I think it's a good time to turn around and say hi to one another. I can hear you so good. It's a day to celebrate. Turn to one another and say, "God is good," and have a seat. All right. We are going to get started here. As you've already heard, as you already know, let me welcome everyone at the sites, Grants Trail, Fenton, Mid Rivers, online here. We are going to celebrate hundreds and hundreds of people who will step into the water today to tell the world they belong to Jesus. Thank you, my friend. And let's just say this out loud. You're going to hear a little bit more later. We see the weather, too, okay? But you've just-- I know you're probably not surprised, but we have just these layers of experts and pilots and meteorologists and pastors who are praying and looking at all of this. You're going to hear a little bit more about this, but we're just going to pray and trust God, and so more on that later. We want to celebrate these people, though. Amen? Amen. Amen. Yeah, because here's the thing. And we'll come back to this at the very end, just a little bit of it, but there's a prayer that Paul prays in Ephesians 3, and towards the end of it, he talks about how it's Jesus. It's Jesus. That's how we may approach God with freedom and confidence. These people are free indeed, and we ought to be able to celebrate. We can do that. How many of you cheered when the US beat Australia on Friday? Anybody? Yeah. USA! USA! Yeah. It was the first soccer game you'd watched in eight years. But you're like, "Oh, I'm in, man. I'm in." We can do this. We have things to celebrate. I guarantee you we have things to celebrate. That's how Jenna feels. This is a young woman in her late 20s. She said, "People like to say that I've lived many lives for someone my age." She's only late 20s. "I grew up in Beirut, Lebanon. I was a professional MMA fighter. I climbed a corporate ladder only to pull back the curtain and be disappointed with how people live when they hit that level of monetary success, so I quit it all and opened my own business. I started my journey this year by attending online services simply to see and to understand what The Crossing was about because I was always uncomfortable in other churches." Now, some of you are watching online right now for that very reason. You're not really sure who we are, and I would say welcome. I'm glad that you're here. That's a good place to start. Yeah. Some of you, this is your first time here And you're here as a guest, and you're like, "What did I get myself into?" We want to tell you that we're okay with people asking questions and kind of having the honest reactions to all of this. We're not thrown by that. But eventually, she starts attending, and she said, "Last semester, I signed up for a small group. It was young adults on a Thursday night hosted by Dawn and Dave Parks. They opened their home to a bunch of 20-something-year-old women trucking their way through faith and questioning everything." Eventually, their numbers doubled, and from that, guys started attending, too. So, that's how that works. "It was incredible," and she said, "It's the first time I understood what Christian community looked like. As we walked through the Peak Experiences series together, it slowly inspired my faith. I took leaps instead of dipping my toes in the water. Dawn and Dave pushed us just enough to learn how to pray with and for each other out loud, how to break down scripture, how to give it to God when you don't know what else to do." She takes explorations, Genius of One, serving. You're going to see themes here of people doing things and taking steps to just continue to encounter God. After her birthday party in May, she sat down the next day and wrote this letter. I won't read the whole letter to you, but it starts off, "Hey, God, it's me, Jenna. Lord, I'm struggling. I'm struggling to be a woman, a boss, a friend." She says some other things. "I hear a lot of talk at church about how giving it to God feels freeing, how surrendering to God is lighter, but I'm scared." She says some more things, and then at the end she says, "Lord, I'm ready to surrender to you. Lord, on this night, Monday, May 25th of 2026, I give myself to you." She says some more things, and then she ends it with, "My story as just Jenna has ended. My story as a daughter of Christ has just begun." Yeah. Whoo. That's where I am today. 11-year-old James says, "I was stressed about school, sports, and friends. My friend suggested I go to Youth Crossing. I saw how happy they were. I asked them how that worked, and they said they trusted Jesus and followed Him instead of worrying and stressing about the little things." I just want us to all track. That's middle schoolers telling middle schoolers about Jesus. Come on. He said, "I decided to turn towards Jesus. Baptism is a way for me to show that I truly love Jesus. He's my," all caps, "GOAT." And in case you don't know what that means, he explains it in here. It means greatest of all time. All right. 37-year-old male says, "I don't remember ever connecting to God growing up. Sundays were monotonous. We were just going through the motions. I joined the Navy when I was 18. Before I was sent off to boot camp, I started my own journey to figure out who Jesus is. I realized that every other possibility of life outside of God made zero sense to me. There were no other opposing arguments that have convinced me otherwise. Nothing has come close to Jesus. That's because I believe He is who He says He is." That reminded me of a quote of the old theologian Elton Trueblood, who said, "The deepest conviction of a Christian is that Christ was not wrong." Right. So, he believes Jesus is who He says that He is. And then he said, "My two oldest kids were baptized at the Crossing a couple of years ago. I was always on the fence. After hearing the latest message on it, my kids asked me why I wouldn't get baptized. I had zero valid reasons. I should do it, and more importantly, now I want to. If He can stand by me, I can absolutely stand in the water for Him. I would love to finally display the best decision I ever made." You see, these are the kinds of stories that are going to be happening, and you will see themes along the way. But how about that last one for just a second? Because it wasn't the only one. There were fathers who were affected by the faith of their kids, and then they step out and proclaim their own faith. If you haven't heard it already, Happy Father's Day. Yay. We're grateful for you fathers and grandfathers and stepfathers and single fathers and adoptive fathers and spiritual fathers. You are leaving a legacy in this world, and we are grateful for you. Amen? Amen. Amen. Yeah. Let me help you with this, by the way. It's okay for you to talk back. It's okay for you to respond back. In fact, in one of the services, well, the service last night, they were so responsive that I warned them, "If you keep responding, this service just gets longer and longer and longer." But we still got out okay. So, let's just keep talking about this. But I understand, for some of you, this is your first