Cross 

 Point

MONTHLY GATHERINGS (7:00 p.m.)(Board Meeting at 5:00)
Aug. 11		Crystalrock Cathedral, Ardmore		Men’s Walk #67	09/27/07-09/30/07
Sep. 8		First United Methodist, Ardmore		Women’s Walk #68	10/04/07-10/07/07
Oct.				Men’s Walk #69
				Women’s Walk #70

In our Celebrate Recovery small group the other evening, we were in an animated conversation about what happens to a person after he or she dies. It's a conversation that I've had many times before. In fact, one of the members of our church Karen Chaffin (Cross Point Emmaus #4), has recently written a book on heaven, "Heavenly Minded for Earthly Good." So, many in our church have been talking about the afterlife.

But what intrigued me about the other evening was that these men afterward mirrored the response of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus after encountering the risen Lord Jesus Christ. The disciples said, "Did not our hearts burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Lk 13:32) The other evening Jesus became real as we shared the Scriptures with one another.

This next fall men and women will once again gather at Cross Point Camp for Men's Walk #67 and for Women's Walk #68. Teams have largely already been formed. Team training has already begun. Several pilgrims have already signed up. These and others will hear the Scriptures read; they will hear talks given; they will see agape love displayed. Either individually or in small groups at their tables, they will say, "Did not our hearts burn within us?" Jesus will become real again or perhaps for the first time to them.

Pray for the Walks now. How much would it be worth to you to sponsor someone on the next set of Walks? Someone who would later come to you and say, "It's like my heart was burning as they opened the Scriptures and shared the talks. I found the Lord in a new way, in a personal way, in a real way. It’s like I'm on fire." The thought of that kind of response makes me want to pray and ask God who He wants me to talk to about going on the Walk to Emmaus. How about you?

De Colores,
Dan Patman
Cross Point Emmaus Spiritual Director

Come to Crystalrock Cathedral, 2005 12th Ave. N.W., Ardmore, for the gathering August 11 at 7:00 p.m. Please plan to be there to worship, to greet old friends and to make new friends!

Remember the feeling of seeing all the names of people you knew, and all the ones you didn't know? Don't forget to sign the prayer vigil online. The prayer vigils will also be available at the next 2 gatherings.

Mark and Janice could still use your help on the upcoming walks. Volunteer sheets are still available online. You can always call me and I'll fill one out for you over the phone. You will be blessed by serving! Thanks, Vicki 580-504-1915.

Please share your Emmaus experience or Fourth day testimony through an article. Others need to hear how your life has been impacted by the grace of our loving Lord. Readers might be encouraged, inspired or even feel more loved when they learn what God has done for or through you! Email articles to croberts70@yahoo.com or mail to Charley Roberts, P.O. Box 387, Marietta, OK 73448.

A yarn necklace with the rooster song…a pretty book mark…a pencil…pins and pens…a chicken hat…a beaded bracelet…a beautiful wooden cross… What was your favorite? Remember how the gifts of love steadily increased? Thanks to each one for your dedication and gifts in the past. Let’s overwhelm our pilgrims with many loving gifts of table agape again! For information contact Laura Mitchell, Board Rep., Table Agape, or just bring your table agape to each walk!

Snacks. We need you to volunteer to bring snacks to the walks for the pilgrims and teams. We will also need food for send off and the candle light services on both walks! Please contact Cherri Bradley, board Rep. for Snack Agape at 223-7235 or by email at littlec@cableone.net. Thank you.

REMEMBER TO KEEP PRAYING FOR LAY DIRECTORS MARK MARION AND JANICE SPRUILL AND THE TEAMS FOR THE FALL 2007 WALKS!

2007 Cross Point Emmaus Board of Directors

Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian Youth's Rite of Passage? His father takes him into the forest - blindfolded - and leaves him. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not take off the blindfold until the ray of the morning sun shines through it. He is all by himself. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night he is a man.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience. Each lad must come into his own manhood. The boy was terrified. He could hear all kinds of noises! Beasts were all around him. Maybe even some human would hurt him. The wind blew the grass and it shook his stump. But he sat there, never removing the blindfold. It was the only way he could be a man. Finally, after a horrific night, the sound of the night disappeared. He could feel the warmth of the sun. He removed his blindfold. It was then that he saw his father - sitting on the stump next to him - on watch the entire night.

The same holds true for us. We are never alone. Even when we do not know it, our Father in Heaven is protecting us. He is sitting on the stump beside us. All we have to do is take off our blindfolds. (author unknown)

Each person who attends The Walk to Emmaus has a sponsor. A sponsor is a person who has been through an Emmaus experience and is willing to share that experience with another new Emmaus participant. The sponsorship of a previous participant frees the current participant from any personal responsibilities that might distract him or her while on the experience. Sponsorship also undergirds each participant's 72-hour experience with prayer and other expressions of God's love.

According to the dictionary, a sponsor is one who takes responsibility for another. The suffix "-ship" refers to the skill involved in the activity. So sponsorship is the skill of taking responsibility for another.

The aim of a sponsor should not be "to get all my friends to go," to fill up the weekend, to fix people's problems, or to reproduce one's own religious experience in others. Rather, the aim of the sponsor is to bring spiritual revitalization to Christians who will, in turn, bring new life and vision to the work of the church in the congregation, home, workplace, and community. The aim of sponsorship is to build up the body of Christ.

Sponsorship is an act of love for God, for the participants in the Walk to Emmaus, for the Emmaus Community, and for the church. It is a demonstration of agape love. A sponsor will:

• Pray for the participant's openness to God's call to discipleship.
• Make an appointment with the participant (or participating couple) to discuss his or her participation in Emmaus.
• Invite the participant to take part in Emmaus for the sake of a more vital relationship with Jesus Christ. The sponsor shares his or her faith, explains the basic purpose, elements, and follow-up dimensions of the Walk.
• Ask the participant to make a commitment by filling out a registration form. If the participant is married, the sponsor will speak with both partners and encourage an equal commitment by both spouses.
• Support the participant's Walk through prayers and otherwise. The sponsor will also support the participant's family by house-sitting, baby-sitting, watering plants, picking up mail, feeding pets, or just checking in with a spouse to see if any help or support is needed.
• Encourage the participant in his/her continued journey and take the participant to Emmaus "gatherings" after the Walk weekend is over.
• Help the participant re-enter his or her church and consider ways to act out new commitment and enthusiasm.
• Help the participant sponsor others.

“…(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:

kairosoklahoma.org

VOLUNTEER AND SPONSOR SHEETS AVAILABLE ON THE WEBSITE

PLEASE LET US KNOW YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS TO SAVE THE POSTAGE!

application forms

SUPPORT EMMAUS! COME TO GATHERINGS!
OUR NEXT GATHERING IS AT CRYSTALROCK CATHEDRAL, 2005 12th AVE. N.W., ARDMORE, ON AUGUST 11 AT 7:00 P.M.