Some Exciting things are happening in the life of Crosswinds.
Three sundays ago we were able to feed between 25-30 homeless people in a local park. We played lawn jarts (yes I said lawn jarts) with a few of them and had the opportunity to talk to many of them in one on one conversations. God is using us in ways we never expected.
Just 2 weeks ago we visited and toured a local homeless shelter called Good Shepherd Ministries. We plan on partnering with them to support and serve the homeless in Wilmington. Trust me, the neat thing is that we are doing it because we genuinely love these people not because it's the right thing to do. God is breaking our heart. We realize that we can only do so much when our heart wants us to do more. We are building into the DNA of Crosswinds to not only give but GO and serve our community.
As of Sunday Oct. 5th we started meeting in the Alderman's house in Leland for Sunday morning bible study. We have been looking at the Great Commission and what it means to truly "GO" and reading Just Walk Across the Room by Bill Hybels. This Past Sunday we talked about the fact that we are all called to Keep Walking even when we are in survival mode in our lives. We looked at the passage in Isaiah 40:28-31 especially the last few verses that say "they will run and not grow weary they will WALK and not faint." In all honesty the past few weeks have been tough for all of us. We knew that the enemy would attach but didn't know it would be all of us at one time. The neat thing is God has been teaching all of us through this time in our life and we will only be stronger for it. In others words we are going to KEEP WALKING. We are all striving to thrive even when we are just trying to survive life's challenges. This is when I can't say enough how much we value and appreciate your prayers. Faith is not always easy!!! But it is rewarding.
Check it out!! We now have an official website.
www.crosswindslive.com
The website not only gives you the ability to check out what's going on but also to give electronically. The information for that is below. We hope that this will help all of you in supporting Crosswinds in the days ahead.
Crosswinds Church is offering the ability to give electronically (eGiving). Now you can give through the convenience and privacy of your home computer. You can choose to give: one-time, weekly, semi-monthly (bi-monthly), monthly or in any way the Lord leads you.
Many people enjoy the convenience of making utility or other payments electronically and now you can give to the Church electronically.
Here are some of the relevant FAQs:
Q: Are electronic contributions risky?
No. An electronic contribution is safer than writing a check, and it can’t be lost, stolen or destroyed in the mail. To sign up for eGive you are only giving information that is already printed on your check. National laws, rules, and guidelines govern all Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT) transactions. Over four billion EFT transactions are processed annually in the United States.
Q: Is there any charge to me from my bank to give online?
No. Electronic funds transfers carry no bank fees and this service is free.
Q: Why can’t I give by credit card?
We chose to set up eGiving through electronic funds transfer rather than credit card for two primary reasons:
1) With electronic transfer, your entire gift goes to the church. When using a credit card, as much as 3% of your gift would go to the credit card company.
2) Although many pay off their credit cards each month, many also do not. We do not want to potentially put someone in the place of going in debt and paying credit interest on gifts given to the church.
Another cool thing that happened this past weekend was "The Amazing Race". This past Saturday Mark and Chris Pratt organized a fun event for all of us. We even had a couple show up that were friends with the Alderman's. We were split up into teams and had about 5 tasks to accomplish. My team came in second but I still think we should have won. Oh and by the way, did i mention it was pouring down rain. This made the event that much more fun and that much more memorable. Thanks Mark and Chris for all your hard work.
November 1st we will be a part of a Fall Festival in Leland. This will be our first community event. We are excited about connecting with the community through this time. We will be there just as a touch point to the community. Possibly giving away bottles of water and balloons for the kids. We want people to know that we are all about serving the community. Also during the month of November we are working to set up a donation center for the Good Shepherd Ministry to collect food and clothing for their ministry.
My Coach comes in today to visit and meet with the team. He will be here until Wed. I am really looking forward to this time. I believe it will once again help us as we keep moving forward.
One last thing. Please be praying for our location. We are having a tough time finding a location that we can begin holding our services. Our plan is not to start services until Feb. but we still have to secure a place to eventually meet. So please pray for God's guidance as we move in that direction.
So that's what's been happening in the life of Crosswinds over the past few weeks. We again want to say Thank You for all your support and prayers.
Have a great day and remember KEEP WALKING and be intentional and aware of divine opportunities.
