The following email was sent out on November 21.  If you call Crosspoint your church home, but did not receive this, please contact the church office at info@crosspointcc.org.

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Hello Crosspoint –

Much of our communication regarding how to respond to Sunday’s tornado has been via Crosspoint’s Facebook page thus far.  Below are some next steps and encouragement regarding how we continue to respond and help the area recover.

Continue to Pray:

As of this email, we are not even a week removed from Sunday’s disaster.  So many lives have been impacted.  Continue to pray for endurance, patience, protection.  For the Holy Spirit to minister and comfort.  For wisdom to know how to respond.  For God to be glorified through it all.

 

Partner with Great Organizations to Serve: 

Specifically, you can partner and serve with the Salvation Army and Samaritan’s Purse.

Salvation Army:

They will be looking for volunteers to help out in the next days and coming weeks with the ongoing recovery effort.  They will be managing volunteers through their online management procedures.  They are currently identifying the specific volunteer roles needed for the community and efforts, and will be contacting registered volunteers once they have identified those needs.  New volunteers interested in being contacted can register here.  Be sure to answer “yes” to the question regarding interest in the local Emergency Disaster Services.   As volunteer opportunities are established, the activities page will be updated.  Volunteers interested in a specific opportunity will then be able to sign up via that page on the volunteer website.

Samaritan’s Purse: 

Samaritan’s Purse is currently set up in Morton and running volunteer work teams from there. They meet at 7:30am at Grace Church in Morton, and plan to organize teams Monday through Saturday. You can sign up to volunteer and get more info here.

 

Be Personally Watchful:

The beautiful thing about being a part of the Body of Christ is that you are equipped and empowered to say YES as the Lord leads you.  And I’ve seen and heard stories of just that kind of thing happening, and it is so encouraging.  Walk in a way where you are watchful so when the Holy Spirit leads you, you can respond and show the love of Christ to someone you know or encounter.

 

Give Generously:

One of the most encouraging things over the past few days is to not only witness people giving generously of their time, but also of their money.  At this point, we don’t intend on taking up a specific offering at Crosspoint.  What we would encourage you to do is to give to organizations such as the Red Cross and Salvation Army who know how to meet needs in the midst of tragedy.  I know MANY Crosspointers have been doing so, and I’m so thankful.  God’s people should be known as a generous people.

 

Long-Term Mindset:
Response is what is happening right now.  The water, the food, the immediate help.  Recovery is the long-term.  The physical rebuilding, and the rebuilding of lives.  As a church, we want to operate out of a long-term mindset.  I am sure there will be opportunities to partner with local churches in Washington in the long-term recovery process.  We’ll respond to those as the Lord leads us.  One of our elders, Kevin Funk, wrote an encouraging blog post regarding persevering through a trial, and it would be worth your time to read and applies beyond just the tornado disaster.

Watching and hearing how the Body of Christ is being the Body of Christ this week is a beautiful thing.  It is a picture that the ‘church’ is not a building, but people.  People who use their energy, resources, gifts, and abilities to serve the Lord, through serving others.  In short, it brings God glory. Keep it up Church! (And by ‘Church’, I don’t just mean Crosspoint, but the larger big C, Church.).  If there is ever a time that we see the importance of having a Kingdom mindset, it is now.

It will be good to gather together on Sunday morning.  I know for me, it won’t be something I take for granted.  See you then, if not before. 

Thank you for continuing to be His hands and feet.

Dave