March was a full month at Crossroads with multiple retreats, baptisms, and our Holy Week Services! We stayed busy and had a fantastic month. Here is a look at what we did in March!
BAPTISMS
We celebrated three baptisms in March and we are excited for all of these people who took this next step in faith. Jessica Morse and Tom & Kathy Calderwood were baptized. Join with us as we celebrate and encourage them in this new season of their faith.
Are you interested in taking the step of baptism? Check out the webpage below to learn more about this step.
WOMEN'S RETREAT
On March 1 & 2, almost 70 women gathered at the Music Road Hotel in Pigeon Forge for the annual Crossroads Women's Retreat. This retreat was hosted by Rita Booher, worship was led by Lisa Roberts and Maggie Booher, and challenged by speakers, Susan Kirk, Nikki Trammell, and Krista Orr. We enjoyed interactive sessions learning about who we are in Christ. We also packed over 70 toiletry bags for The River Ministry in Johnson City. This event helped to unite our women in purpose and love and we're grateful for those who worked hard to make it successful.
MEN'S RETREAT
On Friday, March 8th, 18 men carpooled from Crossroads to Lynchburg, Virginia, to attend the 2024 Ignite Men’s Impact Weekend at Thomas Road Baptist Church. This retreat featured speakers Tim Tebow, Brian Dawkins, Craig Groeschel, and more. Our Men’s group enjoyed the time of praise, singing, inspiration, and motivational speaking as well as several activities like hatchet throwing, javelin throwing, slingshots, and breakout sessions with topics ranging from being a better husband and father to fly-fishing, disciplining, and pastoring in the world today. The event concluded around 5:30 pm on Saturday, March 9th, as hundreds of men went forward to dedicate or re-dedicate their lives to Christ. This was the first year our men’s ministry attended this event and everyone returned energized and excited to bring what they learned back home.
STUDENT MINISTRY BLOOM & GUYS RETREAT
Our Student Ministry had over 20 students attend their spring retreats, the Bloom and Guys retreats on March 8th & 9th. The gals had a wonderful time at Camp ACC, learning more about how God has given us a purpose and will continue to provide support and provision in the same way that he provides for the lilies. They had a fun time doing skits, learning practical skills, and having intentional conversations about their identity in Christ and finding where God is leading them. The guys also had a blast, and had some fun highlights by making mallets and playing in a Nerf battle. They learned about what it means to be God’s workmanship and how we live into that by being faithful to his word. There were life-changing conversations all weekend, and we are so thankful to all our amazing volunteers who helped make the weekend so special.
EGGSTRAVAGANZA
Over 200 children showed up on a rainy Saturday morning for our annual Eggstravaganza Easter egg hunt. This was a fun morning where kids learned about the resurrection through various interactive stations, heard about the Easter story, and of course, participated in an indoor Easter Egg hunt. This was a fantastic event and such a fun way to kick off Holy Week! Check out the recap video to Eggstravaganza below.
PALM SUNDAY
Clint Andrews brought a special sermon on Palm Sunday as he walked us through the Passover meal. He showed us the different elements of the Passover meal and walked us through what that meal looked like for those partaking in the meal. Clint then showed us how the Passover meal shows up in the Gospels during the Last Supper and told us how the Passover meal is still significant to Christians today.
GOOD FRIDAY
For Good Friday this year, our staff along with a team of Crossroads Members, assembled a booklet of prayers and meditations based on the Seven Sayings of Jesus from the cross. We dove into these sayings during our Famous Last Words sermon series and this time of prayer was an extension of what we learned about in that sermon series. This time of prayer gave space for our congregation to wrestle with some of the hard emotions of the crucifixion and to sit in a quiet space of prayer. We offered three Good Friday Prayer experiences this year and had 200 people show up during our three services.
If you missed this experience, or want to go through it again. You can grab a booklet in the lobby, just stop by the Welcome Desk and ask for one. You can also follow along with the experience through the video below.
EASTER
We celebrated the resurrection of Jesus with four Easter worship services this year! We were glad to worship as a church family and to welcome families and guests. We had cookies and ham biscuits, our photo booth, and lots of smiles all around. We were happy to worship with you all and we can't wait for next Easter!
