the gospel of Jesus Christ. We’re not interested in reaching those who have already been reached. When Jesus told His first disciples, “Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men” (Matthew 4:19), He was speaking to seasoned fishermen, promising if they followed Him, they would catch men. But He never even remotely attempted to suggest they would catch the already caught. They were to cast their nets out into the deep (Luke 5:1-10), not into someone else’s nets or someone else’s container of fish.

Imagine the folly of someone calling themselves a fisherman but all they do is take fish from another person’s nets. Or the sheer stupidity of someone standing on a dock, opening a cooler of someone else’s fish, putting their baited hook in that cooler and calling it fishing. There’s another word for that and I’m pretty sure it’s not fishing.

Tragically, that’s what far too many Christians and far too many churches have gotten caught up doing. Instead of “fishing for men” (the unreached), they’ve found it easier to fish for members of other churches. They’ve gotten hooked on the false premise that reaching other Christians qualifies as “fishing for men.” The devil has lured them into believing that fish changing fish bowls is the work of God. When, in reality, it’s his work … not God’s.

Unfortunately there will always be church hoppers. Those fickle, fair-weather followers who are only faithful until their feelings get hurt, things don’t go their way, or they hear of a more exciting show across town. But churches shouldn’t aim their advertising or purposely design their promotions to reach other Christians. That doesn’t build the Kingdom or bless the King. Like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic, Christians switching churches while billions of lost people are dying and on their way to Hell is a complete waste of time and a catastrophic diversion from the divine command of Christ.

We want to reach people who’ve never heard the gospel. We want to connect with those who have no connection at all with a local church. We want to impact those individuals and families who need Christ. Not those who are looking for their next church. While fishing, we need to watch out for blowfish and jellyfish. Blowfish can blow themselves up to twice their normal size by filling themselves with hot air. They’re also known for their big heads. Jellyfish show up out of nowhere. Sting and leave.

By the way, there’s an old saying in marriage counseling. When you’re counseling someone who is currently on their third marriage it might be appropriate to suggest, “After two it might be you.” The same thing is true with those on their third church. Paul pled with two women in the church at Philippi to get along and get back to doing what they’d been doing “laboring side by side in the gospel” (Philippians 4:2-3).  He didn’t encourage them to run to another church. In fact, no such encouragement can be found in Scripture.

From time to time you might find yourself “preaching to the choir.” But no one should ever find you intentionally trying to take choir members or any other kind of members from another church. Fish changing fish bowls is utter foolishness.

You won’t find us casting our nets on another church campus. Even though there might be goldfish there or some flounder, fish usually found in locations that are easy to reach and taste good.

If we find fish in our nets from another fellowship, we’re going to throw them back. Why? Because we are dead serious and decidedly single-minded in our focus of “fishing for men,” women, boys, and girls with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

© 2013. Barry L. Cameron

Count me among those NOT supporting the announcement of another NBA player with an immoral lifestyle. When a culture makes heroes out of those who mock God and defy His Word, it is on a collision course for certain destruction. The Bible is clear: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

Ironically, most people had never even heard of this average NBA player (his career average is 3.6 points a game??) at the end of his career (he’s 34) until now.

Once again, President Obama – who praised Planned Parenthood last week and pledged his ongoing support for all their great work (Responsible for over 300,000 abortions again last year!), and has completely ignored the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell who has been charged with brutally murdering little babies in late term abortions – was among the first to call Jason Collins and congratulate him. “Mr. President you are dead wrong on ALL THREE of these issues and you need to repent.”

Years ago, former NBA player, Charles Barkley said, “I’m not a role model.” He was right. Neither is Jason Collins or our current President.

© 2013.  Barry L. Cameron

President Obama called Jason Collins after his announcement

Seven Biblical Principles That Speak To The Threat Of Terrorism

Why would two brothers who have lived in the United States for the past decade become terrorists? What motivates young men that were described as, “modest and athletic, the kind of kids that made neighbors feel comfortable,” to viciously kill and maim innocent people? What possibly goes on in their minds? We’re all asking those questions in hopes of finding a way to prevent terrorist activity in the future.

I firmly believe the answers can be found in the Bible. Solomon said there is nothing new under the sun. And C.S. Lewis once wrote that we really don’t need to be taught new ideas as much as we need to be reminded of old truths. Here are seven basic Biblical principles that help explain the escalation of evil and the most practical path to restraining terrorism.

