Crosstown Connection-January 16-30

Special Message from

Aaron Berfeldt, Director of Worship Arts:

I want to inform the congregation that I have decided to resign from my position as Director of Worship Arts. This will be effective on April 27, 2025. I am grateful for the invitation and opportunity to serve in this role for the past three years. Thank you for all of your support! - Aaron Berfeldt

Response from Church Chair Heather Polhemus & Pastor John

We want to thank Aaron for his outstanding service as our Worship Director over the last 3+ years. His ministry has been and is an incredible blessing to our congregational life. As we look ahead, we’ll have an update on our search for a new worship director at our Annual Meeting on January 26.

Do you have the 2025 Prayer List? We invite all of the Crosstown Familia to lean into Jesus this year, and pray for this church family and the ministry God has called us to. Printed copies are at church, or click here to download the list.

Crosstown’s 2025 “Book of the Year”

As we lean into our fresh core value of Passionate Prayer, Pastor John is inviting all of us to listen to or read Tyler Staton’s book, Praying Like Monks, Living Like Fools. The heart of this resource is found in the tagline: “An Invitation to the Wonder & Mystery of Prayer.”

Click here to buy the book on Amazon

Crosstown’s Core Values have been refreshed by our Leadership Team.

Please review this document and share your feedback with the Leadership Team. We will vote to confirm these Core Values at our Annual Meeting on Sunday, January 26.

Click here to see the refreshed values: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Cg13B5CZPhIccwkM_XQTShyT38AGSEPK/edit

Email Leadership Team Chair Heather Polhemus at hpolhemus@gmail.com with your feedback

Year End Giving Statements

Liana Ogawa will be handing out year-end giving statements before and after the Sunday services on January 19th and January 26th. As usual, statements will be mailed to those who are unable to attend in person. Please direct any questions to Liana: ogawas4@hotmail.com

Nokomis East Food Distribution

On Wednesday, January 8, we served 103 families (394 people) a total of 2,840 #’s of food.

20 volunteers served a total of 70 hours.

Upcoming days to serve include

January 22 & February 12, 2025.

Please sign-up to serve at the following link:

Food Shelf Sign Up

MLK Worship

Pastor John invites Crosstown to participate in a Twin Cities wide celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s life on Sunday, January 19, 2025 @ 6 pm. This Twin City wide gathering will be hosted by Bishop William Howell and the dear people of Shiloh Temple in Minneapolis (1201 W. Broadway, Mpls 55411).

Praying Together

Join us on Zoom the 1st and 3rd Tuesdays of the month at 9:00 am as we seek the Lord together.

Please click the button below for the Zoom link

Prayer Zoom Link

English as a 2nd Language classes are being held at Crosstown on Mondays @ 10 AM. Sarah Friedman of NENA (Nokomis East Neighborhood Association) is serving as the facilitator of this learning opportunity. Any questions may be directed to sarah.friedman@nokomiseast.org.

Upcoming Events

January 18-22 - Pastor Polly at NextGen Conference in Denver

January 20-24 - Pastor John at Midwinter Conference in Denver

January 22 - Discipleship Night–Kids Too, Youth, Adult @ 6:30 pm

January 26 - Annual Celebration and Meeting, 11:30 in Commons with refreshments, child care provided

January 29 - Together in the Bible @ 9:45 am

February 1 - Leadership Retreat @ Crosstown (9 AM-Noon)

February 1 - Feed My Starving Children

February 8 - Youth Event - Service & Fun - 4:30-8:15pm

Finance Update - 2024