This summer, set sail for VBS fun!  Join us for a week of adventure as we navigate God’s truths.  Kids will explore stations, including crafts, snacks, games and theater where they will hear a daily Bible Point.  At High Seas Expedition, the daily Bible Point is carefully integrated into each station’s activities to reinforce Bible learning. Each activity is an important part of kids’ overall learning experience—kind of like the pieces of a puzzle.

Information:

August 2 — August 5
Monday — Thursday
6:00 to 8:30 PM

We welcome kids age 4 through 11.

Pre-school program for 2 & 3 year olds, and nursery for infants to age 2 is available for the children of parents who are volunteering.

There is no fee to attend.

Kids aged 12 and older may volunteer.

Contact the church office, 322-6400 for more information, or e-mail vbs.crossroads@yahoo.com.

Registration Forms at the Resource Desk, as well as volunteer forms or register online below.

Through the years we have refined our search process as we hire new staff at Crossroads.  Early on in our 17 year history we learned the hard way that asking the hard questions and watching for the “red flags” is crucial in the hiring process.  It can be easy to jump ahead of the process and gloss over the warning signs when the need for leadership is urgent.  Here is a brief overview of the process.  There is more to it but I don’t want to overwhelm you with details:

• Our prayer team is mobilized!
• We need to clearly define and prioritize our greatest needs in the area of leadership.  It is clear that we need a Worship Arts Director at Crossroads.
• When we’ve established the need to hire a new staff member we do our best to articulate a position description knowing that there will be adjustments as we get to know the gifts and strengths of our new leader.
• We proactively seek out quality candidates we know and invite them to apply while advertizing on key websites.
• The staff sorted through some 52 résumés and applications that included DVD’s, audio or websites that sampled the candidates worship leading skills.
• We conducted 9 phone interviews with prospective candidates and narrowed the field to 3 candidates all the while sifting through additional résumés and video samples.
• During the initial phase the Search Team, including staff, Praise Team leaders and elders, was formed and they sorted through the top candidates.
• The top three did an extended behavioral interview with Kris and Drew.  Behavioral interviews work on the premise that “the best predictor of future success is past behavior”.  We don’t ask what they would do, we find out what they’ve done.
• The top three were also asked to take a leadership assessment test (Caliper) that matches their gifts with our position description.
• Our top three candidates, the “cream of the crop”, made it through each of these steps so we invited them to come and lead us at a weekend service.  During the process of scheduling visits the Lord removed two of the potential candidates.
• Many of you participated in our primary candidate’s (Jeff Whitney) visit to Crossroads on June 10 & 11.  We gave everyone a chance to meet Jeff and see him in action while the search team conducted an extended interview and the praise team had the opportunity to meet him and ask questions as well.
• Our final step in the process is to check his references.
• The Search Team then meets (July 8 ) to make a recommendation to the Road Crew (July 12) for their approval.

With slight adjustments this is the process used to hire each individual staff member in the past 10 years.  Hiring new team members can be a stressful time for me.  There are so many variables involved and so many things to consider.  How one individual relates can radically impact the chemistry of our team.  Making the wrong choice can have a ripple effect that hinders Kingdom impact.  However, I am learning to trust God and how He uses the process.  I am excited about how I have seen Him at work in the current process and I know He will provide the right person to lead us in the unique role of Worship Arts Director.

The evening began sitting around tables getting to know each other better and enjoying a great meal.  We learned that some of us have some pretty unique nicknames “Snooky” & “The Cleaner” to name  few.  Laughter and chatting could be heard throughout the room.

Dennis Olthof and Jeff Otto walked us briefly through the budget and we had overwhelming concensus (read all but 1) to affirm the budget for 2010.  Owning this together means we committ to trust God together and give as God directs us!

Pastor Drew walked us through the highlights of 2009.  We will have the video review of 2009 posted on the site very soon.

I concluded the evening with a vision for 2010.  Our Long Range Planning Team has been hard at work assessing our strengths and challenges.  We are beginning to formulate some initial plans for next 5 years.  The graphic above was the opening slide that forms the foundation of our Long Range Plans.  Everything flows out of our mission-vision-values!

The best part of the class for Pastor Drew and I is listening to the testimonies.  This class did a great job of sharing some of their pain from the past and then acknowledging God’s grace and love in the midst of that pain.

We plan to introduce the class early in December.  As you have opportunity welcome these folks!  We’ll try to get a pic of the other half of the class for you.

Over 350 volunteers were mobilized on November 1.  If you were part of the team that served:  St. Jude, Lake Area Regional Recovery of Indiana (LARRI – Those recovering from the floods!), Hearts in Motion, etc. Resale Shop, Dyer Nursing Home, and families in need in our community then tell us how it went.