The Farm

We sold our farm we have lived on for the past twenty years. The farm we raised our kids on. The farm that fulfilled my boyhood dream of owning land and raising horses. 

It was a big place. Over 4,200 square feet of living space on 7.8 acres. It was a big place that was a big blessing - and then it became too much to keep up with. Donna and I have been living on it as empty-nesters for 7 years. It was a BIG empty nest. We have been so intent on selling we had not really allowed ourselves to process how it would feel to walk away from it. We had it on the market in 2018 for over a year and barely got any interest in it. We took it off the market and did some upgrades like putting a new roof on it and new wood floors in the living room. I asked my friend Kerry Emanis to market it for us and we had more showings in the first two weeks than we had the entire year it was on the market before. It is a buyers market right now due to low interest rates and there is a big demand for any kind of property, so all the sudden our niche property was a hot commodity! By God's grace we more than doubled our initial investment we made in the property back in 2001. 

We spent the entire day on Monday cleaning and preparing it for the new owners and that night Donna and I stood there in that empty house and prayed - thanking God for providing it for us and for all the wonderful things we have enjoyed there on that property. We prayed for its new owners - that the place would be as big a blessing to them as it has been to us. Waves of emotion crashed over us and I was not prepared for the grieving that ensued. I got up the next morning and wrote a letter to the new owners to leave on the kitchen counter. I think it sums up how we felt.

Dear Brisco family, 

Welcome to your new home. 

We spent twenty of the best years of our life here and we have prayed that you will love this place as much as we have.

If you listen well, two little grade school kids will tell you the big live oak in the back is the perfect climbing tree. Several of our horse friends will let you know the pasture grass will make you fat. An old Welsh Springer Spaniel will tell you that right in front of the fireplace is the perfect spot for a long winter’s nap. Many childhood friends will tell you the big room upstairs is the perfect place for a sleep over and cousins will tell you they always looked forward to a trip south to swim in that pool in the summer. You will hear music, laughter and the sound of a family sleeping securely even through the worst of storms - this old house is built well. 

What you won’t hear is cussing, complaining or criticism. It wasn’t allowed here. We have tried to fill this home with gratitude and as we stood here Monday night after a long day of mowing and cleaning, preparing her for her new owners we expressed that gratitude to our loving God who provided such a wonderful place for us to raise our family. We prayed for you to feel the same way about your new home. 

Best wishes,

The Ables 

Ricky Wyatt

This week we said "goodbye" on this side of eternity to one of the best friends I've ever had. By that, I don't mean someone I spent tons of time with or really shared a lot in common - but rather, someone who invested more in me than most - and I am eternally grateful. I was honored to speak at his memorial service. Here is a portion of the remarks I shared.

I learned very early in my life to choose my companions carefully. The scripture says that those who walk with the wise become wise themselves, but the companion of fools will suffer harm. I am so thankful I was fortunate enough to walk with the wisdom I found in a friendship with Ricky Wyatt. I met Ricky at a time in his life when he had just placed his faith in Christ and was looking to rebound from some serious setbacks in life. His greatest concern was to serve theLord and lead his family. Nothing was more important to him that that. 

Ricky was the very first volunteer with our youth ministry when I moved to Lafayette in 1986. He had three young children in tow and they soon became the youth group mascots! The youth group loved Ricky! He was so much fun. I can still see him all these years later, chatting it up with kids at a table at Burger Time, making them laugh putting French Fries up his nose. He was a match maker - some of you married couples here are together today because Ricky pointed you out to one another. He was a bringer! He brought so many teenagers into our youth ministry. Just this week I heard from a lady who has spent the last 25 years in a ministry that rehabilitates women suffering with addiction. Ricky led her to the Lord in the late 80’s. We had a vision night with all our volunteers this past Sunday. We were casting vision for some renovations we are wanting to do to our Next Gen building next door. To provide a visual for what we want to achieve, we printed out over a thousand children’s faces and placed them on every seat of the risers here in the auditorium. I had our volunteers turn and look into that sea of faces and informed them that we have had over a thousand kids visit our church for one service and not come back over the past 18 months. Then we talked about the things we need to do to bring them back. As I was putting those faces on all those chairs I kept thinking of Ricky and how many faces he has brought to our church through the years! 

