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Archive - November, 2009

What’s Your Go To Song?

November 10, 2009 in Random Fun with 150 Comments

Last week at the Volunteer banquet my friends, Merelyn Catron and Ron Hemby, sang an incredible rendition of Wanted Dead or Alive by Bon Jovi. I sat there thinking about how many times I’ve dreamed of being able to nail that song in front of thousands (please don’t judge me). Let’s be honest, we all have a little rock star dream inside of us.

OK, let’s pretend you have the most incredible voice ever. Now just imagine you have the chance to sing in front of hundreds of thousands of people.

What would your song be?

This is an all-skate so it means all you lurkers have to jump in today.

Fast To Forgive

November 9, 2009 in Uncategorized with 51 Comments

I’m in the process of re-reading Deadly Viper (character assassins) by my two friends Mike Foster and Jud Wilhite. I read something that made me stop dead in my tracks.

We made a pact with each other to be people who are fast to forgive. So much of our emotional volatility comes from relationship gone wrong. In the last couple of years, both of us have dealt with severe betrayal by trusted friends and partners. We were deceived and lied to by these individuals and their actions were reprehensible…

You see, when you don’t forgive someone, you let them park in your life forever. These people are like parasites that can suck the life right out of you and allow bitterness to rot you out. If you let these people and their actions haunt your thoughts, emotions, and spirit, you allow them to continually damage not only you but those around you, too.

Almost everyday I come in contact with people who are allowing unforgiven anger and bitterness from their past to destroy them today. Unknowingly their unwillingness to forgive is impacting their marriage, the way they treat their kids and their attitude toward most everything in life.

I’m not going to pretend like forgiveness is always easy because we all know it isn’t. Some of you have been hurt in ways I can’t imagine. Someone wounded you, or betrayed you or lied to you or maybe cheated you. You’re afraid if you let go of the hurt, they get away with something. And you’re right, to forgive you will pay a high cost. In fact the only thing that will cost you more than forgiveness is not forgiving someone.

I know you want to see them hurt back but that desire is a weight or burden that actually becomes a part of you. You’ll carry that weight from relationship to relationship from season to season and if you carry that bitterness and anger around long enough it will choke the joy out of your life. It will cost you your heart. So be fast to forgive.

How are we doing with this? Are you fast to forgive?

Broadcasting Volunteer Gala LIve!

November 6, 2009 in Cross Point Church with 11 Comments

I’ve got a BIG announcement this morning. We’ve decided to broadcast our annual Volunteer Gala which happens tonight LIVE. Trust me when I say you won’t want to miss watching how we celebrate our volunteers here at Cross Point. It’s one of the most unique celebrations I’ve ever been a part of.

We’ll be going LIVE around 7:15 cst, so grab some popcorn and get ready as we pull out all the stops to honor the thousands of volunteers that make Cross Point so special.

I’ve embedded the channel here so you can come back here and watch it. You can also go HERE for a much larger picture and more room to chat with others.

How We Live

November 5, 2009 in Uncategorized with 15 Comments

Like so many of you I watched in horror as the news about the shooting at Ft. Hood started to spread. Apparently an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others.

The event was a violent reminder that none of us get to choose how we die in this world, but we do get to choose how we live.

Hope you’ll take some extra time to pray for the families impacted by the shootings.

My Favorite Night Of The Year

November 5, 2009 in Videos with 18 Comments

There are many different events we put on as a church. My favorite, hands down, is our Volunteer Appreciation Banquet. Once a year we roll out the red carpet in an attempt to find a way to say thank you to the thousands of volunteers that make Cross Point Church the special place it is. I was blown away to hear that this year we mailed out invitations to 2000 households. I can’t tell you how humbled I am to get to serve alongside such an amazing group of people!

Every year the gala is full of some unexpected moments which make the night. These unexpected moments usually include some kind of self disparaging humor. The past two years we’ve opened the event by spoofing Back To the Future and Top Gun. If you haven’t already seen these videos I thought you would enjoy them!

If you’re a Cross Point volunteer we’ll see you tomorrow night! Can’t wait to celebrate you guys.

Cross Point “Top Gun” Volunteer Appreciation 2008 from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

Cross Point “Back To The Future” Volunteer Appreciation 2007 from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

The Greatest Of All Illusions

November 4, 2009 in Cross Point Church, God with 32 Comments

We’re in a series entitled Faith, Hope & Love at Cross Point where we’ve been looking at how God uses our faith to increase our intimacy and trust with Him. As usual I’ve found myself in the middle of struggling with the very topic I’m in the midst of teaching about.

I’ve got a situation that is driving me absolutely crazy.

I want answers.

I want explanations.

I want guarantees.

I want control.

And yet what God wants is for me to simply trust Him.

Over the past two days I’ve felt God saying, “Pete, take your hands off of this. Stop trying to control and maintain what you cannot control and maintain.”

I bet there are a lot of you who are just like me. We have fallen victim to faithless lives because we’ve bought into the illusion of control.

And control IS the greatest of all illusions.

Should Churches Monitor Staff’s Twitter?

November 3, 2009 in Church Leadership, Leadership with 53 Comments

Kansas City Chiefs running back Larry Johnson has been suspended and banned from all team activities while NFL is investigating his shameful use of gay slur when he questioned coach Todd Haley’s football credentials in an exchange with one of his followers on his Twitter account on Monday (October 26). The NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, said his twitter comments violated the league’s personal conduct policy

Johnson’s agent Peter Schaffer alleges the game check and other lost revenue would amount to a penalty of about $600,000 for the former two-time Pro Bowl player. Ouch! That will make you think twice before twittering next time won’t it?

This brings up an interesting point. I wonder how many churches monitor their staff’s twitter accounts? I wonder if any churches have twitter policies in place that dictate what they can and can’t say on twitter? If they twitter something inappropriate are they going to dock them their next 15 years of salary?

Maybe the deeper question here is do you think churches have the right to monitor their staff’s twitter?

While I don’t really “monitor” our staff’s tweets, I do follow them. It’s a great way for me to keep up with some of the smaller details of their life I might miss otherwise. Here’s a list of several of our staff who twitter. You should follow them. They’re a lot of fun.