WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson | Tag Archive | pat rowland
Tag Archive - pat rowland

Restoring God’s Wonder

December 1, 2009 in Cross Point Church, Family, God with 32 Comments

CP_Rhythm_web

There’s a question that’s been consuming me lately. I’m going to share it with you in hopes that you’ll take a minute to contemplate this one. Are you ready? Here it is.

Are you living a rhythm of life that restores God’s wonder in you?

Here’s what makes this question so difficult, it’s a yes or no answer.

Most of you know I love Christmas. It’s hands down my favorite time of year.  But regrettably it’s a complex season to navigate. There’s shopping..baking….office parties…family gatherings…therapist appointments (just kidding, kind of).

But I don’t believe this Christmas has to be a rushed, frenzied stressed out time of the year for you. What if we seek an alternative to the insanity our society calls the Christmas season?  Possible? I think so.

This week at Cross Point we’re going to start a new teaching series entitled Rhythm. The hope is that our conversations over the next few weeks will help you unwrap a rhythm of life this Christmas which restores the wonder and awe that God originally intended!

Whether you attend Cross Point or not I would love to offer all of you the  advent devotional Pat Rowland, our pastor of family ministries, put together for individuals and families to use this Christmas season. It’s a great first step to help you find your rhythm this Christmas.

CLICK HERE to download the free Advent Devotional.

Just wondering. What are you doing this Christmas season to restore God’s wonder in you?

Collidescope Kick-Off

July 28, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Leadership, Religion, Staff with 7 Comments

Tonight was the kick-off to Cross Point’s “Collidescope”. Collidescope is our ramped up, steroid-looking version of VBS.

If you have a child in Kindergarten thru Fifth grade then bring them by from 9-12 Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. If you haven’t registered, it’s not to late. You can register your child in The Garage at our Nashville campus. For more information or to register, contact Wendy Pickering at wendy@crosspoint.tv.

I’m very proud of Pat Rowland, our pastor of family ministries, and his entire team for putting this first class event together. Can’t wait to see the campus crawling with kids for the next few days.

Here are a few pics from tonight’s kick-off event!

Guest Blogger- Pat Rowland

April 11, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Leadership, Staff with 29 Comments

Living the Dream

I’m excited to be a guest blogger here at Without Wax. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Pat Rowland, Family Ministries Pastor at Cross Point.

My greatest passion (aside from my relationship with Jesus) is family. I’ve always wanted to be a Dad-I couldn’t wait to have kids. When Mandy and I were first married I couldn’t wait until we brought home our first child. For some reason I always thought it would be a boy… however, God has blessed me with 3 incredible daughters. I love my family more than anything which drives me to be so gung ho about seeing healthy families developing healthy children that impact communities and culture.

I believe it is vital for churches and church leaders to highly value the development of family ministry. In 11 years of pastoral and student ministry, I’ve seen my fair share of hurting kids, marriages, and adults. No one likes to see a child hurt; we cringe at the news reports of a 2 year old girl being beaten to death with a video game controller. No one likes to hear that their friends are separating after 15 years of marriage or that their teenage daughter is cutting. Typically, our response is to develop programs, throw money at the problem, or pray for them. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all about prayer-I have 3 daughters with one on the brink of adolescence!

Discipleship and spiritual development doesn’t happen in a classroom, program, or book study; it happens in the context of real life. Jesus’ invitation to his disciples was “Come and See.” In John 1, two of John the Baptist’s disciples asked Jesus, “Where are you staying?” What they wanted to know is “Who are you? What is your life like, because there is something about you that intrigues me?” I love Jesus’ response, “Come and you will see.” He was saying, “Look at my life, spend time in my home, watch how I live every moment and you will see who I am.”

If we are going to see deep life change in our children’s lives, then we have to develop a “come and see” discipling ministry. We have to train and equip parents to understand the influence they have in their kids’ lives. We have to give parents the tools to teach their kids the foundational and life-changing principles of scripture that are being taught at church. We have to have spiritually mature adults being another voice in the kids’ lives that is saying the same things their parents are teaching them. We have to continue to cast vision to board members, leaders, volunteers, and parents about the importance of life change in the context of family ministry.

I’m so thankful God has called me to live my dream as a husband, dad, and Pastor of Family Ministries, and I’ll give everything I’ve got for this calling!

Headed Up Mt. Leconte

April 10, 2008 in Friends, God, My Family with 3 Comments

Mt. Leconte

This will be one of my last posts for a couple of days. I’m in Townsend, TN, just outside the Smoky Mountain National Park. Brandi and I will be leaving early in the morning with another couple from our church to begin our hiking/camping trip up Mt. Leconte ,one of the highest mountains in the park at 6,594 ft.

Tomorrow and Friday will feature our first “guest” bloggers here at “Without Wax”. Tomorrow, Jenni Catron will be blogging on women and leadership. Jenni is the executive director here at Cross Point. I have the joy of leading with Jenni on a daily basis.

On Friday, Pat Rowland, our Family Ministries Pastor here at Cross Point will be dropping in. Pat has an unbelievable vision to partner with parents to engage kids and students in innovative and creative spiritual transformation.

I’ll hopefully be back on Saturday with some pics from the top of the mountain!

My Favorite Post of the Week

January 31, 2008 in Cross Point Church, Staff with 3 Comments

I’m reading a book entitled unChristian, and it’s blowing me away. It’s primarily about how 16-29 year olds perceive Christianity. In their research they have discovered that while only 23% of the 61+ age group considers themselves to be outside of Christianity, over 40% of the 16-29 year old age group considers themselves to be outside of Christianity. My heart sunk when I read that. We are quickly losing an entire generation.  

With that in mind you have got to read this great post from Pat Rowland, our new family ministries director, here at Cross Point.  It’s the best post I have read all week! I am so fired up about the future of our next gen ministries. If you’re a children’s director, student pastor or a parent you need to read it (click here now).