Father's Day as a dad. So, congrats. For some of you, this is your first Father's Day without your dad, or maybe you're in the middle of a profound loss, or maybe it's a huge struggle right now. There's a challenge. We admit this openly. Sometimes, for some people, that word leaves an ache. And if that's you, I want you to know that you're not alone, and that there's a reason that the God of the universe says, "Call Me Father." I'm telling you, it stands for something. And if you'd like to talk about that, then let's talk about it. You see, these conversations are ongoing. We're not just stopping today. People are still coming to Christ. So, come talk to us. Ask us whatever you need to know. But we're going to now celebrate. How about this? Men everywhere who are standing for their faith, they are telling the world that they belong to God. This world needs men, young men, old men, single men, married men, guys who are dads and guys who aren't. We need men to stand up and step up and proclaim Jesus as Lord in this broken world. And I'll go you one further. It's happening. God is up to something in this world, and we get to be a part of it. The local church is where the-- there's just such real and rich and profound action that happens there. God loves his local church, and we get to be a part of it. And for some reason, He keeps blessing this local church. We get to have a front-row seat and watching Him do what He's doing. I gotta tell you, when I talk to my friends around the country, around the world even, and they ask for updates, "Hey, how's it going?" And they know some of the stories around here. Some will then say, "Hey, did you guys baptize a ton of people again this year?" And I don't lead with that. I let them ask, right? But then when I tell them how it's working, their reaction is, "Wow, how does that happen?" You see, I don't know how to explain to them or to you how 517 people are going to be baptized this year. Every number is a name, every name is a story, and we're grateful that God is doing this in our midst. I don't know what other response to give except to God be the glory, right? It's His glory. It's all Him. It's certainly not us. But He is working through the people of this church in such a beautiful way. There's no way we could do this. The way it's all come together, the way this whole year has led up to this. Let me just go through a list here. I am so grateful for our facilities teams who keep each of our campuses so stunningly beautiful. How about the work that goes on behind the scenes with all of our various ministries that are the guts of this place? Our operations teams, HR, and accounting, and IT. Our communications people that keep us connected. Our video teams that provide these things that keep pointing to Jesus. Our children's ministries, where every aspect echoes, not just through families, but through generations into eternity. Our youth ministries. Come on, there are pastors and volunteers who are pouring into young people today, challenging and encouraging them to live for Jesus in this world. That's what'll change things. We're grateful for that. When I think of hospitality and guest experiences, musicians and worship leaders, all the technical teams, small groups ministries which keep coming up in so many of these stories, our administrators that keep it all organized. Wait till you get a load of how all of this comes together tonight. The way that our outreach team keeps us focused on God's work outside the walls of this church. And our volunteers, you are the lifeblood of this church. I'm grateful for all of you, but I just need to say this out loud. I am humbled and awestruck and grateful that I get to serve with the pastors of this church because you all, they are significant men and women. I'm grateful for them. They dream, and they pray, and they imagine, and they bring their best to God's work. They lament, they cry, they laugh deeply. They have untold cups of coffee with you all throughout the week. Some of them, it's Coke Zero instead. They hear your cries, they hear your questions, they hear your joys and your celebrations. They officiate weddings, they stand by gravesides, they sit in hospital rooms. They will sit and listen to you when you have the tough stuff that you need to share. Sometimes even complaints or concerns or frustrations. They do it all with grace, and I watch them week, after week, after week, walk into situations that other people wouldn't touch on a bet. But they go in with the grace of God and the hope of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when I see this whole church in all of its many facets working together and it comes to a day like today, it is a glimpse of heaven. It's not heaven, not yet, but it's a glimpse, don't you think? It's just a taste of what is to come. And I begin to think of even the Book of Revelation when people begin to worship this God who is worthy. The worship songs in Revelation 4, "You are worthy, O Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and praise." That's what this is all about. Jesus is at the center of it all. Everything. It's worship. It's worship. That's why it reminds me of heaven. There are reunions, and friendships, and tears, and laughter, and Jesus at the center of it all. There's a young man who is going to be baptized too, and this is not the only story that we have this year of this. But this is a young man who is, as he says, now free from prison. And so I just want to say to others and to those of you who are watching on the Pando app throughout the US prison system, Jesus is real, man, and His forgiveness is real, and you don't have to live the life you're living, and you can turn to Him, and He is not finished with you, and we absolutely believe that. This friend says, "I surrendered and accepted Jesus as my savior in a Bible study class. He's done many miracles in my life and today I am free from prison. I'm on probation for another two years, but with His help, I have been clean and sober for the last year and two months. I want to show the world that I have been saved by Jesus Christ." This 16-year-old girl says, "I went to summer camp for Youth Crossing, and I can say with 100% certainty that that experience changed my life. I'd always struggled with feeling like I never really fit in anywhere, and even though I had friends, I still felt alone a lot. Through the teachings and worship and the presence of Jesus at summer camp, I realized I'm never alone. That week led me to trust Jesus with everything in me. He is my salvation and my hope, and I want to declare my faith to everyone." Brian says, "I started off as a Ukrainian Orthodox, then Catholic, then Lutheran, then back to Catholic. I moved overseas to the Middle East. I even tried Islam. I even went to Mecca. When I moved back to St. Louis, my daughters asked me to come to church with them. It was at The Crossing that I found what was missing in my life." Jesus. It's always Jesus. It will always come back to Jesus here. You see, when we get to heaven one day, those of us who have trusted in Him, I do believe that's going