The following is a letter originally posted about the closing of Crossmark Church.
A open letter to our community and friends on the closing of Crossmark Church from Pastor Will.
Sunday November 22nd was our last service. We are closing Crossmark because God has done what he has wanted to do in us.
This has been made evident to us in several ways. The families in our core group just haven’t been able to give it the priority it needs to plant a stable growing church. Pastor Will and Olivia’s second child is due and will be born any day. Our other pastor has his fourth child coming in Dec/Jan. The church has had people with different health issues that haven’t been the best. None of these are bad things. They are just where God has us in life.
We want to be clear. There was no sin involved, no personality issues, and nothing that was leading us to having to close the church. We just felt as a core group it was time to close because we just weren’t accomplishing the original mission that we wanted to do. We wanted to plant a church that non-Christians would want to and would come to. We wanted to plant a church where nominal Christians would desire and allow God to work in them to become phenomenal Christians. We wanted to be a church that made Jesus known better.
We weren’t meeting that goal. If a church isn’t meeting its goal then it should evaluate its effectiveness in fulfilling its purpose. We attracted some who just wanted to attend a new church. We had a few church hoppers and visitors and they were always welcome and came regularly. We were and are thankful for them and their sojourn with us.
Our goal though was to plant a church that reached a community for Christ. We weren’t doing that and decided it would be wiser to step back and re-evaluate how best to do it. Our pastors evaluated their lives and consulted their spouses and chose to focus on building their families before attempting to build another church or continue a church that wasn’t meeting its goals.
We rejoice that in our time together we have seen marriages saved, nominal believers chase after the phenomenal God, families reunited, a man called and dedicated to pastoral ministry, children dedicated to God, and the name of God being magnified.
We look forward to seeing what God will do from the fruit of our labors. We believe God is going to something awesome in all our futures.
Thanks and God bless for all those who supported us. Be in prayer as we continue to chase after God. Pray for our families and pastors to move to where God will have us. Pray that the work God began with Crossmark will go on until the Kingdom of God comes into this present age. Pray that God will continue to call people to live lives marked by the cross of Christ.
On behalf of my family and what was the Crossmark family may God richly bless you and keep you. May his face shine upon you. May he be gracious to you. May the Lord’s name be upon you.
Sincerely,
Will Adair
lead pastor/church planter of Crossmark
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