LIFE3 - Video Roll-In

Take a look at what's in store...

Life3

LIFE - To The Power of Three

Join us this Sunday morning at the Annex as we begin a new series for LIFE!  The first week we'll begin to unravel the mysteries of the Trinity.  (How can God be three-in-one?!?).  We'll also see that in God's image, we too, are three-in-one: spirit, soul & body.  

Life is INTUITIVE.  Life is INTELLIGENT.  LIFE is INSTINCTIVE.  

Find out why we do the things we do, and don't do the things we want to.  LIFE to the POWER of THREE.  All this month at Crossroads!

"Don't 'Taze' Me, Bro!"

One year ago this month, I couldn't get out of my system the fact that I had to step out of one way of life and into another.  I was working free-lance on a project for a company.  The work was something I'd done pretty much uninterrupted for the 6000 days preceding.  

But that one day in May - the day a very simple project was due - I was struggling...big time. Actually struggling to be able to complete the project.  It was as if all the grace had lifted, and with it all my skill and ability in that particular area.  The need to move on was confirmed by the fact that my project was delivered several hours after deadline.  And in the previous 18 years, I never failed to meet a deadline.  Not once.  

Sometimes God stops us right in our tracks and arrests us.   It's as if we're out on a big stretch of road and God pulls up fast behind us - like an all-seeing, all-knowing, all-powerful State Trooper of the cosmos - and lights us up.  We pull over quickly and dutifully.  He exits His celestial patrol car, eases up to the drivers side window and says, "License, registration and everything else you have, please".  

But if you're like me, you may tend towards resisting arrest just a bit.  Maybe need a little convincing.  Can I just go ahead and tell you, the harder you struggle, the more it hurts.  Don't scream and holler.  Don't kick the back window out of the cruiser.  Just go quietly.  It'll be much better that way.  

I stopped fighting some time ago.  Every day I see God's plan and purpose in that traffic stop unfold a little bit more.  Every day things become a little clearer and make a little more sense.  

Let's add patience to our faithfulness!  I am convinced that if we only knew how much the Father loved us and how glorious our future looked, we might not kick so hard at the present.     

Endurance

Me and Leslie and the kids drove down to Dothan to pick up a few things tonight.  As we passed John D. Odom Road on 231, we saw the Cornerstone parking lot off to the right.  It had a lot of cars in it reflecting the people gathered together inside for Wednesday night Bible study. While our time there was truly wonderful, I was so overjoyed that we don't have to make that 80 mile round-trip drive 5 times a week!  We are so very grateful to be doing ministry in Enterprise.  

We hung out in Dothan for a while, finishing the night with pancakes and waffles at IHOP.  As we got in the car Caitlin and I reminisced about the many nights we would finish service and get something to eat, only to be home at 10:30 - with the kids still needing to get up for school the next morning.  I was exhausted just thinking about what that schedule was like!  

But Leslie made a great point:  We did it for 6-1/2 years, by the grace of God, with His supply of strength.  And it built endurance into our lives.  Were it not for every bit of that training, we couldn't possibly think of doing what we are doing today.  As the Apostle Paul writes to Timothy, a young pastor, "(Be) strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus...endure hardship, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ".  

Endurance is the mark of a good soldier.  But we don't possess on our own the strength to endure.  That strength is found in Christ. Whatever hardship you may be facing, remember that we're always training!  So endure by the grace of God that is found in Christ Jesus and SOLDIER ON!   

You Guys Rock!

Another awesome weekend at Crossroads was topped off by our first-ever church picnic.  60 people in the sanctuary and 55 people at Johnny Henderson park!  That's just amazing!  It was so great to see everyone out there.  

It was a lot of fun leading worship on Sunday, too.  I'm pretty sure no one else in town opened their service with a Steppenwolf tune (in fact, I'd be surprised if anyone in America opened their service with a Steppenwolf tune), but hey...we didn't become a Christ-followers so we could sleep through life, right?  

No, we're wide awake, because we've been given new life, infused with tremendous power! We begin a new series this month called Life3 (Life to the power of three).  And we're going to share about that world-changing power that God has placed in our hearts and in our hands: Faith, Hope, and Love!  

It's going to be an important series as we countdown the weeks leading to our August 10th launch at the College Cinema, so don't miss a week.  Life3 the first four Sundays in June, and on June 29th...a special guest!  

Have a great week!  

Memorial Day - God Bless Our Troops

Looking For Adventure?

