Clemson Scavenged and Crosspoint Discovered

Sunday, September 18th was our first Discovering Crosspoint of the Fall semester, and it was a huge success. God is blessing our fellowship tremendously with numerous individuals from every walk of life who are excited about pursuing the mission of God locally and globally as a part of the Crosspoint body of believers. With approximately fifty attendees at the two-session event Sunday, the Crosspoint pastors (Ken, Jeremy and Jason) led the group through sessions that included Crosspoint’s History, Crosspoint’s Doctrinal Beliefs, and even Crosspoint’s Church Structure.

GLINK staff with Pastor Ken during scavenger hunt

During Discovering Crosspoint, attendees hear a biblical presentation of what Christians believe from Scripture, how, historically and practically, Crosspoint has been structured as a church, and why it is important to intentionally and faithfully join together with other believers in a church. Although we would love for everyone who goes through Discovering Crosspoint to become a member of Crosspoint Church, we recognize that God may have something else planned for some of the attendees. So whether or not they end up joining with us, we encourage every one of them to find a biblical, local church that they can join and serve in and through, because we believe that God has called us to pursue him and his mission while in intentional Christian community.

Also last week, the Generation LINK staff was able to take a much-needed break from the busyness of life and spent a fun evening together on a surprise scavenger hunt. The staff was divided into teams, and each team was sent on a search to find different locations around Clemson. At each location, rather than finding a particular item, the teams were instructed to take several pictures documenting their escapades. Some of the highlights of these escapades included taking pictures that depicted the essence of fall, taking personality pictures based on the personality of each member of the group, taking pictures with feet off of the ground, and, my personal favorite, taking awkward pictures. Everyone enjoyed the time getting to know each other and having fun, and the best part is that several awesome pictures were taken throughout the course of the night (if you have Facebook and are friends with any of the Generation LINK staff, then you may see some of these pictures in the coming weeks).

Written by Bailey Pearson. Photograph courtesy of Caroline Cole.

Starting Point and College Lake Day

It is always a great time to see the college students rolling back into Clemson for the fall.  They are full of energy and excitement.  Each year we have the privilege to see college students desire to grow and mature in their walk with the Lord, and we get to them commit to the body of the church.

We recently had our Starting Point meeting.  This is a chance for college students to learn about our Connecting Point Groups (CP groups).  Our CP groups provide our church body an opportunity to live life together seeking intimacy with God, fellowship among believers, and influence with those who are in the community.  We have more servants equipped to lead CP groups this year than ever before!  It is great to see God provide!  We have groups for freshmen men and women, sophomore men and women, upperclassmen co-eds and men's and women's, international men's and women's.  We have also have small groups for the Bridge Program at Clemson and Southern Wesleyan University.

College Lake Day

Our Starting Point meeting consisted of 200 attendees.  All of our CP leaders attended, providing college students with a chance to meet the leaders, learn what CP groups are all about, and let us know if they desired to connect with a certain group.  Praise God that He uses the Holy Spirit in Crosspoint Church to continue to make disciples and use us to mature his children into the likeness of Jesus!

We also had a college lake day.  This was a great time of fellowship and assimilation of new college students into the life of Crosspoint.  The Welborns' Adult CP Group graced us by cooking some excellent hot dogs and burgers and providing us with sides and snacks.  We ate, played volleyball, threw frisbee, played corn hole, partook in the legendary battle melon game, and enjoyed each others' company.

What a blessing it is to see college students who could be different in every way find unity in Christ and be a part of the body of Crosspoint Church.

Posted by Heath Fulmer

First Week Events

This is an exciting time of the year for the Crosspoint Fellowship as ministries are kicking off for the fall and small groups are starting to meet. The arrival of freshmen and college students is another highlight as we seek to reach Clemson University and the community with the gospel. We host several events the first week of school in hopes of meeting many new freshmen and reconnecting with students.