1. The human heart is sinful and naturally gravitates to wickedness. The Bible identifies the carnal nature of man as, “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9). That’s been true ever since a jealous Cain killed his brother Abel. Just as surely as a beautiful apple with one small bruise eventually turns rotten, the human heart, left unrestrained, is capable of despicable acts of violence. Jesus apprised His enemies by saying, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him… “(John 8:44).

2. What we feed into our minds eventually impacts behavior. The Bible says, “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the spirit is life and peace.” Interviews with acquaintances and examination of social media pages have disclosed that the Tsarnaevs brothers smoked pot, viewed pornography and played violent video games. The Bible warns, “A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction” (Gal. 6:7-8).

One poet wrote, “Two natures beat within my breast; one is foul, the other blessed. The one I love, the one I hate. The one I feed will dominate”. King Solomon described it more succinctly, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

3. False religion is a breeding ground for evil. There’s a popular myth that all religions are equal. But Jesus warned, “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves” (Matt. 7:15). The Bible urges us to be alert to the fact that Satan masquerades as an angel of light and is the father of lies.

Some speculate the Tsarnaev brothers may have been indoctrinated to hate America in a terrorist camp while visiting their native country. Under the guise of religious zeal, young extremists are being trained to kill, steal and destroy. Proverbs 8:36 reads, “All who hate me love death.”

But I can’t help but wonder what kind of training the brothers received at the schools they attended in Boston for the past ten years. It’s not uncommon for liberal American instructors to ridicule Christianity and bash the USA for all its wrongs.

For over two centuries America has been a beacon of light for truth and liberty. Jesus said, “Everyone who does evil hates the light” (John 3:20). Counter-Christ religion can, in some instances, be a breeding ground for violent attacks against democracy.

4. A nation that rejects God invites chaos. Moses warned the Israelites, “If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed” (Deut. 8:19).

Nature abhors a vacuum. In recent years secularists have made a concerted effort to remake America into a spiritually neutral nation and free us from the restrictions of religion. As a result, we open the floodgates for all kinds of demonic activity to rush in. “Consider this, you who forget God, or I will tear you to pieces, with none to rescue” (Psalm 50:22).

5. Our ultimate hope is not in the nation but in Christ. The day after the Boston bombings, an inspiring video showed Boston Bruins® hockey fans singing The National Anthem with unprecedented gusto. Afterward commentators suggested that was the people’s way of telling terrorists that they cannot destroy the American spirit. The citizens of this nation have a special passion for freedom that will persevere.

While we love America and the freedom for which it stands, Christians need to remember that our hope is not in our country but in Christ, the only sure foundation. Someday America will be no more. This great nation is not invincible anymore than the powerful major civilizations that preceded us were invincible. But, “We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).

6. God’s people should live by faith, not by fear. “When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?” All day long they twist my words; they are always plotting to harm me. They conspire, they lurk, they watch my steps, eager to take my life…In God will I trust, I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” (Psalm 56:3-11).

Richard Wurmbrand, courageous Lutheran pastor, was imprisoned in Romania in the 1950s. He was taken captive and tortured under the wicked communist rule in Romania. His calm spirit angered his captors. One interrogator attempted to intimidate him by screaming, “Don’t you realize I can take your life from you in a heartbeat?” Unfazed, Wurmbrand responded, “Sir, put your hand over my heart. If it beats rapidly you can know I am afraid. If it beats normally then you can know that Christ lives and I do not fear what man can do to me.”

Wurmbrand was fearless because he had put his hope in Christ who had conquered sin at the cross and won the victory over death at the empty tomb. He could say with David, “Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me”.

7. The best hope for a secure America is evangelism. We probably will never fully understand what motivated the Tsarnaev brothers to such horrendous evil. But we do know what could have prevented it. If a Christian had befriended them and introduced them to Jesus Christ their lives could have been transformed and so much heartache could have been prevented. God’s Word promises, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” (2 Cor. 5:17).

While secularists seek to stifle the message of the gospel and discourage “proselytizing,” America’s best hope for a peaceful future is that followers of Jesus will once again get on fire for carrying out the great commission and say with Peter and John, “We can’t help but speak about what we’ve seen and heard.”

Jesus said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, of the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).

