I had the opportunity to visit the North Campus for their preview/prayer service we had this past Sunday and was amazed at all the hard work they’ve been putting in.

I’m so proud of Kevin Cook, the North Campus pastor, and his entire team. Kevin, we’re all praying for you guys and can’t wait to see how God is going to use you and your leadership to impact this community with the hope of Jesus Christ.

Here’s a quick video we shot while there on Sunday to give you an idea of the set up out there.

Cross Point North from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

The other night Blake came over to help me fix a leak we have in my chimney. This was going to require both of us getting on my very high and steep roof. He was a great sport… but this a bad news/good news story.

Bad news: It rained the next day and my chimney still leaks.
Good news: We got a great video out of it.

You’ve heard of Ice Road Truckers, Deadliest Catch, and American Loggers but now I present to you the new reality show entitled “roofing pastors”. Enjoy.

Oh by the way, what’s your favorite reality TV show?

Roofing Pastors from Pete Wilson on Vimeo.

Steve had visited Cross Point Nashville for the first time on Sunday. He was blown away by the genuine, authentic community he experienced. Steve told me that up until Sunday his occupation was selling drugs. He lived in a dope house just a few blocks from the church.

He said after the service on Sunday he knew some things needed to change in his life. He went straight home and burned the $6,000 worth of weed he was going to sell this week. Wow!

It reminded me of how proud I am of the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers who partner together every week at both of our Cross Point campuses to create environments of life change.

You see we don’t JUST hand out programs. We don’t JUST babysit kids. We don’t JUST turn knobs on the sound boards. We don’t JUST sing and play instruments. We don’t JUST park cars. We don’t JUST serve coffee. We don’t JUST open up our homes for community groups.

We partner together to become the body of Christ.  We play different roles, but each one of us is essential  to the body. We partner together and God shows up in amazing ways and moves in people’s lives.

Like Steve.

Since Sunday he’s held a bonfire, he’s moving out of the dope house, he attended the new members class and he’s going to start in a men’s community group this week. Can’t wait to see what God is going to do in him and through him.

While each session was awesome at helping us wrap our minds around the mulit-site model, the best wisdom gained has been through the conversations we’ve had with friends in other chuches.

Between sessions Gary Lamb gave me some incredible words about an area of my life which is out of balance.

I had a wonderful dinner on Monday night with Dinno Rizzo, Mark Batterson and Greg Surratt and their teams. In one dinner these guys made my head spin as they challenged and encouraged me in so many different ways. After dinner I laid in my hotel room bed just trying to process it all. This group of pastors is on the front line of changing the church culture in America and around the world.

On Monday I had the opportunity to be interviewed by @murphy24 and @sarahgad on the topic of church leadership. Had a great time and they are developing an amazing tool that is going to impact  Seacoast and eventually church’s around the world.

I also got to hang and converse with new friends like @joshsur, @dawnnicole,  @geoffsurratt, and @shawnwood. They’re all fantastic individuals who are a lot of fun to follow on twitter.

Thanks to everyone for the advice, the wisdom, but most importantly for being the original person God created you to be. I look forward to sharpening each other more in the near future.

Have you recently met anyone who challenged you to look at something differently?

Wow, where do I start? First of all let me say this….. if you attend Cross Point Dickson STOP reading this right now! If you rebel and read on, at least do me a favor and keep this information just between the two of us. I’m going to be at your campus this Sunday to do a little vision casting and I don’t want you to let the cat out of the bag.

Here’s a quick wrap up of some of the exciting plans we announced at Cross Point Nashville this weekend.

1) We’re going to add an additional Sunday service.

Between our two campuses Cross Point has grown 94% in the past year. How? Because you keep inviting your friends. It’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. So, at Cross Point Nashville starting September 7th our new service times will be… 8:30, 10:30, 11:45 and 6:00 p.m. KidStuff will be at 9:40.

2) We’re going to plant our 3rd campus.

Our goal is to plant our 3rd campus in January of 09′. While we don’t know exactly where yet, we are hopeful to give you more details in the near future. We are so excited about the opportunity to reach more people in the Nashville communities with God’s incredible message of hope. Cross Point will be one church meeting in 3 locations!

3) We’re partnering with Habitat for Humanity.

This fall we will help build 3 homes with Habitat for Humanity. One of them is an all womens build on a house that is being personally funded by Reba McEntire. We’ll need several hundred volunteers to step up to pull off this huge feat.

4) We’re increasing our giving to missions.

Since day one Cross Point has given 10% of its weekly budget to missions. In the almost 6 years we have existed we’ve been able to give some $750,000 to missions. While this has been incredible, we feel led to step it up. Starting this year we are going to add 1% per year to our missions giving for the next ten years. A decade from now 20% of our entire budget will be designated to impact our world for Christ. Our conservative estimation is that we will give over $6 million to missions over the next 10 years.

On top of that…My personal goal is to find 100 churches to partner with us in adding 1% to their mission budget over the next ten years. I’m praying that we can collectively see $100 million designated to world missions over the next decade.

I’m so pumped about what God is doing here at Cross Point. I can’t wait to see what God continues to do through this community!!

I love being your pastor,

Pete

The group was on a medical mission trip where they dispensed about $5000 worth of medicine. They also saw over 1,000 different patients!

Here are a few pictures they took. For more details, you can CLICK HERE and read Chad Robert’s blog, he’s the Dickson campus pastor.

These individuals took off for a weekend mission trip to Wheelright, KY. While there, they helped serve some local families by doing home renovations and making improvements to the ministry center there.

I’m so proud of both campuses for getting out there and serving in this way!

I am totally aware that I get way too much credit for many of the things that happen at Cross Point. I love what I do and the reason I get to focus on what I love is because I’m surrounded by such an awesome team.

I’m a better pastor because..

• George keeps a calm spirit when things are chaotic
• Pat is developing a first class spiritual formation program for our kids
• Jenni sharpens my leadership gifts
• Jarrod leads me in worship that draws me closer to God
• Matt inspires me with creativity
• Chad does such a great job pastoring our Dickson Campus
• Brian (along with our other elders) holds me accountable

I’m blessed to serve along side these guys (and many others) here at Cross Point who help this community become more radically devoted to Christ, irrevocably committed to one another, and relentlessly dedicated to reaching the lost.