kentcox.com
everything i could think of
Information from CR’s May 16th church conference
13 days ago
Let me start by saying how grateful I am to be in a church where things happen from a position of unity and agreement versus the alternative. Last night in a church wide conference we unanimously passed two proposals that I believe will be historic in their impact on our church and therefore on our community! KC
The first-half of the first proposal that passed was the decision to hire a design team to assist us in developing a master plan for the 37 acre campus that God has given us. Once we have the master plan, we can proceed with the second-half of the first proposal. We need more space for our children (especially in our second service) so we are going to ask the city of Rowlett to allow us to put up a new “temporary” building so that we can house our KIDSTOWN during our services and allow our nursery to occupy the entire back part of our current building. This will be a stop gap measure that will hopefully tide us over until we can build our next building. We can’t ask the city for permission to put in a new building without a plan for them to see, so we are moving ahead with this design phase for our campus. VERY COOL!
The second proposal was to hire a second pastor. This pastor will be tasked with a dual role for now. The first role will be as our Connection Pastor. The second role will be as a Family Life Pastor. We know that these areas are vital in our development as a church and we look forward with great anticipation to God’s provision regarding this new pastor and their active role at CRossroads Church. A job description of these two roles can be obtained by written request sent to info@crossroadsrowlett.org, and qualified candidates may send their resumes there as well.
We believe that God has lead us to this exciting point in the life of our church, and we look forward with great hope for the lives that will be changed and impacted because of these steps. If you have any questions about either of these steps that we are taking, feel free to ask your question via email at info@crossroadsrowlett.org.
Interesting Way To Choose a Successor
01 week ago
by KC
in Life Thoughts
This is a story I received in my email, perhaps you have heard it already, if not, it is an instant classic that should remind us of the importance of character (who you are when no one is looking). KC
A successful business man was growing old and knew it was time to choose a successor to take over the business.
Instead of choosing one of his Directors or his children, he decided to do something different. He called all the young executives in his company together.
He said, “It is time for me to step down and choose the next CEO. I have decided to choose one of you. “The young executives were Shocked, but the boss continued. “I am going to give each one of you a SEED today – one very special SEED. I want you to plant the seed, water it, and come back here one year from today with what you have grown from the seed I have given you. I will then judge the plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next CEO.”
One man, named Jim, was there that day and he, like the others, received a seed. He went home and excitedly, told his wife the story. She helped him get a pot, soil and compost and he planted the seed. Every day, he would water it and watch to see if it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other executives began to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Jim kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew.
Three weeks, four weeks, five weeks went by, still nothing.
By now, others were talking about their plants, but Jim didn’t have a plant and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by — still nothing in Jim’s pot. He just knew he had killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing.
Jim didn’t say anything to his colleagues, however, he just kept watering and fertilizing the soil – he so wanted the seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the young executives of the company brought their plants to the CEO for inspection.
Jim told his wife that he wasn’t going to take an empty pot.
But she asked him to be honest about what happened.
Jim felt sick to his stomach, it was going to be the most embarrassing moment of his life, but he knew his wife was right. He took his empty pot to the board room.
When Jim arrived, he was amazed at the variety of plants grown by the other executives. They were beautiful – in all shapes and sizes. Jim put his empty pot on the floor and many of his colleagues laughed, a few felt sorry for him!
When the CEO arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted his young executives.
Jim just tried to hide in the back. “My, what great plants, trees and flowers you have grown,” said the CEO. “Today one of you will be appointed the next CEO!”
All of a sudden, the CEO spotted Jim at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered the Financial Director to bring him to the front. Jim was terrified.. He thought, “The CEO knows I’m a failure! Maybe he will have me fired!”
When Jim got to the front, the CEO asked him what had happened to his seed, Jim told him the story.
The CEO asked everyone to sit down except Jim. He looked at Jim, and then announced to the young executives, “This is your next Chief Executive Officer!
His name is Jim!” Jim couldn’t believe it. Jim couldn’t even grow his seed.
“How could he be the new CEO?” the others said.
Then the CEO said, “One year ago today, I gave everyone in this room a seed.
I told you to take the seed, plant it, water it, and bring it back to me today.
But I gave you all boiled seeds; they were dead – it was not possible for them to grow.
All of you, except Jim, have brought me trees and plants and flowers. When you found that the seed would not grow, you substituted another seed for the one I gave you.
Jim was the only one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with the original seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one who will be the new Chief Executive Officer!”
