ONE FOOT FROM ETERNITY
Thanks for listening to my story last Sunday, “One Foot From Eternity.” It seems that over 1,000 people have viewed it on Facebook, certainly making this one of the most popular sermons to date.
Someone asked me. “What happened to the church I spoke about in the story? Is it still open?” Yes! It was finally purchased from Adelaide Dooley’s son for the sum of $25,000 and currently a small group still meets there on Sunday mornings. Like many small towns, Richmondville is struggling to maintain its existence. My hope is that one day I will be able to attend one of the services on a Sunday morning. I would love to sit and fill my heart with fond memories of years gone by. Maybe they would let me ring the bell in the steeple!
In my story I shared how God changed lives and how it was truly a wonderful time to experience His overwhelming presence. We did see a revival in that area, and many people were deeply touched. Here’s the challenge with any such move of God; it must go deeper, or it will die.
Unfortunately, it never went deeper, but always remained rather shallow and experiential. This resulted in many leaving the church and moving on to other places of worship, or simply disconnecting from church entirely. For me personally, that is a challenging thought. At that time, I was young in the Lord and had very little depth myself. Therefore, I was unable to take the church where it needed to go. Over 30 years have gone by and now at Crossroads we have focused on discipleship and growing everyone in the faith. All the way from our youngest to our oldest, the opportunities to learn and grow at Crossroads are tremendous.
John 15:8 (NKJV) 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Consider this. Just before I told the story, “One Foot From Eternity” I introduced 22 Life Group Leaders whom I consider to be very gifted teachers. We are blessed at Crossroads with many who have a depth of knowledge and wisdom that comes with years of walking with the Lord. As my partner in business reflected back on the years in Richmondville he said, “Those were good years.” They were! Now we are experiencing much fruit having learned many important lessons on growing a lasting multigenerational church such as Crossroads. I cannot encourage you enough to make sure you sign up for one of the Life Groups this Fall.
Love to all,
Pastor Pat
