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.
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