The Show Must Go On

In 2024 we weren't able to produce our annual Christmas production due to a lack of funds. We had laid some of our employees off and reduced the remaining salaried employees income earlier that year and, even through we were sure we could get the sponsorship for the production, we felt it just wasn't the right thing to do. 

In 2023 we hosted our largest production ever with over 18,000 in attendance and nearly 1,000 responding to the gospel. When making the decision to put the event back on the calendar for 2025, we wondered how much momentum we lost not doing the show in '24. We decided to come back with just one weekend, featuring seven shows verses the two-weekend/twelve shows we did in '23. We felt like if we drew an attendance of 10,000 or more it would be a clear indicator that there is still a big demand for the show. Man were we ever right about that! The show drew in over 12,000 people with over 1,200 responding to the gospel! We had to turn people away at every show and heard from people again and again how thankful they were that we did the production again! 

I am ever-indebted to Marshal Hunter for helping me build this show over the past decade! Marshal is stepping off the team in January to pursue building a production company and we are going to really miss him. He has been such an incredible friend and partner in ministry for many years and we are incredibly grateful for his faithful service to the Kingdom of God. 

Marshal's assistant for the past ten years has been one of our Leadership College alumni, Grant Robin. He is an incredibly gifted young man with impeccable character and is completely bought in to our mission, vision and values. He will be taking over as our new Creative Director on the Lead Team. I have always witnessed proof of the reality that God doesn't create void, He fills it, but I've never seen it proved more than this transition! I am so grateful! 

The Evangelist

Growing up as an Assemblies of God Pastor's son from Louisiana, Jimmy Swaggart had a huge influence on my upbringing. He was the consummate evangelist, the Pentecostal Billy Graham, traveling the world filling stadiums with a world wide telecast reaching millions. He was a preaching machine and with musical influences shared by cousins Jerry Lee Lewis and Micky Gilly, he brought a southern rockabilly to gospel music, along with a powerful anointing that was loved by so many - including my parents who had all his records. 

When I got saved in my early twenties, I felt called to write and record contemporary Christian music. At that time CCM was a fledgling genre that Brother Swaggart was very critical of. That soured me to his influence and despite the inspiration I drew from him as an evangelist and the admiration I felt for the incredible church and Bible College he built in Baton Rouge, I always felt conflicted about the man. I both loved him and resented him at the same time. 

When his moral failure happened in the late 1980's it impacted me in a transformational way. I have often shared that the event is what shaped my ethic and conviction about the role of accountability in the life of believers. I knew if someone like Jimmy Swaggart was vulnerable then I certainly needed a spiritual covering. I have prioritized it ever since. 

I never listened to him much after that. Not because of the failure - any of are capable of that. There was a certain air of judgementalism toward those that didn't completely see things the was he did that I never liked. Even writing this I am torn between the admiration I had for him and the frustration I often felt toward his criticism of those of a different stripe. Regardless, I am thankful for the life, the ministry and the influence of the evangelist and I am praying for his family. 

Who Has Your Autopen?

There has been a lot said lately about the role of the autopen in American politics. To be honest, I had no idea there was such a thing until the current administration began to criticize the former about it's use of this device that apparently allows your signature to be added to legal documents without you even being in the room. 

I don't bring this up to make a political statement but rather to ask us to consider who we are allowing to decide what we endorse. I want to challenge us all to determine right here and now that no one decides that but us! I am not going to allow Hollywood or politics or popular opinion to determine what I give my endorsement. I decide that through the wisdom of God's Word and the leading of the Holy Spirit! No one but God has my autopen! 

The Flowers and Showers of Spring

This year is really flying by! We had so many great things going on in April and May, way more than showers and flowers! Although we have definitely had our share of showers!

We had an incredible Easter weekend with a Saturday night service and two Sunday morning services. We had four services last year and decided we would try doing three instead this year and definitely regretted it. We will be back on schedule with four services next year for sure! Our sermon series in April was called The Trial and Easter's message was called Pilate, Barabbas and The Cry of the Crowd. Media pulled together some awesome video support and Meghin found great songs to drive the message home. The video clips were really special. We knew movie footage would be limited and dated so we found ways to illustrate the dialog of each piece with really cool graphics and imagery. It was very artistic and creative. We had a huge response with right at 4,000 in attendance and over 40 salvations. 

Once again this year we recognized the Directors on our Lead Team. We have been doing this several years now. Along with honoring the Pastors on the team in October, we love celebrating these incredible members of our team whose responsibilities are more directional in nature. Pastor Matt Ackman and his wife Mariah direct our Leadership College, Holane Davidson directs our offices, Marshal Hunter directs our Media Department and Courtney Lantier directs our Accounting Department. The church really blessed our team this year and showed them a lot of love! 

The first weekend of May we got to honor our High School and College graduates. This is always such a treat! We are so proud of these young men and women. We celebrated 39 graduates this year! We call each one up on stage, announcing their name, their school and any accolades they have achieved and Pastor Matt and his team are there to present them with a nice gift from the church. Once they're all on stage, I go up and lead the congregation in prayer over them. Before and after service they have refreshments in the Green Room and are hosted by representatives from Chi Alpha and CLC. Pastor Matt shared a powerful message that day. I am so thankful for the incredible job he and Mariah do with our students and with the Leadership College. 

Mother's Day is always special at Crossroads. When we first took the church it was one of the least attended days of the year. Everyone went to church with their moms at the Catholic church. However, we got really intentional with it and converted it into one of the largest days of the year! We have a gift for every mom, special music, funny video, message just for moms and great photo opps. My message series in May was Identity Crisis and I kicked it off with my Mother's Day message called A Mother's Identity. We do baby dedications that day and it typically is our biggest response to that ordinance of the church. After service we took Donna to eat Indian food ad she really enjoyed it! 

We wrapped up May with our annual Viva la Serve event where we celebrate over 600 volunteers that serve our church each week. We do great give aways and celebrate the results of the past year of ministry, announcing the numbers of visitors, salvations, baptisms, etc. We share some vision for the coming year and then feed our teams all-they-can-eat boiled crawfish. It is a HUGE hit every year! I am so grateful for all the amazing volunteers that work shoulder-to-shoulder with us as we reach people at the crossroads of life! 

We have enjoyed the spring's flowers and showers and are now ready for a busy summer to begin!