When I met Ricky, I was newly married and Ricky was careful to instruct me to put my wife first and serve her needs and interests above my own. His children were the most well behaved, intelligent, loving kids I had ever been around and I began to inquire right away what the secret to that success was. The things Ricky shared with me became the pattern that Donna and I would eventually follow to raise two well behaved, intelligent loving kids of our own. Megan, Rhett, Lacy - he loved you so much! You were his pride and joy! Every time we talked - and we’ve literally had hundreds of visits - you were always part of the conversation. He adored you. He loved his grandchildren as well! His love and pride over you guys was the subject of many conversations as well!  

Back when we first met, Ricky really longed to share his life with someone and it became something we prayed about together. When God brought “Blondie” into his life, he was smitten and let me know, “One day I am going to wake you up in the middle of the night and have you perform a wedding!” Sure enough, on April 6, 1990, about 1:00 o’clock in the morning, Ricky and Carol woke us up and asked us to perform their wedding, right there in our living room. We got up, put on a suit and tied the knot! There are so many things in this life that demonstrate the wonder and wisdom of God - one of those things is how he brings two people together who are just right for each other. That was certainly true of Ricky and Carol. Two very unique individuals who complemented each other so well! We have enjoyed dinners together, baseball games, ski trips and more. 

He loved the outdoors and the hunting camp became his favorite hide away. He wasn’t so much into hunting as he was into the camp, the company of his friends and the coffee. He used to carry a coffee cup from a popular gas station with him so he could go and in a get a refill in the same cup he had been carrying for 3 years! 

One of my favorite memories of Ricky was a camping trip he arranged for me and David Baudoin. If you know Ricky, that campsite was immaculate. Everything had its place and was orderly, comfortable and efficient. We spent the weekend riding 4-wheelers and had one of the best times of our lives! When we got back to camp we were muddy, hungry and tired. Ricky prepared a great meal and we sat around the campfire talking about the day in comfy camp chairs. It was a cool fall night. Baudoin had on a beanie and before we knew it he was sleeping in his camp chair. If you’re not aware, Ricky liked to pull pranks. He passed this trait on to his son! Ricky had a shotgun in his truck and got it, creeped up behind sleeping David and fired off a round. David jumped up and for whatever reason, associated that loud bang with the beanie on his head! He literally clawed furrows on his forehead trying to get it off! We laughed for days about that one. 

Ricky had a way of firing off those shots in all of our lives from time to time. He had a way about him. Difficult conversations weren’t so difficult for him. He had a grace to wade into a topic with you and lay out the wisdom God had given him in such a way it would wake you up - sober you. Get you thinking straight again. It is one of the things I will miss most about him. Ricky served on our board of directors here at Crossroads for a number of years and was always a sounding board for me when I was trying to make a decision about something. I will truly miss walking with the wisdom of this wonderful friend.

Crossroads Leadership College 21/22

We welcomed the class of 21/22 at Crossroads Leadership College this weekend. Due to COVID 19 restrictions on promotion, it is the smallest class we have ever hosted. However, I believe that will allow us to give these amazing young men and women laser focused attention! I can't wait to see what God will do with this group of world changers! 

This also kicks off a new approach to the college. We are partnering with Southwestern Assemblies of God University to offer our students a fully-accredited degree program in dozens of majors! That means, students that are interested in fields that are not directly ministry-related, can get their education in a discipleship-based environment, achieving either an associates degree in 2 years or a bachelors degree in 4 years. This opens the door to many more students experiencing all CLC has to offer! 

I believe with all my heart that, part of what God has called us to do, is raise up the next generation of Pastors, Youth Pastors, Kids Pastors, Worship Leaders, Missionaries, Media Directors and now - teachers, counselors, business leaders, etc. - all in a local church setting with an emphasis on discipleship and leadership development. 

The Art of Marriage - 40 Years!

Donna and I celebrate 40 years of marriage this weekend! I am so thankful for such an amazing wife and so grateful that we have had such a wonderful life together! Donna's love language is travel and it was our intention to take a trip to the British Isles this year to celebrate our anniversary, but with COVID and it's restrictions we are going to have to put that off a while. We decided to do something much more practical and headed over to New Orleans for a couple of days. We recently learned about the Degas House - A bed & breakfast museum in the former home of the Edgar Degas family. Degas actually visited Louisiana in the late 1800's and worked on some of his most celebrated artwork while in New Orleans. Degas was one of the French Impressionists and Donna loves that style of art. We set the trip up and then learned the Mayor of New Orleans was putting an edict in place that required proof of the COVID Vaccine or proof of no COVID within 72 hours. So, we got tested on Wednesday before driving over on Thursday. The bed & breakfast was lovely and we enjoyed the art and tour of the home. We made reservations at Restaurant R'evolution on the recommendation of our friends Shawn and Tonya Johnson! We were not disappointed! Ces Magnifique! 

