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Paralyzed

January 6, 2009 in Cross Point Church, Leadership, Preaching, Religion, Videos with 96 Comments

I’m so excited about the new series we’re launching this Sunday at Cross Point Nashville entitled “Paralyzed”.

I have a feeling many of us are entering into this new year with a sense of fear.

Fear of failure.
Fear of unknown.
Fear of financial crisis.

I would love for you to complete this sentence. Going into 2009 my greatest fear is ___________________.

If you’re in Nashville I hope you’ll join us for the next six weeks as we explore how we can overcome many of the fears that are holding us back from becoming the people God has created us to become. If you’re not in the area than you’re more than welcome to join us online.

You can now subscribe to our audio or video podcast RIGHT HERE.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/2731967]

So what’s your biggest fear?

Do You Need Training Wheels?

January 5, 2009 in Cross Point Church, Family, Leadership, My Family, Parenting, Religion with 42 Comments

Gage Wilson riding bike.

The weather here in Nashville has been amazing. Saturday it was so nice we took the boys to the park to ride their bikes. Jett’s been riding for a while and Brewer rides a big wheel (my personal favorite), but Gage is just staring to ride his bike using training wheels. While he can ride for a second without them the reality is he’s not very consistent. He swerves all over, starts to wobble, and eventually will crash without them.

I love the concept of training wheels. While the training wheels certainly don’t keep him from falling, they do serve as a sort of guide to hold him up. They give him a certain confidence of balance he wouldn’t have without them.

The spiritual comparison of for me is community. I think in many ways God provides us with community to serve as training wheels. The only difference is I don’t think we’re to ever outgrow community.

Yesterday at Cross Point we talked a little about the following scripture.

Hebrews 10:23-24 “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. (24) And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.”

In this new year many of us have made resolutions to live unswervingly. In other words you made a resolution to be more consistent, non-wavering in some area of your life. It might have to do with your relationship with God (pray more), or your physical health (lose weight), or maybe even your marriage (communicate better), but most of us have some area in our life we would like to be more consistent.

This verse reminds us there is a direct connection between living unswervingly and doing life in community. We need community to help us keep our balance and consistency.

We need community that spurs us to close the gap between who we are today and who God has called us to be.

Sure we can go without it for a while. But eventually, I believe we’ll start to swerve, wobble, and crash without it.

How important do you think community is to living the life God has designed for you? Do you think you can live unswervingly without it?

Why Do You Go To THAT Church?

January 2, 2009 in Leadership, Religion with 112 Comments

Christ Church Stellarton

I was off last Sunday and spent some great time with my family.

Early Sunday morning I found myself  driving around with my son, Jett, and we passed several churches getting ready to start services and a few letting out.

I’m a people watcher so I really enjoyed watching people interact in the church parking lots.

We passed big churches, little churches, formal churches, casual churches, contemporary churches and plenty of traditional churches. I was honestly amazed at all the different choices people have in churches.

The question I kept asking myself all morning was “why”. Why do they go to THAT church or THAT church?

Do they have a friend at that church? Do they love the pastor? Is it the church they grew up in and they can’t imagine going anywhere else? Are they sold out to the vision? Is it the children’s programs, the worship, or maybe the student pastor? Maybe they’re passionate about the outreach happening there?

So will you help me out. I’m curious, why do you attend or even serve on staff at your church?

The Magnificat

December 23, 2008 in God, Holidays, Religion with 22 Comments

We wrapped up our Christmas series by looking at Luke 1:46-55. This is often referred to as the Magnificat which in Latin simply means “to magnify”.

Luke 1:46-48
46 And Mary said:  “My soul glorifies the Lord  47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48 for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed,”

I don’t know what your favorite Christmas carol is, but I think we could build a case that Mary’s song was not only the first, but the best. She starts with just pure worship; “my soul glorifies and my spirit rejoices”.