On Monday, Clemson holds an Organization Fair and a Welcome Back Festival downtown for students. Several members of our college leadership team set up a tent along with other organizations to pass out freeze-pops and invite students to Crosspoint.  Following these events, we gathered in the Union Loggia on campus for an ice cream social.

Tuesday night was a Summer Missions Night where members of our college ministry gathered to share stories of the Lord's faithfulness as they served in missions this summer. Several students shared about their experiences with our Summer LINK programs in Myrtle Beach, Clemson, and India, and others shared about trips to Kenya, Uganda or working with local missions. It was so encouraging to hear how the Lord worked in the lives of our college students and to hear our college pastor, Jeremy Chasteen, cast vision for being intentional as we live misionally here at Clemson. On Wednesday Night we met at the intramural fields for some competitive and not-so-competitive games of Ultimate Frisbee. We also had groups play football, soccer, and volleyball.

Friday night we met at Crosspoiont for coffee and trivia. Students formed teams and competed for prizes and enjoyed coffee, dessert, and fellowship. All the events of the week culminated in Sunday's Starting Point event after the service. Approximately 270 students joined us for lunch and to find out more about the small group Bible studies that meet throughout the week.

Although it was quite a busy time, this was a great week to be intentional with meeting students. We hope that students who attended these events had a great time, but we have an even greater hope that relationships were built with these students. Our desire is that they might see Crosspoint Church as a home-away-from-home and a church to get plugged into during their time at Clemson. Crosspoint desires to be a church that proclaims the gospel to the campus and community and disciples students as they grow in their walks with the Lord. It's going to be an exciting year as the Lord works in the lives of college students!

Post by Kimberly Sherman. Photos courtesy of J. B. Winchester.

Generation LINK Christian Leadership Class Kicks Off!

GLINK staff at summer 2011 GCEN class in Myrtle Beach

In partnership with Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, Generation LINK is a part of the Great Commission Network (GCEN). As a member of the GCEN, Generation LINK is approved to teach 18 hours of seminary credit. We are in the fourth year of this partnership as we desire to equip the next generation of leaders serving in churches and in the marketplace all over the world.

This week, Generation LINK launched a seminary class called “Christian Leadership” and there were 25 students who attended the class. During this course, we will examine Biblical leadership, evaluate current models of Christian leadership, and learn how to implement Christian leadership within the context of the church. Our pastors, staff, and Christian leaders from the community will help facilitate the lecture portion of this class.

Published by Jenna Wayment

College Leadership Retreat

When the month of August rolls around each year, the college ministry at Crosspoint takes on a drastic change. Not only does the population of returning students skyrocket, but there are also about 4,000 new freshmen arriving to start their first semester of college. Since we want to be faithful to minister to these students, we must take time to plan as well as to get to know these students when they get here.

One way we prepare ourselves is by taking a college retreat for all of the college staff at Crosspoint as well as the college students who are on our leadership team. This retreat serves two main purposes: refreshment before the craziness of a new year starts and logistical preparation for the semester ahead.

The team spent two nights with a family from our church who was gracious enough to open their home and whose small group helped prepare and serve our meals. We spent the first night catching up and sharing about our summers and telling each other things God had been teaching us while we were apart. We continued meeting the next morning and discussed many of the activities Crosspoint is hosting for students as they come back, such as an Ice Cream Social, Ultimate Frisbee, a Trivia Night, and Starting Point where they can learn more about our small group opportunities.



The retreat wasn’t all work and no play, though! Thankfully the family we stayed with lives on Lake Keowee, and we had an afternoon for lake time. Between swimming, skiing, and boating, students and staff were able to enjoy a great end-of-summer lake day. We gathered together again that night to have one last meeting before trying to get some sleep to get up early to help freshmen move in the next morning.

