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!"