Leadership | WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson
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When You Were a Kid…

September 3, 2008 in God, Leadership, My Family, Religion, Videos with 95 Comments

I thought this video was hilarious, until I realized this little dude will probably be taking my job in a year or two. I mean wow, I’m just trying to keep my two year old from picking his nose in public and hitting his older brothers in the private place.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zALqMWimBbM&hl=en&fs=1]

It’s hump-day and a perfect day for an all-skate question.

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a politician. I wrote a paper in first grade about how I wanted to be the president of the United States. I never really veered off that path. I did an internship all the way through high school at the Tennessee State Capitol. Even through most of college I thought politics was what I wanted to do with my life.

Then in my senior year I started to feel the tug toward ministry.

So that’s me, how about you?

Behind The Video

August 30, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Religion, Videos with 15 Comments

I thought I would give you a little sneak peek into what goes on behind the scenes in making one of our videos. I love my job and the people I get to work with everyday. What a blessing!

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/1629020]

If You Were President…

August 29, 2008 in Church Leadership, Religion with 79 Comments

I’ve been watching some of the Democratic National Convention this week. There have been a lot of promises made, as there always are at political conventions. I thought we could hold a Without Wax convention today and here is your platform….

What is the first thing you would change as president?

What Life?

August 28, 2008 in Church Leadership, Cross Point Church, Family, Leadership, Relationships, Religion with 41 Comments

Author Lois Cheney tells a story about a man who clung to the railing of his life. It goes like this:

“The man saw people love each other, and he saw that all love made strenuous demands on the lovers. He saw love requires sacrifice and self-denial. He saw love produce arguments and anguish, and he decided that it cost too much. He decided not to diminish life with love.

He saw people strive for distant goals. He saw men and women pursue high, high ideals, and he saw that striving was frequently mixed with disappointment…And he decided that it cost too much. He decided not to soil his life with striving.

He saw people serving others. He saw men give money to the poor and helpless, and he saw the more they served, the faster the need grew. He saw some ungrateful receivers turn on their serving friends. And he decided not to soil his life with serving.

And when he died, he walked up to God and presented him with his life. Undiminished, unmarred, and unsoiled, his life was clean from the filth of the world, and he presented it proudly, saying, “This is my life.” And the great God said, “What life?”

I’ve had a string of difficult days. Late nights where I’ve been haunted by decisions. Long days trying to figure out solutions. Difficult conversations I wanted to run from. Personal reflections that were, at times, very painful.

I don’t mention this for sympathy’s sake. The reality is this is life. I choose this. Why? I want to love, strive, sacrifice, and serve. Because I want to live life. I want to live life to the FULL.

Are you sometimes afraid of “really living”? Are you ever afraid you might hear those words, “What life”?

This Was A Huge Weekend!

August 25, 2008 in Church Planting, Cross Point Church, Leadership, Missions, Multi Campus, Preaching, Religion, Vision with 42 Comments

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

Unrealistic Expectations

August 21, 2008 in Family, God, Leadership, My Family, Relationships, Religion with 41 Comments

I’ve got to be honest and say, I’ve had a hard time watching the Olympics. It’s painful for me. I can’t stand the pressure these athletes are under. I fear so many of them are under unrealistic expectations. While I’ve heard several similar stories, I just read THIS ARTICLE which illustrates my point. The article states…

Kelly Sotherton’s bronze medal celebrations proved short-lived when she was reduced to tears by her coach. Minutes after claiming Britain’s first athletics medal of the Games, Sotherton, 27, had to endure a dressing down from Charles van Commenee, UK Athletics’ technical director for the heptathlon.

He believed that Sotherton should have won the silver medal behind Carolina Kluft, the Swede who succeeded Britain’s Denise Lewis as the Olympic champion.

Give me a break! She just won a bronze medal in the world Olympics. She’s a champion and we should celebrate with her.

Maybe it bothers me so much because I know this isn’t just a problem with athletes. Maybe it bothers me because I know how destructive this can be in every day life.

Unrealistic expectations can destroy a marriage.

Unrealistic expectations can suck the joy out of your job.

Unrealistic expectations can sever your relationship with your kids.

Unrealistic expectations can burn out your volunteers.

So, where in your life are unrealistic expectations eroding at relational health? Who do you put unrealistic expectations on? Who has unrealistic expectations for you?

Should You Say “Goodbye” To Guilt?

August 20, 2008 in God, Leadership, Religion with 65 Comments

I read THIS article the other night and it got me thinking about guilt. Here’s part of it…

We feel guilty if we don’t give money to the Church or spend the right amount of time in prayer. Unfortunately, many believers are driven to do these things—pray, tithe, attend church, remain sexually pure—by a rabid sense of duty.

This ought not to be. While these things are good things and goals to be sought after, and while guilt should be a natural reaction to sin from a regenerate heart, the Christian faith should never be driven by a sense of duty, guilt or entitlement. Instead, we should be driven to lives of holiness by passion—passion for God, passion for the lost, passion for the Gospel, passion for each other.

I was wondering what role you think guilt plays in your life. Is there such a thing as good guilt?

Someone told me in college there is a big difference between conviction and condemnation. I agree, but often still have a hard time telling the difference between the two in my own life.

What about you?

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