Although there has been and will be a lot going on during this time of year, the challenge in all of it is to keep the Gospel central to our purpose. It is so easy to get sidetracked or to lose perspective, but the desire of our hearts is that these events would not be an end in and of themselves. Instead we desire to see more disciples of Christ made in the Clemson area and the nations, and we hope that God will use our labor for His glory.

-Written by Savannah Stone & Pictures taken by Jesse Winchester

Summer Link India 2011 Preparations

This weekend, we had our Summer Link India retreat to prepare for six weeks in India! There will be 3 staff members and 9 students traveling to India from June 23rd-August 4th.

We had a blast hanging out together, laughing, playing catch phrase, water skiing, and wake boarding. Team leader Chad Ferrell did an excellent job of opening God's Word and teaching on the gospel in Ephesians 2 and how to engage the culture as seen in Acts 17. We also spent time practicing 2-3 minute testimonies and learning more about Hinduism. It is our hope that this weekend helped prepare students as they have to cope with cultural differences and culture shock in India.

Above everything else, we emphasized to our students the importance of walking with God before they leave for India and while they are in India. The best way to overcome culture shock and the American ethnocentrism so inherent to our natures is to be saturated with the truth of the gospel. We want our students to be humble learners of the culture and to engage the millions of lost people in India with the gospel through tears of compassion.

In preparing to leave for India, I have been reading through Acts. One of my favorite passages in Acts is Acts 20:19-24,
"You yourselves know how I lived among you the whole time from the first day that I set foot in Asia, serving the Lord with all humility and with tears and with trials that happened to me through the plots of the Jews; how I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable, and teaching you in public and from house to house, testifying both to Jews and to Greeks of repentance toward God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, behold, I am going to Jerusalem, constrained by the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there, except that the Holy Spirit testifies to me in every city that imprisonment and afflictions await me. But I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."


Please join with me in pr@ying that our students would serve the Lord in all humility, even in the face of fear, cultural differences, and persecutions. Pray that like Paul, we would speak in boldness being constrained and directed by the Holy Spirit. Pray that we would not account our lives as having any value if only we may finish the course and ministry we have received from Jesus to testify to the gospel.

If you would like to stay updated with our group over the summer, check out our blog at: http//summerlinkindia.blogspot.com.

Our whole team! Front row: Jenna, Christy, Chad; Back row: Anna Grace, Corey, Jared, Sean, Joel, Aubrey, Abbie, Lindsey, and Jordan

Written by Jenna Wayment

Upperclassmen Men's CP Group

Hey everyone,

This past year I've had the opportunity to lead an upperclassmen men's small group (connection point group).  What a blessing they have been to me, the church, and the Clemson community.  This group composed of two men I have led in past small groups since their freshman year.  Also, there were three men from the India SummerLink trip I led this past summer.  One guy that was sent my way as he hungers for discipleship.  Another who played football with me in our annual Crossbowl football game.  Another who longed to evangelize.  And someone who had once attended a small group in a previous year, left, and  came back as his friends asked him to come.

Why bother to tell about each person?  Each person testifies the Gospel in the life of Crosspoint.  Men who desire and pursue Biblical fellowship as freshman, men who take the Gospel overseas to the unengaged and unreached peoples, men who desire growth and discipleship, men who attend and engage in churchwide fellowships, men who desire to reach the lost, and men who bring other men to engage in the Gospel in a small group.

Our small group studied Ephesians and a book by Mark Dever called What is a Healthy Church?  We passed out water to Greek intramural flag football games, cooked out for some of the Greek students, and prayer walked in the Greek quads.  We went camping together, took the upperclass women's group camping, and served the ladies supper one night.  We prayed for each other and encouraged one another to live the Gospel.    We discussed the importance of articulating the Gospel on a platform, how to listen to those speaking on platforms, and how to healthily respond after hearing someone speaking the Gospel on a platform.

These men live the Gospel and the Spirit continues to teach them.  It has been a joy to lead these men and serve alongside them.

Written by Heath Fulmer