Zero Stars should be an option.
Please read before you attend.
Searching for a church for our family & thought we found a home. Attended for a while with our teens. Our family suffered tremendous tragedy & we were all struggling. Going to church as a family was something we needed as a family but we were all hurting. We were all looking for peace. As parents we wanted our teens to keep their faith but after our life experiences, they were losing their faith. We looked forward to attending services & hoped our oldest son would get baptized here.
One Sunday, the pastor discussed biblical scripture that detailed religious elite were not accepting people they believed to be beneath them & how Jesus was accepting of everyone with open arms. That has always been our belief. The ironic thing was, the pastor, Chuck Land, followed this scripture with basically the following statements:
If you are here & not giving back, not volunteering & not going ti weekly group classes, not making a difference in the church then we don't need you.
Let that sink in.
Chuck Land stated that the church needed those in attendance to be known & actively participate or to "get up & leave because someone else needs your seat."
Our family for the record always gave financial donations each & every week. We filled out visitor cards & made prayer requests. We were trying to become a part of the church family. We had made connections about volunteering & having our children volunteer. Our methods may have been slower than most, idk but it should not matter. Church should be a place to feel welcome, safe & loved. To hear the pastor speak such vile words, we were all shaken.
Shocked...
Waking to the parking lot, my husband asked if I felt hurt & could I believe what we were just told? I said I felt lied to & betrayed & basically felt that people like us were asked to leave, that we weren't important to the church, that they didn't want it need members like us. Unbelievable. The pastor's statements were the opposite of what he was preaching! Would Jesus ask a hurting, struggling family sitting in church pews week after week, praying & trying to heal & hoping they found their church home, to leave???
Seems so many church leaders are lost. I wonder how Chuck Land would react if Jesus stood up & left after he told people in his church in his pews, to go to group classes & volunteer or to get out.
We left & honestly it broke our hearts. Our kids went off to school & our church bonding time was over. I am angry with pastors like Land who think they are better & that everyone should be who they want their members to be. We are all different with different things going on & different ways to give back. Some of us are out here truly struggling. People struggle & you never know the depths they came from to just be sitting in that church seat. He should be thankful that they are there! Thankful to see them week after week! He should welcome them with open arms as Jesus would do. & maybe with that love & acceptance that family would be healed enough to start giving back with volunteer time, etc.
Our experience at Crossbridge was awful. I don't recommend Chuck Land or his "church". read more