The problem of violence is as old as Cain. The solution is as old as the atoning work of Christ. For two hundred years that gospel message worked pretty well in America, providing our nation with a common moral consensus. Our most pressing need now is for a spiritual revival accompanied by a renewed evangelistic fervor. For, “…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).

© 2013 Bob Russell

Remember ROME?
• They were the superpower of their day.
• They had the strongest economy in the world.
• They had the most powerful military in the world.
• They were responsible for the finest roads in the world and for the rise of world commerce.
• They were looked up to by all the other nations of the world. (Feared might be a better term.)

Reasons for the fall of Rome:
1. The undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society.
2. The rapid increase in divorce.
3. Higher and higher taxes; the spending of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace.
4. The moral degeneracy of society into sexual perversion and homosexuality.
5. The mad craze for pleasure; sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, more immoral.
6. Political chaos and distrust of political leaders.
7. The building of great armaments when the great enemy was within; the decay of individual responsibility.
8. The decay of religion, fading into a mere form, losing touch with life, losing power to guide the people.

© 2013.  Barry L. Cameron

(SOURCE: English Historian, Edward Gibbon – “The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.”)

Since the first Sunday of this year we’ve been challenging ALL of our people to get connected. What do we mean when we say, “get connected?”

Most people I know are familiar with LEGO bricks. The phenomenal invention of a toy maker in Billund, Denmark, has a presence all around the world.  LEGO bricks are designed to connect on the top and on the bottom. It’s incredibly simple. However, when the connections are made you can build virtually anything you want.

Like LEGO bricks …and you may not have thought about this… you and I were created to “connect,” too. In fact, we were designed by a “people Maker” in Heaven (God) and there are others like us all around the world. We are designed to connect on the top and on the bottom, too. Just two simple connections. Yet, when the connections are made we can build virtually anything we want.

What are those TWO CONNECTIONS? First, we were created to “connect” on top with God. Second, we were created to “connect” on the bottom (here on earth) with others. Jesus summed it up this way: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40). In Mark 12:30-31, Jesus said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Those two passages talk about the TWO CONNECTIONS we were created to make. Then Jesus adds, we are “commanded” to make those “connections.”  (Read that last sentence again.) As Christians, we are commanded to be “connected” to God and to one another.

Do you “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”? “Do you love your neighbor as yourself”? If you do, you’ll be “connected.”  You’ll live your faith – denying yourself, taking up your cross and following Jesus every day (Luke 9:23). You’ll serve your church – some where, some how, some way, every week (John 13:34-35). And, you’ll give your best – consistently giving a minimum of a tithe (the biblical 10% Malachi 3:8-10 talks about and Jesus referenced in Matthew 23:23) each week to God’s church. You’ll also give generous offerings above that, as you are able.

Here at CROSSROADS we want you to be “connected.” It’s not just a passion, it’s our mission. Why? Because we know what happens when people get “connected” and what happens when they don’t. When we get “connected” on the top with God and on the bottom with others, we can pretty much build whatever we want.  When we don’t get “connected,” nothing seems to fit. Nothing seems to work. Nothing seems to come together. The reason is: we were created to “connect.” We were designed by God to be in relationship with Him and with others.

If you’re not “connected” yet here at Crossroads, I want to encourage you to get “connected” this week. Here’s a link that will help you know where to get started: http://crossroadschristian.org/connect

If you are “connected” here at Crossroads, I want to encourage you to step up your game and help us do an even better job of getting everyone else “connected.” We’ve made remarkable progress since the beginning of this year and several thousand are genuinely “connected.” However, our goal is to get everyone “connected” and we can’t let up or give up until they are.

LEGO bricks are ingenious. So are Christians. But the magic only begins…

…when the connections are made.

©  2013.  Barry L. Cameron

This past weekend we experienced the greatest Easter celebration ever at Crossroads. We had prayed and prepared for months and once again, God did “immeasurably more than all we could ask or think.”

I want to thank all of our staff, Matt Cameron and Joel Cogdell for sharing the preaching load, Andy Schroeder and Lindley Cameron and our fabulous music ministry, Nathan Vogel, Andy Baeza and the whole media ministry, Michelle Gibson and her team, Mark Burwell and his superb parking lot crew, hundreds of volunteers who served and the thousands of people who came – 16,116 in six services!

