Thought that I might get back to a blog that I posted in August. I have not posted in 3 months. I will be very honest and tell you that I have not had time. It has not been my priority. God, my wife,  my children and our church have been at the top of my list and I am not ashamed to post that. I am going to do my best to post weekly, but I am not going to promise anything.

Back to our history…I said before, that the small group of people began to grow. They did, and we ended up meeting on Saturday night in one location for about 6 months. After that we moved to our home where we had a building that we met in for 4 years on Sunday. During that time we built that building out twice and filled up our home as well. For numbers sake…we were probably averaging 75 people a service before we moved to our current location. (2081 Ware Street Extension-Blackshear GA-31516) We are in an old shoe factory. It is a 13,000 sq. ft. warehouse that we have renovated. We have had 3 building phases up to this point. We have secured almost 3/4 of the building. In December of last year we moved into our Worship Center that seats 400 comfortably. It has been a GREAT year!

If I could some up our story in two words they would be grace and servants. God’s grace has been so sufficient for us as we have been obedient to lean on Him to accomplish His mission. The people that serve with us and have served with us through the years have been AWESOME! Every person that has been on the journey with us has meant so much to us. We could not have done any of this without God and all of the people that have given of their lives, time, talents, resources and abilities to see the vision accomplished. Thanks to every one of you!

Good to be back on the BLOGOSPHERE again!

Until all have heard,

Rodney

I will post tomorrow to finish up on our history…Sunday was absolutely off the charts! Again and I know that I say it all of the time but our volunteers, leaders and staff are the best around. Thanks to everyone of you that worked so hard to pull off our birthday event! The worship was awesome, the preaching was phenomenal, Thank you Father for all of the salvations…the food was excellent…thanks to every one of ya’ll that made it happen…Crossway Church you are the BEST!!!

My Father in the Lord, Pastor LA Joiner preached an awesome message entitled “Building Principles that Transcend all TIME”. You can check it out online, but I thought that I would insert the key points…

Matthew 16:18 (KJV) And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

The Process of Building…

Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone,  in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. Eph. 2: 19-22

Have a specific word regarding a location…

Acts 16:19 “And a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.”

Make Jesus The Focus…

Heb. 12:2 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith…”

Make People The Target…

John 3:16 “For God so loved the world…”

Build On Integrity…

Prov. 10:9  “He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known.”

Train and raise up leaders that you are not afraid to release…

Look for the leadership gift…Train, delegate and release slowly…Follow carefully the qualifications of 1 Tim. 3:1-7 and Titus 1:3-9…

Make The Scripture Your Center…

Gain a working knowledge of the Scripture so that you build the Kingdom of God and not a counterfeit.

Always let the Scripture adjust your steps and define your vision.

Seek The Power Of The Holy Spirit To Accomplish All That You Do…

Zech. 4: 6 “not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says the Lord.”

Allow The Holy Spirit To Do A Complete Work Among You…

1 Sam. 17:50-51 “So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone, and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David. Therefore David ran and stood over the Philistine, took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. And when the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”

Build A Church That Releases Ministry Through The People And Not Upon One Leader Or A Small Group Of Leaders…

Neh. 4:6 “So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.”

1 Peter 2:9 “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light…”

Build A Church For The Long Haul…

Isa. 9:7 “of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end…”

Until Tomorrow,

Rodney

Job 25:5 (NLT) “God is so glorious that even the moon and stars scarcely shine compared to him.”

Before I look back at how awesome God has been to us over the last seven years I thought that I would just share this passage out of the Book of Job. We are celebrating how good God has been to us and my personal reading is in Job right now. I love all the references to how unfathomable our God is by all the people in Job. This passage out of Job 25 rocked my world this morning. God’s glory is so bright that even the moon and stars are not bright compared to Him…if you are Pentecostal that should make you want to run a lap around your house! Anyway just thought I would give glory where it is due! I was at spin class @ 5:15 or I think I might would take a lap…

HISTORY…I was telling my wife earlier today that it just does not seem possible that we have been leading this wonderful ministry for 7 years now! I am absolutely humbled and amazed at what God has done! This dream all started in a deer stand in November of 2001. I felt like the Lord told me on a cold and rainy fall morning to move from Atlanta to Waycross and start a church that would primarily reach out to unchurched and dechurched  people. I started looking at the demographics and found out that in my home town on Sunday morning that over 40,000 people were not in church on any given Sunday of the year. This broke my heart and I asked the Lord to give me a passion for Ware County and the 7 counties that surround this county in Southeast Ga. Rewind just for a moment…When I felt that the Lord had first told me to move back I was very stubborn and did not want to leave the Atlanta area where we were ministering. After 7 confirmations in 3 different states and events I thought maybe I should be obedient to the Lord. I did not want to get swallowed by a whale! After a season of prayer and fasting we spoke with our Pastor and leadership team at the church where we were serving and they thought it was the Lord. We set the ball in motion and found a team of people in the Waycross area and began to pray, fast, and meet monthly until we felt like it was time to launch…In the early days we met on Saturday Nights in homes and stayed under the radar until we felt like it was time to go public with the launch. We eventually went public and our small team of people began to grow! More tomorrow…