to be something. But until then, we have today. That's right. Is there anyone here whose heart is full of gratitude? Is there anyone here whose heart is full of joy? Is there anyone here whose heart is full of awe? All across the sites now, I'm just going to ask, if you would, we've been doing this all weekend long, if you are being baptized or you were baptized last night, would you please stand so that we can honor you? Just stand. It's okay. Don't be bashful. Stay standing for just a second. Stay standing. Stay standing because I want to ask, if you're a loved one who is cheering for them, then would you please stand? If you're a friend, if you are someone in this community who is grateful for what God is doing, would you please stand? If you are in a place right now where you want to give God glory, would you please stand? It seems to me that it's just about time to worship again. But first, I think we should pray. Now, here's the thing. I don't know how this is going to work. Sites, in just a minute, I'm going to toss it to the pastors, and then you all will join us back in a few minutes. But I'm going to ask us to-- Here we go again. I'm going to ask you to do something, maybe get out of your comfort zone. Some of you are about to be baptized, so you're like, "Man, I'm already out of my comfort zone." Well, I'm going to ask you, and maybe the people who love you, who are here celebrating with you, come on. Come down here and join us in a moment of worship. Let us pray over you. Right now, I'm just going to ask people to come forward. I promise you, every place in Revelation where you see Jesus worshipped, there's a throng. There's a crowd, because Jesus draws a crowd. So I'm going to ask you now, if you would, and you're going, "Oh, I'm going to have to climb over somebody," that's okay. They don't care. They might come with you. In fact, why don't you ask them right now? Because I'm asking you, if you would. That's it, yeah. You all just keep coming. If you're saying, "Well, I'm not getting baptized, but I sure would like to pray for my family," or, "I would like to pray for myself," or, "I would like to pray for this country or this world," or, "I've got this thing that I just want to surrender, God, I just want to give it to you," I'm asking you right now, don't be bashful, because we're going to do this together. Yeah, that's it. And I want to pray for you. Some of you, for the first time ever, are going, "Man, I've been watching this from afar, but I want to get in it. I want to get in." Then come on, join us right now. Some of you are really comfortable in physically expressing yourself in worship, raising your hands, clapping, shouting. Well, you're going to get a chance to do all those things today. But right now, we're going to bow, we're going to kneel, we're going to stand, but I'm asking us, if we would, to pray. I don't know what it is that you're bringing to Him. He does. And by the way, as the worship now begins in just a second, even then it's not too late. That was one of the themes today, was that people kept saying, "Hey, you told me it's not too late." It's not too late. Father, we're now just coming before you and we're grateful, and we ask now that you would move in our midst. Holy Spirit, we're inviting you now into this moment. You are the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Jesus, you are worthy of all our praise. There are people here right now, Lord, who need healing in a marriage. I don't know what's going on, but you do. And the word surrender keeps coming to mind, Lord. There are things that they need to surrender to you. There's steps that they need to take. Father, give them the courage, give them the grace. There are people here right now who, Lord, there's a physical thing going on. I pray that you will give them comfort, but Lord, we're asking for healing. Ooh. Lord, there are sins that, God, break the back of that thing. Peel off the shame. There's people here who are cynical, skeptical. I pray that you'll begin to wash that off of them. And Lord, for those who are being baptized, we're asking now that they can settle into the moment. We know the weather, whatever. Lord, you're sovereign. I'm praying that they will settle into this moment and they will sense your pleasure, O God, for you are pleased with them, and may these be moments of worship. Jesus, we do all of this now for your glory, and we ask this in your name. Lord, we're going to keep worshiping you now. When I mentioned the Book of Revelation and the crowds and everything, I can't help but think of in the 19th chapter, John said that he heard the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven. I think we're about to hear a loud voice, the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven crying out, "Hallelujah." There it is. "Hallelujah. Salvation and glory and power belong to our God." Let's continue to worship Him. If you want to join us here, let's continue to worship Him now. I can't wait for eternity. Join the song they're already singing. Holy, holy, holy Just to bow down before Your throne. See Your face, I'll cry out because You're holy, holy, holy are You, Lord. Jesus, King of Kings. Jesus, Majesty. I can't wait for eternity. Join the song they're already singing. Holy, holy, holy are You, Lord. Just to bow down Just to bow down before Your throne And see Your face See Your face, I'll cry out because Oh, You're holy, holy, holy are You, Lord Jesus, King of Kings Yes, You are Jesus Lord Majesty Great I am Lord Jesus, King of Kings Yes, You are. Our God, Maker Lord Majesty. Standing with those who have heard, "Well done." Proclaiming forever that You're the One. Oh, who's faithful, faithful, faithful are You, Lord. Oh. What can we give You but endless praise? The heavens roar as we shout Your Name. It's Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, You are Lord. Jesus, King of Kings You're the great I Am, Lord Jesus I call You Majesty Righteous One, Holy One, Hallowed Father Jesus You are King of Kings Yes, You are. We honor You, Jesus Jesus You are Majesty Oh. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord. At the glimpse of glory, we'll sing once more. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord. Forever, forever we'll sing. Worthy Come on, church Worthy, worthy, Lord. At the glimpse of glory, we'll sing once more. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord. Forever, forever we'll sing. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord Worthy, Lord At the glimpse of glory, we'll sing once more Yes, we'll sing Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord Worthy, Lord Forever, forever we'll sing. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord Oh, worthy, Lord At the glimpse of glory, we'll sing once more. Worthy, worthy, worthy, Lord. Forever. So I throw up my hands, praise You again and again. 'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Oh. Hallelujah I know it's not much And I know it's not much, but I've nothing else fit for a King. Except for a heart singing We'll sing Hallelujah Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. So I throw up my hands, praise You again and again. Come on, church. 