“May the Lamb that was slain receive the reward of his suffering!” These words shot across the Copenhagen harbor on October 8, 1732 from John Leonard Dober and David Nitschman, two Moravian men who sold themselves into slavery as it was the only way to reach a group of slaves in the West Indies.
Imagine being so gripped by a love for Jesus and an urgency for his mission that you would be willing to risk anything to share His good news, even sell yourself into slavery! The love of Christ compels us to take the gospel to the nations and our neighbors. And God’s Plan A to reach the world is through the local church. Who’s the church? We are!
We have been greatly blessed with godly men and women who lead and serve the church to accomplish God’s mission. Here in just a couple of weeks, all of our full-time, part-time, and volunteer staff will come together for a few days of encouragement, refreshment, and realignment to the mission that God has given us as a church to equip you to be and make disciples. We will open the Scriptures, sing, pray, and laugh.
Your pastors and staff love Jesus, and they love the church (yes, that means you!). They so believe in God’s mission that they often work crazy hours, have restless nights, and burdened hearts. Just because they love Jesus doesn’t mean that they don’t deal with stress, worry, financial burdens, and other various trials. Your pastors and staff are people in need of Christ and community like everyone else as we all band together to accomplish God’s mission. Our annual, all-staff meeting, is a key way to provide this for our leadership.
The unity and mission we have as one church in many places is both a unique blessing and weighty responsibility and we don’t want to take it for granted. We must protect it and cultivate it through planning, preparation, and most importantly, by prayer. If you are up for the challenge, would you commit to praying for us through the month of July? Perhaps set a once-a-week alarm on your phone or mark your calendar as a reminder to pray for your pastors and staff for the month of July. Here are a few prayer prompts to help guide your prayers for our All Staff meeting this year:
- Pray that God would give us the stamina and brain space needed as we hear about what we believe He is asking us to do.
- Pray that God will continue to unify us in His mission to reach our communities for Jesus.
- Pray that God will encourage and provide for us as we get together.
In addition to prayer, if you would like to financially give or help in any way, email info@crosspointchurch.com. Thank you for financially giving so that we can bless our leadership in this way. Thank you for loving and caring for the leaders God has given his church at CrossPoint. May Jesus receive the reward of his suffering. He is worthy!