Time Magazine reports…

Target cast Ryan in its latest children’s clothing ad, and Nordstrom featured him in a campaign several months ago. Notably, Target did not publicize his inclusion; there were no self-congratulatory press releases or pats on the back, signaling that Ryan’s presence in the catalog was nothing out of the ordinary.

The move was praised on the blog Noah’s Dad, which is penned by a father of a special-needs child. He deemed the ad an inspiration to counter false stereotypes and look at people with fresh eyes, and lauded Target for not making a big deal out of Ryan’s casting.

Down syndrome stems from a genetic abnormality in which an extra copy of the 21st chromosome is produced. The condition affects more than 400,000 people in the U.S. and can be marked by cognitive delays, intellectual disabilities and increased risk of other medical conditions. Many of those afflicted with Down complete school and hold jobs, often with the help and support of family and friends.

Some of my favorite people to interact with in our lobby on Sunday mornings are children and adults with Down Syndrome. So glad they’re a part of our Cross Point family. And equally glad that pop culture is seemingly “recognizing” and “including” them in such advertisements.

*I know many of you who read the blog live around the world, therefore you obviously don’t attend Cross Point. However, you’re often asking how you can pray for me or the church, so I like to keep you in the loop of what’s going on around this amazing place.

Below is a letter I sent out to our church a few days ago just letting them know about some of the exciting things taking place here. If you get a minute, we would really appreciate your prayers as we get ready to follow Christ into 2012. It’s going to be an exciting year!!

Dear Cross Point Family,

Merry Christmas!

2011 has been an exciting year for Cross Point. I continue to be amazed at how God has entrusted us with the opportunity to reach others with the hope of Christ.

Here are some of the things that I’m the most proud of this year:

• Over 500 people have given their lives to Christ and over 215 have been baptized at one of our campuses. Life change is the heart of everything we do and seeing people take that step of faith is one of my greatest joys.
• We launched our Downtown Campus specifically geared toward college students. Seeing hundreds of young adults engage in worship and serving at this campus encourages me that this generation has hearts that are passionate for God.
• The launch of our Internet campus has been a huge opportunity to take what we do here in the Nashville area and worship with others literally around the world who may not otherwise have a place of worship. The community that has formed and the connections being made are simply beautiful.
• We are on track to give over $484,000 to missions this year. Those dollars have gone to serve the under-resourced in our local communities, regionally in Wheelwright, KY and around the world in the Dominican Republic, Honduras, India, Kenya, and most recently Haiti. Over 2500 volunteers have served in our missions efforts this year. I’m continually amazed by your hearts to serve others!

As we close this year, I look forward with great anticipation to 2012. I believe God still has even more things to do through this community of faith we call Cross Point. In the coming year, we have plans to:

• Launch a Hillsboro Village Campus
• Launch our Franklin Campus
• Relocate our Nashville Campus to accommodate growth
• Relocate our North Campus to be more centrally located in the Hendersonville area
• Add new service times at our Bellevue and Dickson campuses to accommodate growth needs
• Send groups on 14 global and regional mission trips including our first-ever trip to Haiti and increase our financial giving to missions to 14% of what we receive

All of these things are being done to allow for us to continue to accomplish our vision to be a church that is “radically devoted to Christ, irrevocably committed to one another and relentlessly dedicated to reaching the lost.”

As you consider making a year-end gift, would you consider partnering with Cross Point to help us further this vision that we are so very passionate about? I truly believe the church is the hope of the world and as a community of believers, together we have already experienced what God can do through a group of willing individuals.

Each of our campuses will direct their Christmas Offering in the following ways:

The Nashville Campus will be funding the launch of our Franklin Campus scheduled to open in April 2012.

The Bellevue Campus will be directing their offering to the Together We Will initiative to pay down remaining construction expenses from the campus launch.

The Dickson Campus will be several campus upgrades including a remodel of our kids ministry area and improved meeting space for our students.

The North Campus offering will be funding their relocation in early January.

And to be consistent with all of our offerings, 13% of our Christmas Offering will go towards missions: specifically purchasing property to launch The Dream Project in India. The Dream Project will be a two-story home in Kolkata that will house women who have been abused and abandoned by their husbands. It will also house at-risk and orphaned children. The home will support up to 50 women and 100 children at a time. The purpose of the home is discipleship and whole-life development. The women will be taught job and life skills. The children will go to a nearby school and live at the home with “house parents.” We are so excited about the life-change we believe will take place as a result of The Dream Project!

We’ll be receiving the Christmas Offering at all of our Christmas services. Please note that all gifts must be post-marked by December 31, 2011 to be reflected on your 2011 giving statement. Also, please note in the memo line of your check which campus you attend.

Thank you so much for believing in, supporting and serving the ministry of Cross Point. Together we create a place where “everyone is welcome, nobody is perfect, but anything is possible!”

I love being your pastor!

Pete Wilson

I’ve been praying for weeks now that you would have courage, boldness, and creativity as you invite your unchurched friends and family members. Please, don’t come alone. This service provides you a unique opportunity to invite someone to hear about the hope that only Jesus can provide.

If you’re out of town you and your family can join us on our online campus for a special Christmas Eve celebration at 5:00 PM on December 23rd right HERE.