A Chance Meeting Over Signs and Wonders

Years ago when I was the Youth Pastor at Crossroads Church (then Bethel Assembly of God) I was leading worship one Sunday morning and, while transitioning from one song to another, I began to sing in the Spirit. 

The next morning I got a call from our local Chi Alpha Director, Eric Treuil asking me if I had felt anything special when that happened that Sunday morning. I had to admit, I didn't really sense anything particularly special about that moment - the presence of God was always precious to me. He told me the reason he asked was because he had a young Chinese student with him that morning in service who he had recently led to Christ. As I began singing in the Spirit, she grabbed his arm and asked him how I knew Mandarin. He assured her I did not. She told him I was singing in perfect Mandarin. 

She had been struggling as to whether or not she should be baptized in water, as this could have led to her being ostracized or every persecuted when she returned to Taiwan. Hearing me singing in her native tongue by the Holy Spirit that day was the sign she needed to yield to God in full obedience! 

Today at our General Council, I met a missionary to Taiwan who works with this young lady in ministry every week. All these years later, she is still serving God and living in obedience to His Great Commission! 

Mom

My mom went to heaven today. She passed from this life to her eternal reward about 1:00 p.m., July 15, 2021. She has been battling Dementia for six years. We had to call in Hospice ten days ago. My sister Holane and I have been rotating sitting with her. Her heart was so strong, she lived much longer than the doctors expected. I was there at the St. Joseph's House with her when she passed. Her transition has been so peaceful. I don't believe she had any pain or felt anxiety. She was at rest. 

My mother was born in 1934. She grew up in the era of the great depression, World War II, The Civil Rights movement and more - all in the deep south in rural, north Louisiana. She was acquainted with hard work, death (her mother died when mom was in her twenties) and social unrest. My grandfather was married three times. His first wife had died leaving him a widower with two young sons. He married an older woman with three sons and four daughters. They had two daughters together - my mom and her sister Loraine. When my grandmother died, my grandfather remarried again - this time to a widow with three children of her own. My mom had twelve step brothers and sisters but I never heard the term "step" used even once in our home. This blended family was every bit as close as any blood relatives would have been. Mom didn't create that culture, but she fully embraced it and she carried it on to her dying day. 

My mom was a wonderful homemaker. She worked tirelessly to see our clothes were clean, our home was comfortable and there was a home-cooked meal on the table two-to-three times a day! My parents always kept a garden so there was always fresh vegetables as a part of those meals. Mom was an incredible cook! Southern dishes were her specialty - chicken and dumplings, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, roast rice and gravy - all served with sweet tea! I'm gaining wait just thinking about it. She had a big sweet tooth so there was always dessert to go with those meals. Fresh pies, cakes, cobblers and cookies were always around with coffee to go with it. Two of the staple food items at our house were breakfast foods - sausage biscuits (with the ground meat and cheese baked into the biscuit) and Raisin Brand Muffins. These could be warmed up and eaten as a snack any time of day! 

Mother was the consummate pastor's wife. She was an accomplished pianist and singer and always helped with the worship at church. She was by dad's side at funerals, weddings and hospital calls. People loved her and cherished her friendship. Mom had life-long friends that were still connected to her to the very end - friendships that dated back over 80 years! 

The greatest gift my mother gave us was how she loved our father. She stood by him through good times and bad. That "For Better or Worse, till death do we part" business - she meant! I am so grateful my siblings and I were raised by such God-fearing, people-loving, hard-working, life-giving parents. Over the past 18 months or so there is been a national dialog about the idea of privilege. There is no question in my mind that anyone raised in a home like I was raised, by people like the ones who raised me are privileged! I am forever indebted. 

I love you mom. 

Talking to Jesus

On Father's Day I preached a sermon called Fatherly Advice and shared five of the top things I learned from my dad growing up. Number five was how to talk to Jesus. I wrapped up the message with this cover of the Brandon Lake song. 

We Are the Serve Teams

In my post a couple of weeks ago, I promised to share the Parody Video we created for our Viva la Serve event we did last month. We sure have a lot of fun doing these!  