'Cause all that I have is a hallelujah. Halle- It's not much, but I've nothing. But I've nothing more to give. Hallelujah. Except for a heart singing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God, we stand in awe of the greatness of you. We stand in awe of the love and the consideration that you have for us. David said, "Who am I, that you are mindful of us? Who am I, that you would consider the little things in my life?" God, we're so grateful that you call us sons and daughters. That you seek after us. We come here today, God, with a lot. But God, you meet us where we are. So we thank you for loving us. We thank you that we can say how wide, how deep is the love of our heavenly Father. It is beyond what we could ever comprehend. But I praise you, God, and I thank you for giving us a glimpse. Just a glimpse of what it is to know that we are loved by you. Thank you for this gift that you have given us today. We honor you, and we praise you, and it is in your name we pray. Amen. Amen. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift. What a gift. Thank you. Take a moment. Just say hi to one another, just love on one another, and then have a seat. Oh, my goodness. I'm so happy. It's all good. Okay. That was a gift. Okay. If you have not been to a baptism service at The Crossing, I thought I'd take a minute just to explain it. But first, let's address the weather. We do have folks watching the weather very, very carefully. As of right now, we're going to aim for 6:30. We'll be super wise. We won't do anything crazy. We'll make sure we're being safe and stuff. Just so you know, my favorite story at The Crossing is one year it was raining everywhere in St. Louis. Storms were blowing through and it went like this around a little old pond in Chesterfield, Missouri. So that's what we're praying for. Please let the storms go around us. Baptizees, keep your phones with you. We're texting you, we're emailing you, and congregation, just keep your eyes on social media and the website. But we're hoping for 6:30 PM. If the weather's good, the food trucks will be here. We know it's dinner time. Come and have dinner with us. Bring a chair. And right now, if you haven't already done it, I would text the word program to 48099. You'll see everybody who's getting baptized and the line they're getting baptized in, A, B, C, D, and E. We do five baptisms that are going at the same time. And if you're sitting somewhere and you're like, "Oh, I want to go see that person over there," feel free just to get up and walk down and just wiggle your way down front. People are super cool to let you come down and then they'll probably say, "Who are you celebrating? We'll celebrate with you." All right, so that's tonight. We're praying for 6:30. And then if the weather's good, we'll have live music out in the courtyard afterwards. And we were here-- I don't even know, how late were we here last night, guys? Pretty late. It was fun. We had a great time last night. And if you have never experienced a baptism service, it is a glimpse of heaven. It's like what we just went through. It's such a glimpse of heaven. It's so heart-stretching. Please come and join us. Now, for those of you who contribute financially to The Crossing, listen to these words of encouragement for you. "Eight months ago, I came to The Crossing unsure of what I believed. Through the generosity of this church and the people who faithfully give financially and serve each week, I found a community where I could ask hard questions, grow in faith, and ultimately surrender my life to Jesus. This weekend, my wife and I are both taking the step of baptism, and we are incredibly grateful for all of you." Thank you. You ever been someplace, maybe it was a vacation, maybe it was a great time on your deck, you were at the lake. It was someplace, a sporting event, and you went, "Ooh, I'm going to take my phone out and take a pic." You ever done that? And as soon as you took the pic, you went, "Yeah, this isn't going to do it justice." You ever done that, where it's just like, ah, it didn't capture what I was hoping it would. It was too much. Anybody got anything here? Sites, I can't wait to hear some of your answers tonight. But anybody taken a pic and you were like, "Yep, that wasn't good enough." Anybody got anything? Alaska. Alaska. Yes. Grand Canyon, I heard. Somebody else said something over here. Bryce Canyon. Bryce Canyon. Okay, another really good one. We love those canyons. Anybody over here? New babies. It's like, man, that's just barely the beauty and the awe of it all. Yes, way to go there. Okay, so here's the thing. Well, now you know how I feel, because I'm trying to show you something that is so big, so beautiful, so glorious, and all I can give you are snapshots. That's all I can give you. You ever had somebody take a picture for you someplace important and then they hand you your phone back and you're like, "Oh, you don't know how to even use a phone?" Has that ever happened? And the moment's gone. It's passed. I'll just give you a couple or three of these where it's like, this could've gone better. This guy hiked all the way up to the top of Machu Picchu. That's what's behind there. His dad took the pic and that's what he got. Here's one for you. Yeah, great family pic. They're in front of Mount Rushmore, but you would never know it. And then sometimes it turns out this way, right? You get to the Grand Canyon and that's what you get. Yeah. It's like, oh, man. Oh, man. So here's what I'm going to do. Understand I'm going to give you some snapshots now. It won't be all of it, but I'm going to do my best to give you some snapshots and I'm going to try to stay out of the way. I'm going to try to make sure that my finger isn't over the lens because I want you to see what God is doing in our midst. But understand this, when we're talking about this, these people know exactly what they're doing. They know what this is and what it isn't. They know that the water doesn't wash away their sins. It doesn't cleanse their mistakes or their rebellion or anything like that. They know it is a symbol of what God has already done. We used this verse last week, but Ephesians 2 says, "It is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast." They know that baptism is an ancient way of telling the story of where they are with Jesus. It's a beautiful way to tell that story, and it's their story. I said it earlier when we were looking at all those names on the boards, every number is a name and every name is a story. At the end of our time together, you will be flooded with names and faces, and every one of them is a story. How do we know those stories? Well, because we ask them to tell us their stories in what we call an application. And some of you are like, "Well, what do you mean? You don't have to apply to be baptized. It's not like a college entrance exam." No, but when we're dealing with the scale that we're dealing with, we want to know that people are doing this. We want to honor