
Goodbye with Thanks
Firstly, I want to thank God for bringing me to Crossgate. Like many others, I came here hesitantly. As a young man who could trace his Baptist roots into the 18th century, I entered every non-Baptist church with caution, and Crossgate was not an exception. However, the cautious wall was no match against the warm heart of Crossgate. Quickly, Crossgate began to feel like a home, made this Baptist wonder what he had been missing for so many years, and put the hesitant heart at ease. At Crossgate, God began to show me how a church is supposed to be, how a church can be a beacon of light and unity while standing firm on the Word of God, on the Cornerstone, the Stone of Stumbling. At Crossgate, God taught me the importance of the preaching of His Word, the administering of the sacraments, and church discipline. God has shown me the density of His Word and to never take it for granted, recognizing its immeasurable depth. He has shown me that the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper is more than just a symbol but that it is nourishing to the soul, that it is something that should be done regularly. Finally, God has shown me the importance of church discipline, something that I did not see growing up and can thank our church for greatly. I have seen that pursuing after knowledge, righteousness, and holiness is something that must be done as a body, under the leadership of elders and the ultimate leadership of Christ. I have seen the joy that comes from piety. I thank God for these lessons and the many more that He used Crossgate Church to teach me.
Secondly, I want to thank you, elders, deacons, and laymen, for submitting to the triune God and His communication through Scripture, seeking to believe what we are to believe concerning God and to do the duty He requires of us. In this church, I have seen exemplified the call of the Gospel: repent and believe. In many churches, one of those is treated as more important than the other. Some bodies only talk about believing with no real out working of that belief into repentance. Some bodies only talk about repentance, hammering in works with no hope. However, at Crossgate, I have seen a God-honoring balance, that faith is to work out into repentance of the hands, heart, and head. Thank you for being a church of truth, seeking to honor God in all facets of life, in thought, word, and deed.
Thirdly, I want to thank you for letting me serve the youth. I know that I have been far from perfect, and I can look at many times where I could have done better. In spite of this, you let me serve, recognizing that God can use a crooked stick to strike straight. Thank you for this opportunity. I have enjoyed it greatly.
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July 24, 2020

I mentioned last Sunday that we would resume celebrating the Lord’s Supper on the first Sunday of each month, beginning August 2nd. We will be doing a couple of things differently so as to protect everyone as best we can. The first thing we will do is have those who prepare the elements wear latex gloves and masks. We will also have the servers do the same. We will not be passing the plates as we have traditionally done, so only the servers will be touching them with their gloves on. The servers will walk down each row and those who want to receive the elements will hold the palm of their hand up and the server will place the element in their hands.
One other thing that we will do for those who feel a little uncomfortable in a gathering where everyone isn’t wearing a mask – during the 10:45 service, we will use the youth room (in the building behind the main church) for overflow and everyone who comes to this gathering will be required to wear a mask. The service will be watched on YouTube, but then the sacrament will be observed with a server distributing the elements in the same way we’re doing in the main building.

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July 17, 2020


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God at Work…In Our Children’s Ministry

When Emma was small, Crossgate was in its beginning stage. The church had not “organized” and was not in its own building. The normal place for children was in the service and, well, sometimes out of the service if they got too verbose! Young children cannot be little adults no matter how cute they look in their fine Sunday clothes! If you might be concerned that the whole world must be watching or thinking about the behaviour of your children during Sunday service, we are not!
In my day, I was approached by loving “older” members with many an encouraging word. Now it is my turn and I feel privileged to offer the encouragement! Your children are learning that it is important to come to God’s house and to listen. At their young age, this is an important lesson even if they cannot listen.:) They are watching the actions of adults, teenagers, and older children as we sing to the Lord with great volume and sit quietly as a pastor leads us in prayer to our Heavenly Father. All these experiences get embedded in a child. I have a fond memory during the hymn singing at my home church of looking around at the throngs of people all offering their sacrifice of praise to their God…..I knew God was in that place. I have reflected on that moment and now, of course, realize that it was a great gift to be given at a young age. God is real, tangible and loving. So, we are glad to have your young ones in the service!
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July 2020

