CrossCurrent

Now accepting applications for the winter 2011 session
beginning Tuesday, January 18, 2011
DOWNLOAD APPLICATION

What is CrossCurrent?
Cross-Current is an open, nine-week Christ-centered program that can help one to begin to identify his or her true need. It also challenges one to examine their relationships through the hope found in Jesus. Healing has occurred for many through identification of needs and healing prayer, as well as through choosing to draw near to the Lord and to others in the body of Christ. CrossCurrent provides a safe, confidential setting for men and women to worship, learn, and share honestly in small groups. This program was developed by Desert Stream Ministry, a ministry that proclaims the life-transforming power of Jesus Christ to people struggling under the weight of sexual and relational brokenness.

How is Cross-Current presented?
WORSHIP: We focus our attention and praise on God rather than on our problems.
THE WORD: CrossCurrent teachings combine biblical truths and psychological insights that help us to know God and ourselves better.
THE WORKS OF JESUS: Through healing prayer in large and small group settings, we invite the Holy Spirit to heal and reveal. We bring our sins and those committed against us to the Lord, who is faithful to set us free.

Who shouldn't come to CrossCurrent?
Almost everyone can benefit from coming to CrossCurrent. Each week, as we meet and worship together, we reject the messages and confusion of the world and turn our focus to the cross. So, is there any reason why somebody  shouldn't come to CrossCurrent?
TOP TEN REASONS WHY YOU SHOULDN'T COME:
10) You might stop fantasizing about sex all day long.
9) You might find a safe place to confess your sins.
8) You might find freedom from a lifetime of shame.
7) You might stop looking at internet pornography.
6) You might find the courage to end an unhealthy relationship.
5) You might have to forgive your father (or mother).
4) You might find a safe place to talk about your sexual abuse.
3) You might find a place where you can talk honestly about masturbation.
2) You might find a safe place to deal with homosexual feelings.
1) You might find that the cross of Christ really does have the power to change your life.

Where and when does CrossCurrent  meet?
Meetings are at the Mosaic Campus in Newport News on Tuesday evenings from 6:30-9 p.m. The winter 2011 session will begin January 18, 2011 and conclude March 11, 2011.

How do I participate?
The program requires an application, due by Sunday, January 9. The cost is $25, due by or on January 18, the first night we meet.

For more information, email us.

A Summary of the Teachings

Week 1: Starting the Journey
We will have an extended time of worship and prayer, both corporate and individual. You will also learn more about what to expect in the weeks ahead.

Week 2: Unfailing Love
We examine our need to be loved and to be free to love others. We recognize how we have been wounded by love that fails and how we need to be loved by an unfailing Source, one that is deeper and truer than human love.

Week 3: Getting Real | Jesus and the Real Self
We discover how Jesus sees us - how He looks past our relational sin and brokenness and sees the real self, how He knows the true desires of our hearts and calls us out to be in union with the One who created us. We accept that, as men and women, we have been created in God's image and are to reflect God's glory on earth.

Week 4: Getting Saved | The Cross and the False Self
We come to see that there is an obstacle to our receiving God's love and to loving others well. That obstacle is the false self. We want our own way - we want to meet our own needs as we will. We resist Jesus and His truth, despite the fact that we are trapped and unsatisfied by our own vain attempts at love. We realize that we cannot save ourselves and that Jesus alone is uniquely qualified to save us.

Week 5: Getting Clean | The Cross and Confession
We accept that even though we may have joined with Jesus in resurrection life, we still bear the effects of broken and false ways of securing love. We still bear the weight and shame of sexual sin and unhealthy relationships from our past. But Jesus makes a way for us to get clean from these things through the act of confession. He takes the sin from us, then floods us with forgiveness and a stream of cleansing water that washes our hearts and bodies.

Week 6: Getting Healed | How Jesus on the Cross Bears Our Wounds
We look at how Jesus came to bear the weight of sin: not only our own sin, but the sins of others committed against us. No one makes us sin through their sin against us, but wounding can influence our choices later on. How we love today relates to our past experiences. Jesus wants us to be completely free, and that same stream of cleansing that washes away our sin is available to heal our wounds.

Week 7: Becoming Secure in the Father's Love
In many ways we can never be secure in love until we experience God's love as our Father. Many of us have struggled with God as Father because our human images of "father's love" have been at least inadequate and often distorted. To grow as men and women, we must receive His Fatherly blessing and affirmation before we can truly love others well.

Week 8: Loving Others
We approach the act of loving others in a new context - as sons and daughters of God. As image bearers whose love helps others to know Him, we no longer want to love out of selfishness or as a way to ease our own aloneness. Instead, we desire to please God in our relationships and friendships by making Him the center. We learn the importance of "pressing in" to the body of Christ for support and fellowship.

Week 9: Beyond Brokenness
The healing journey facilitates this process of receiving real love and then giving that love away. When we begin to experience love in light of those particular areas in which we feel least deserving of love, it expands our compassion. Full of fresh compassion, we can freely give that compassion to others.