What I think is so powerful about this declaration of worship is her current circumstances. She’s a poor, peasant, Jewish girl living under Roman oppression. She’s been in the midst of a scandalous pregnancy which has led to deep human rejection. I think it’s fair to say her life is not turning out the way she thought.

I know this is a difficult time of the year for some of you. Maybe Christmas is a reminder that your marriage is not where you want it to be. Maybe Christmas is a reminder your financial situation is tanking or has tanked. Maybe it’s a reminder of a loved one you’ve lost. I know there is a great deal of pain out there. I realize we all need healing.

My questions for you is what are you magnifying?  Your problems or your God? Mary chose to magnify a God who “has been mindful” of her. A God who can and will redeem the worst of situations.

I’m not suggesting we should pretend everything is okay or great. I’m not asking you to ignore the fact life may not be working out they way you had hoped. But I want to give you the opportunity today to make the same declaration Mary made some 2,000 years ago. To say God we rejoice, not because are lives are worry free or problem free or stress free, but because you have been mindful of us.  We choose to magnify you!

Would You?

December 22, 2008 in God, Leadership, Religion with 40 Comments

I was reading Acts 4:1-4 this morning during my time with God.

1The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.

Sometimes I wonder if I would so willingly preach if….

-they threw me in jail instead of applauding.

-if they flogged me instead of buying my cd’s.

-if they spat in my face instead of waiting in line to shake my hand afterward.

What about you?

Ever wonder if you would still lead worship, greet, teach the kids class, pray, host a small group, or serve on church staff if it weren’t so encouraged, accepted, and celebrated?

Just A Few Things

December 21, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Family, Holidays, Leadership, Religion, Videos with 21 Comments

I hope you guys are having a great weekend. We got the chance yesterday to head north to Kentucky for the day to celebrate Christmas with Brandi’s dad’s side of the family. The boys had a great time watching their great-grandfather open up a few of his favorite Christmas gifts, which included several boxes of Oreos.

If you’re in the Nashville/Dickson area I want to make sure you know about our Christmas Eve services this year at Cross Point. I’m really proud of our team and how hard they’ve worked to create such a special service.

I try to be careful not to over hype things, but I feel completely confident in saying you will not want to miss this. Join us for one of our five services at our two campuses and whatever you do don’t come alone. Invite a neighbor, co-worker, or family member to come with you.

candlelight-service-slide

And as promised, here is part II of the Virtual Christmas Open House. Enjoy…

[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/2588076/]

Self-Embedding Latest Issue for Teens

December 18, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Leadership, Religion with 24 Comments

I read a very disturbing article in Time magazine yesterday. The article stated…

At a recent medical conference in Chicago, a team of radiologists from Nationwide Children’s Hospital presented intriguing X-ray evidence of a psychological phenomenon — what they believed was a new form of self-injury among teens and adolescents. Eleven out of 505 patients whom the team had treated in more than a decade had inserted objects — from chunks of crayons to unfolded paper clips — under their skin in a behavior the Nationwide team labeled “self-embedding.”

This article just reminded me there are millions of teenagers and young adults around the country that are experiencing tremendous emotional pain that causes them to act out in unhealthy ways. Whether it’s cutting, embedding, or drug and alcohol abuse they are often looking for escape and or attention.

I think one of the most difficult areas of ministry in the church is student ministry. I know there are thousands of student pastors out there that have a deep love for reaching out to hurting teenagers.

Today, I just wanted to say “thanks” for all you do. I was in student ministry for three years and know it can be a thankless, lonely, and challenging ministry. If you’re in a church that has a student pastor, will you take a few minutes today to send him a note encouraging him?  Do you know some of the leaders in your student ministry? Thank them, too.

We’re really blessed here at Cross Point to have an incredible student pastor in George Stull who oversees the student ministries as well as Pat Rowland who oversees our entire family ministries department. I pray for them often knowing the issues they’re dealing with in our teenagers are constantly evolving. I know it takes a lot to stay focused on how to best reach out to them.

To all of you working in student ministries: Keep up the great work out there! You’re making a difference in the next generation! God knows they need you.

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