Dave Crosby Jr.

Dave went to Messiah college for psychology and business and also took Berean classes. Daves first position was on staff with his dad David Crosby as a youth pastor and music pastor.

It was good but there were challenges with working with my father. it is was important to respect the boundaries and position of pastor but was easy to accidentally step over boundaries.

Microeconomic development is where there is a community of extremely poor people who are willing to work and helping them start out there own businesses. Macroeconomic develoment is on a larger scale. This idea was birthed out of a passion to reach restricted areas with the Gospel but through a different means than preaching. Mostly it is a humanitarian effort that provides health services and products to these nations and countries.

Over time, approximately 2 years, he began to miss the daily grind of the local church. After one unseccessful ten year plan for a church plant; got began to resurrect a new vision and desire. His plans moved from Hershey, PA to Poconos, PA.

One of the most important things in ministry is marrying the right person. "That decision can make or break you!"

There were many ethical decisions with this type of move because God seemed to be calling David jr back to the Poconos to start a church in the same community that he used to be on staff a a church there. The bottom line was asking and investigating whether or not this was from God.

During this process and journey of life finding a mentor was an essential step...through prayer, an opening of eyes and pursuing relationships that landed him in the middle of solid mentoring relationships.

David describes the church as multicultural with over 40 nations being represented. The average attendance of the church is from 800-1100. Although the church is big numerically and only five years old it is immature in many respects...very similar to some of the things that you encounter when raising a child, except there is less control!

One thing that many church planting manuals and other curriculum will not address is that of "waiting for the power of the Holy Spirit"; through prayer. This was the primary ingredient that finished the recipe of the passion that God began in Dave's heart.

Additionally, vision and a strong leadership team is important...because there are times where you have to brace for a snow storm..."when you plant a church every "flake" in town will come.

The vision of the Poconos church is to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Modeling this concept in personal lives is essential in completing the vision of the church. Teaching the vision and articulating it in everyday life is essential! Some ways that this is currently being done is through adressing needs in the community and reach out with the love of Christ, in a practical way, to make a difference! They are doing a blood drive with the American Red Cross! It is amzaing that the church does not meet in a church building but in a local High School!

Another way, is by providing food for those who have to choose between food or gas. Another thing is to do a gas buy down at three different stations where they will buy the gas and sell it for a dollar cheaper! What an amazing concept...not only does it reach people with the love of Jesus but it also provides great advertising for the church and Jesus because every newspaper and news station come to check it out.

Events do not have to have a lot of money to do great outreaches...water bottle give aways to mailmen, bus-drivers, etc. This builds great community support...it lets people and organizations know that someone cares!

The only way to get people saved is to invite people to get saved...a lot of time is spent thinking about first impressions. The work really hard to make the first 7 minutes impressionable in a good way. It needs to be friendly, easy, and enjoyable! It can be as easy as having people in the parking lots waving hello/good morning. Also showing that there is a value on children and that they are in safe hands. There is also free continental breakfast and Starbucks coffee. Also to connect with individuals sermons series are used alot and also secular music to start off some of the sermons.

As for discipleship David recognizes that the church might be a little on the weak side. As he has recognized this as one of his weaknesses he makes it a strength by using some purpose driven information.

The purpose driven church idea is relatively old based on helping individuals intentionally seek after God. Spiritual growth is an intentional process. Using the baseball diamond can be a framework on specific bases and foundation on which we need to begin to build foundations on. At each "base" a covenant is agreed upon! First base begins with membership then on to 2nd base which is considered maturity (exhibiting Christ in life; committing to daily habits!) Third base is ministry every member is a minister: priesthood of all believers. Home base is mission: living out purpose God designed for you.

A healthy church should have 33% indivdiuals who are living in sin (not saved or even close). 33% should have made a decision for Christ and be on 1st or second base. Another 33% of the church should be composed of bases 3 and 4: they are on fire for God. We try move individual in the community from a "come and see" mentality to a dedication and fire form God.

In every church the goal should be to reach the different levels of people: community, crowd, congregation, committed, and core.

A fault of any system is that a person can go through all of the classes and jump through all of the "hoops" their hears still might not be changes.

Another system employed in conjunction with the previous is the SHAPE model. Spiritual, Hurt, Abilities, Personality, and Experience.

Reflections:

I am wondering if 60 hours a week is a normal work week for a pastor; regardless of the size. I wonder if that is necessary to grow a church. Is this healthy for the church, for the pastor, or for the family? I know that it can be done and great rewards for both the church and the Kingdom of God occur because of individuals hard work however it seems that this type of mind-set can be risky!

I am highly impressed by his demeanor and humility. He does not come across as with a "haughty" attitude but one of simplicity...although he is a very knowledgeable and complex individual.

Of the many people that we have hear speak thus far I look at Dave and say "that is a person that I would like to follow after!" The other speakers have definitely been inspirational and led me to think a lot about thinking outside of the box. I would like to learn how youth pastors have decided whether or not they value the same things as their senior pastors and whether or not this will effect the relationship for either a positive or negative effect.

I am also wondering whether or not the model that Dave uses from both SHAPE and Rick Warren would work in other settings. Additionally, where would this model work best: with families, youth, commuter communities, and even rural communities? Are there any things that make Poconos Church excel that other areas do not have?

I think that it would be nice to hear from churches where "nothing is happening" at least according to some of the previous church planters we have heard. I am wondering how a struggling church can win people for Jesus. Would a free breakfast and Starbucks even work in some areas?

When I think about some churches that I know about, at least in a rural area, I do not see how, or why an unsaved individual would want to step foot in a church!

It would also be nice to have a list of resources or top 10 reads that Dave would recommend for discipleship, church planting, evangelism, pastoral, etc. to help individuals grow and read good stuff!