Mixed Feelings

Well, get ready for some ups-and-downs:

My heart is saddened with the resignation last night of our Music Pastor, Tom Carrigan. When I first met Tom fifteen months ago everything that drew me to him proved to be true: striving for excellency, preparedness, handling details well, cooperative spirit, second-mile efforts, good blend in music, handling our praise team and choir well, serving in office details wonderfully and creating great excitement with our children’s music.

And then Mrs. Pam has been such a blessing to our ladies in her teaching, conference planning, loving and promoting Beth Moore studies.

We are going to miss this couple for sure. But we must have faith that God will not only take care of them; but He will do the same for us.

Then the good news: What a day we had this past Sunday. It was our official ground breaking for our new building at our new property. The excitement was high and God gave us a beautiful day in here in Alabama (74 degrees – two degrees less than an all time record). Pictures will soon be available on the church’s web site.

I preached “Heritage Stones” in Joshua 4 where they produced memorial stones and said that when your children ask about them, tell them the story. I asked each family to bring a stone and to have a family talk about the significance of that stone: how God brought you to CrossRoads, what CR means to you and/or how God has provided to you for your Faith commitment to the building project.

Our families then brought the rocks forward and then all our children and youth took shovels in front of the rocks and did some “ground breaking.” It was awesome.

Pray for our church. They, like me, are experiencing the high and the low this week.

Personal notes….

I conclude my teaching tonight from “Hebrews” at the North Alabama Center for New Orleans Seminary. The class has been a delight in spite of having to deal with chapters 6 and 10 of Hebrews.

Duane and Iris Blue have arrived in the Shoals where they are going to be speaking 41 times in 32 days in 20 different churches affecting 24 churches (joint services some). I will try tomorrow to post their schedule for the month of March. They are not preachers, just “satisfied customers.” Go to www.freegiftforlife.com and hear their three-minute testimonies under “Life Stories.”