the Word. And so if you've been baptized as a believer, we're not going to re-baptize you. This is not going to be one of those things where we just try to get our numbers up. If somebody says, "Well, I don't even know what it means, but it looks cool and I want to do it with my friends," it's not time yet. That faith isn't personal. If somebody says, "I'd like to recommit my life to Christ, but I've already been baptized," well, let's find a different way for you to express that recommitment. I guess what I'm trying to tell you is even tonight, if somebody shows up waterside with a towel over their arm and says, "Hey, man, I'd like to get in the video," we understand that. We really do. But we're going to politely say no because we need to know where you are with Jesus. You see, whatever happens today is nothing compared to the joy of knowing Jesus. It will always come back to Jesus. We want people to understand that this faith is theirs. You see, when you get to understand the symbolism of baptism, it certainly means forgiveness. It means being washed clean. This is what God does. But it's also a symbol of, if you'll recall, it's a symbol of being buried and then raised to a new life, which I know is scary if water freaks you out. You're like, "Yeah, that's why I don't know that I'm going to be baptized," because that whole thing of being... Yeah. First of all, we've never lost anybody, okay? Second of all, I get it. There was a woman last night who stepped into the water and said, "I don't know how to swim. I don't like being around water. I'm terrified, but I want to do this because I want to tell the world that I belong to Jesus." Come on. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul says that anyone who is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here. Mason understands that. Mason is nine. That's the youngest that we allow people to get baptized, not because it's a magic number, but because we want people to know and remember what it is that's going on. Who is Jesus to you? "He is my Lord and Savior." How does someone become a follower of Jesus? You repent for your sins and you believe in Him. Any questions? He's got it down. What is different about your life since you decided to follow Jesus? "I've been more kind, caring, and polite." You know what? Mason should take the lead on this and we should follow. The world could use more kind, caring, and polite. Amen? Amen. Yeah. So here's a guy, he's 47. He said, "I was adopted because my biological mother didn't want me. I just thought I was cursed and something was wrong with me. Because I was adopted, I never thought God wanted me. From ages 16 to 26, to numb the pain, I shot dope, smoked dope, snorted dope, used as many hallucinogens as beer as I could get my hands on. For the next 20 years after that, I was in two different," his quotations, "spiritual groups. One was kind of business-focused, trying to fix me. The other one was spirituality, but it was really meditation and self-help books. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't fill the void, and I never, ever felt satisfied. I was empty on the inside. Last December, I decided I wanted to give Jesus a chance, but what's interesting is all I knew about Jesus was what I had watched on the History Channel. Finally, somebody recommended The Crossing. I went to the dinner at The Crossing. I attended each service trying to keep my emotions buried, but I was crying at each service because it felt like God was speaking to me." He took Explorations. He took the Genius of One course. He talked with pastors here. He began to realize, he said, "That I've been judging the world's best-selling book of all time by its cover." As I listened to pastors talk about Jesus and how He is changing life for them, it began to change me. I now know in my heart that Jesus is for me and believes in me. On June 13th, I prayed and turned my life over to Him. I didn't think it was possible, but I am now an adopted child of the King. People are going to make progress on this journey in so many different ways, but there's something I want you to talk about now for just a second. Now, we do this around here, so this is how you can officially know that you came to the Crossing today. I'm going to make you talk to each other, okay? So if you're not used to that, we just do this. You're going to get in small groups and just hang out for a minute or so. If you don't want to do it, just tell the people around you, you don't want to do it. But let's just get some music started here now. And if you've made any progress on your spiritual journey now or ever, who was it who helped you? Or who is helping you to make progress on your journey? Go ahead, talk to each other. If you don't have anybody, if you're not making progress, if you're not interested in that, then say that. It's all okay. But who's helped you on your spiritual journey? Go ahead, talk to each other. All right. Somebody here, who helped you on your journey? Anybody over here want to tell me an answer? Youth group. Youth group, yeah. The whole community. I'm seeing a whole lot of nods. Woo, yeah. That's right. Anybody here, who helped you on your spiritual journey? Yes, ma'am. My mother and grandma. Okay, mom and grandma. Yeah, come on. Anybody over here? Mel Donner. Say it again? Mel Donner. Mel Donner. So you got a real friend that walked with you. That's really cool. So the whole point that we've been trying to make here is that relationships do help us make progress on our journey. Of course, I tipped my hand a little bit with the interaction music. Did you hear it? "Toy Story," the original? "You've Got a Friend in Me," right? So this is the way God has wired us. In the Book of Hebrews, in the 10th chapter, we see something there where the writer is saying, "Let us just find these ways to spur one another on, to encourage one another." Now, he's writing to believers, but I think this happens where you and I get to help each other along the way. Jesus says in Matthew 5, "Let your light shine." This is how the gospel moves forward, when we help each other with this. And it is in community, and it is with friendships, and it often is with family. There's a young woman who's a student athlete who writes about her own journey, and she said, "Growing up in a small town wasn't easy for me, especially if you're not in the popular group. I never had consistent friends throughout grade school or high school. By the time I hit high school, all of this had taken a toll on my mental health. I started to stress about myself, if people were judging me. I even began to doubt my athletic performance. I slowly suffered in silence. I isolated. I didn't tell anybody else about it for three years. I had self-harmed a few times because I didn't know how to feel anymore. Starting college, I had a fresh start, and I hoped that it would be different than high school, and I was excited to live out my dream as a college softball player. I gained so many friends, but I still wasn't searching for my faith. In my second year of college, I found a friendship with a girl who introduced