Cross 

 Point

MONTHLY GATHERINGS (7:00 p.m.) (Board Meeting at 5:00)
Nov 11		First United Methodist Church, Ardmore		Men’s Walk #65 3/01/07-3/04/07
Dec 9		First Presbyterian Church, Ardmore		Women’s Walk #66 3/08/07-3/11/07

Greetings in the wonderful name of Jesus! A special welcome is given to the new saints from Men’s Walk #63 and Women’s Walk #64. It was a tremendous blessing to watch the Holy Spirit working among the pilgrims and the teams at Cross Point Camp during these walks. Many lives were changed, renewed and reenergized during these times. It is true that God is a great and merciful god, always ready to respond when we call on His mighty name!

Thank you to the teams for both walks! A special thanks to Spiritual Directors Tony Caro and Jody Ham and Lay Directors Julie Altom and Doug Pfau. Your long hours, hard work, many prayers and loving hearts seeking after the will of God are truly appreciated. The Walk to Emmaus is a special tool used by God to touch and renew hearts but it only happens because teams respond to God’s call and prayerfully attempt to follow His will. Thank God for each of you on the teams and those who helped in any way!

New teams are forming for the Spring 2007 walks coming in March. Pray for the leaders of the Spring walks as they seek God’s will and teams are created. Prayerfully consider who you are called to sponsor and begin to take steps to make it happen.

Between walks we all need to support Cross Point Walk to Emmaus by attending gatherings and being faithful to your reunion groups. Sponsors should be encouraging your pilgrims to be in reunion groups and to attend our gatherings. We all should be encouraging each other to be more active in our local churches and to support them though our attendance, service and giving. The Walk to Emmaus is intended to make us more effective in our local churches!

What did these three days mean to you? What are you going to do about it? I look forward to serving our Lord with you and seeing you soon and often!

De Colores,
Dan Patman
Cross Point Community Spiritual Director

We have posted our entire community membership list on the website. Please check it to be sure that you are on the list and that your mailing address, email address and other information is correct. We are trying to obtain and maintain a complete list so that we can keep all members of the community as informed and involved as possible. If you know a community member who doesn’t get this newsletter or whose name isn’t on the list please help us!

Welcome new members of the Emmaus Community! I know when I first got home from my walk I wanted to do everything I could to serve the Lord. I understood how important every member of the body of Christ is and I wanted to do my part. I didn’t know what I could do. I had little time and even less money, but the Lord has helped me see that He can take the little I have and combine it with what others have and create something really big! I’m on the board and in charge of snack agape. All I have really done is create a list of what was needed and made it available for the community to sign up for. The Lord has not only shown me that if every member helps just a little the burden is small and the outcome can be huge, but He has also shown me how important it is to let your brothers and sisters know the need. It has been such a blessing to allow God to use me, but it also made me think of how many times in my personal life I have stopped someone else from receiving the blessings God had in store for him or her. Now, I would never have denied anyone the blessing of being used by God on purpose, but how many times have I said I could handle things on my own? How many times have I not even asked for prayer? If we don’t let others know of a need how can God use them? If you have a need let others know and, if they can’t fill it, you’re still not out anything. Who are we to say whom God will use—it may not be just us, but many of us! DeColores!

Cherri Bradley

When I attended Cross Point Walk to Emmaus #6 in the fall of 1992, I was immediately captivated by the camp's beauty. I knew I was on God's special turf. His majesty was everywhere - in the conference room as we feasted on continual manna, in the silence when the cabin lights went out, and during those short breaks when we were allowed to breathe in the fresh air which rejuvenated our souls. God called me there at just the right time in my life. I didn't know it then, but He was laying His mighty armor on me, preparing me for a long journey through some very dark years that lay on the horizon.

Like most pilgrims, certain parts of the talks stuck deeper than others. I embarked on my Fourth Days that Sunday evening, most certainly feeling a special burning in my heart. I knew my Emmaus brothers and sisters would always be a part of my life and that Cross Point would be a sanctuary for me. The moment I see the dining hall as I drive in, I feel like God is giving me a huge hug and welcoming me home. I am renewed in the glow of every candlelight, feeling so close to God as I stare at the huge painting of Jesus in the dining hall and listen to the pilgrims sing "Jesus, Jesus" to their new community of love.

