Worshiping at the Crossing

Our worship team has been spending some time visiting other churches as we prepare for a worship retreat this Saturday.  I chose to attend the Crossing Church in Elk River.  Our team wanted to learn about a very large church that wasn’t Eagle Brook.  I drove there yesterday and attended their 9:00 a.m. worship.

According to their web site--http://freegrace.tv/#/about-us/our-story—the Crossing was launched in October 2004.  They have grown very fast.  They have 1,600 people who attend worship at one of their four campuses.  They also have an on-line campus and and three micro-campuses.

I arrived at their Elk River campus about five minutes before worship.  I was greeted at the door and given a lot of information about worship and the Crossing.  In their lobby they had a coffee shop, book store, plenty of signs, and directions to their kids space.  When I walked into their worship space I was offered ear plugs. 

Their worship space was very large.  It had a cement floor, two large screens on the side, a smaller screen at the front, a stage and lots of audio/video equipment in the back.  Much of the space was roped off at the 9:00 service.  I would guess that between 150 and 200 people attended that service.

The band began right as the timer on the video screen hit zero.  The lead guitarist welcomed us and a band of eight played two songs.  Many people raised their hands—the band acknowledged that it was early to worship and encouraged us to be energized.  After the songs a woman shared a prayer with music playing in the background.   We were then encouraged to fill out a connect card that was in the back of the seat in front of us.  Announcements were shared and then a video about the current sermon series called, “I Am.”  After the video the band led us in a very high energy song.

Lead pastor, Eric Dykstra, then talked about the I Am sermon series that he has been sharing.  This is an identity series.  He was dressed in a leather coat with black jeans.  He was a very engaging speaker.  He talked for about ten minutes and then introducted four people who talked about different parts of 1 Peter 2:9-10.  Each person was on staff.  One person talked about how God chose us, the next person talked about how we are royalty, the third person talked about how we are holy.  All of the speakers gave their talks from memory.  Eric Dykstra then came back and did a wrap up.

Before the closing Kelly Dykstra gave a six minute talk on giving.  She used the metaphor of a ketchup bottle and shared a story of using ketchup at a recent staff retreat.  A video was then shared about an upcoming series on the devil along with an announcement about a large Halloween party.  I left the building around 10:20.

I’m glad I went.  The people at the Crossing are obviously doing something right.  I didn’t know the songs and had a hard time singing.  I enjoyed a few of the talks—though I was given so much information that I felt like a water hose had sprayed me. 

I don’t think I could worship weekly at the Crossing, but I applaud them for the many different ways they are reaching and connecting to people.