GOD NEXT DOOR
by Sam Miranda There are times I deeply meditate about what Jesus said in terms of loving God with all my heart, soul, mind and to love my neighbor as myself. A command to love people who believe differently than me, to love people who may hurt me, to love everyone who is practically near me, sometimes becomes an overwhelmingly…
EASTER 2012: All Scars Tell A Story
The amazing story of the gospel is that Jesus also has scars, but unlike our stories of pain and brokenness, His scars tell a beautiful story of forgiveness and healing. Is there someone in your life that needs to know the message of the resurrection? Invite them and join us for our Easter services this year beginning on April 5th…
Miami Church-Planter Cohort
Crossbridge Church was featured in an article last month in “Christianity Today” about the work it’s doing along side Renew South Florida in the city. Daniel A. Siedell, an art historian and contributor to the magazine says “A cohort of pastors here are developing a network of churches that are gospel-centered and grace-driven, that are presenting Christ as the fulfillment…
Refresh: MIAMI COHORTS
This past Wednesday Crossbridge Church had the privilege to host a training for church planters who are in the early stages of planting a church in the Miami-Dade area. Partnering with RENEW South Florida, a ministry that seeks to equip and inspire church planters with a gospel-centered initiative, over 20 local pastors came to listen, pray & explore different ways…
The Church is Not a Circus
If you are a pastor you know that the summer months are transitional for a lot of folks. A lot of church shopping takes place during this time of the year and so, I find it interesting to observe what certain individuals are looking for in a local church. Some of the top questions visitors ask as they’re inquiring about…
Giving and the Gospel
In the classic “The Cost of Discipleship” Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: “Discipleship mean adherence to the person of Jesus, and therefore submission to the law of Christ which is the law of the cross.” In this quote, Bonhoeffer is trying to get across the idea that following Jesus does not imply in simply learning from and about him but ultimately, in…
Top 10 List to Know if Your Pastor is Preaching the Gospel
I believe a preacher is effective when he is faithful. Faithful not necessarily to his tradition nor to the people but to the Gospel he was called to proclaim. As a young preacher wrestling with being faithful I have given some thought to what faithfulness to the Gospel in preaching looks like. This top ten list is what I use…
Gospel of Mark Resources
Here are some suggestions to further your understanding of the Kingdom of God as we go through the Gospel of St. Mark this year. 1. Pray corporately by going weekly to our prayer calendar page (on this site). 2. Participate in one of our community groups and take an even deeper look at Mark. 3. Buy one of these books:…
A Pastor Is…
Every year I like to reevaluate myself based on how I ministered to myself, my family and, my church in the previous year. Through Bible reading, prayer and, conversations with brothers and sisters in Christ I seek guidance to focus on what’s important for the year ahead. Every time I do this I find that there’s not too much to…
The Gospel According to Immigration
I’m an immigrant and I love Miami because it’s full of immigrants and children of immigrants like me. But as most of you know, there’s this tension among immigrant people. I have friends that have been here for a little time and that have completely assimilated to the American culture to the point that they are embarrassed to speak their…
Summer highlights
It’s been a while since my last post. Truth is that I’ve had a very busy summer trying to focus on family, crossbridge’s leadership, our new Brickell church campus and, on a few ministry engagements outside of crossbridge. Here are some of the highlights: 1. In July Beth and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on a cruise. We lived…
Why we sprinkle babies
Why we sprinkle babies Yesterday I was able to perform one of my favorite things that ministry allows me to do– infant baptism. Some people were surprised that Crossbridge baptizes babies so, I decided to write a post to explain why we sprinkle babies. 1. We are Presbyterian. Part of what it means to be Presbyterian or Reformed is to…
Why Miami?
Yesterday I once again had the opportunity to talk to Campus Crusade Staff folks about the importance of doing ministry in Miami. I gave them three reasons. The same reasons that led my wife and I to land in this great city a little over 2 years ago. 1. Theological Reason – Cities have a special place in God’s heart….
Church Planting Reminders (Reflection on Brickell)
Yesterday I spent most of day in the Brickell area. I led a Bible study, met with a core group member, met with my staff, a local community group leader and a music indusrty executive. In between the meetings I shook hands with city counsel members, introduced myself to a few local professionals and checked on the local real estate….
Going to Bed With Rachel and Waking up to Leah.
Two weeks ago I started a series of sermons in the life of Jacob entitled “One Life”. Jacob is the easiest biblical character for us modern people to relate to mainly because there’s nothing worth emulating in his life. There has never been a civilization in history like ours — so proud of being broken. The more I study his…
“Sábado de Aleluia”: Accomplished Salvation setting the pace for Salvation Applied
Today is Easter Saturday 2010. In Latin America we call it “Sábado de Aleluia” which can be translated as “Hallelujah Saturday”. Growing up I always questioned why they called it Hallelujah Saturday. After all, if there was a sentiment that represented what Jesus’ disciples were going through after the “raboni” was buried it would have to be despair. So, why…
North American Network Conference: Review
Last week Crossbridge hosted the first Redeemer North America Network meeting. About 120 church planters from target cities in North America attended this three-day conference, which featured talks by Tim Keller and panel discussions on: the spiritual life of a church planter, worship and liturgy, and church administration and management…
A new campus? Why not a new service?
Why are you adding a new campus when you have not even out grown your current facilities? That’s one popular questions I’ve been getting from people (especially those who are not from Crossbridge) trying to understand why we are launching this new campus downtown Miami. I frankly think it’s a great question because it all goes back to our DNA…
Volunteers needed | March 23-25
March 23-35, Tim Keller together with the Redeemer City to City staff will be at Crossbridge Church, leading a discussion with 100+ church planters and leaders about the formation of a North American network of urban gospel-centered churches. To ensure a smooth event, we are in need of 20-30 volunteers…
How come they are not the ones asking the question?
It has got to be the third person in the last two weeks that has asked me about the existence of God in light of the tragedy in Haiti. The last words I heard before I walked out of that Starbucks were “How can a good god exist and allow these things to happen, a god like that has no…
Pastor of Availibility
Last week I was able to hook up with an old friend of mine who happens to be a pastor as well. He’s not a senior pastor, a youth pastor, a ministry pastor, a worship pastor nor a, family’s pastor. He’s an “Availability Pastor”. Have you heard of such thing? I hadn’t ’till then. When I first heard him state…
Who’s Christmas Line?
For you artists and all of you worshippers here at crossbridge church every week — you know, i was thinking… so many many times we really don’t soak in that which we say and sing in public worship every week — We ought to stir up and foster a culture that meditate on the value and depth of some timeless song-writing and lyrics so…
Preaching Tensions
Yesterday I got a call from my friend Chris. He said: “Listen man, I’m going to be in your area do you wanna grab some lunch over the little french bistro off of 136?” Every so often we get together to support what each other is doing, bounce ideas off of each other and, ventilate what we are currently wrestling with.
Well, yesterday’s topic ended up being “preaching”.
A Story of Ingratitude
Here’s a story I shared in church today. I shared this story today because this is thanksgiving week. This story was shared to me first by mom as an attempt to get me to return a favor, a service or, a compliment. Something that when I was a child, I was really bad at. I have to tell you, it worked. It worked more than the sharp pinches she gave in my kidney section or the severe reprimands on the spot.
