Peter Marshall wrote this prayer: “Give to us clear vision that we may know where to stand and what to stand for – because unless we stand for something, we shall fall for anything.” Marshall is speaking of a God-given clarity for our daily living. For a church, vision is a picture of what they believe God has called them to become and achieve for His glory. We discover this proverb on vision in the Old Testament: “Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law” (Prov 29:18). I think the translation The Message is helpful in this case. It reads: “If people can’t see what God is doing, they stumble all over themselves; But when they attend to what he reveals, they are most blessed.”
Vision is a snapshot of the future. Crosswinds’ vision statement is: “Releasing the Church to reach our region and beyond.” We, as Crosswinds, ask God to bless our gatherings so we can be a blessing as we scatter throughout our region and the world. As a church, we are looking out seven years. We believe… The year 2025 will be a landmark year for Crosswinds as we see the Finger Lakes Region saturated with the love and message of Jesus Christ. By the end of the first quarter century of this new millennium, we will see the transforming power of God spread across this region like a wildfire. Children, teens, and adults will be met wherever they are in life and personally invited on a journey of a lifetime. We will see thousands of Christ-followers embark on a discipleship pathway that will encourage and equip them on their spiritual journey. Through an intentional leadership pipeline, we will see those who know God and gather as Crosswinds empowered to scatter throughout our region making Him known in their homes, neighborhoods, schools, and workplaces.
Throughout our twenty-mile local ministry radius, there will exist hundreds of small missional groups, like spiritual lifeguard stations providing community, collaboration, and support. These groups will be accessible to every person in every community assisting them to live the life of freedom, fullness and faithfulness found only in Christ. These teams of fellow journeyers will collaborate with one another to share Christ’s love and message with those far from Christ, but so close to His heart.
To reach our local ministry radius and beyond we will have established an internship initiative. This initiative will serve, like a leadership fishery, where these interns can grow and be released to follow the dream God has given them and perhaps join the team of one of the dozens of Crosswinds’ campuses, church plants, and networks established with like-minded churches. The result will be beachheads in our surrounding cities and communities for Christ. Everyone in our region will have a repeated opportunity to experience the love of Christ and the invitation to receive Him as Lord and Savior. Those who choose to follow Him will be released to fulfill their God-given destiny.
We believe that God has also called us to share the love and message of Christ with those beyond our region, to the ends of the earth. Therefore, we will trust God’s Spirit to allow us to spread beyond our borders, like a rushing river, by strategically training and sending ministers, pastors, and missionaries from our midst. We will also partner with mission agencies, both local and abroad, that share our desire to be a movement of God, establishing disciples and churches in other regions and parts of the world.
In short, Crosswinds is going to move from a church that is trying to add the next person to our Canandaigua ministry campus to building the kingdom through multiplication. We will be making disciples, establishing campuses, planting churches, and partnering with like-minded churches and agencies until we have reached our whole region and beyond with the love and message of Jesus Christ.
As Crosswinds let’s commit this vision to the Lord. I trust He will provide the way to fulfill this vision as we commit to partnering with Him. I ask the Lord to allow us to do more than support this vision, but pray that He will empower each of us to make it our very own.