The Year A Bunny, Indiana Jones, The Death Matrix and Ballet Dancers Told The Easter Story

Imagine the most successful Easter Production ever put on by Crossroads Church. Wait! You don't have to use your imagination - It just happened! This past weekend we experienced unparalleled success with our Easter Production called "Imagine." Over 4200 people attended the five services we offered this Easter weekend with 70 people receiving Christ as their personal Savior!

The production gave us the opportunity to see the Easter story though the lens of a child's imagination. In our story that unfolds on video produced by our incredible production team, nine year old Joey (Played by Tom Wood) is curious about the Easter holiday. His mom (Played by Jennifer LaBerteau) explains the origin of Easter and how early pagan influences have all but taken over. Joey's imagination kicks in and provides us with an onstage performance of the old Veggie Tales classic The Bunny Song (performed by Richard Gaspard and rewritten to reflect the bunny's hostile takeover of Easter.) For the performance we used black light technology and full-bodied costumes to create a song and dance number that featured a puppet-version of Joey, his mom and dad, the bunny, evil minions and three singing peeps that you absolutely have to see! (I'll be posting the video here later this week.) Once the scene ended the band went into a lively Reliant K inspired version of Peter Cotton Tale arranged by the always masterful Coy Watson and performed by Jordy Davidson. Jordy was joined by the aforementioned "bunny" (brought to life by Luis Vasquez) and a host of candy-throwing teens from the youth group dressed in bunny attire! Jordy and the kids did a great job and the song was a lot of fun!

In the next scene, Joey is informed by his mom about the efforts that have been made by the scientific community for centuries to discredit the Easter story. She lets him know that there are many credible sources that point to scientific, historic and archeological evidence that supports the story of Easter. Yet, just like in the case of the lies the soldiers told in the first century, many choose to believe something other than the truth. When Joey asks about it, his mother explains what an archeologist does by referencing Indiana Jones. That's all it takes to send Joey's imagination into a onstage scene with he and Indy (Played by our magnificent set designer Rhett Wyatt) in a large cave where Nazi soldiers under the command of Professor Doubt (played by Jeff LaBerteau) try to steal the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ. Fight scenes, gunplay and the familiar Indian Jones theme music make for an exciting scene that everyone enjoyed! (It's always fun to see Nazi's get beat up by a nine year old kid!) When the scene ended the band (comprised of Coy Watson, Kari Campbell, Lance Morgan, Mark Conley, Bill LaLande and Beau Roy) kicked off an inspiring new arrangement of the old 4-Him hit Can't Get Past The Evidence. Jeremy Greene did a great job covering the song.


In our third act, Joey and his family are in church where the Pastor (played by Jason Rhoades) is sharing a sermon called "What Happened Those Three Days Jesus Was In The Grave." As the sermon unfolds, Joey's imagination transports him to an onstage portrayal of Sheol where Satan (played by Jared O'Kelly) and the Grave (played by Jordan Springer) are arguing over the body of Jesus (played by Chaz Jones). They are joined by ghoulish Voodoo dolls and Zombies (played by our Master's Commission students) who are all connected to what amounts to a death matrix - operated by the Grave. All of this played out to a sound track produced by Curvine Brewington that is a 21st Century remake of the old Carman song Sunday's on The Way. Both the track and the Human Video (written by Jared) were REMARKABLE - A definite highlight in the production! At the close of the scene the band covered Tree63's Sunday with Carter Berry providing lead vocals. It's a great song and Carter did an incredible job with it!

Lastly, Joey's dad explains the reason we celebrate Easter by pointing to our own resurrection from the grave. He tells the boy that because Jesus rose from the grave, we can too and makes the point personal by bringing up Joey's late grandfather. When asked what he thinks it will be like to see his grandfather again in heaven at the resurrection - Joey answers, "I can only Imagine." It's the perfect segue to a beautiful ballet arranged by Michelle Sanchez and performed by Michelle, Mariah Hebert, Brittany Alexander, Jasmine Chaisson, Natalie Myers and Skylar Courville. The ballet is set to the MercyMe classic I Can Only Imagine in an onstage heavenly setting. Jane Lantier breathed new life into the song that ended with Joey meeting up with his grandfather (played by Ken Lantier) and joined by Jesus Himself. The crowd loved it!

