sanctuarycg

New Year's Eve Worship at Sanctuary!

Before you head to your New Year's Eve party, bring in the new year with some awesome worship at Sanctuary. 6:00 tomorrow. The night will kick!

A CrossRoads/Sanctuary Christmas!

Sanctuary's Midnight Christmas Eve Service to Benefit the Homeless
Join us at midnight Christmas Eve for a VERY special worship service. The service will feature a candlelit acoustic set of Christmas music, the traditional Christmas story, and a reading of the story, The Christmas We All Crossed the Bridge. All are invited to attend and encouraged to bring a new or gently used blanket to benefit the Twin Cities homeless population.
 
CROSSROADS CHRISTMAS EVE SERVICE TIMES
Saturday at 5:00 pm
Sunday at 9:00 and 11:00 am, 4:00 and 6:00 pm and midnight
(Note: The Saturday at 5:00 and the Sunday at 4:00 are shaping up to be the most full.) 

24 HOUR PRE-CHRISTMAS PRAYER VIGIL
Starting Friday morning, December 22, CrossRoads Church will be holding a 24 hour prayer vigil for our ministry of the good news of Jesus on Christmas Eve weekend. You don’t need to be an expert at prayer. Simply signup for a time and come and pray for as long or short as you want. You can sign-up by calling the church office (651-459-7111).

NEEDED: CHILDRENS MINISTRY VOLUNTEERS FOR CHRISTMAS EVE
Want to help share the love this Christmas Eve? How about attending a Christmas Eve service and serving at another one. CrossRoads is in SPECIAL need of CHILDRENS MINISTRY VOLUNTEERS at the Saturday 5:00 pm service and the Sunday 4:00 pm service. Please call the church office if you can help (651-459-7111).

LAST MINUTE SHOPPING?
World Vision offers some great ways to give a gift in honor of a friend this Christmas. Example: instead of sending my brother-in-law's family stuff they didn't need, I donated money to World Vision to purchase a bed for a sponsor child. World Vision then sends them a classy Christmas email personalized with a message from the sender. It's easy, affordable, and quick. You can purchase everything from a goat to a well! Simply go to World Vision and follow the directions.

And finally, I got this message from Bill Wallace who goes down with our Praxis Team every weekend to serve the homeless of St. Paul:

Brad,
            As you know several of us regularly go to to greet and offer some of God’s love in very simple ways.  My story from Sunday begins almost 11 months ago in while serving some Homeless people water, smiles, an open ear, gloves, etc…   Matt, Casey and I met a young man named Tim and his mom Grace; both had been homeless for a year or so and were very open to discussions from and with us.  We met up with them several times, looked at job applications Tim was working on, bought them bus passes so they could get to job interviews and talked about life on the street.  As with many stories we hear, most homeless end up there because of one or two mistakes, or catastrophes in their lives.  Grace and Tim was a pair that just seemed to have some really rough spots.  After seeing them for several weeks, even months, we just stopped seeing them.  This gets troubling at times because often when “regulars” disappear we never hear where they went, if they moved, died and we consider them to be friends. 

    Well, this past Sunday I was working at the Metro-Dome for a fundraiser and I saw Tim!  At first he was startled that someone knew his name and asked me where I knew him from.  There were a lot of people around and I did not want to embarrass him, so I told him that a few friends of mine and I would see him onoccasion but haven’t seen him lately.  His eyes got bright with recognition and said.  “You know, I am off the street now.  I have an apartment, a few steady jobs. I got my mom off the street and it was all through hard work and prayer.  The work you guys do really makes a difference to some people out there and I have prayed for you guys as well.  Thank you!”

            We were both working at the dome that day so, our conversation was cut way short.

            That was one of the coolest things that I have heard in a very long time.  Of course the glory and Praise goes to our savior Jesus Christ!  We are just out there being His hands and feet.

Sanctuary's Midnight Christmas Eve Service to Benefit the Homeless

Gang, midnight Christmas Eve is going to be very special. I truly believe it will be one of the most memorable services you and your guests will have ever attended. The service will feature a candlelit acoustic set of Christmas music, the traditional Christmas story, and a reading of the story, The Christmas We All Crossed the Bridge. All are invited to attend and encouraged to bring a new or gently used blanket to benefit the Twin Cities homeless population.

Christian v. Christ-follower,

Trust me. These take-offs on the Mac v. PC commercials will make you laugh and think. Be sure to watch all three. Click here.

Comments?

Helping Bill's Pantry

As you may know, Bill's Pantry delivers groceries to people in the Twin Cities living with HIV/AIDS who are also in poverty. CrossRoads has become very involved with this group in the past year.

One thing we've heard is that the people receiving the food would really appreciate a simple treat, like a jar of jam or jelly, which is something they don't usually receive.

As a simple act of kindness this Christmas, we would like to include a jar of jam or jelly in each bag of groceries being delivered on December 16th. If you would like to bless people living with HIV/AIDS, in a small but much appreciated way, then please pick-up a jar of jam and bring it to Sanctuary this Sunday Dec 10th. We will be collecting the jars at the new Praxis info counter at the north end of the lobby.

Sanctuary Vision

I am often asked something akin to the following: "Why does Sanctuary do what it does?" I have wrestled with how to articulate our uniqueness and believe the following might help: We are a community of people enacting the story of God for a people who thought they had no story.

Today we live in a world where people do not know the story of God. As I have often said, we are the most biblically illiterate generation in the history of the United States. Therefore, on Sunday nights at Sanctuary we enact the story of God, so those who do not know Jesus will see, hear, and participate in His story. It is for this reason Sanctuary is highly interactive. We believe we learn by doing. Our community prayer time, weekly communion, the give and take of the teaching, and the community's singing testify to a God who has made room for people in His loving story.

This Sunday night we will continue in our Christmas series: The Genesis of Christmas. Sunday night's theme will be I have a Story. Throughout the evening we will celebrate how our story has been transformed by the baby in the manger.