Pastors Blog
David Crosby 09/29/08
If Jesus himself were running for political office, I would not give him an endorsement as pastor of my church.But Jesus is not now-nor will he ever be-running for political office. He taught us clearly that politics itself is far too feeble a tool to get done what he is trying to do on this earth. Jesus is not blind to politics and politicians-he sees right through them.The church is a force for good in this world because it is beholden to no politicians. It speaks and ministers by the ...
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David Crosby 08/28/08
The cancelations are rolling in. Formal Katrina remembrances are being replaced by an unstoppable barrage of unwanted, terrifying memories. Productive work is now on hold. All eyes are on the Gulf of Mexico and the unseeing, unfeeling specter of Hurricane Gustav.He has me churning already. His powerful winds and deadly aim at New Orleans are dredging up suppressed memories of midnight runs, stranded plans, and emotional partings.An emergency meeting to batten down the hatches turned into ...
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David Crosby 08/20/08
Friday is the third anniversary of the landfall of our omnipresent storm, Hurricane Katrina, the most powerful storm to strike America since scientists began measuring such calamities.Hurricane Katrina was three times the size of Rita or Andrew or Camille in the sheer energy it generated, lifting the waters of the sea at least 10 feet above sea level for a span of 200 miles. This storm surge, 30 feet high at the midpoint, filled Lake Pontchartrain to unprecedented levels and toppled the walls ...
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David Crosby 08/13/08
Our Year of the Message Bible reading plan starts with the New Testament on Monday, September 1. The reading guide, the sermon series, and the Year of the Message notebook are all available at the Welcome Center in the church foyer.I hope that you will get a notebook, take notes on the messages, and keep up with the readings through the New Testament this fall. The preaching is divided into five simple outlines that will help you get acquainted with the diversity and richness of the New ...
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David Crosby 07/21/08
Janet and I celebrated 36 years of marriage July 17. That's a long time.I often remind couples during the wedding ceremony that they are making a promise for a lifetime. They make this promise without knowing what the future holds. Many challenges await them, but they promise to be faithful.How can two people, not knowing the future, make a promise of faithfulness one to another?God's love is the guarantee of the promise. Love never fails, as the Apostle Paul eloquently reminds (1 Corinthians ...
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David Crosby 06/23/08
The population around our church is now almost 40 percent of what it was before Hurricane Katrina hit our shores. We consider this great news.The bad news concerns blighted properties. The Lakeview Civic Improvement Association estimates that 1,400 properties remain blighted.All of Lakeview, population 24,000 before the storm, went under water, some of it as deep as 11 feet. Lakeview is the neighborhood into which the breached 17th Street Canal poured its flood waters.More good news-900 homes ...
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David Crosby 06/11/08
"This is Daddy's truck," Hope told me when she was two years old. She was pretending to drive, her little hands barely moving the steering wheel. I reached for the steering wheel. "This is Daddy's truck," she said again, protectively. She loved her Daddy, that was clear to me, and she missed him every hour when he was away.Fathers have a special place in the lives of their children.I spoke of my father last Sunday in the message-the wrestling matches when he pinned me and my four brothers all ...
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David Crosby 05/12/08
Unique, interesting, and charming-these are great descriptors for the Crescent City.But it is also tough duty these days to live here, and we do ourselves no favors by insisting otherwise.I just spoke to a former member who relocated and is enjoying the experience of "normal"-a landscape without Katrina litter.Every time I drive through New Orleans East, particularly at Read Boulevard, I fight a surge of despair. The vacancy-empty frames and windswept lots and abandoned medical facilities and ...
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David Crosby 05/09/08
Esther is a woman of courage and virtue, a fitting place to be as we think of Mother’s Day. She is in a very difficult position. Her life is filled with limitations. She is young and inexperienced, and the future of her family and her nation is in her hands. Her adoptive father, trying to encourage her and help her do the right thing, says to her, And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this? (Esther 4:14).Everyone should consider these words of Mordecai ...
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David Crosby 04/29/08
No interventions of the supernatural "miracles" are recorded in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. However, prayer, faith, courage, and hard work are on every page. In truth, God was mightily at work through these times, restoring the house of worship and the Holy City.
Nehemiah wants to show reverence for God. This is how he describes his motivation for courageous and faithful living. He knows that his behavior is an outcome of and a declaration of his faith.
God could have ...
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