Ministry Update
Tim and Susan Heinrich
Crossroads Baptist Church, Tracy, CA
January 2024
ONE YEAR In Review
God answers prayer. This is a truism that we all believe. Sometimes we know it, but we don’t see it. Other times, God gives a glimpse at what he is doing.
The end of 2022 was a discouraging time for Crossroads. Many ( Fourteen!) families had moved and we were left asking, again, what God was doing in Tracy. Proverbs 15:22 “Plans fail when there is no counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”
Many counselors advised us to continue doing what God had called us to do “Worship, Discipleship and Outreach” for ONE YEAR and then re-evaluate the situation. We begged God to show us if this was the time for us to move on or if there was still ministry to be done here.
Our BCP director told us that he was going to pray for established believers in Tracy to seek us out. Much like Sarah in the Old Testament, we laughed at him. Although we loved the idea, we have been here for several years, and that’s not how it works in this community.
We told him that we would pray for salvations and new believers and let him pray for the established ones.
On Christmas day, a young Ukranian woman walked into our almost empty building. Her English was broken but she was an established believer and her passion for souls was fierce. Victoria was praying for a young man that she had met at a social gathering. He was a Muslim, who had just arrived from Egypt and He wanted to learn about God. Two weeks after Christmas, Tim was able to meet up with him and start answering his questions and sharing the gospel. And Victoria, and the rest of the church began to pray.
In February, God brought a charter member back to Crossroads, through a tragedy that brought her back to our community. She has been such a blessing to our church, so much so that a new member began to pray that God would bring others BACK to Tracy.
Crossroads has always had vibrant, well attended children’s ministries. When all but one family moved away, we were left staring at empty chairs. The two children who were left quickly set to praying that God would fill the six chairs around the table in their classroom.
We seriously contemplated whether we could staff outreaches this year. Eleven committed people showed up to build and walk with the VBS float on July 4th.
We shared these and other burdens with you throughout the year. And you joined us in prayer.
ONE YEAR later, here’s what God has been doing:
NINE new families have started attending Crossroads regularly this year. We have gone from hoping there would be more than a dozen for New Years Day last year, to setting up chairs and praying for 40 this weekend. No, it’s not a huge crowd, but it’s significant growth.
Included in those families are:
The young Muslim man that Victoria was praying for: Nour who got saved and baptized. And they got married at our church Thanksgiving Service. Christmas Eve communion was extra special as we reflected on the change in his life in the past year and the blessing of communing together.
Jacob’s friend from work, Zach, got saved through the witness of Jacob, and has been at church every time the door is open, drinking from the firehose of Bible study, while Jacob disciples him. He comes from a staunchly atheist family. Pray for the salvation of his family members. His mom sent us a Christmas card, with a note thanking us for the growth she sees in Zach.
Mike and his 15 yr. old son Miguel, who also found us online, was looking to leave generations of Pentecostalism and looking for sound doctrine. Miguel found fast friends in our youth group which is currently six 13-15 yr. old boys (pray for our youth leaders). His wife Tami has not joined him at church yet.
Jim, who found us online, is a new believer looking for doctrine and discipleship. He is ravenously digging into Bible study. His wife Joanna is not happy with his new found religion. She has, however, noticed the positive change in her husband. But, she does not want to be part of anything involving religion. His two children come occasionally, are very hungry to learn the Bible, and are part of the SIX chairs.
Our neighbors and good friends, Mark and Wende, who were established and active for many years in a local mega church have joined us. When he felt the call to ministry and wanted deeper discipleship, he turned to us.
Dino, Mely and Karlo: Dino used to work with Tom, the chairman of our fellowship of deacons. His fiancé Mely is connected through the Spanish church on our campus. Mely is a well grounded believer, but Dino, who is showing interest in God, is not saved. Please pray for wisdom as we counsel them.
Another young family visited last week that is also established and active in a local mega church, but is seeking out a church in line with strong Baptist doctrine.
Throughout the year, God slowly brought new children also. We were excited that we had five children attending regularly, but were disappointed that God hadn’t filled that sixth chair this year. But, on New Year’s Eve, that last family, with a child, visited.
And God answered the prayers of our sweet children to fill all SIX chairs in 2023.
Worship is sweet, as new musicians lift their voices in praise to God.
Discipleship is sweet as Bible studies go long and deep, digging into the word.
And Outreach is sweet as more people commit to reaching their community for Christ.In July, only eleven people participated in the Independence Day Parade. In December, thirty eight people participated in the Christmas Parade.
Our previous prayer letters have asked you to pray for the mess in Tracy! It’s been an incredibly messy ONE year. BUT GOD has shown us clearly that there is still work to be done in this city, and we are the ones He has sent to do it.At this time last year, several of the ministries in our church only happened if Tim and Susan did them, and others had been put on “pause.” This week we created our ministry schedule for 2024 with new teachers, musicians and greeters. It was a huge relief to see people step into ministry positions and see that the work will get done, to the glory of God. The church that we rent from is again without a pastor. We are surviving on our giving plus our savings, as our current giving does not meet the budget needs. We still don’t know what the future holds for our little congregation. But, for now, we will continue in Worship, Outreach and Discipleship, while asking you to continue to PRAY.
Here’s the stats for ONE Year:
- Six Salvations
- Three Baptisms
- One wedding
- One Baby
- Nine New Family Units
- Vacation Bible School
- Theology Classes
- Leadership Journey Discipleship completed with 5 men
- Answers Academy
- Aftershock Youth
And the requests:
- Salvation of Dino, Windi, Ben, Joanna and many others
- Deaf outreach, specifically Luke and Andrea
- Leadership Journey starts January 18th with 4 men continuing and 3 new men joining
- Faithful attendance specifically of the families with children
- To Multiply in 2024
Our Deaf Ministry is growing slowly, with a CODA visiting occasionally and a New Deaf woman reaching out just this week for more information. Our deaf ministry leaders are also fostering a 15 year old CODA. Pray for his spiritual growth and their patience as they work through his trauma responses.
Family Update:
All of our children were home for Thanksgiving. They commented that they don’t know “their church” anymore, and that was exciting.Janae is enjoying her new home in Texas, with friends who used to be at Crossroads. She is teaching special ed and working on her doctorate.Samantha continues to live in Tracy. We share a house that has an apartment with her. The start up that she has worked for was acquired this December and she is now director of operations for the new company. She is active in the ASL ministry at Crossroads.Alyssa graduated from California Baptist University in December. She is looking for music teaching jobs as her husband Zac completes his degrees in computer science and biblical studies.Talitha is working on her degrees in criminal justice and American Sign Language at CBU. Thank you for continuing to pray for all of them as they seek to serve God and make a difference for the sake of the gospel in their jobs and communities.
