Mission/Vision

KING’S CROSS CHURCH exists to glorify God and enlarge His Kingdom by gathering regularly to proclaim and celebrate the Gospel of Jesus Christ, yielding to the authority of God’s Word as illuminated by the Holy Spirit and summarized in the historic Christian Creeds and Reformed Confessions, partaking together of Christ’s presence in the Sacraments, providing opportunities to love and serve one another in Community, equipping the saints for Ministry to those who are lost and hurting, both locally and globally, and preparing them to cultivate Shalom (peace and well-being) wherever God calls them to serve.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Quality Enemies


As Oscar Wilde observed, and many others have similarly noted, “You can judge a man by the quality of his enemies.” You heard that right, enemies. And the Bible, far from guaranteeing that everyone will love and admire us as we follow Jesus, actually assures us of just the opposite; it declares that we will have haters and persecutors, and that they will, well…hate and persecute us.

David begged for divine deliverance from the lion-like men who would tear him to pieces.
         
Paul described one particularly hurtful persecutor as a “thorn in the flesh.”
         
And even Jesus assured his disciples (including us modern disciples) that following him leads surely to the painful betrayal of some of those close to us.


May God grant us grace to be considered dangerous enough by the Enemy of our souls to warrant a few quality enemies to hound and harass us.  

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Guard Your Heart (Travis Koch)



TRA Graduation 2014, Faculty Address

Thank you Peter, and thank you again graduates for inviting me to give your commencement address today.  I’m especially honored that you asked me to do this after only one year teaching at the River Academy.  I’m sure future classes won’t make the same mistake.

We come now to that part of the ceremony where I, on behalf of the school, am expected to impart to you some final, sage advice that will guide and inspire you as you leave this place and commence the next chapter of your life.

And you, seniors, may be wondering: After all the topics we’ve already covered in class; after all the books we’ve read and discussed; after all our over-caffeinated conversations at CafĂ© Mela; after all the pearls of wisdom and knowledge our teachers have showered upon us over the years … what could Mr. Koch possibly say that we haven’t already heard?

Let’s face it: you’re right.  In our Humane Letters class alone we spent nearly 250 hours this year sitting around tables wrestling with the ultimate questions of life, the universe, and everything.  Those hours of instruction have been multiplied time and again in all the classes you’ve taken during your years at the River.

And I can’t help but think that if we teachers have taken advantage of all our time together, then certainly we must have already given you all the tools and advice we can think of.  We’ve already said all we can say to prepare you as you go from this place.  And now, sadly, the clock has run out.  And our time together is over.  So it goes.

But perhaps there’s something more to say.  One last bit of instruction.  A final exhortation.  And so, I’ve chosen to send you off with these words of ancient wisdom: This above all else, guard your heart.

Above all else, guard your heart, because your heart, says Solomon in Proverbs 4, is the wellspring of your life.  Whatever is in your heart – your desires, your goals, your fears, your affections – the orientation of your heart will determine the course of your life.