*I know many of you who read the blog live around the world, therefore you obviously don’t attend Cross Point. However, you’re often asking how you can pray for me or the church, so I like to keep you in the loop of what’s going on around this amazing place.

Below is a letter I sent out to our church a few days ago just letting them know about some of the exciting things taking place here. If you get a minute, we would really appreciate your prayers as we get ready to follow Christ into 2012. It’s going to be an exciting year!!

Dear Cross Point Family,

Merry Christmas!

2011 has been an exciting year for Cross Point. I continue to be amazed at how God has entrusted us with the opportunity to reach others with the hope of Christ.

Here are some of the things that I’m the most proud of this year:

• Over 500 people have given their lives to Christ and over 215 have been baptized at one of our campuses. Life change is the heart of everything we do and seeing people take that step of faith is one of my greatest joys.
• We launched our Downtown Campus specifically geared toward college students. Seeing hundreds of young adults engage in worship and serving at this campus encourages me that this generation has hearts that are passionate for God.
• The launch of our Internet campus has been a huge opportunity to take what we do here in the Nashville area and worship with others literally around the world who may not otherwise have a place of worship. The community that has formed and the connections being made are simply beautiful.
• We are on track to give over $484,000 to missions this year. Those dollars have gone to serve the under-resourced in our local communities, regionally in Wheelwright, KY and around the world in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Kenya, and most recently Haiti. Over 2500 volunteers have served in our missions efforts this year. I’m continually amazed by your hearts to serve others!

As we close this year, I look forward with great anticipation to 2012. I believe God still has even more things to do through this community of faith we call Cross Point. In the coming year, we have plans to:

• Launch a Hillsboro Village Campus
• Launch our Franklin Campus
• Relocate our Nashville Campus to accommodate growth
• Relocate our North Campus to be more centrally located in the Hendersonville area
• Add new service times at our Bellevue and Dickson campuses to accommodate growth needs
• Send groups on 14 global and regional mission trips including our first-ever trip to Haiti and increase our financial giving to missions to 14% of what we receive

All of these things are being done to allow for us to continue to accomplish our vision to be a church that is “radically devoted to Christ, irrevocably committed to one another and relentlessly dedicated to reaching the lost.”

As you consider making a year-end gift, would you consider partnering with Cross Point to help us further this vision that we are so very passionate about? I truly believe the church is the hope of the world and as a community of believers, together we have already experienced what God can do through a group of willing individuals.

Each of our campuses will direct their Christmas Offering in the following ways:

The Nashville Campus will be funding the launch of our Franklin Campus scheduled to open in April 2012.

The Bellevue Campus will be directing their offering to the Together We Will initiative to pay down remaining construction expenses from the campus launch.

The Dickson Campus will be several campus upgrades including a remodel of our kids ministry area and improved meeting space for our students.

The North Campus offering will be funding their relocation in early January.

And to be consistent with all of our offerings, 13% of our Christmas Offering will go towards missions: specifically purchasing property to launch The Dream Project in India. The Dream Project will be a two-story home in Kolkata that will house women who have been abused and abandoned by their husbands. It will also house at-risk and orphaned children. The home will support up to 50 women and 100 children at a time. The purpose of the home is discipleship and whole-life development. The women will be taught job and life skills. The children will go to a nearby school and live at the home with “house parents.” We are so excited about the life-change we believe will take place as a result of The Dream Project!

We’ll be receiving the Christmas Offering at all of our Christmas services. Please note that all gifts must be post-marked by December 31, 2011 to be reflected on your 2011 giving statement. Also, please note in the memo line of your check which campus you attend.

Thank you so much for believing in, supporting and serving the ministry of Cross Point. Together we create a place where “everyone is welcome, nobody is perfect, but anything is possible!”

I love being your pastor!

Pete Wilson