Once again this year, our team absolutely rocked! This was our last production in our current auditorium. We've achieved a lot in the old venue, but I'm really looking forward to what we will be able to accomplish in the new worship center!

Fine Arts Winner

This past Friday, Chase competed in the 2011 Louisiana Fine Arts Festival - A talent competition put on by the Louisiana Assemblies of God Youth Department. He competed in two categories: First Person Essay and Short Sermon. He did an incredible job with his short sermon. The boy is a great presenter! The theme of this year's competition was "Compelled by Love." His message was from the story of Jonah and was very insightful and inspirational! I might have to start letting him fill in for me at Crossroads every once-and-a-while! He rated a Superior and advanced to nationals in this category! His First Person Essay won Merit, which means his essay was first in State. He scored a perfect 40 and of course advanced to nationals in this category as well! Nationals will be held in Phoenix, AZ in August and we can't wait to see how he will do on the national stage! For all my pastor friends - If you're interested he's available for weekend and Wednesday night preaching engagements! Here's the essay he wrote:

My dear friends, 

     I would like to tell you all something that God has put on my heart. There are certain things which I notice Christians have been largely neglecting for a long time. I believe the solution to these problems can be described in one word – misfit.

     Misfit: a person poorly adjusted to his environment.

     When taken at face value, most people would not want to be described by that word. However, Christians should not want to fit into the environment of this world. My dear friends, I see a vision of us choosing to forget the fears of our past and focusing on the call of God to reach into the world’s environment to create more and more misfits for Christ. Anyone who has the love of our Father in them will feel compelled to spread that love into the world. It is the strength He has placed in our hearts to break the bonds of fear of rejection and persecution. It is the Great Commission of Mark 16:15. 

   Now don’t misunderstand me, I’m not suggesting we all become freaks or critics. Weird and judgmental people attract no one. If Christians only accomplish being awkward and untactful, we will just repel people. In being different, we should be showing a love, grace, and justice which this world is unfamiliar with.

   No longer can we be content to fail once and give up, saying “I tried.” Until I have accomplished what my Lord has compelled me to do, I will continue to go beyond what I tell myself I can do. If we forgot all our excuses and charged this world for our God’s sake, nothing would be able to stop us. 

     When I look back on my life, I see that even when I felt He had utterly abandoned me, God has never left my side. His blessings have been on me even when I had failed him in the worst of ways. With so much evidence of His unfailing love for us surrounding our every move, how could we refuse when He compels us to be misfits for Him?

     We need to get back to where we should be in our lives, especially in growing in our spiritual gifts. For some of us, this could mean discovering what our spiritual gifts are and how to use them. For others, it will mean breaking out of our shells and finding areas where our gifts are needed and using them to the glory of God. 

     We all need to remember that these gifts are to be used for God’s glory, and not our own. Trying to use them for our own ends with no regard for Christ, or taking selfish pride in our gifts is a sure way to lose them sooner or later, and usually sooner. Many people, even within the church, will scoff at us for embracing these gifts out of fear of something new and different. However, if we will take a step of faith and accept being misfits in this way, God will shine His love and glory through us and compel His lost children back to Him.

     Most importantly, we must be compelled to pray for each other. In Mathew 18:19, Jesus tells us that “if two of you will agree on earth concerning anything they will ask, it will be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.” Staying in prayer for each other and will give support to our brothers and sisters in Christ, and ensures victory in any matter, which is in accordance with the Word. 

     If we embrace being misfits, seek out God’s will for us, develop our spiritual gifts, pray for ourselves, each other, and our world, then this movement will not stop with us. It will affect our churches, jobs, schools, everywhere else that God has placed us, and far beyond. You are there for a reason, even if you cannot see it yet. Trust in God. 

Sincerely,

C. Ables

Big Weekends

When I went to work for Willie George at Church on the Move in Tulsa, OK in 1994 the church was already running over four thousand. Today it runs over ten thousand in weekly attendance and is steadily growing. I asked Pastor Willie not long after I arrived what he felt like the key to the growth of the church was. Without hesitation, he answered "Big Days." He told me that since the church began, they regularly host big days that attract large crowds, allowing them to add a percentage of those in attendance to their regularly weekly services.