Our New Worship Pastor

 

Sunday I had the privilege of introducing our new Worship Pastor, Meghin Robin. Meghin is married to another member of our team, Grant Robin who serves in the Media Department. 

Meghin came to Crossroads a little over three years ago desiring for God to bring some healing in her life. She had been hurt and disappointed by spiritual leaders and needed some time to recover. Soon, God began to do a restorative work in her life. Our Youth Pastor at the time, Curvine Brewington, invited her to lead worship in the Exchange and we all soon discovered the amazing gift this young lady has! It has been my desire for a long time to have a full time Worship Pastor on the Lead Team at Crossroads. My dear friend Coy Watson led our Worship Department bi-vocationally for many years and did an amazing job! However, I have always felt like someone giving their full time and devotion to this extremely important part of our ministry would help us grow the team and it's impact on our church and our community. So when Pastor Coy resigned some time back, I began to pray about someone joining our Lead Team in a full time capacity. 

Meghin has been in education for quite a while. She began leading the Worship Ministry here bi-vocationally about a year ago, while completing her contract with the school system. She now joins our Lead Team full time and we are so blessed to have someone who is extremely gifted and truly anointed to lead us in worship before God each week! 

Camp Courageous 2021

Last week Pastor Marty Hoey and his incredible team hosted another amazing Camp Courageous - our summer day camp for kids. This year marks 24 years we have been hosting this camp that features games, field trips, services and much, much more! 

One of our adult volunteers who, as a child attended our very first Camp Courageous back in 1997 was with us again this year. She has either attended as a child, a jr. leader or a leader EVERY year since that first one, and said at this year's camp one could sense the presence of God in a greater way than ever before! Most importantly, 175 kids made a decision to follow Jesus! 

With over 500 registered, Camp Courageous is our first event to equal pre-COVID attendance! This makes us hopeful for the days ahead. Leading up to our annual day camp, our weekly services and events had reached about 65% of our pre-COVID attendance. 

Every year, Holane's grandkids all come in for Camp Courageous. It's always great to see them and this year, Zeke got to have a cousins picture made with them. 

A Fun Way to Eat

We are doing something new at our house.

Donna was visiting a friend recently and she began telling her about a product called Hello Fresh. She was very intrigued and told her friend she might give it a try. By the time she got home, her friend had already made and paid for our first order and we were notified that it was on the way. Yes, we have great friends! 

The way it works is, you pick your meals online, make your order and they are delivered in iced containers to your door. The recipe and all your ingredients for the number of people you have predetermined are all there, with everything ready to cook and eat. It is an extremely cool experience and the pricing isn't bad - comparable to what you would pay for fast food. 

What we love about it is, 1. The verity - recipes we probably wouldn't try on our own, 2. The portion size - not too big, not too small and 3. The convenience - They suggest the meal options (How often do we get stuck on: "What do you want for dinner?"), they do the shopping and they take care of measures and portions and 4. It's fresh! We are really eating healthy! 

We decided to do three dinner options each week. Our first week's three meals were Yogurt-Marinated Chicken with Garlic Sauce, Lemony Couscous and Chili-roasted carrots, Beef and Cheese Tostadas with Green Bell Pepper, Tomato Salsa and Hot Sauce Creama and Steakhouse Pork Chops with a Creamy Pan Sauce and Lemony Green Beans. 

This week our three meals are Coconut Curry Chicken with Bell Pepper and Basmati Rice, Balsamic and Fig Beef Tenderloin with Mashed Potatoes and Rosemary Panko Brussels Sprouts and Baja Barramundi with Yellow Rice and Salsa Fresca. 

Donna asked what meals I want to choose for next week and I said, "Surprise me!" That's part of the fun of it. 

CLC Turns 30

In 1989 Donna and I were serving as Youth Pastors for Bethel Assembly of God (now Crossroads Church). The church sent us on an enrichment trip each year to a conference of our choice and in '89 there just wasn't anything we were interested in. We decided to visit the largest Assembly of God church in the country and meet with their Youth Pastor. At that time, the largest AG church in the country was Phoenix First Assembly of God in Phoenix, AZ. The Pastor was Tommy Barnett and he was known for his passion for souls and his innovation in ministry! Donna and I traveled to Phoenix on a Wednesday, attending their youth service that night, then met with their Youth Pastor the next morning. He was a very nice man doing some great things in Student Ministry but really nothing we weren't already engaged in. At that time our Youth Ministry was booming and our stand out initiatives included a Discipleship program for teens and a Leadership training Program for adults interested in working with teens. 

