Church Life Update :: July 30, 2020

August 04, 2020, By: Jimmy Scruggs

In case you missed it, here’s what you need to know from our latest Church Life Update. Pastor Ryan Howell and Council Chair Aisha Thomas helped us celebrate our amazing church. God Is in Control This has not changed. God is still working and transforming lives through Crossroads Church. August Weekend Services There will be no significant change in our gathering habits between the months of July and August. We will continue to gather outdoors at 10am on Sundays, weather permitting. We will also continue our LiveCasts Thursdays at 6:30 and Sundays at 10am. We are committed as a church leadership team to continue bringing the quality LiveCast throughout this entire season. So if it’s still safer for you to remain at home, we encourage you to gather in that space. The same God is in your living room that is on the lawn at the Taft Avenue campus. Kids Programming Kids are worth it! And we miss seeing our kids! We made the decision early on that we would follow the lead of our local school districts when it comes to re-gathering our children’s programming. While districts are hammering out the details of how to safely re-open schools, our family ministries team is exploring all kinds of options for in-person and safe programming. This is challenging because we ultimately want kids to understand and experience God’s love; but if we are attempting to gather in certain ways, we actually might be doing the opposite and creating a traumatic or confusing experience. Truly, the heart of our ministry at Crossroads is young families and we want nothing more than to continue this important work. The KidsCast is phenomenal and will continue live Sundays at 11:15 and on demand throughout the week. Kids Are Worth It (KAWI) 2020 continues with our Kids Are Worth It ministry focus, so thank you for continuing to give toward to KAWI. On top of giving, we’ve had many opportunities for people to connect with kids and students in unique ways throughout this season. Even the While You’re Out items are affecting kids and families on a weekly basis, so thank you for participating in those weekly challenges. The KidsCast is a statement of Kids Are Worth It: we are investing time and energy into that weekly production. Just this week, we partnered with a church in Moldova. Volunteers from our church have been connecting with highly at-risk kids in Moldova who are learning English. Next month, starting August 6, all the giving for KAWI will go to an organization in Romania called Value Plus. They are doing incredible work with kids and students. Romania is the number one source for young men and women that are being trafficked throughout Europe. With their program Stay Free, Value Plus goes into high schools and middle schools and does prevention for human trafficking. Even though we’re living in trying financial times, the point is to live into generosity. We have an incredible opportunity to make a difference in lives all across the globe, starting right here in Northern Colorado. The more we can live outside of ourselves, the more we can live into the blessing that is life in God’s kingdom. Financial Status Update Given the pandemic, we are thrilled with where we are compared to where we could be. Thank you to everyone who has made the transition to giving in new ways, be it online or with giving envelopes. Our YTD giving is just about 7% below budget, and this is a miracle. However, we could certainly have an amazing August (end of budget year) and end the year on budget with our giving. Our budgeted expenses are about 3% over budget; this simply means that we are leaning into ministry and finding new ways to connect with people, even in the midst of a complete programming pivot. We are continuing to make ministry plans to the best of our abilities, acknowledging that our best-laid plans might need to change at a moment’s notice. Stay tuned for the next church life update on August 27 for the latest news and info.