outreach directions

Here is our family pastor, Tony (the one in the straw hat) giving directions to some of our outreach team members. It is quite ironic since Tony is not the person one would really want to get directions from. He did do well this time, though! I'm enjoying seeing so many people from the church getting involved in giving to our community.

LA farmer II

I am so proud of the fact that I can get things to grow, even in LA. This the corn, two weeks later than the previous picture. It's just beginning to tassle. Most of the corn is about six and a half feet tall now.

the LA farmer

This is a picture of the corn I'm growing in my backyard. Being a former farm boy, I love to grow things, but with our limited space, this is all I get to do. I'm going to take a picture every week of my kids standing in front of the corn, so we can see the changes. There is actually green beans in back of the corn, which is doing very well, too, though you can't see it. Beans are my youngest daughter's favorte vegetable, so we have to grow it, too. But that's all, folks! We don't have room for anything else.

Saturday Outreach: Church has left the building

Here are some more pictures from last Saturday's outreach. This is the third week of the outreach this summer. The first picture is two friends with their SU3 t-shirts on, who love to give out gifts! Kids are an integral part of our outreach. They've got energy. There were 40-45 people who came out that morning to give away gifts, and talk to people about Jesus. The enthusiasm of our "servants" is contagious. There were more who went out than were in the picture, but they were so excited to leave, they didn't even wait for the picture to be taken!

We had another person (2nd week in a row this has happened) who said, "oh, you're from CrossRoad" as soon as one of our servers gave the gift. That's music to my ears. We do love our neighbors, and want to reach them. The church is doing an outstanding job of ministering here. I'm looking forward to this being our best year of reaching others for Christ that the church has ever seen.

The church has left the building

This is the 3rd year of our outreach to the community. I borrowed a slogan from another church in Ohio for this year's theme: "The church has left the building." The church is called to do ministry in the community, not expect the community to come to us, so we're going out. We're reaching over 1800 homes in our area with three different gifts. The last two weeks we've given out American flags. Even Uncle Sam got into the outreach! And of the 40 or so who were ministering last week, almost half were children! When one person asked about putting a flag in a neighbor's yard, the neighbor responded, "Oh, you must be from CrossRoad (the name of the church). We're developing a name and reputation in the community, that of giving. And isn't that a Jesus kind of thing to do?

Church Description

This is an excellent description of our church, the ministry, and the very essence of who we are and what we do. The post was written by a friend, who is one of our elders, and is currently going to seminary at King's Seminary in Van Nuys, CA.

The church in which I fellowship is called CrossRoad. We are located in the city of Gardena, California. Denominationally, we are a part of the American Baptist Churches, USA. Doctrinally, we are a charismatic Baptist church, believing that all of the gifts of the Spirit are active and for today. As Baptists, we do maintain certain distinctives specific to our heritage, including baptism by immersion and the priesthood of all believers.

As an American Baptist church, we have the freedom to operate our church at our discretion at the local level. The local body is pretty much the entity that decides how the church will be run and what the distinctives will be for that body. We do maintain an elder board, of which I am a member. However, the elder board mostly deals with the operational aspects of the church, while the Pastors of the church deal with the doctrinal and ministerial direction of the church. The elders would only involve themselves in doctrinal issues if the Pastor were to perpetuate heresy! Thankfully, this has not happened!

Our church, celebrating its 60th anniversary this year, has two very special legacies. It is a church that has had many of its congregants called to full-time mission work in various parts of the world, and it is a church that has had a very special healing ministry as a part of its heritage. Much of the philosophy of ministry that our church holds to is based upon these two legacies.

Our Mission
The mission of our church consists of five emphases. It is:
“Joyful Service through:
Family –a place to belong,
Missions – reach beyond,
Ministry – blessed to serve,
Discipleship – learn to believe,
Worship – bringing my all.”


Though we have congregants of all ages, we are very family-oriented. Children are a very strong emphasis in our church. We have large children and youth ministries, and we also have two affiliated schools on our campus that serve pre-school through the 8th grade. These two schools alone minister to a little over 400 children. This is significant because it is larger than the total membership of our church!

Our church also strongly believes in mission. As previously stated, we have had many who have been called from our body to become full-time missionaries in countries all over the world. But we are not limited to world missions. We also strongly believe in ministering to those around us in the mission field of everyday lives. In the past our church has implemented the “Every Member a Minister” philosophy of ministry, encouraging everyone to go out and serve others. We have also implemented new and exciting ministries geared towards serving those in our immediate community. More will be discussed concerning this later.