Bud Plake led the school for one year in 2016-17,
Tim Gautreaux led from 1990-93, 
Lloyd Ziegler was the inspiration behind it all,
Shawn Marcell led for 11 years from 2005-2016,
Paul Jaqua has led from 2017 to present. 

At the end of our meeting, Jeff Peterson, the Youth Pastor there at Phoenix First, suggested that I meet with Lloyd Zeigler who was overseeing a brand new ministry called Master's Commission. He brought me down to a building on campus called Carmen Hall and introduced me to Lloyd, who began to describe Master's Commission as a nine-month school that young people, right out of high school, could attend as an intensive discipleship program preparing them for the next season of their lives. Their mornings were spent in Bible Study, prayer, scripture memorization and classes and every afternoon they were involved in some type of ministry and outreach. To me it sounded like our Discipleship Program and Leader's Training Program all wrapped into one, full time intensive - I knew I wanted to bring it to Louisiana! I came back home and sold our Pastor and Board of Directors on the idea and in 1990, we launched the first Master's Commission outside of Phoenix right here in Lafayette. That class graduated in May of 1991 - 30 years ago. Aside from a five year break while I was away - having  left Lafayette in 1994, returning to serve as Lead Pastor in 1999 - we have had some version of the school up and running here in Lafayette ever since and have had over 350 young men and women from all over America and around the world graduate the school. Today, the program is called Crossroads Leadership College and is led by Paul and Michelle Jaqua, who are both graduates of the program.

Knowing this would be our 30-year anniversary, we decided to do a banquet in association with this year's graduation and invite all our alumni to attend. Over 150 of them took us up on it and it was one of the most incredible experiences of my life! Along with all our incredible alumni and their spouses, Lloyd Zeigler came in to to celebrate with us, Tim Gautreaux who directed the first program for me back in the '90's came in to celebrate with us, Shawn Marcell, who directed the program for 11 years spoke at the banquet and Pastor Tommy Barnett was our keynote speaker for our Sunday services and the Sunday night graduation. Spending time with this living legend was a dream come true! I have so much respect for Pastor Tommy! Kari Campbell, who led our Worship Institute for years (her husband Vance is a graduate of our very first class back in '91) pulled together an alumni band and led us in an incredible time of worship! 

I was trying to get a handle on why it was so special to me and my friend Beau Dore, a graduate of the program who also served as the Assistant Director for a number of years, put it all in perspective for me. He said, "You know, most people in ministry never have that large a representation of the fruit of their ministry in one room until their funeral and then they don't get to see it!" 

Viva la Serve 2021

Several years ago we implemented an event to celebrate the hundreds of volunteers that help us do what we do at Crossroads Church. We decided to call the event Viva la Serve (translated - live the serve!) 

We take a Sunday night, bring all our serve teams together for a time of worship, vision casting and appreciation. We give them all a t-shirt with an annual Viva la Serve logo. (Here's this year's shirt design modeled by Donna and I with our friends Spanky and Kerry Arsement!) One by one, we call out the teams with representatives on stage while the crowd cheers them on. Then we highlight the past year’s stats - newcomers, baptisms, Next Steps participants and finally SALVATIONS! When this number is announced, everyone on stage shoots off confetti cannons and the crowd goes wild! This year part of my final prayer included the request, “God may we always have confetti on this floor until you come!”

Through the evening, we do giveaways with really nice prizes as a way to say “thanks” for the hours and hours our volunteers serve. I will have a brief message of encouragement prepared and then we feature a funny video parody of a song like Uptown Funk (we turned it into Serve Team Pump), Viva Los Vegas (we turned it into Viva la service) and this year’s Queen cover, We are the Champions (which we turned into We Are the Serve Teams). The crowd seems to love it so we will keep churning out this cheese until they tell us to stop! I will feature this year's video here in an upcoming blog post!

Last, but not least, we serve our volunteers all the boiled crawfish they can put down. Our amazing friend Spanky Arsement (pictured above) has a connection that provides us with the biggest, select crawfish you can find and our dear friend Phil Faul and his team from Fezzo’s Seafood boil them up to perfection. Every year when crawfish season comes around I usually wait for this event to enjoy boiled crawfish because it is simply incomparable! There is always a non-allergenic option for those who can’t do crawfish, but this year our crowd put down 2,100 pounds of the south Louisiana favorite. We do a non-allergenic option for the shellfish-sensitive that our friend Chef Troy at Cafe Josephine's whips up for us!  

