In this video I share the history and vision of our church, as well as announce where we sense God is taking us over the next couple years. It’s been such an honor to be a part of this great movement of God.

Will you join me in praying for Cross Point Nashville during this time?

The church I’ve been privileged to serve in often gets “tagged” as a church full of young hipsters. I’m not a big fan of stereotypes because what I know is that our church is made up of all kinds of people. People of different generations, different backgrounds, all on a journey to figure out what it really means to follow Jesus.

Yesterday I had the chance to meet Terry. Terry has gone to Cross Point for a couple years but I’ve never had the chance to sit down with him until yesterday. We didn’t get to visit for long but I loved this soft spoken guy from the moment I met him.

His father died when he was a child. His mother was verbally and physically abusive. He drowned his pain with alcohol abuse for decades. And although he’s been sober for 16 years his bitterness and anger toward his deceased mother continued to rage.

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 costs a lot to forgive. But to not forgive will eventually cost you your heart.

A couple months ago at Cross Point we challenged our community to leave behind their anger and bitterness and Terry responded to this Gospel message by finally letting go of  the right to get even with his mother who had hurt him in so many ways. After some 50 years he finally set his burden down and experienced the freedom that comes along with forgiveness.

Terry told me that everyday since he hears God telling him…”I always have and I always will love you.”

That’s a good word for all of us today, don’t you think?

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.

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 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?

That makes sense to me.

However, the second most expressed emotion in conversation caught me a bit by surprise. It was regret.

I wish I had saved that money instead of buying that car.

I wish I had asked her out.

I wish I hadn’t asked her out.

I wish I had applied for that job.

I wish I had taken that risk.

Most of the regret I’ve accumulated in my life is directly connected to these three words: LACK OF FAITH.

With this in mind we’ve launched a new series at Cross Point entitled, “More.”

Here’s the amazing series opener. Hats off to Stephen and Matt and the tons of volunteers who helped us out on this one (I’m amazed at the number of Cross Point volunteers you can get to show up downtown at 3 am).

If you’re not in the area you can hang out with us during this series online.

Oh, I almost forgot. I told you the inspiration behind yesterday’s message was my friend, Pastor Steven Furtick’s book “Sun Stand Still.” We sold out of copies yesterday and we’ll get more, but if you don’t want to wait you can pick up a copy HERE

Let’s make 2011 a year we start chipping away at that mountain of regret.

MORE: Series Launch Promo from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

I could never describe in words what happened but these pictures from Brittany capture the heart behind the day.

So proud to be a part of such a gracious church. I love you with all of my heart Cross Point. Your generosity inspires me to be a better man.

Special thanks to Soles4Souls for partnering with us to distribute these shoes.

Few things make me as excited as watching people take that step. We’ve always said we would never judge success at CP by how many people we lined up in rows, but by how many people we could circle up in homes knowing this is the environment for sustained life change.

Thanks to each one of you who took that step to get in a group and a HUGE thank you to those of you who stepped up to lead a group!

If you’re interested in keeping up with the Community Group ministry here at Cross Point then follow their new blog. It’s called Continue The Conversation. It’s full of great information as well as training for leaders. You can also follow them on twitter HERE.

NASHVILLE FLOOD: Volunteer Highlight from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

I might be even more proud of our Cross Point volunteers this week than last week. Last week we were running on pure adrenaline. This week the people serving are doing so out of pure commitment.

While a lot of the “sexy” clean up is over there is still so much work needed to be done. The hurting people of Nashville need our help.

Here are two immediate serving opportunities if you’re interested.

You can meet this morning at the Cross Point Nashville campus at 9am, or really anytime in the morning, and we’ll send you out with a team.

Then on Saturday we’re partnering with Way FM to impact our city. If you’re interested in helping with flood relief just meet us at the Cross Point Bellevue campus at 9 AM. Last week we had 1,600 volunteers come out and this weekend I’m again praying for 2000!

I continue to be blown away with the unique opportunities we believe God is giving us to make a difference here in Nashville. Thanks for your relentless help.

If you know of anyone who still needs assistance have them email us at help@crosspoint.tv.