Great Weekend At Crossroads Church In Lafayette, LA!!!

I had the awesome privilege of speaking at Joie De Vivre in Lafayette for the closing session on Friday evening. Prior to my speaking, awesome and anointed worship leader from Harvest Bible Church in Chicago, Meredith Andrews (pictured right), led us in a powerful time of worship and special music. It was very special to me that Meredith was there because I actually keep the worship CD from Harvest Bible Church in my car and absolutely love her version of “Revelation Song.” Meredith actually sang this on Friday night and it was very special and personal with me for several reasons – one of those special God surprises!!! I want to give a shout out to Daphne Gaspard and her leadership team (pictured below) for putting together a great conference, not to mention the amazing Gumbo that was personally prepared by famous church chef, Dennis! So cool to actually have the Cajuns prepare Cajun food – the authentic stuff!!!

Nancy’s Executive Assistant, Katelyn, Women’s Ministry Director, Daphne, and weekend host, Laurie

After the closing evening of the women’s conference on Friday, I had the privilege of speaking at the first of four weekend church services on Saturday evening, followed by three additional services on Sunday. I was so moved by the heart and passion of Pastors Jeff and Donna Ables to reach their city with the love of Christ. This is a growing church, and I was not surprised to see a 3,000 seat sanctuary in the process of going up with a November completion date. If you live in the Lafayette area, I highly recommend this church. God is moving there in powerful ways, and people are coming to know Christ and getting plugged in to make a difference in their community. I also want to mention that during the course of the weekend, there were five Mercy graduates from over the years that I had the privilege of reconnecting with. It’s so cool that these five girls who had graduated were there as a living testament to the power of God to transform life (check out the pictures – One graduate came to Mercy in 1998 at age 17 with an unplanned pregnancy, chose to keep her daughter, and has since gotten married and had 6 additional children including a 4-year-old set of twin girls). In addition, the church gave a tremendous offering to help us continue taking in these young women free of charge and take them through the transformation process. I have added pictures to this story to give you an inside look at the services as well as the special time with the Mercy grads and church pastors and leadership team. I’m so thrilled for all God is doing at Crossroads!!!

Crossroads Pastors Jeff and Donna Ables with Nancy

Nancy speaking at the Joie De Vivre women’s conference

Nancy speaking at the weekend services

1998 graduate Jessica with her 4 year old twins – happy wife and mother of 7 children. She and her family attend Crossroads.

2000 graduate Tera who is now a monthly partner with Mercy.

June 2006 graduate, Kristen, who is going on a Mercy missions trip this summer to Uganda.

Honor, August 2006 graduate, doing great and also a member of Crossroads church!

Emily, September 2009 Mercy graduate, who is now training for ministry in the Masters Commission leadership program at Crossroads.