I think many people have a misconception about the Christian life, because they have seen it modeled by people who never realized what they were born to do.  The model we see most often is the model of "what we're not supposed to do", instead of the model of "what we were born to be".  

Think back when you were a kid, watching those older than you. Did you look at the people in the pews around you, at the leaders ahead of you and say, "Yeah, man, I want to be just like that"?  Of did you look around you and say, "Why would anyone want to be like that"?  

Life as a Christ-follower should be a life of GREAT ADVENTURE.  But it doesn't become an adventure until we share it with someone.  If we just keep it to ourselves, it's not an adventure, it's just a story.  That's the appeal when you see, hear and feel the ground-pounding excitement 'caused by a pack of motorcycles blasting by. Riding alone is great, but nothing beats the power of running in a pack!  

Get YOUR motor running.  Head out on the highway.  And get to Crossroads this Sunday for the final segment of our continuing series Road Trip.  This week: BORN TO BE WILD!

He Was So Young (sniff)...

As I said at our Leader's Meeting last night, "I made a mistake".  It wasn't my first.  It's a sure bet it won't be my last.  But at least I'm not afraid to admit it.  I'm usually the first.  If I haven't admitted a mistake, it means one of two things.  Either I don't know I made a mistake, or I don't think I made a mistake.  

Starting a Bible Study before we launched at the College Cinema was a mistake. I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience it may have caused.  We must focus ALL of our effort and energy toward our launch on 10 August, and I jumped the gun.  

Who could blame me?  The Word of God is cool.  Who wouldn't want to study it all the time?  Problem is, right now, that's somewhat less than a dozen people.  Let's focus on the weekend, building up the launch team, and get this thing up into orbit and THEN, once we have 125 or more regular attenders, we'll have Bible Study, we'll start Small Groups, we'll be about the business of mid-week ministry.  Okay?  

"Mea culpa.  Mea maxima culpa".  In any language, "my bad".  Now dry your eyes, blow your nose, forgive me, and let's move on.  We've got a revolution to start in this town!  

T-Minus 11 Weeks...

Wow, it's Wednesday.  How did that happen?  The older I get, the quicker it goes.  We  had a tremendous leaders meeting last night at the Annex regarding our plans to launch at the College Cinema on August 10th.  

From the beginning of Crossroads, we have been focused on "Launching Large".  That process means, you don't start with less than 100 regular attenders.  Why?  'Cause statistics show that 80% of all churches that do, fail.  And that ain't us, ya'll!  We are going to launch large and stay that way.  We have a finite amount of time on this planet to kick the biggest possible dent in hell that we can.  Let's be smart with that time, and kick a BIG dent!  

I encourage you to hook up with the vision God has planted in our hearts for this community, and help us make the push over the next 11 weeks to Launch Large at the College Cinema on Sunday morning August 10th!  Woo-hoo!

A Question of...

Hey guys!  Back from Ocala.  Another exceptional trip with great learnings from our coaching network of church planters!  

Got back to an email in basket SLAM FULL of Ask Pastor Gene questions.  Some of these questions are real important.  I am answering and will post them tomorrow.  As I wrote earlier tonight to a friend, there are many people with important spiritual questions that are truly weighty matters.  I am grateful they have chosen our forum.  

But Dude?  Some of you jokers really need to take up blogging (or find some other hobby).  What a crew!  You guys really made me laugh tonight.  Thanks!  

Love you ALL!  Have a great day tomorrow.  Well catch up then.

Great Service

Another slammin' Sunday!  Things just seem to get better every week.  Trust all you Backseat Drivers got something out of this Road Trip that you can take with you into your week.  I know Leslie and I did, for sure!  Control Freaks, Criticizers and Complainers.  We all do it.  Thank God that He loves us anyway!!  

How about worship this Sunday, huh?  I am continually blown away by how solid worship is at Crossroads.  This is the kind of experience that anyone can invite anyone else to at anytime and KNOW that it's going to be high quality.  What a gas!  

Speaking of gas, we're fueling up now as we're off to Ocala again for our once-monthly flogging by our church planting coach Hal Mayer. We look forward to this so much and we thank the entire Crossroads family for supporting this necessary training.  It's great stuff, and ever more important as we approach our launch at the College Cinema in August.  

For you Roadies that have to get your podcast fix, we'll get this Sundays podcast posted by noon on Tuesday.  All the Ask Pastor Gene questions from this weekend will also be posted by then.  

