My name is Todd Crosby and my wife's name is LeAnn. I have one daughter Anslee and one daughter (Averi) on her way in about 2 1/2 weeks. They are truly gifts from God. My family lives in Knoxville, TN and my wife's family lives in Owensboro. With both sets of families away our small group has truly become our family. I also am a small group leader and it is an absolute passion that God has given me to edify our small group and be edified myself at the same time. Being a small group leader has forced me to study the word of God more often and with more intensity than I would have ever imagined. I once thought that a small group leaders role was insignificant and trivial in the church, however in the process I have found that no role in God's church is trivial or unseen by God. In 1st Chronicles I recently read how Mattithiah was entrusted with making flat cakes in 1st Chronicles 9:31. This may seem dull and mundane but what is interesting about this text is in God's Authoritative, Inerrant, Clear, Sufficient, and Necessary eternal word he took notice of this man's faithful service of making flat cakes. The point is clear that no job is trivial and God commends faithful service, no matter how small or large. As a small group leader this text is very encouraging.
As we gear up for the Church on mission I personally am excited to take a deeper look into the book of Acts. As small groups become more and more a source of where people seek Biblical training it's encouraging to see true Biblical training as the emphasis. As I have followed along with Pastor Jason this year and read commentaries on Acts I have been most profoundly transformed by chapter 15 (The Jerusalem council). If I take nothing else from the whole years worth of study in the book of Acts, I will take chapter 15 with me. Chapter 15 shows us the first and longest lasting heresy within the church. It also showed me how easily heresy can creep into the church if we are not careful. Of course the central doctrinal issue of chapter 15 was the doctrine of salvation. The leaders of the church make it very clear that it is by Grace "Alone" that we are saved. Bill Star's wonderful testimony recently was the essence of this truth. His testimony and many
others may not be as clear had Peter, James, and Paul not stood up for the truth that we indeed are saved by God's unmerited favor. In chapter 15 scripture is used to validate the truth. This emphasizes the importance of reading, studying, and applying scripture in order to proclaim and defend truth. So as we collectively as a church dig into the scripture I get really excited about that because we too will be able to with confidence proclaim and defend truth because of such Biblical training.
I do believe that we will only get out of this study as much as we put into it. If we show up to small group, service, and etc unprepared and unwilling to put forth the effort in our personal quite time the impact will be quite sub par. However I firmly believe that if we will put forth the effort if even for just these two months we will see a wonderful transformation in our own lives and most importantly give God glory because of it. Considering the success that we have had before with church wide studies like this I think the same will happen this go around as well.
Therefore my thoughts and prayers are with Jason as he preaches, with Richard as he prepares the lessons, and the rest of LHBG staff for so many details that goes into a study like this. My thoughts and prayers are also for us within the congregation who will be fed by this study and hopefully in return feed others and give God glory.
Thanks and God bless.
Todd Crosby
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