Changing Lives

Lisa is a native Floridian that moved here from the Miami area about 8 years ago. Although raised from a young age in the Lutheran church, she fell away from the church in her 20’s. She started attending again once she had children of her own but after a while stopped going because no one seemed to care if she was there or not. She did not form one true friendship from going to that church.

Her daughter is now 26, and her son is 28 and husband Greg is retired. Upon moving to Jacksonville, they first settled in the Southside area and joined a mega church.  Lisa taught Sunday school there. Three years ago, they moved to Green Cove Springs and Lisa started listening to pastor Ryan on YouTube. She liked how his sermons spoke directly to her. She started attending and found it was easy to meet people at Crossroad. She received such a friendly greeting when she first arrived and was called by another member just to see how she was doing. That was the kind of fellowship she had been missing at her previous churches.  It felt great to be a part of the warm and inviting environment at Crossroad.  She was now motivated to sign up for pastor’s introductory Bible study to learn more about the scripture. Since Covid, Lisa has started teaching Sunday School at Crossroad and really enjoys the children of this church and loves helping them to understand what God wants of them. Children are God’s favorites; Jesus said, “suffer the little children to come unto me for such is the kingdom of God”.  She is now teaching the confirmation class and is looking forward to more exciting programs for our youth.

Lisa wants others to know that attending and leaving without getting involved with others can leave us wanting. She wants to encourage visitors and others to stop and meet one another and get to know each other because that is what binds us together as a church family. Bible studies or just taking a moment with a cup of coffee/tea to converse after church is a good way to connect with people. In Mark 12:29 Jesus said the most important commandment is love your God with all your heart and the second is love your neighbor as yourself.  Our church’s mission is to reach out into the community and teach God’s word.  We can do God’s work by supporting the church with our time and money.  As a result, we get more in return like knowing that we’re helping others. It’s true that it is better to give than receive.