All of us know how Covid-19 has impacted our whole way of life. I still find it strange that when I go to a store, I see people with face masks on. I certainly understand why, but it’s still a weird feeling to see this in the U.S. And then we see how this virus has impacted our economy, affecting virtually every segment of the American workforce. And as a result, a lot of people are really struggling to meet financial obligations. But looking beyond these things, we can talk about the physical and emotional impact of this virus on a whole host of folks. Whether you catch the virus or not, it’s obvious that this virus has altered our way of living.
But how has Covid affected you spiritually? There’s no doubt that this virus has affected the local church. Churches have not been able to meet together for worship as in the past, and most of the church programs have been put on hold for fear that we might inadvertently spread the virus. But what about your personal walk with the Lord? Has your walk with Christ become rather sickly and anemic in the midst of this pandemic? Is your spiritual life so dependent upon outside Bible studies and other programs that when those are not available, you just sort of hobble along spiritually and become more and more complacent and apathetic? Are you consistently spending time in God’s Word and prayer, or have these things been sort of pushed aside for the time being? And what about church worship on Sunday? Are you staying home for worship because it takes less effort on your part or because you have a genuine concern about your health? Now don’t misunderstand me here. We know that there are people in our church who need to stay home and join us livestream, but sometimes I wonder if there are some who are going to the stores and work during the week, but using Covid as an excuse for not coming to church. Maybe not. But my point is simply this – it’s easy in times like these, to just sort of throw spiritual discipline out the window and become somewhat flabby spiritually. (like the Covid /quarantine weight gain! Have you experienced this?) We can either focus on doing what feels good at the moment, or we can see this as a great opportunity to nourish our souls and become strong in the faith.
Listen, these are tough days that we are living in. They’re not fun and I know that we all can’t wait until we can resume some semblance of normality. We’re tired of this “social distance” stuff! We’re tired of feeling blah! We long for things to get back to normal. But until then, we have to ask – “How does God want to use this pandemic to feed my soul and to mature me in my faith?”
Brothers and Sisters in Christ – I want to encourage you in these strange times to seek after the Lord with your whole heart. Get to know Him better through His Word and Prayer. Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. Don’t allow the sin of apathy and complacency to infect your soul so that you simply coast along. Rather use this time to deepen your walk with Christ so that you might grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Worship’s “New Normal”

- We recognize the need to be extremely cautious and have taken numerous precautions to create a safe environment in which we can worship. Moreover, we realize that some of you are more at risk and may not feel comfortable attending a worship service at this point. If that is the case with you, we encourage you to remain at home and worship with us online. We will continue to live stream our worship service on YouTube.
- We encourage you to stay home and worship online if….
- You or someone in your family is not feeling well – have any symptoms such as temperature, cough, etc.
- You have been around anyone who is sick
- Because of the steps we are taking to ensure a safe environment, our worship services have a little different feel – perhaps, not quite as warm and friendly because we are continuing to encourage social distancing. But be patient. This will pass and hopefully, we will soon be able to hug and shake hands and enjoy a closeness with each other.
- We have 2 limited capacity worship services – one at 9:00 am and the other at 10:45 am. Please plan on arriving 10 minutes early. To meet social distancing guidelines, every other row from the auditorium has been removed so we can only accommodate 60-70 people in each service.
- We are not requiring people to wear a mask, BUT if you feel more comfortable wearing one, please do so.
- We ask everyone to enter only through the front door of the building and move straight into the auditorium and be seated. We encourage you to leave 2 seats between you/your family and others who may come.
- After the service one side of the church will leave through the front door and the other side will leave through the side door. (We will provide directions after the benediction) We ask you to leave the auditorium as soon as the service is over, and then once you are outside, you can visit as much as you would like.
- We are cleaning and sanitizing surfaces between the two services.
- We have a nursery available as well as Kids’ Worship (ages 4-1st grade) during our 10:45 am service ONLY. Children are welcome in the worship services, and should they become restless or noisy, we have space where a parent can take their child and continue to listen/watch the service online.
We are happy to be coming together for worship – even if our fellowship will be divided into two services for a time! But the day is coming – and we can’t wait! – when we will be able to forget about social distancing and just be able to enjoy close communion and vibrant worship together.
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God at Work…In Our Fellowship Ministry

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God at Work…In Our Youth Ministry

Why do students come to Crossgate? Well, with many of them, they were invited by a friend or were told to by their parents, but after attending for some time, they recognized that something is different about this youth group. There is fellowship, not just hanging out. There are brothers and sisters, not just friends. There is genuine care for one another, and a recognition that what everyone truly needs is the power of God for salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ. When one student was asked about what distinguished Crossgate’s Youth Ministry from other youth ministries, he responded:
“As a youth, I feel more respected at Crossgate than other youth groups. This is because the messages aren’t geared around entertainment, but correct teaching on the Gospel. Crossgate is a fun youth group, but they acknowledge the fact that the youth have the capacity to WANT to learn about God, instead of merely being entertained.”
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God at Work…In Our Community Outreach

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God at Work…In Our Women’s Ministry

At the heart of the Crossgate Women’s Ministry is the desire to help our ladies deepen their walk with the Lord through in-depth study of God’s Word, worshiping together in church, and building encouraging relationships with one another.
We recently created a new Crossgate Ladies Facebook Group to facilitate consistent communication among the women involved in our ministry. So many things can be shared within this private members-only group, including prayer requests, questions that may challenge or encourage our spiritual journeys, the joys and sorrows that make up our lives, as well as invitations and news about ministry events, photos, and snippets of personal information that help us get to know one another better!
Some Crossgate Ladies’ posts:
“Let’s keep sharing about ourselves! That was fun last night to learn who was once a former Firefighter, who once was a fighter pilot, and the former mule rider!!! Let’s keep adding our stories!…”
“Thank you everyone who had a part in planning this event. I truly enjoyed every minute with none of the self-consciousness that usually accompanies ‘mixers’!”
“We are thrilled to be part of a Church where people are seeking to follow Jesus and share the gospel with the community and the world.”
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