Now some of you might say, “I don’t even really like football.” No worries. That’s not a problem at all because I bet you know somebody who does and would be extremely interested in hearing Matt’s story. This is a great opportunity  for you to invite a friend, neighbor, or co-worker who doesn’t normally attend church to come with you.

Bonus: You’ll get to see me cross a major item off my bucket list. Honestly, I never thought I would get a shot at this one… but it SO happened.

Have a great Thanksgiving and we’ll see you Sunday.

Renew.

Refresh.

Three things my heart could use.

I’m so excited that this Tuesday, September 27th is our next Worship Night at Cross Point.  It starts at 7:00 PM at our Nashville campus, but get there early for a seat (doors open at 6:30 PM).

I’m so looking forward to an incredible night with you guys. There’s something special about getting together with no other agenda then celebrating God for being God.  Hope to see you there!

Here’s a little taste of our last one.

WORSHIP // The Stand from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

This past Saturday over 700 volunteers showed up for Serving Saturday, a regular opportunity we offer as a way to get out into the community of Nashville and serve the surrounding ministries, schools, churches and organizations that need some TLC. 700 volunteers!  On a Saturday morning in the dog days of  Nashville summer heat! I’m not so much surprised because that is what makes Cross Point, Cross Point.  I am just so incredibly grateful for the way God is moving in the hearts of the people around here and the relationships we’re building with folks in our community who might not expect an outpouring of love. It’s what breathes life into the the words of Jesus:

“Love your neighbor as yourself. There is no greater commandment..” Mark 12:31

Every person counts, every pair of hands, young or old, weak or strong; every spirit, every heart in every condition, every path.  Together we make a difference.

Thanks to Ryan and the entire team for pulling off such an incredible day. The community of Nashville is uniting like never before through God’s willing and faithful servants. For more information on any of the ministries we partnered with and served, or to see how you can join with us, visit here. To check out  more amazing photos from the day go here.

I can’t tell you how excited I am about our next series at Cross Point. Whatever you do don’t come alone!  You can CLICK HERE if you want to send someone an Evite. You can also join us HERE for our online campus if you’re out of town.

As I told you, in Week One we’ll be talking with Todd Burpo and his son, Colton. Todd wrote the widely talked about book Heaven Is For Real . The book has been number one on the New York Times Best Seller List for 20 weeks now! Here’s a quick preview of the interview.

Burpo Interview // Trailer from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

I want to say thanks to Pete for letting me hang out on WithoutWax.tv today. I feel like the playing field is a little more even here because online – I have amazing hair.  I also smell really good, but you’re just gonna have to trust me on that one.

One of my passions as Ministries Pastor at Cross Point is the need to raise up and empower leaders. We are a fast growing, multi-site church that is in constant need of more leaders. Our staff to attender ratio right now is right at 1/180. The goal for most churches is to be somewhere around 1/100. That ratio causes us to not only get creative with how we do ministry, but it also forces us to empower staff and volunteer leaders to help lead the day-to-day ministry.

If you look at the Scriptures, the idea of raising up leaders is all throughout the Bible. One of my favorite passages is in Exodus 18, where Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, told Moses that he had to raise up leaders to help him or he was going to wear himself and everyone around him out. He told Moses to only do what only he could do – listen to God and teach His ways to the people – and everything else could be handled by other capable men. I also love that Moses did everything that Jethro said and then sent him on his way. Even Moses could only take his in-laws for so long.

I think there are 3 important things to remember as you begin to raise up leaders:

1. Give responsibilities and not just tasks

The easiest thing to do in a fast moving organization is to keep people busy doing tasks. In the church world, Sunday comes almost every 7 days (I’m always confused about leap years. Where does that day go?). There’s always something that needs to get done. I think that you avoid burnout with your leaders if you give them ownership. Let your younger leaders make some of the key decisions in their ministry or department. If you feel like you are the only one who can make the decisions, then odds are, you hired the wrong people. But that’s another post for another blog. People will rally around a decision that they helped make.

2. Allow them to fail

This is a tough one. Nobody likes to fail, but if no one is allowed to fail occasionally, nothing great will ever happen. I believe that your reaction to their failures will determine the level of their successes. If your leaders are always forced to play it safe because of the fear of failure, world-changing ideas will never happen. The disciples certainly did not play it safe. How many times did Jesus have to pull Peter up after a screw-up? The same Peter that led 3000 people to Christ on the first day of the Church. Leaders need the space to take chances and occasionally fail spectacularly.

3. Always praise publically and criticize privately

I think it’s critical to spend more time catching people doing good than looking for their mistakes. And when that happens, celebrate it big. In front of lot’s of people. When is the last time that you hated it when your boss told you “good job” in front of someone else? I like to start my meetings with staff and volunteers by finding out how they are doing personally. Not just with their role, but how are they doing spiritually? How is their family? If we can’t care for our staff and volunteers, then how are we going to care for the people in our churches? If you always have their back publically, then they will most likely have yours.

What are some ways that you empower leaders?

What things would be helpful to get from the leaders above you?

6:00 pm (CST) Sunday night.

My favorite part is the live Q & A we do after the message. My friend, Jon Acuff, will be joining me this Sunday night. Who knows what might happen with that guy around.  You won’t want to miss it.

Here’s a few behind the scenes pics…