me to her friends, and they were all followers of Jesus. I'd never experienced people like that before, and it was so refreshing." "Fast-forward," she says, "I finally decided to explore the Crossing because of my uncle who attends here and is on staff. I walked in and I was overwhelmed by its sheer size. That first service was the day the Peak Experiences series started, and at that moment, I knew I was in the right place. I started going every week. I started to understand things. I was paying attention. And then after a few months, I decided to show up at College Night by myself. All of the self-doubt started to flood back in. It's scary to walk into a place as a stranger. I started creating friendships there, though, and it made me feel seen and wanted. I would show up on Thursdays excited to see everybody. My second semester started this past year, and it was a roller coaster. I started to slip back into anxiety because of my sport and my competition, and I was allowing all of that to define my identity, and it was all starting up again. I felt worthless and useless, and I wasn't good enough, and the only thing that kept me going was church and that college group at the Crossing. I met more new friends who texted me daily and wanted to know if we could hang outside of church." Does anyone here know what it's like to be pursued by a friend who hasn't given up on you? Because I'm telling you, that reflects the love of our Father. She said, "Eventually, I started to realize that my sport wasn't everything and it didn't define my self-worth. Jesus is the one who defines me. Jesus is now my number one priority after 20 years of pain and uncertainty. I can't thank the people enough that I have met this past year for helping me find what I had been searching for, for so very long." Jesus. "I am happy to know how forgiving and loving He is to me. Now I can't wait to continue to grow with Him and for Him." This is what it is like to stand for Jesus in the waters of baptism. Now, when she says that she wants to grow, I want to give you just two ways that you can work on these last two months of summer. We're almost through with June, and everybody's been off school for a while, and maybe you've taken your vacation. I want to give you two things that you can work on here. The first one is, keep coming back on the weekends. We've got some very cool things planned, and it will be good for you. That writer of Hebrews, the very next thing he says, if we're going to encourage and spur each other on, he says, "Not giving up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing." Did you catch that? You can actually get in the habit of not doing something. That's right. We always talk about, "Ooh, I got a bad habit," or, "I'm trying to build a good habit." Sometimes we can get in the habit of not doing something. The writer here says, "Don't get into that habit," because we need each other, and we encourage each other when we choose to come into a faith community. Just watch what that does for your soul. And the second thing is engage God's word. Earlier this year, we talked about statistically, research, how research has shown if you will engage the word of God just four times a week, it changes your mental health, your physical health, all sorts of things. It's such a good thing. Four times a week. And so if you'll remember, part of what we said is, if you come to church, well, you've already taken care of one of them. You just need to engage God's word three other times. It isn't a formula, but it's a good goal. And so we came up with this thing called First Five. Our pastors, our tech people, came up with this thing that's on the app where you can engage God's word for five, six, 10 minutes a day. We worked our way through many of the Psalms. Some of you, many of you, apparently, were a part of that. Now, some of you are like, "Well, I've never done that before. I do my own devotional." Man, keep doing it. But if you're saying, "I need to take just one step in," I'm telling you, this is a meaningful way for you to engage God's word. And apparently, more than a few of you are doing it. It's not too late, by the way. You see, for the next couple of months, they're going to take some time off, and they're gearing up for the fall, and something new is going to hit in September. But now, you can go. You can hit it. You can go through all of those readings in Psalms, and you can do that for the next two months. I would encourage you to try. Apparently, a lot of you are. I asked our team, "So did this take off or not?" And they said since we started in January, over 78,000 views on First Five. Apparently, some of you are getting in the habit of engaging God's word, and I'm telling you, the power of God's word cannot be underestimated. Here's a young man, a 40-year-old who said, "For a long time, I remained hesitant to believe because what I perceived as hypocrisy with Christianity. I also felt there was a lack of factual evidence. Then about eight months ago, my wife asked me to attend a service at The Crossing, and I reluctantly went. I was fairly closed off to the message." I get it. "But I stayed for the entire service. The following week, we decided to go again, and slowly but surely, something began to change in me." I want you to understand, that's another one of the themes, is that progress is made slowly but surely as somebody begins to move towards Jesus. He said, "Because of my scientific background, I approached this whole thing like an investigation." And then he gives all the research that he went through. He said, "At one point, I told my wife I'm at least open to believing." If you were here in the fall, we gave out those Aspen stand slices, and everybody wrote something on theirs. He said, "I wrote the word open. It's still a reminder to me. Week after week, we attended, but I began to read the Bible on my own, the Gospel of Mark." He's getting used to the voice of Jesus. He enrolled in explorations. He met with a pastor at The Crossing, shared his story with her, and she said, "Are you ready now to surrender to Jesus?" "With some fear and hesitation, but also with some faith, we walked out to the cross behind the church, and with her guidance, I gave my life to Christ. While I'm still growing and learning what it means to truly follow Him, I am now ready to be baptized and to take the next step in my commitment to Jesus." You start the journey. It's okay to ask the hard questions, but when you get answers, then just take the next step. Now, Katie, you're one of the folks. Come on up here. Katie's our newest pastor on staff, so welcome for that. You're one of the people that does these interviews. Mm-hmm. A young man, I'm just going to let you tell the story. He started with lots of questions, too. Right. So tell us about it. Yeah. So he's 15 years old now. Yeah. So at 10 years old, his mom started going to church, so he's like, "I got to figure this out." And so he starts researching everything he can, and scientific stuff. At 10. At 10. At 10. At 10. Okay. So for five years I guess- Okay ... took this journey, and