Until all have heard,

Rodney

Great day @ Crossway!!! I just want to say that our staff and leadership teams are the best around…thank every one of you for all of your hard work and desire to see the Kingdom of God pressed forward in this region of the nation. We had two people give their lives to Jesus today! Go God! It is always awesome to watch people who are far away from God take the first step in getting to know him. Just a few things that we are learning as God is gracious enough to trust us with more people…

• We have to have systems in place to disciple people…(we are kicking our small groups back off in 3 weeks)
• We use our service teams in the discipleship area as well…
• 5 Star Service to everyone that comes on our property…coming in and going out…no exceptions…and we are still learning how to do this!
• Make sure that you have enough space and workers for all of the children that adults bring…keep it clean and safe…we are learning this too!
• Communicate daily at least weekly with all of your teams…communicate, communicate, communicate…this is one of our key watchwords…
• When you start videoing and put stuff up for everyone to see…you get to see all of your flaws magnified 100 times…okay maybe only 50 times…also people have a hard time getting used to the camera guys…
• Practice still makes perfect!!! Even though we will never be perfect…
• Always, always, always walk slowly through the crowd…people enjoy seeing you and talking to you…especially the kids!!!
• I know this has been said a lot…and we still do not do it enough…but celebrate all of your wins with your teams and key people…
• Last but not least today…have someone keep you accountable with this…STAY HUMBLE…all the GLORY is God’s!

Just a few thoughts from today…we are celebrating our 7th Birthday as a church this week. Our church is very excited and we cannot wait to see what God is going to do this year! I will try to post daily this week and share a little each day about our history. Blessings until tomorrow…

Until all have heard,

Rodney

This will be the last week of the “SUPERNATURAL” series at church. It has been a great series and I have learned a lot. I hope that if you are in the Crossway family you have to. On Sunday we will be talking about Dreams and Visions and how God can still use them today. I believe if we need anything right now it is a generation of Christ followers to hear God and act upon what God is telling them to do! Just like all of the other SUPERNATURAL stuff that we have talked about over the last 3 weeks Dreams and Visions are still for today. God has used both Dreams and Visions in the Old and New Testament to press His Kingdom forward. Why should it be any different in 2009! I have got to go, but if you have any thoughts let me know…

Until all have heard,

Rodney

I got so many request on the Top 10 things that I learned from VBS that I thought I would post them on my Blog…Here they are…

Top 10 Things I learned at VBS this Week…

10. Kids Pre-K-5^th Grade do not like pimento cheese sandwiches…

9. It takes close to 1000 glue dots a night to put together VBS crafts…

8. Pre-K kids do not like water or big water guns…

7. Some people are not cut out for children’s ministry…

6. Larry, Moe and Curly still makes kids laugh…

5. 200 People create and or produce a lot of trash…

4. I can still out jump a middle school kid backwards in jump rope…

3. All babies do not like loud noises…

2. Parents are funny about their kids and water…

1. Kids still love to be told that they are awesome and that God loves them…

We had a wonderful week. The numbers were off the charts in VBS and it was so exciting to get to serve so many children and their parents all week. We had a Grand Finale tonight and it really was worth it. Many people gave their life to Jesus and others rededicated their lives. God is so awesome. Our service today was absolutely powerful. Father you never cease to amaze me with how much you love creation. Thank you for saving, healing and setting the captives free today. Sunday’s are definitely the most awesome day of the week! I am calling it quits for the night… Have a great week…

Until all have heard,

Rodney

Great service today…

• We had a couple of people give their life to Jesus…that is why we do what we do!!! Thank you Father for trusting us with these precious people…
• To all of our leaders and all volunteers thanks for all of your hard work EVERY week…
• VBS kicks off tomorrow…our set is off the charts and hats off to all of the people that gave so many hours last week to get everything ready…
• We love kids at Crossway Church…that is why we go all out with this event every year!
• It was great to have our good friends Eddie and Beth Taylor at Crossway with us today…
• We are continuing to see new faces every week…thanks for all the invites from our people…all of you ROCK!!!
• Our live streaming was on for the first time today…all day! Thanks tech team! www.crosswaychurch.com
• Had a dog in our service today…on the stage…part of our props…thanks Hillary and Silas…
• Big shout out to Chuck Ralls…who never wears shorts but…did announcements in them today!

That’s all for tonight…

Until all have heard,

Rodney

I lost a good friend today. He went to his eternal home to be with Jesus. Not only was Bobby Nelson a good friend but he was a great leader in our church. It is one thing to lose an acquaintance it is a whole different ball game to lose a friend. This man and his wife have poured their lives into our ministry for over 13 years. I will certainly miss him. I know he was faithful to pray for us and minister to us at all times. He was definitely the kind of friend that everybody needs. He was steadfast, willing to confront and chased after the Man Christ Jesus more than anyone that I have ever known. I know that I am a better person today because Bobby was my friend and fellow co-worker in the Kingdom of God. Mr. Bobby as I liked to call him…my friend…I will miss you very much! I know that you are not in pain any longer and you have received the ultimate healing! Thanks for dreaming with me and having the faith to believe at all times even when mine was weak. Renee’ and I will greatly miss hearing you say Pastor Rodney…____________! Just fill in the blank! If any you are out there trying to do ministry alone, get some great friends around you! They will help you more than you could ever know! May God bless you all!

