Ministry on the Margins At Center Cross
In August of 2019, the Affeldts packed up and moved back to Virginia for a new God-directed adventure. This has led to many great things, including the birth of our first child, Kennedy Lynn. It has been a wonderful transition. We stepped away from being the lead pastors of a church in Battle Creek, Michigan, to begin serving the people of Center Cross. I have known many of you my whole life and am a product of many of your ministries. Now I consider it an honor to be serving with you and working for the Kingdom's continued growth based in Virginia.
Before moving here, my wife and I had both considered ourselves to be city people and never expected to find such a wonderful treasure in the rural area of the Northern Neck of Virginia. We found that the previous leadership did an outstanding job of establishing ministry roles, equipping leaders, and preparing for what was to come next.
At first, our community's small size weighed on me, as I already imagined that there would be a hard cap on the impact we could have locally. However, that mindset has significantly shifted over the past few months. I've made it a long-term ministry goal to learn every person’s name within our city limits; to discover who they are personally so we can show them that the love Christ has for them is also personal. With this goal being our guide, the ministry seemed to take an obvious shift to center around being a demonstration of love, which is why we have adopted the phrase Loving Up | Loving Out | Loving In.
What has been going on at Center Cross to reflect those goals?
We Have Been Loving Up
It has been important to us to begin leading people to focus on growing their personal relationship with Christ. We have found that the best way to encourage this is through engaging Worship Services, where it is not just about the music or the word but that they build upon each other. Times of prayer are not simply the pastor praying a blessing or prayer over the congregation, but that everyone is led to pray for each other in groups and they are encouraged to begin operating in their personal giftings with a continued reiteration of the fact that, while we’re not perfect, we need practice in a safe environment where it is okay to fail. We have also written and distributed personal devotions for our congregation to go through together through times of group fasting and calls to prayer.
Personally, I invested 9-months to an intensive preaching school run out of Atlanta. This has helped me to refine my messages and make sure that people hear the same thing that God is speaking to me. To some of my colleagues, perhaps a Sunday message is not especially important. But to me, it is the greatest opportunity I get on a weekly basis to truly engage with the congregation. To do this, I spend an average of 15-20 hours a week on message preparation. The first thing on our list is to help people love God. To honor that, I have found that I must make those moments of engagement a top priority in my weekly schedule.
We Have Been Loving Out
The second priority we have set is letting our community know that we love them. We have partnered with two local ministers’ associations, and we are currently the only Pentecostal church actively involved with other denominations in the county. Additionally, we are serving in nursing homes, supporting local services such as the food bank, SPCA, and joining with churches around the area to give back through a project called Operation Blessing. A focus has also been placed on reaching our local students through a program dubbed “The Hub.” Each month, more than 100 teenagers gather at the local gym and are ministered to for a three-hour block of time. Most of the students do not attend local congregations, and there have been many positive testimonies to come out of this group.
We Have Been Loving In
The duality of this statement describes both our love for one another inside of the church as well as for ourselves. We found that some people felt they couldn’t have fun or be transparent at church, so we are trying to shift that paradigm by showing them it’s okay to laugh, that we don’t have to be perfect, and attempting to create safe environments for them to open up. The primary way this has been done is shifting from additional sermons during Sunday School and FTH to discussions around a round (or not-so-round) table talking about real-life issues and questions. Over our 10-months here so far, we have talked about the false narratives many of us have formed about God and how to overcome them. We even broke out into gender-specific small groups, so that it was a safe place to open up about topics like overcoming lust, pornography, and comparison.
We have also begun a project to redesign all our classrooms. This goes from the nursery all the way to the adult Sunday School room. Most of these projects have not been costly, but a fresh coat of paint and a pop of color can change the feelings associated with a classroom and get people excited about what is to come.
Covid-19 Response – Like you, I had no idea what would happen as we shifted to life in 2020. Many challenges arose from COVID-19, ranging from calls to the local sheriff and dealing with passing cars blaring their horn at us during our drive-in services. But we chose to focus on the community during this time, and it has been amazing to see how God has been faithful through it all.
These things we have discussed have resulted in many conversions, rededications, baptisms in water and the Holy Spirit, and, most of all, salvations. We are not merely praying for revival; we are living in one and believe that you are too. If you want more information about anything we have discussed, feel free to reach out anytime.
Jake Affeldt
Senior Pastor
Center Cross Church of God