Formal Membership at CRossroads
02 weeks ago
Here’s a post that is in response to a question I get every now and then. The question goes like this, “Why do I need to “join” CRossroads?”, or “Why do I need to become a “member” of the CRossroads?”. This is a valid question and I hope to give a reasonable answer here. 
First and foremost, we ask people to “join” the church because it is a public statement of agreement upon the mission of our church. By becoming a member of the CR one is stating that they believe in the mission and methods of our church, and that they want to participate in accomplishing that mission. Members participate in weekend services, small groups, and our larger events. They support the church’s mission through their gifts, talents, and involvement. By participating in this body, they allow the church to function as a whole and accomplish the task of reaching our community through “making Christ known”.
Another important aspect of formal membership is “ownership”. When one joins the CRossroads, they become part of a legal organization operating under our own 501(c)3 recognized by the Federal government of the U.S. Our church owns a 37 acre campus with two (for now) buildings and various amenities designed to be an asset to the surrounding community. This property doesn’t take care of itself, so our members assume the responsibility of maintenance and upkeep which we accomplish primarily through our tithes and offerings but also through individual and corporate work days.
Another very important part of membership is voting. Members participate in votes related to our annual budget and other matters that come up from time to time. This is a practical way that people can have a direct impact on the life of our church.
We want everyone that attends the CRossroads to feel at home and know that they are valued (whether they ever become formal members or not). By the way, becoming a member of the CR doesn’t make you a Christian, the only way that happens is to admit your sin, put your faith and trust in Jesus Christ and submit your life to His mission!
Are you considering becoming a member of the CRossroads? Would you like to talk more about what our church is all about? Do you have a specific question in mind? Consider attending “Pie With the Pastor” where you can ask your question in an informal setting at my home. You can RSVP on our website HERE. KC
Peace: Our Heritage
01 month ago
by KC
in Life Thoughts
Why are we different from the world? What makes us as Christians any different from those that don’t believe in Jesus as their Lord and Savior? Let’s consider one of the major differences that separate us from the rest of our fellow human racers.
Peace. We have peace as a full portion of our heritage. Christ has done the work for us to know peace and to know it fully. What does that mean? How can anyone who lives in a hectic world full of bills, responsibilities, sickness, crisis, and so on be in a place of peace. Well, it is possible, and Jesus has made it so. Let’s look at what the Bible says about peace.
• Ephesians 2:14-15 For He Himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in His flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in Himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace,…
• Philippians 4:4-9 Rejoice in the Lord always. Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds
• Romans 5:1-2a Therefore since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand.
May the Lord encourage you through these verses that remind us that Peace is ours through the love of our Savior Jesus Christ! KC
Delaying the Awesome!
01 month ago
A guest post from Dory Mitchell! Would you like to guest post? Write me here and let me know.
You know my favorite friend in the morning when my alarm goes off is the snooze button. Sometimes I don’t even remember that the alarm has gone off until the third time. Yes, yes, I know I should go to bed earlier. I love the weekends when sometimes I can sleep until 9. WOW!!
The thing about the snooze alarm is that it delays the original intention.
God has intentions for us too. Do you ever use the snooze alarm when He calls you to do something? I’m sure I have. Maybe for fear, maybe for lack of confidence, maybe we are just unaware. Let’s not snooze when work needs to be done………..God’s work. -Dory Mitchell
When It’s Obviously God
31 month ago
About a month ago I asked the people of CRossroads Church in Rowlett to begin to invite people to church on Easter. We printed up cards and began to pass them out. We talked to folks at work, folks at the gym, folks at the grocery store, even folks out walking their dogs. We just opened our BIG MOUTHS and asked people to come to church.
Yesterday was EASTER. We had an unbelievable scene unfold at our church. Our first service that begins at 9:00 had about double the amount of people that we typically average in that service, and our second service was filled to the absolute capacity that our building will hold.
We prayed this would happen, and it did. We invited people and they came. We believed that God would send folks to hear the incredible message of a RISEN SAVIOR and He did. All that keeps coming to my mind is “thank you Lord for allowing us to see YOUR hand moving at the CRossroads“. IT IS AWESOME.