The Lead Team

For years now, we have honored and celebrated the pastors on our Lead Team during Pastoral Appreciation month in October. Our Lead Team here at Crossroads is made up of eleven very special people. Six of them have responsibilities that are more pastoral in nature and five of them direct areas of ministry that are every bit as important as the pastoral team and, in actuality involves them in almost everything we do as a ministry.This year we decided to take a weekend in the Spring and honor and celebrate these five Lead Team members and their families. 

Pictured here is Holane Davidson and her husband Danny. Holane is our Office Director and my personal assistant (she also happens to be my sister). Because of her role managing our offices and serving as my personal assistant, she interacts with everyone else of the team and their staff members and does an incredible job keeping us organized and moving forward. Next to the Davidsons is Marshal Hunter and his wife Apple with their three awesome boys, Aidan, Malachi and Kaleb. Marshal is our Media Director. So much of what we do is supported by different forms of media and Marshal and his team do an incredible job serving our church and it's mission. Next to the Hunters are Paul & Michelle Jaqua and their sweet kiddos Isaiah, Nessa and baby Judah. The Jaquas direct our Leadership College. They are actually graduates of the school and now do a great job overseeing this training program dedicated to raising up the next generation of church leaders. Next to the Jaquas is Courtney Lantier and her husband Devin. Courtney directs our Accounting Office and does an incredible job overseeing our finances. Devin actually serves as the Secretary/Treasurer for our Board of Directors and together they have helped us achieve the highest standard of financial excellence and accountability. Courtney is also the granddaughter of Gabe and Annie Welch - the couple who founded our church way back in 1956! Last, but certainly not least is Rhett Wyatt and his wife Tiffany with their amazing kids Amelie and River. Rhett is our Properties Director and oversees all property management, helping facilitate everything we do as a church. 

Words cannot describe how much these families mean to me. I am so thankful to have them on this team and so grateful to get to do life and ministry along side them! We are truly blessed! 

THE Carman

I am truly saddened today at the loss of a CCM legend - Carman was one of a kind.

He began his career about the same time as I entered Student Ministry and his music helped shape how we did what we did. His songs were the quintessential go-to for Human Videos - an art form that incorporated elements of mime, lip sync and stage acting in order to tell compelling gospel stories. Songs like Sunday's on the Way, The Champion, Lazarus and Satan Bite the Dust were performed in almost every youth group and showcased Carman's unique approach to song writing. 

Carman's spiritual influences were very similar to my own. At one youth convention where he performed, Jimmy Swaggart and David Wilkerson were both in the audience. That night he said he could relate to Simon Peter when he was tempted to build three tabernacles. He had great revere for those men's ministry. Songs like God Don't Care What the Circumstance and Revive Us oh Lord revealed Carman's theology concerning a strong faith and his heart for the local church. 

The thing I admired most about Carman was that he was, at the heart of it all, a committed soul winner. For him, the songs, the shows, the humor, the pageantry - were all about reaching people for Jesus. He was one of the few artist of his time who did not charge admission for his concerts. Consequently, he packed out arenas like a musical Billy Graham! 

Toward the end of his hay-day, he lost a few of us with his attempts to cover rap and hip hop. Yet, even then I could appreciate why he was doing what he was doing even when I didn't much care for what he was doing - it was always an effort to stay relevant and reach more people. 

I moved back to Lafayette in 1999 about the time Carman's hay-day was dwindling. We were contacted by his promoter to inform us that Carman was performing at churches again. To make sure we understood the magnitude of the opportunity - he said, "I'm talking about the Carman!"

Carman's life has ended at the young age of 65. He has been battling cancer for the past few years, but was doing better and was making plans to embark on a 67-city tour as soon as his health would allow - Driven to win souls right to the very end! 

In pop music, few reach a status of celebrity where they're known by one name - Cher, Madonna, Elvis. I guess it helps to have a unique name. In Christian circles I can only think of one person who reached that status - THE Carman. 

Birthdays!

The first of the year is a HUGE birthday season for our family. Robin's birthday is on January 8th - she turned 29 this year. My birthday is on the 17th and I am 30 years older than Robin so you do the math! Chase's birthday is on February 11th and he turned 27 this year. 