Ministry is an extremely important part of CrossRoad. As previously stated, we encourage everyone to serve in ministry in some capacity. This is not because we believe it to be a good idea or because it helps the flow of the church. This is because we consider it a blessing to serve others and because we believe that serving others flows directly out of the heart of God. John 13:12-17 is a moving passage that describes one of Christ’s final acts before He went to the cross. In this passage, Christ set aside His “title” as the Son of God for the “towel” of servitude. In his darkest hour, He chose to serve others. In verse 15 of this passage Jesus indicates, “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you, “ and then He concludes in verse 17, “Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” A previous sermon given by our Pastor was entitled, “Grab a Towel,” based upon this very passage.

Another important aspect of the ministry of CrossRoad is discipleship. We believe that it is of utmost importance that individuals not only come to a saving relationship with Christ for salvation, but that they also continue in that relationship through continued learning and growth. Thus, we have a number of Bible studies and Sunday School offerings to encourage that continued growth and personal discipleship.

Finally, our church is strongly centered upon worship. We believe in worship through praise, worship through study of God’s Word, and worship through service to others. Our philosophy is to cultivate an attitude of worship in all that we do. We offer two different worship services that congregants may attend. The first service at 8:30am is a more traditional service with the singing of hymns and a very structured flow of worship. The second service at 11:00am is more contemporary, with modern praise songs being sung and more of a freedom in worship as the Spirit so leads. Often, praise time can take as long as 45 minutes to an hour before a sermon is ever delivered.

Our Vision
The vision statement of the church is: “To reach our neighborhood with the good news of Jesus Christ by doing what Jesus did: healing, serving and loving people into Christ's Kingdom.” If the mission of the church dictates the “what” of our ministry, then the vision of the church dictates the “how” of it. Our aim is to reach those around us with the wonderful news of Christ, and we do this through healing, serving, and loving.

It has been said that when God refers to the necessity of His children being “holy,” what he is saying is that His children must be “whole.” However, in order for them to truly experience this “holiness,” they must first receive healing from God. We believe that healing from God refers to complete healing. That is, it is a healing that is physical, spiritual, and emotional. We faithfully pray for the sick that they may be healed, as mandated by James, believing God for His promises of restoration.

As previously mentioned, serving is an integral part of who we are as a church. We encourage all our members to go out and to serve others because that is precisely what Christ did and what He calls us to do as well.

We also believe that loving is of utmost importance. We are first to love God, and then our neighbor. We believe that by demonstrating God’s love to others, we are reflecting the very love of God Himself.

Finally, though many ministries are called to different foci, we strongly believe that the ministry of our church is called to healing, serving, and loving the people of our immediate neighborhood. The past two summers, our church has undertaken a bold new outreach to our neighborhood, which has resulted in many new faces stepping through our doors. This year will be the third year of our “Summer Unleashed” program.

Unofficial Theme Verses and our Philosophy of Ministry
There are two verses that our church has unofficially adopted as its theme verses: Isaiah 56:7 and Revelation 7:9. Isaiah 56:7 reads, “These I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer.” Revelation 7:9 reads, “After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.”

We believe that worship of God should always be a joy-filled experience. There is a banner in our church that reads, “There is joy in the house,” and this is reflective of how all our worship services are put together. All that we do is centered around sharing the love and the joy of Christ. Whether it is a Sunday morning service, a marriage, or even a funeral, the goal is always to provide an experience of God that is filled with joy because we believe that is God’s desire.

We also believe that church should be a place in which there is unity. Christ came to reconcile the world to Himself, and the world is filled with many different kinds of people! This is why the wall of our church lobby has the verse from Revelation 7:9 painted upon it for all to see. As our Pastor often likes to remark, “We believe that church should be a place that looks a little bit like heaven.” Thus, it is a place in which you can see people who represent many different nations, tribes, peoples, and languages. It is not unusual to look to our congregation and see people of many different ethnic backgrounds seated side by side, including White, Black, Hispanic, and Asian. This is an amazing feat for our church to accomplish at a time that is still considered by many to be “the most segregated hour in America.”

If I had to answer the questions, “What informs the ministry of CrossRoad?” and “ What is the focus when putting together services?” then my answer would definitely be that it is the joy of the Lord. It is through the joy of the Lord that we offer healing to individuals through Christ. It is through the joy of the Lord that we serve our neighbors and it is through the joy of the Lord that we love one another because He first loved us. Indeed, it is through the joy of the Lord that we all come together and that our worship truly can be “just a little bit like heaven.”