Until all have heard,

Rodney

I think we had an awesome weekend. I hope that you did too. Our service on Sunday was off the charts and I still cannot get enough of that Uncle Sam guy. If you are not from the Crossway family we have an Uncle Sam character that shows up on all patriotic holidays. He usually gives the announcements or something. Anyway…My families 4th was our usual…we watched our awesome worship team (You Guys Rock!!!) lead worship in our towns 4th of July rally, went to eat with about 20 other people from our church and then ate boiled peanuts and watched the fireworks together. Hope that you had a great 4th as well.

For those of you that know how crazy of a time that I have had with our swimming pool this year…guess what? We are hopefully only a couple of days from swimming! Everyone in the Thrift household give me a BIG AMEN!!! This has been one of the biggest battles that we have fought in a long time. I had to weed-eat my dad’s yard today. You might say no big deal…think again…he has 5 acres…a pond covers about 3/4 of one of the acres and it has to be trimmed…fun, fun, fun in the South GA HEAT! It’s the least that I can do for him for all that he has done for me over the years.

Have you heard…we are only a few days away from “SUPERNATURAL” our new series at Crossway Church. It is going to be absolutely one of the best series that we have ever done. If you are a part of the Crossway family you will not want to miss it. If you are not we are live streaming now. You can pick us up @ www.crosswaychurch.com at 10:00 am on Sunday mornings. Please pray for our students this week, they are at Crossroads Camp hanging out with Clayton King and his gang in Boiling Springs, NC. I know that they are having an incredible time!!! Have a great evening!!!

Until all have heard,

Rodney

Summer is really not here but it is getting close.  The first day of summer is June 21, 2009. If you are a parent, because school is out you use the statement that the “summer is here”. This is not a true statement though. It is thirty days off. It is a part of our routine as a parent with a kid/kid’s in school to think that when school is out that the summer is here. Even though it is really spring.   Why does it seem like we are trying to hurry things along? I noticed this spring that I was getting antsy when it started getting warmer and my yard and flowerbeds were still not fixed the way that I wanted them to be. Then one afternoon the Lord spoke to me and said, “that we barely were in the spring season and to calm my nerves”. I am a type A personality and maybe a little OCD…okay a lot. When things are out of place it irritates me to say the least. So, why am I talking about seasons and being in a hurry? If your summer is anything like mine it will be busy. What we need to figure out is how and when we need to do certain things. The Bible says in Ecclesiastes 3:1 (NLT) There is a time for everything, a season for every activity under heaven.

 Take a deep breath. Do you feel better? I hope so. Many times I am asked when ministering to people that are under lot of stress, “How do I keep my stress from making me explode?” My answer is the same that I teach children about dealing with tough situations or times when they feel like acting out, saying the wrong words, or wanting to punch someone. First things first, take a deep breath, possibly turn away for a moment and count to ten or twenty if you need to. Get your thoughts together, then speak or act and hopefully you won’t explode on someone or something. What does this have to do with time or timing you may ask? Everything! Think about your time. I figured out long ago that I bring more stress on myself than anyone else. I have been taught time and time again that I make my schedule. So why do I let others dictate it, even my kids? In the past we have had a calendar at the Thrift house that has all of our ministry obligations and the kids activities on it so we know where everyone is supposed to be and when. This makes life much easier. Lately, our calendar has been inoperable and things have been a little disorganized. I think I might go get our calendar worked out now so that I can get things back under control…The only thing about a calendar is that you have to work it. If you want it to work you have to make it work. It takes a little discipline. We are all capable of making it happen though. In the military we had five p’s that we used when dealing with time. They were…proper planning prevents poor performance. Makes sense to me. If you want things to operate in an orderly fashion be a proficient planner. I thought that I would just give you a little nugget to hopefully take some of the stress off of your daily living this summer.

 A few other stress busters are spend time with God, read your Bible, let someone hold you accountable on your time, laugh more and laugh at yourself more. Proverbs 22:17 (MSG) tells us…A cheerful disposition is good for your health; gloom and doom leave you bone-tired. We have a lot going on at the church this summer. Our new series starts Sunday 06.07.09 it is titled “REFLECTIONS” and we will look at the four most important relationships that we should all have. I am very excited about this series and I hope that you will glean a lot out of it. Make it a point to bring someone new every week. Every Wednesday of the summer starting 06.03.07 our student ministry will be doing Cross & Towel. Cross & Towel is an opportunity to serve in some capacity (just as Jesus came to serve) in the morning and they hang out, go swimming or do something relational in the afternoon. Our children’s ministry is getting ready for Kid’s Aflame in June and VBS in July. There is a lot of work that goes in to these two events so if you would like to help in anyway please call the church (912.284.9066) and we would be glad to get you plugged in. Renee’ and I hope that you have a wonderful summer and please look at the church calendar and make as many events as you can. 

Until all have heard,

Rodney