josiahphilip.com » The Crossing

Puerto Penasco

josiahphilip — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 02:50:00 +0000

Last October The Crossing began an incredible initiative to start or build 10 churches for congregations that could not otherwise afford a facility. This has been an awesome journey to be apart of as a church. It has defintiely showed the importance of “Stepping Out” and making an impact on the world for the Cause of Christ. So far 6 of the 10 churches have been started or competed.

:: Las Lagunas, Ecuador :: TiBoukan, Haiti :: Tulsa, Oklhoma, USA :: Atari, India ::

:: Chandigarh, India :: Puerto Penasco, Mexico ::

Here is a quick video with some pictures from these projects

This Saturday a team from The Crossing is heading out to help put the finishing touches on the building. I am excited that I will be joining the team on Wednesday and depending on how far along the church is, we may be dedicating the church when I am down there!

It is incredible to be apart of a church that is so committed to reaching people all over the world!

I will post more pictures next week!

10 years

josiahphilip — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:01:14 +0000

10 years ago today The Crossing held its first services. Back on September 24, 2000 I had just began 6th grade and was probably still terrified to go to school. Today, I am happy to tell all of you that I successfully finished Junior High, High School, and I am now in my Senior Year of college! Wow how times have changed (FYI: I am in a very sentimental mood right now).

The Crossing's first service September 24, 2000 at Lawrence Jr. High

I am so proud of The Crossing and where it has been and where it is now. God has definitely used that place to reach the lives of people. This summer I had the opportunity to intern at The Crossing for the 4th time and it was one of the hardest things for me to leave to come back to school. The reason it was so hard for me is because I will no longer be able to do ministry at The Crossing after I graduate unless God intervenes in a crazy way. I am so thankful for the people at The Crossing, and the lessons I have learned, the heart my dad and others have given me for reaching lost people for Christ.

If you look to the left, in the aisle there is this boy in blue (me) attempting to fix a projector on the first Sunday

I am also extremely proud of my dad. Although starting a church is difficult, time consuming, and an endless amount of work, he never made it a priority over our family. He has always been fully engaged in my life. He almost always answers my phone calls when I call him at work, which is probably too often :-). He has always made it to special occasions, even those that I did not feel were important. It has been an incredible blessing to learn about ministry from one of the best! I truly admire the incredible character that he has and they way he has always led The Crossing with integrity, honesty,openness, and vulnerability. One of my dreams is to partner with my dad in some sort of ministry someday – we will see :-)

I cannot wait to see where God takes this church in the future and I am totally excited to be able to come back for both weekends of the 10th anniversary celebration! The journey has only begun and I feel blessed that God has made a place for me on that journey.

Grace and Peace

I Kayaked on the Indian Ocean!

josiahphilip — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 21:18:59 +0000

Yesterday I had the opportunity to Kayak on the Indian Ocean. It was so cool. Me and Jeff went as a double. We had the brilliant idea to bring camera with us. Jeff had an extra camera that was older that he brought. This was a good idea in theory until we had a big wave hit us as we were getting in the Kayak. Needless to say the camera is no more, but it did not die before we had the chance to take some awesome pictures of ourselves and our friends!

The water was so warm! Mom, there is no question you would have been in the water! It was a beautiful day, I got a nice tan with no sunburn! It is amazing what sunscreen can do. We were able to go shopping and go to a couple markets. It still is crazy how something can change from an extremely touristy area to a poorer area in a five minute walk.

The only bad thing was my friend Laura Jane got stung when she was in the water and had to pee on herself. Hum. Awkward… Next topic.

I had the opportunity to watch The Crossing’s 11:30 service online a few minutes ago! Everyone did awesome. The music and message were top quality. It was also awesome how they did baptism videos! God is definitely doing some incredible things in that church in spite of a bad economy!

MONKEY UPDATE: The monkeys are still horrible, but at least they run at the sight of me so I don’t have to deal with them. The girls carry sticks around because these ridiculous monkeys are chauvinist pigs and relentlessly go after the girls.

I miss you all and hope you are doing well!