When we moved back to Lafayette to pastor Crossroads Church, we immediately began to implement that strategy. We do several Big Weekends every year. Two of them are no brainers: Christmas and Easter are our greatest opportunity to get people to church so we pull out all the stops. We put on major productions that highlight the things we do best as a church and then partner with our people to get their friends, family, neighbors and co-workers here to the productions. We create tickets for them to pass out to everyone they come in contact with in the weeks leading up to the Big Weekend. This Easter, over twelve thousand tickets have been distributed so far. We are hoping for attendance in excess of five thousand Easter weekend and it's the distribution of these tickets and our people leveraging their influence with others that will make it happen. In addition to bringing in big crowds for the production, hosting these kind of events creates a partnership mentality within our church. Our people understand that if they get people to Crossroads, we will have effective ministry in place and God will move on their hearts!

This year's Easter production is called "Imagine." It is the Easter story as seen trough the imagination of a nine year old boy named Joey. It is going to be one of the best productions we have ever put on and I can't wait to see what God does!

Joie De Vivre 2011

This past weekend we hosted our annual Joie De Vivre Women's Conference. Daphne Gaspard does a great job heading up our Women's Ministry and this annual conference is always one of the most highly anticipated events of the year here at Crossroads. This year the conference featured Meredith Andrews as our worship leader. Meredith has had some really great radio hits that we have covered in our services, but we were delighted to discover she is also the Worship Leader at her home church in Chicago. Her band included her husband Jacob on keyboards (he's originally from Alexandria!) and a group called Satellites and Sirens from Nashville. They did an incredible job leading our ladies in worship.




Nancy Alcorn was our featured speaker. Donna and I have known Nancy since the early 80's when we were all just getting started in ministry. Her outreach to young women with life-controlling problems is called Mercy Ministries. It it has grown to include several homes for girls in North America as well as Great Britain, New Zealand and Canada! Nancy shared a powerful message both at the conference and in our weekend services as well. It was so awesome to hear her stories of how God is transforming young women's lives! One of my favorite stories was about a young woman who was a 'cutter.' She came to Mercy with the word "Forgotten" literally carved into her arm. God set her free and several years after completing the program, Nancy ran into her at an event where she shared with her that God had not only healed her heart, He had healed her scars. She raised up her sleeve and showed her that the scars that once formed the word "forgotten" were gone!

Imagine

Here's our latest Sermon Series Video Opener. The guys did a great job. The series is called Imagine and it will include our annual Easter Production. We wanted to do something that would allow us to get past the limitations we often feel when planning for Easter. The imagination of a nine year old little boy was the perfect vehicle to achieve that and man, are you in store for a treat this Easter! Don't miss it!

Casey Abrams gets saved!

Last week on American Idol, an early-in-the-season favorite got canned! I think Casey Abrams began to believe he was invincible and started making dumb choices. The guy with all the promise had been replaced by someone who seemed to be prideful and taking things for granted. Consequently he was on his way out! That is - until he was saved. That's right, the judges saved Casey Abrams. Steven, J-Lo and Randy unanimously decided to cash in their one opportunity to save a contestant on giving the talented Abrams another chance.

As you know, the contestants are required to perform one last song in hopes that the judges will use the save. Casey was giving it his best when the judges stopped him in mid-verse. Apparently, he thought they were stopping him to say, "There's no need to go on, you're out of here." But the opposite was true. They were stopping him to say, "We don't need to hear any more, we know we want to save you." The guy almost passed out. You could see it all over him. What an emotional moment. I thought he was going to throw up!

Why don't we feel that way about being saved? Lets face it - We've blown much more important opportunities than a singing contest. We've taken what we've been given for granted and yet, the Ultimate Judge has chosen to save us! Why don't we grow faint at the thought that we've been given another chance? Why don't we stagger at the thought that Christ has seen worth in keeping us around? I don't know, but we should!

This week Casey Abrams was back to his earlier standard of excellence. I thought he was the best of the night. Gone was the arrogant "I've got this in the bag" persona. He seemed humble, glad to be there and giving it his best.

God help me to do the same!