Please be praying for us as we continue seeking God’s direction on the “next steps” for the CR! We have some very important meetings coming up at the end of April and I will tell you more about that as we get closer to it. Thanks to each of you who allowed God to use you this weekend, may this be just the beginning of our answer to God’s call. KC
Loving Others at Easter
21 month ago
Easter Sunday lot’s of folks are going to be attending church. For some of those folks it will be one of two times they go to church this year (the other time will be Christmas). These folks have become known by many names: Easter Lilly’s, Chreaster Christians, CEO’s (Christmas and Easter Only), etc., etc., etc.
Please join me in doing all we can to see those folks return to church on more than just two occasions this year. How can we do that? One significant way is to welcome them to the Easter service without making it seem like it is such an odd occurrence for them to be at church. Trust me, they already feel a bit out-of-place, and if you start saying things like, “hey, glad you could FINALLY join us!“, or “well it’s about time!“, or “watch out the roof is gonna cave in!” it is only going to add to their reluctance to return. Even if you are saying these things with a big ole smile on your face and a chuckle in your voice, it is going in the opposite direction of what you want. Instead try doing something that might actually get them comfortable with their decision to attend church that morning: introduce them to some folks! You might start by letting them know there have been lots of new folks coming to church and you have enjoyed meeting some of them. (Of course that means that you will have to know some of the new folks yourself 
Then you can just say let me introduce you to a few of these folks. Remember it is going to feel awkward at first to the “CEO’s” but with a handshake, a smile, and some kind words, you will be doing something about that awkwardness, and about their “CEO-ness”. KC
5 Guest Intros (to the tune of 5 dollar foot long)
01 month ago
5…, 5 guests…., 5 Guest intros. Can you hear the Subway tune in your head? When you come to church Sunday with your guests, please make every effort to introduce them to at least five people.
Once someone knows five people in a crowd, they feel at home (according to the BARNA Group). Studies show that no matter what size crowd people find themselves in, once they know five other people, they feel comfortable with their surroundings. So, since this coming Sunday (EASTER) we know that there are going to be lots of folks in our services that we don’t normally see, take sometime to welcome at least five guests, and if you have a guest that you are bringing, purpose in your heart to make five intentional introductions! Let’s do this. KC
Truths Observed at Jason’s Deli…
01 month ago
by KC
in Life Thoughts
Have you ever had breakfast at Jason’s Deli? The other day I attended a meet-and-greet breakfast in Rowlett (the town where I live) that the chamber of commerce puts on to try and get some networking going for all the member businesses. Jason’s Deli serves as the location for the breakfast. They serve a pretty decent breakfast, but the food isn’t really why folks attend. They are hoping to make people aware of their business and perhaps even get a little advantage over their competitors.
Since our church is a member of the Rowlett Chamber of Commerce, I attend these events whenever my schedule allows or if we have a special event I want to let all the other chamber members know about. This particular morning I was sharing about an upcoming health screening that we were having at the CRossroads. Each member gets thirty seconds to talk about their particular business or particular event. I shared and others shared one by one around the room.
Then a friend of mine who’s a fellow pastor here in Rowlett stood up to give his thirty second speech, and what he did really impressed me.
He took his time to share about CRossroads. He introduced himself as the pastor of the Catalyst Church and that his name was Levi Lowry and then he took thirty seconds and shared about the CRossroads, he said “My friend across the room there Kent, is the pastor of a great church, they have a great Web site they have a great Kidstown, in fact they really just have a great church”.
Levi took his time to brag about a church that some would consider to be the “competition”, but what Levi went on to say is that in the church world we are not really competing against each other. In the business world businesses compete against each other, but as churches we should strive to compliment each other. After all, we are working to build up the same Kingdom aren’t we? Levi impressed me that day, but that is not unusual, he is an impressive leader with a wisdom beyond his years.
Let’s all try to put into practice Levi’s example and willingness to compliment others. After all as folks who attend churches, we have a great model in Jesus Christ who loved us so much He gave up everything. KC
It’s raining again…
02 months ago
This is a guest post from Dory Mitchell. Short but sweet! KC
You know the saying, be careful what you wish for?, we prayed for rain and God keeps delivering. I’m definitely not complaining, the more rain, the better. I just like to thank God and not weather patterns.
You know what’s good about rain?…………after the rain it sure is easy to pull weeds. Woohoo! They are all loose and gooey. I’ll bet there are weeds in our life that can be pulled after we have been rained on. Sometimes we need rain, lightening, and floods in our own life. God knows when we need it and He delivers that too. Is it time to pull some weeds in your life? Maybe you need some more rain. Just remember, God also gave us a rainbow……………….
