5 minute read
Crossover Bible Church
Crossover Bible Church
Advertisement
by Philip Abode
When we returned from seminary in 2005, I was determined tobe a part of a church that made a tangible difference in our community. Twelve years later, I still have to pinch myself when I think about everything that we have seen God do over the years. One of the things that we say a lot at Crossover is that “God does the heavy lifting”. He has done some pretty heavy lifting when it comes to everything from enabling us to swap land that we paid $110,000 to purchase in exchange for property that cost almost $1 million to Him bringing the right people at the right time to join our team (our non-profit’s executive director has a Masters from Harvard and our school’s principal has a PhD…see what I mean). And even though we have seen God do a lot, I cannot help but feel that He is just getting started with Crossover!
As a church family, we truly believe that God wants us to focus on restoring our community by making disciples while loving and serving our neighbors. And just so you know what I mean when I say, “Restoring our Community,” we believe that God wants to see north Tulsa become a place with a reputation for having Healthy People: people who are healthy spiritually, emotionally, and physically; Faithful Families: husbands and wives who are faithful to their marriage vows, who are faithfully raising their kids to love God; Peaceful Neighborhoods: neighborhoods where community happens and where people love their neighbors as they love themselves; and Thriving Institutions: schools that work, opportunities for jobs and home ownership, and where there is a great relationship between the community and the public sector. Unfortunately, Healthy People, Faithful Families, Peaceful Neighborhoods, and Thriving Institutions are not the first things that come to mind when most people think of north Tulsa. By God’s grace, we hope to see that change some day. And believe it or not, we have developed a simple strategy for our church to see that happen. Our strategy includes four components: Gather, Go, Grow, and Gospel Works. As far as I am concerned, seeing restoration in our community is as simple as that. Keep in mind that I said “simple”, not easy.
As a church family, we Gather weekly to worship God and celebrate God for who He is and what He has done. It warms my heart to see a diverse church family singing with one voice to God, letting Him know that we offer ourselves as A Living Sacrifice (one of my favorite songs) in light of His mercy.
And we Go together on mission to help folks get connected to God and His people, through what we call Missional Teams. I like to think of a Missional Team as an outward focused family. That might sound like something fancy, but we mainly enjoy some great food once a week together, see how everyone is doing (celebrating the highlights and praying for the lowlights), and encourage each other as we try to reach others.
And we use Huddles as a safe place for 3-5 men or 3-5 women to be open and honest about their struggles and to help each other Grow toward spiritual maturity. We regularly meditate on the passage from the previous week’s sermons. I will be honest with you, I do not always look forward to meeting with my Huddle on Saturday mornings (sometimes as early as 7am), but I cannot think of a time that I have regretted going. The accountability and support that I get from the guys in my Huddle and that they get from me has made all of us better men.
And the last part of our strategy is engaging in Gospel Works (gospel motivated good works). Everything we do through Crossover Community Impact (CCI) gives us a tremendous opportunity to tangibly love and serve our community. Believe it or not, over 50% of Crossover’s members either work or volunteer for a CCI program or is married to someone who does. That is a lot of love and service coming from a church of under 200 people!
I am convinced that as more and more of the Crossover family engages in our strategy: Gather, Go, Grow, Gospel Works, we will see more and more restoration in our community. Please pray for us as we seek to faithfully journey down the path that God has placed us on.
Philip Abode has been married to his wife, Rondalyn, for 15 years, and they have two children that look just like him. Philip wears many hats in the Crossover Family, but the one for which he is most esteemed is Pastor of Crossover Bible Church.
If you would like to learn more about Crossover Bible Church, please go to: http://crossoverbible.org,
This article was written for the Fall/Winter 2017 Edition.
