S is for Sounding

Last month the Crossings Community, Inc. took a sounding of our current position. Here is President Steven Kuhl's report:

On June 22 and 23, 2000, your Crossings Board of Directors met in St. Louis for its annual meeting. The focus of the meeting was the "Future of Crossings, Inc." Of course, we already know something of the future of "Crossings, Theologically" (hereafter "Crossings T") - namely, resurrection. What we, the board, were grappling with is how we as "Crossings, Inc." might be used by the Spirit to serve "Crossings T."

The future of Crossings, Inc., we discovered, is already being signaled in the makeup of the board. No longer is Crossings, Inc. only a St. Louis focused reality with St. Louis based leadership. We are (like you, our fellow, faithful Crossers) a people dispersed throughout the country: Washington (Lori and Betty), Oregon (Bruce), Texas (Carolyn), Wisconsin (Steven), Missouri (Mike, Robin and Cathy), South Carolina (Al). There are, of course, special challenges that accompany this dispersion. We do not have immediate access to one another. But, like the dispersion of the early church, there is also a certain advantage for mission. Making the most of that advantage, perhaps by teaming up with fellow Crossers like you, is at the heart of the future of Crossings, both "Inc." and "T."

Besides the makeup of the board, the dispersion character of Crossings, Inc. is also exhibited in the very operations of our day to day activity. For example, what we call "Cyber Crossings," our use of the Internet, is tended by Ed Schroeder and Robin Morgan in St. Louis as they tend to the content of Sabbatheology, Thursday Theology and the web site, and by computer wiz Tom Law in Iowa as he tends to the technical details of their transmission. Very shortly, Lori Cornell in Washington will be taking over Robin's duties as web site editor.

Crossings President Steven Kuhl co-leading the June 24th Practicum in St. Louis. (Robert Bertram was the other leader). Thirty-two people attended the workshop which was designed to train and identify future workshop leaders.

The importance of this medium for maintaining and increasing our Crossings Connections, both "Inc." and "T," was driven home when Robin reported that we have over 500 individuals around the world on our listserve receiving weekly Sabbatheologies and Thursday Theologies, with that number increasing every week. In addition, Tom reported that we average 500 hits a week on our web site. That means our site is as active as the average midsize corporation. But even this, our more traditional mode of communication, the Crossings Newsletter, is edited by Todd Murken in Appleton, WI, organized and mailed out by Cathy Lessmann in St. Louis, MO throughout the U.S. and overseas.

The future of Crossings, Inc., we also noted, needs to focus on serving and encouraging what we called Crossings "spin-off" ministries. They are adventures in Crossings T that, on the one hand, operate all on their own, but which, on the other hand, seek mutual support and accountability with other Crossings T ministries around the world. The board heard from a number of such ministries, specifically, Richard Lyon's "Crossings, Florida," (The Order of Philippi and its own spinoff, The Lazarus Project/Village of Hope in Haiti), Ed Schroeder's global adventures in Indonesia and South Africa, Al Jabs's teaching stint in Lithuania, and a general update from Mike Hoy on Crossings, Australia. From these "spin offs" you can see an added richness to the dispersion character of Crossings. The makeup of the board does not begin to match the global makeup of Crossings - both Inc. and T.

In our visioning process, the board discerned a need to re-establish the practice of offering "Crossings Workshops." To that end, Steve and Betty will be working on establishing a procedure and materials whereby dispersed Crossers can organize and host their own Crossings T events with the aid of workshop leaders trained through Crossings, Inc. To that end, we held our first ever Crossings Practicum on Saturday, June 24, with over 30 Crossers in attendance. Let us know if we can work with you in your area to conduct a Crossings workshop.

We thank you for the financial support you have sent that has kept our Crossings Inc. operational and we ask for your continued support. We the board cherish the partnership we share with you in Crossings - both Inc. and T. We're confident that that partnership has a promising future, both in the immediate future and in the resurrection.

steven kuhl