I can’t tell you how proud I am of Cross Point Church right now. I watched hundreds of volunteers give up their Saturday to get out and serve the under resourced in their own community. Ryan Bult, our Director of Missions, set up half a dozen projects all over the city so people could get out and serve on our first SERVING SATURDAY of the year.
Today was special for me as my son Jett and I got to serve together. Early this morning we went out to Emmaus Church. Emmaus is a church in downtown Nashville which exists to reach drag queens, drag kings, and strippers. Jett helped unload some bushes for landscaping and helped unload some blocks for a storage shed they were building.
Later on we joined a group that headed down to Tent City on the Cumberland River. This is a homeless community of 50 or so people who live in tents and shacks. We took supplies and served breakfast down there. I really wanted Jett to realize the kind of poverty we have right here in Nashville. I snapped this picture below of him just soaking it all in. I think he walked away with a new appreciation for how God has blessed him. He hasn’t stopped talking about it since we got home.
At lunch we joined a huge group of volunteers who were spending the day with inner city kids. We did football camps, arts and crafts, and games. After feeding them lunch our KidStuf crew put on one heck of a show for them.
These were just the projects I got to be a part of. At the same time, tons of other Cross Point volunteers were around our city serving on different projects.
Thanks to all of you who gave your day up to be a part of Serving Saturday. Can’t wait to do it again.
I love being your pastor,
Pete
Awesome idea to get the congregation fired up about outreach. And very cool that Jett went with you and got a little dose of reality. Should help him grow into a more balanced and realistic adolescent and adult!
So how did you all go about coordinating participation in all of these projects? I would love to see our church do this, but I’d have no idea where you begin to organize or how you get people fired up about it.
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beautiful. really.
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@Jan C., I have no clue how we pull it off.
I bet if you email Ryan Bult our director of missions he could help you out. ryan@crosspoint.tv
WOW…..what an amazing day that must have been. And I think it’s so awesome that you brought your son, Jett, along. I bet he would get along great with my son Ezra, who just turned 11. Last weekend, he chose working at a soup kitchen over attending the youth concert at our church. These are powerful little warriors we are raising!
Peace
*~Michelle~*
ps. I linked back to your two blogs in my post today.
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I’m sure Cross Point is equally proud of you, Pete. So many pastors push the projects and don’t want to get their hands dirty themselves. Bless you for sharing reality with Jett. Sad, but real. God showed up today in Nashville!
WOW! I just want to cry over these pictures and what y’all did today! Cry happy tears and cry sad tears all at the same time. Way to go CP and to everyone who showed the love of Christ to everyone today.
And, Jett will remember that forever and his heart is beautifully changed bc of it.
Blessings~
Fran
Today was so amazing God always shows up ! we are all so blessed.
Way to go CP Team–taking it to the streets… on a cold day when everyone would rather be @ Starbucks you were being Christ to the least of these. Jesus was watching… and he was pleased.
Pete–I’ll bet Jett will remember this for a long time.
I went to the kid event- both at their community center and our church and it was amazing! One thing I did notice was they were running out of kid’s sized coats! Something for us to think about . . . The kids really seemed to enjoy it- I hope to start doing something regularly with them. Saw you at the lunch! Glad you and Jett could make it over!!!
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that is so awesome. praise God. true ministry!
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Holly and I both had great time today.
I went to help out with the basketball camp at Preston Taylor. Before you ask, yes… most of the 5th graders were taller than me.
Can’t wait to do it again!
See ya tomorrow for Backseat Jesus
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Love Love Love THIS! You guys keep rocking Nashville for Jesus!!
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Pete,
You all are cheering for the right team. So so so so so cool. You might like this video, it ties into this post:
http://roxannekristina.blogspot.com/2009/02/game-of-hope.html
Blessings,
Roxx
roxanne kristina’s last blog post.."The ones who gave up their seats were… homeless…"
Incredible! Great job CP!
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Ladarius! Fun!
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I get so excited when I see things like this happening back home! So many times we only hear all the negative issues in the church back in the states, but this is what it’s all about!!!
Thanks for posting this….’specially the pics. Awesome!!!
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What agreat way to spred your love to others. If I lived close, I would be helping you all. You all inspire me!!!
Today our church Dumfries United Methodist, Dumfries, Va. is celebrating it’s food program being around for 20 years. Lots of food and sharing memories. I have helped co chair this program for those years. The best part? Coming to know a whole bunch of wonderful people, those that need the food and those that serve it.
I hated to miss being a part of yesterday. I really appreciate being a part of a servant church.
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It truly was an amazing day yesterday. I echo Pete’s comments about being so proud of this congregation – you guys serve so selflessly… so inspiring. Thanks for truly “being the church”. God is using you in remarkable ways!
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So glad your day was awesome!! I imagine the depth of love from your group as well as the people you encountered left an indelible impression on everyone’s hearts. This is the kind of thing that needs to be told on the news. Bless all of you…
Annie’s last blog post..Bits & Pieces of Hope
This was truly inspiring Pete. I had no idea you had “tent cities” in Nashville.
I felt quite ashamed that we had people living on the streets here in the UK, but I don’t think we have tent cities. Are they widespread in the US?
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cool – what are the long-term results?
Jeff Goins’s last blog post..Initiation: What’s Better Than Discipleship?
Awesome that you got to lead your son this way! Thanks for the inspiration Pete.
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@Jeff Goins, Great question. As you know working with an organization that specializes in “short term” mission projects it can be tough to project the long term results.
We actually have an ongoing relationship with each one of the organizations we partnered with on Saturday. Many Cross Pointers volunteer within them weekly.
Our hope on a day like Saturday is that we can introduce some new volunteers to the organizations and get them volunteering on a more regular basis.
Wow, the tent city pics just blow my mind! I thought it would look a lot more bleak than that, but it appears to be somewhat organized. Not that it’s still not depressing to see people having to live that way. Reminds me of what I’ve seen in the slums of Mexico. Very sad.
It was a GREAT day, very fulfilling, and I was truly blessed to be able to be a part of it. Thank you Ryan for organizing it!
Too bad nobody got a pic of the flaming lanwmower!
Wow – this is so awesome.
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This is so amazing guys! It excites me to see the church BEING the church in these kinds of ways. What an experience for Jett as well. So awesome that he went with you to serve. LOve it!
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