he got to the point where he was like, "The only logical explanation is there's a divine creator, because one millimeter off in gravity, we would float away," or just different things like that, and it was just beautiful to hear. So that's what we call the fine-tuning of the universe, and it's one of those principles. So he's literally going through this when he's 10. Yes. Wow. Yeah. So he went there, and then he also- I can't wait till we all work for him one day. So- I believe that, actually ... but the rest of it was, so he's understanding there is this creator. Mm-hmm. What's the rest of it? Yeah. So then he gets to Jesus. Mm-hmm. And he says that divine creator is also holy, and in order for us sinful people to have a relationship with Him, there's a sacrifice that needed to be paid. And when he realized that, he knew the difference to what it felt like to be spiritually dead and spiritually alive when he recommitted his life to Jesus. And I was blown away- Wow ... by the conversation. Wow. My heart was moved in the conversation, and so I told him, "You have to tell people your story." Yes. Because there's others that are intellectual that way, and there's- Yeah ... going to be a moment when it moves from their head to their heart. Yeah, because that's the key, right? Yes, ask the questions, but eventually, it's got to get personal. Thank you. You see, of all ages, and by the way, I hope you notice that these are all ages. The vast majority of people who are being baptized this weekend are under the age of 30, but we have so many people who are over the age of 30 who are saying, "It's not too late for me," and we love this. But it has become personal. Speaking of someone below the age of 30, Eli is nine. Now remember, that's the youngest that we go with this. Doesn't mean that you can't turn to Jesus before then, it just means we want to be clear, and we want you to remember. So Eli says, "Jesus is really my only hope to go to heaven. He is my friend, he is family, he encourages me to push forward and do the right thing. He is my savior. I'm choosing to get baptized to show everyone in our church, and maybe people traveling from other churches and other places, that I'm pointing my life to Jesus." I can't wait till he's on staff here. "I think this is the right time for me to do this because I'm older now." "And I will remember this moment, and I will point more and more people to Jesus." Amen. Yeah. I want to show you here at the end what's going on and what we've been trying to explain, and I'm going to do it with a Greek word that Paul uses in that prayer in Ephesians 3. So I'm going to put the word up here, and then you turn to somebody and tell them that word. Go on ahead and tell them how to pronounce that word. You can do it. Go ahead. Take a shot at it. All right, you ready? Here it is. Polypoikilos. Polypoikilos. Okay? What does that mean? Well, in the scriptures it's translated manifold. Let me tell you what it means. It means variegated, varied, colorful. It's like this image of a colorful mosaic or cloth that's been woven with all of these different threads. It's something that is beautiful, and it's all coming together. Paul is saying, "I'm now seeing the full plan of God. Nobody ever saw it coming, but we're going to take the gospel to people who don't have any background with the Bible." He called them Gentiles, and he says, "It's through the church, the manifold wisdom of God will be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms, according to his eternal purposes that are accomplished through Jesus Christ, our Lord." We're in the deep end of the pool for one minute here at the very end. What he is saying is, it was God's plan all along to include everybody. And so there is this polypoikilos wisdom, this manifold wisdom, this varied and colorful wisdom. He has pulled in all of these strands, and all of these histories, and all of these stories and perspectives and backgrounds, and people who never, ever, ever dreamed that they would be a part of the kingdom. And he has pulled it all together for his glory because that's his plan. But then he says, "It's on display for those in the heavenlies." Who on earth is that? These are the angelic beings. God has created them, and they're watching the whole thing going, "How much does he love these humans?" Yes. Now, guys, I don't mean to freak you out, but those of you who are getting in the water, I am absolutely convinced we are all going to be celebrating and cheering for you. Your Heavenly Father is so pleased with you. But I'm telling you, these angelic beings are in awe of what God is doing through you. It gives them a chance to give Him glory because He is the one who's in charge. All of this is Jesus, and I'm telling you, when you know the story, it always, always, always comes back to worshiping Jesus. Yes. You see, at one point, he says in this prayer, he says, "I'm just praying that you will understand on the deep parts of you that the Spirit gives you an inner strength." There are people who know what that's like. 29-year-old woman writes, "Last January, I left a domestic, violent marriage with my two kids. I was petrified, broken. Even though my family was backing me up through it, I felt alone. Months went by, and I didn't know what to do. The medications and the therapists weren't working. My mom always asked me every Sunday if I wanted to go to church, and I always said no, until one Sunday, I said yes. Once I started, I couldn't stop, and I soon realized that I wasn't alone, and I decided to trust Jesus." Listen to this. "Before I accepted Jesus, I would have these vivid nightmares, but now I sleep in peace." Yes. "I probably wouldn't be here today if it wasn't for Jesus. He saved me, and I will be forever grateful. That's why I'm being baptized." Here's a man who said, "As a child, I followed Hinduism because of my heritage and family upbringing. 18 months ago, I began pursuing a deeper understanding of what it means to follow Christ. Inspired by my men's small group and a couple of the classes at The Crossing, I made some progress on my journey. When I took Explorations, I truly connected with the story in the book entitled 'Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus' by Nabeel Qureshi." This is a book that we talk about in Explorations. "His life story paralleled my own experiences. And then it was in November of last year that I experienced a really unusual dream that confirmed my acceptance of Jesus. I am getting baptized to publicly declare that I have chosen Jesus, and I have accepted His grace. I see no reason to wait any longer." This 16-year-old woman says, "For the first 12 years of my life, I was a devoted Muslim. And then when I was 12, something happened that changed everything." She went through a profound loss. A best friend passed away. All sorts of questions. "I don't know how to deal with it. For the next three years, I lived in confusion. I wanted to believe there was truth and love somewhere, but I didn't know where to find it. Then just before I turned 16, everything started to change. I encountered