No matter how hard I try to put into words those feelings, I feel I can never explain how much God touches me at Cross Point. It's a place so symbolic of His continual love for us. He wants us to know that He will always love us and we can always journey back to him in our hearts or in the car. It's a drive well worth the trip, whichever route we take.

Last November 5th, Mike and I were married under the cross at 4:30 p.m. Most of the day had been so windy, it seemed impossible to set up for the wedding. We worried that we might just be blown off the cliff! But God had other plans. At 4 p.m., the wind shifted and the whitecaps fell to calm riplets. As the ceremony began and the sun slowly set, the sky became a beautiful canvas of vibrant colors. Even the occasional fishermen slowed their boats to a quiet crawl as glimpsed the chic in the white dress on the point under that special cross.

It was one of God's special moments in my life. To me it was so symbolic of the love and keen attention He gives us. He knows the desires of our hearts and most of all, what we truly need the most - His love. He wants good things for us and for us to consciously pilot our lives in the light of His love. He will not forsake us in our Fourth Days. We are His special children, His bride.

Our God is an awesome God.
De Colores,
Ruste Jacobs Foster

2006 Cross Point Emmaus Board of Directors

Adult Members:
Steve Dyer* (Community Lay Director) 405-823-0571 or sdyer@dyerlawcenter.com; Tim Israel (Secretary/Team Selection) 580-799-0566; Mark Kent (Treasurer) 405-224-1610; Cally Southern (Registrar) 580-237-7210; Nancy Striegl (Kitchen) 405-375-5702; Steve Strong (Agape) 405-692-0591; Julie Zielinski (Hoots/Gatherings/4th Day) 405-947-7535; Jack Roper (Logistics) 405-603-6191; Barbara Wood* (Prayer) 580-226-3576

Youth Members:
Robbie Dyer* (Internet); Keisha Wood* (Prayer); Anna Shipley (Kitchen); Nick Timmons (Hoots/Gatherings/4th Day); Kirk Israel (Team Selection); Michael Southern (Logistics); Sarah Ali; John Schneider; Jessica Wills, Katie Creed*.

Clergy Members:
Steve Byrd 405-631-8997; Nancy Hamilton 580-225-0964; Charles Watson 405-222-1637, vacant*

*Denotes Cross Point Emmaus Representative.

“…(I was) in prison and you visited me….I tell you, whenever you did this for one of the least important of these followers of mine, you did it for me!” Matthew 25: 36 & 40 (Kairos is the branch of the Walk to Emmaus that brings the walk into our prisons. For information: www.kairosoklahoma.org)

Several members of the Ringling United Methodist Church are coordinating a fundraiser to help with medical expenses for Johnny Mercer who attended Cross Point Walk #61 and is now a colon cancer patient. The organizers are asking for prayers and financial help from the local Ringling community and beyond.

The fundraiser will begin with a Fish Fry November 11, 2006, at 5:00 p.m. in the Ringling Schools Multi-purpose building with an Auction featuring pies, cakes, and other donated items beginning at 6:00 p.m. Ringling is 30 minutes west of Ardmore on Highway 70.

We recognize this is the same day (unfortunately) as the regular scheduled monthly gathering in Ardmore. Most of the Ringling Emmaus people will be helping with this fundraiser.

For more information or to make donations of items to be auctioned please contact Jay and Melissa Grace 580-662-2221 (day), PO Box 626, Ringling, OK 73456, or by e-mail at ringlingeagle@sbcglobal.net.
De Colores and God bless you all!

	Men’s Walk				Women’s Walk
Spring	#65	3/22/07-3/25/07		#66	3/29/07-4/1/07
Fall	#67	9/28/07-9/30/07		#68	10/4/07-10/7/07

VOLUNTEER NOW TO WORK THE SPRING 2007 WALKS! YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WAIT TO SEND IN YOUR VOLUNTEER SHEET FOR THE SPRING 2007 WALKS. GO TO THE WEBSITE, COMPLETE THE APPLICATION AND SEND IT NOW TO AVOID BEING RUSHED LATER OR EVEN FORGETTING!

application forms

SUPPORT EMMAUS! COME TO GATHERINGS!
OUR NEXT GATHERING IS NOVEMBER 11, 2006, AT 7:00 P.M.
AT FIRST UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, ARDMORE, OK!

VOLUNTEER AND SPONSOR SHEETS AVAILABLE ON THE WEB