On Wednesday night prior to Easter, I’d asked our people to specifically pray that God would bring 15,000 people to our campus for Easter weekend. We had a little more than 13,000 last year. So, even that prayer was a step of faith but nothing for our awesome God.

Would you join me in giving thanks to God for an incredible experience this past weekend and then, pray with me for this coming weekend? I’ve often wondered what would happen if Christians and churches prepared for every weekend like we do for EASTER weekend.

Let’s do it!

Love you and love being your Pastor!

Barry

In the same week former conservative, Ohio congressman, Rob Portman and polar opposite, consummate liberal, Hillary Clinton declared their support and affirmation of same-sex marriage, WORLD magazine featured an article about a woman hardly anyone knows. Most of the major media outlets ignored her story. But no one can ignore what happened.

In her book, The Secret Thoughts Of An Unlikely Convert, Rosaria Butterfield shares her story. A self-professed lesbian at the age of 28, she became a tenured professor at Syracuse University. At 36 she wrote a critique of the Promise Keepers movement and wanted to write a book on the religious right.

As a result of the article she wrote about Promise Keepers, a local church pastor, Ken Smith, from the Syracuse Reformed Presbyterian Church, reached out to her and asked her to give him a call. He would later invite her to dinner and she became friends with the pastor and his wife. They didn’t try to convert her and didn’t even invite her to church. She said they seemed more interested in just being friends.

Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of World magazine, interviewed Rosaria on the campus of Patrick Henry College on January 11, 2013. Here is a brief excerpt. Mr. Olasky asked, “You read serious passages such as Romans 1:24-28, which may be the scariest part of Scripture to anyone suffering from sexual sin. How did that hit you?” Rosaria answered, “My friend Jay at that point was a transgendered woman – biologically male, but had taken enough female hormones to be what’s called chemically castrated. Jay followed me to the kitchen, put her large hand on my hand, and said, ‘Rosaria, something is changing you. This Bible reading is changing you, and you need to tell me what is going on with you, because I am worried, I am losing you.’¹

“I sat down,” Rosaria said, “and had that panic feeling you have when you’re not really sure if you’re going to throw up. I said, ‘I’m reading the Bible, reading it a lot, and what if it’s true? We are in big trouble if it’s true.’ Jay sat down and said, ‘I know it’s true. I was a Presbyterian minister for 15 years. I prayed and God did not heal me, but if you want I will pray for you, and I have some books for you to read.’”²

Rosaria continued, “I was thinking, do I want to be changed? No. I like my life, I like my girlfriend, I like my house thank you very much, I even like my wonderful career. I am standing in the rushing water of the world. I have my toe in another world because of all that Bible reading. What will happen if I put my foot in, if I put my whole body in? I started reading commentaries, and those from my friend Jay, whose handwriting was in the margins, were like a flag on those icy ponds that you see in Syracuse: It looks like ice, but if you walk on it, you’ll fall through, now or later.”³

She went to church not because of an invitation but more out of curiosity and the prodding of God’s Holy Spirit. Eventually, she went inside and what she experienced wasn’t even remotely close to what she had anticipated. She received compassion instead of confrontation and hope instead of hatred.

According to World magazine, the term conversion “is simply too tame and too refined to capture the train wreck that I experienced in coming face to face with the Living God … Conversion put me in a complicated and comprehensive chaos … Was I willing to be considered stupid by those who didn’t know Jesus?” She went on to say, “I didn’t choose Christ. Nobody chooses Christ. Christ chooses you or you’re dead. After Christ chooses you, you respond because you must. Period. It’s not a pretty story.”⁴

In Ephesians 2:1-6, Paul described Rosaria’s condition and ours when he wrote, “And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience – among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”

You know what happened to Rosaria Butterfield? She experienced a resurrection. Have you? A resurrection from death to life. Life that will last forever … for eternity? A resurrection made possible by JESUS, Himself?

I can’t think of a better time to experience your own resurrection, from death to life, than the days leading up to when we celebrate His.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9/ESV)

© 2013. Barry L. Cameron

1  Marvin Olasky, “Journey of Grace, From lesbianism to the parking lot to church: An interview with author Rosaria Butterfield,” WORLD, 23 March 2013, 32-35. Print.
2  Ibid
3  Ibid
4  Ibid

We encourage you to check out WORLD magazine at: http://www.worldmag.com