Jesus. When I found in him something I had been searching for my whole life. Through him, I found grace and forgiveness and a love that finds me even in my darkest moments." God wasn't distant from my suffering. He was present in it. He met me there with compassion. Jesus didn't erase my pain, but he gave it meaning. He has shown me a love that sacrifices, a love that saves, and a hope that death cannot take away. I want you to understand, these are people who are experiencing Jesus in the highs and the lows of their life. You're going to find people who are at the top of their game and people who are at rock bottom, and every place in between. Young and not so young, and every place in between. But what they all have in common is Jesus. Jesus, he is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and this Jesus has come through for all of them. No wonder Paul prays, "I just want you to know how deep and how wide and how long and how high is the love of Christ." I want you to know this love that shows up in the middle of real-life struggles. This is what people are proclaiming, that Jesus can be trusted, yes, in the best of life, but, yes, in the worst of life. Jesus is enough. Amen. Whoo. Even if. Lauren writes, "On February 24th of this year, our sweet Harrison David was born. Shortly after his first precious breath of life, he quickly became increasingly sick and was diagnosed with meconium aspiration syndrome. Just hours after his birth, after exhausting all the options available at Mercy, we were transferred to Children's for the ECMO procedure, trying to save his life. He endured so much, fought with incredible strength. We've prayed the biggest prayers we've ever prayed, but after seven days and double-digit surgeries, Harrison was called home to be healed in the arms of Jesus." Now, I want you to listen to this. "While something this catastrophic can push people away from God, I found myself clinging desperately to him. I don't know if I will ever have all the answers on this side of heaven, but I know God is still good, even if. If I can trust him through burying my baby, I can trust him through anything. I know I am ready for this public declaration of my faith in Jesus, because the suffering I've been through the last three months has brought me to my knees, and I have felt Jesus wrap his loving arms around me and catch every tear." I need you to hear me. I'm not telling you that story to stir up your emotions. That is their story. When I met with that young couple in one of the previous services, they said, "Greg, it's all true. It's all true. We can't do this without Jesus, and we still don't have all the answers." And I couldn't give them all the answers, but I know this much: Jesus is enough. And I'm saying in every way, what these people are proclaiming is that Jesus is enough. Paul wraps it up by saying, "Now to him, who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever." He is the King of Kings, he is the Lord of Lords, he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, and we will worship him, and we will give him glory. And there are people that we are going to stand with who are now ready to stand for him, and they are going to tell a curious and sometimes skeptical world that Jesus is enough, even if things aren't going the way you want. Jesus is enough. Now, I think that's worth us laughing and crying and clapping and shouting, and one more time worshiping. So here's the deal. We're going to worship now. Let's see. I think somebody's going to... I'll do it. Anthony's got it. I'm getting all worked up here. We're going to sing a song, and you're going to be confronted with hundreds of names and faces, and I want you to remember that God is up to something in this church, and he's up to something in this world, and he's not finished with any of you. And you got one thing that you got to remember as God takes us through all of this, okay? Here it is. Some of you know the song, some of you listened to it on our Spotify playlist. Some of you, this will be brand new. Tricky rhythm. I'm giving it to you so that you're ready. Here it is. You ready? I was, but God, but God had a different plan. It's just a declaring of I was this way, but God, but God had a different plan. So that's it. I was, but God, but God had a different plan. Would you stand with us? We're so grateful that you're here today. Let's go. We're going to have some church on the way out. Hey. Yeah. Can I give a little testimony? How I'm only here because of His hand? You see, the enemy tried to end my story. But God had a different plan. You see, He took my sin and He broke my bondage. And He raised me up right out of that grave. Hey. So I can't hold my hallelujah. I'm so glad that Jesus saved. Here we go. I was- Come on ... sinking, but I'm singing now. I was, but God, but God had a different plan. I was drowning, but- See, I'm not praising because I'm perfect. Come on, testify. I praise Him because He brought me through. I worship because His name is worthy. Yes, Lord. And I've seen what His grace can do. And if He did it for me, He'll do it for you. Oh. I was sinking, but I, I'm singing now. I was, but God, but God had a different plan. I was drowning, but I, I'm dancing now. I was, but God, but God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. Oh. We're going to make Heaven a little bit more crowded today. Yeah. We bless your name. Now, you guys know these next words. They're very familiar. We're going to sing it over you. Oh, yeah. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Hallelujah. That saved a broken wretch like me. All praise to the great I Am. And I once was lost, but now I am found. Hallelujah. Is this anybody's story? Was blind, but now my heart can see. All praise to the great I Am. When we've been there 10,000 years. Hallelujah. Bright, shining as the sun. All praise to the great I Am. We've no less days to sing God's praise. Hallelujah. There where we shall be done. All praise to the great I Am. You see, I was. I was. Sinking. Sinking. But now. But I'm. I'm singing now. I was. But God. But God. But God had a different plan. I was drowning, but I'm. I'm dancing now. I was, but God, but God had a different plan. Sing it out, yeah. I was. Sinking. Sinking. But I'm. But I'm. I'm singing, singing now. I was. I got to break those chains. But God, but God had a different plan. Hey. I was drowning. But I'm dancing now. I was, but God. Let me hear you say, "But God had a different." But God had a different plan. But God had a different. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. But God had a different plan. I was. I was. Sinking. Sinking. But I'm. But I'm. Sinking now. I was. Oh, yeah. But God. But God had a different. But God had a different plan. I was drowning. I was. Deep in the sea, yeah. But I'm dancing now. Hey. I was. But God. But God. But God had a different plan. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. All praise to the great I Am. Now shout unto God. Shout. Shout because He's worthy. Shout because He's worthy. Shout because there's no other name above the name of Jesus.