We always celebrate birthdays at the birthday boy or girl's favorite restaurant. The meal usually includes King Cake for desert. This year, both of the kids wanted Indian food. We allowed them to choose the menu and we enjoyed the meal family style. Here is a pic of us celebrating Chase's birthday at Royal Curry in Lafayette. Chase's girlfriend Katy drove over to celebrate with us. Katy is from Kinder, LA and she and Chase have been dating almost a year now. We really like her! 

Ezekiel's birthday is February 8th and he turned two this year! He is getting so big and this is such a fun age! He will try to say anything! His party was this past Saturday and he got lots of new books and toys to play with. He loves them! Last week he stayed overnight with us. He and his Lovey were going into the bedroom we have set up for him and he looked at all his toys and said, "I like toys!" 

The theme of his party was "Twodles." It was a creative play on one of the features of his favorite TV show, The Micky Mouse Playhouse. Robin and Eli are very creative with their party planning! All the kids attending the party got swag bags with mouse ears and other party favors. 

We are so blessed to get to have Ezekiel spend the night with us almost every Thursday night. Since the kids moved out, Thursday nights have been our family night with the kids coming over to eat, play games, watch a movie or just catch up on conversation. During the COVID-19 shut down last year, Robin and Eli started allowing Zeke to stay overnight with us and then spend the day with us on Friday. It's my favorite part of the week! 

God Fills the Void!

Transition in church leadership is inevitable and I suppose we have had our share through the years, albeit not nearly as much as the average church - we have been blessed. Our latest transition involves our Student Ministry. We were so blessed to have Curvine and Candace Brewington overseeing our youth in The Exchange for the past three years. Curvine originally came onboard as a representative of our Leadership College, recruiting for us as he traveled America as an evangelist and music artist. He recently was approached by a large multi-site church in Atlanta and felt God directing him to accept their invitation to serve in Student Ministry there. Curvine and Candace were a great blessing to our church in many ways - none the least of which was grooming their successors - Matthew and Mariah Ackman. The Ackmans have been serving as our Assistant Student Pastors and are prepared and ready to take the reins of the Student Ministry at large. We are so thankful for Matt and Mariah and we can't wait to see how God will use them to lead our students! 

With the Ackmans moving into the lead role, we needed a new Assistant Student Pastor. Zach and Laura Lubeck have been serving as assistants to Paul and Michelle Jaqua at our Leadership College. We have asked them to move to the Student Ministry and we feel like they will do an incredible job! We have asked Jaron Desalatte to step into the Assistant's role at CLC and we are very excited to have Jaron serving alongside the Jaquas. 

When you read the opening passages of the Bible in the book of Genesis you see that God does not create void - He fills it! We have seen Him do that again and again here at Crossroads and we are ever so grateful! 

2021

 

I’ve never been so glad to see a new year! 2020 was a beast! We went through a pandemic, horrible racial tension, two major hurricanes, economic woes and political unrest! It’s not like we have never faced those things before, but all in one year? I don’t know what 2021 has in store, but I am definitely ready to get off the proverbial bus that was 2020.

I love how God is able to make all things work together for the GOOD of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose (Romans 8:28). In the midst of this pandemic, while everything was shut down, God helped us to continue to connect with people through our online streaming efforts and literally thousands of people were viewing our services online that we have never influenced before. When racial tension began to break out across America after the death of George Floyd, we took our entire staff through a great study written by Pastor Miles McPherson called The Third Option and learned more about the power of empathy and compassion. In the aftermath of the hurricanes we were able to reach out to our neighbors who were impacted by the storms and offer assistance and support. Despite the economic shutdown, which happened on top of an already struggling oil industry, we saw our income remain strong and were able to meet our payroll, pay our bills and continue our support of our missions partners around the world! We had just acquired 15 acres of additional property and the old clubhouse belonging to the former country club next door to the church. By the grace of God we were able to replenish almost ALL of the money we spent on that acquisition! 

It’s been said that God will make a way where there seems to be no way! He did that for us in 2020 and I have great confidence that He will continue to do so in the new year. There is still a lot of uncertainty as we enter into 2021, but that will not prevent me from setting goals and making plans as the Spirit of God leads me. I am believing God that this will be the most fruitful year we have ever known. As the old song says, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow!”