We'll be back Monday night.  Have a great week!

Don't miss Backseat Drivers!

Don't miss the third part of our continuing series Road Trip. This Sunday morning at Crossroads: Backseat Drivers! Take a look at the roll-in:

Backseat Driver 5-18-08

Good Way To End The Week

This is really funny.  I was just talking about this with someone yesterday.  I saw it this morning on Hal Mayer's Blog (yeah Hal, I know a good bit when I steal one!).  TGIF! Have a laugh...

Say What?

(Edited 5-16-08, To crrect speiling erors - What a moron!)  I started this Blog to help us stay connected.  Same thing with our website.  I am so encouraged by the number of people that are responding to the new Ask Pastor Gene feature on our website. You guys are asking really smart questions!  If this keeps up, Crossroads will have to hire someone much smarter than me to answer them (I wonder if Leslie is available?).  

Feedback is what this whole deal is about.  You talk, I listen and respond.  I talk, you listen and respond. We keep doing that, pretty soon we've got a conversation going on.  That's when we both have the best chance to learn something!  

I encourage you to use this Blog to mouth off.  You read something you like, say so! You read something you don't like...tell your mother.  Ha, ha!  I'm kidding.  Say so! Shout it out and let me and everyone else in this electronic community know what's going on between your ears!  

Everyone has something important to say.  Let 'er rip!

The Art of War

Leslie and I had occasion last Winter to visit a friends commencement exercises at Troy University.  The commencement address was given by General James T. Conway, Commandant of the United States Marine Corps.  

Now, before I lose all my faithful United States Army readers thinking this post is an homage to jarheads, let me reassure you, this is not about the Marines. This is about the battles that we all face.  

General Conway - quoting the Marine leadership manual - said, "Even a good battle plan rarely survives first contact with the enemy".  

Remember Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge?  "Improvise! Adapt! Overcome!"  If we want to WIN the good fight of faith, we have to be willing to accept that the only given on the battlefield, is this: THINGS WILL CHANGE!  

Be on your guard.  Expect the unexpected.  Be flexible enough to adjust the way you think about life and ministry. One of the greatest weapons the enemy uses against us, is one we give him ourselves: Personal inflexibility - the belief that we cannot change the way things are.  

Change is a constant, whether we are ready or not.  Be ready!        

New Stuff On-Line

New features just added to our website www.crossroadsenterprise.org include Ask Pastor Gene, an area where you can submit questions on-line anonymously.  I'll answer them and post them in the Q&A Section on the same page.  Check it out!  

Also we now have our Calendar on-line and accessible by clicking on the Calendar tab from any page on the website.  You can click on individual items on the calendar and get detailed information.  We will be working diligently to keep the calendar updated, so check back often to stay on top of what's going on at Crossroads.  

More features coming soon.  I encourage you to take advantage of every opportunity to stay connected!  

Don't forget Bible Study tomorrow night at 7Pm at the Annex.  See you there!

Hungry, yet?

Here's something you can carry with you to work tomorrow (in addition to your lunch).  In fact, you might want to pull it out of your lunch sack (or whatever you carry your lunch in) and think about it before you share a meal with someone at your table.  It's something Bill Hybels said in his book Just Walk Across the Room.  

When Jesus was pointing people to faith, he unapologetically told them that the life he offered was the best kind of life any human being could ever experience.  In the Gospel of Matthew, he compared it to a pearl of great price, which he said would be worth giving up everything to attain.  

"If you want life in all its fullness," he said, "if you want high-definition, surround-sound, heart-pounding action, there's only one place you're going to find it.  A life like that is a life fully yielded to the God of the universe!"  

I hope we'll renew our commitment to exhibiting this level of confidence and passion when we talk about our faith.  Is there a more important message than the one we're carrying to the world?  

Pack that challenging good news in your vintage lunch pail (right next to your olive loaf sandwich) and have a GREAT day! 

Good Start

There's an old joke about lawyers repeated in the movie Other People's Money:  What do you call 5000 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?  A good start.  

I have another good start for you. It's from Lamentations Chapter 3:21-24

Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope:

Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed

For His compassion's never fail

They are new every morning;

Great is Your faithfulness.

What great news for all of us!  Verse 25 says, "The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him..."

How about another good start: Yesterday we had our 8th service in the Annex, the largest amount of adults in the sanctuary since we started meeting, and our largest offering so far!

Rejoice in God's faithfulness and His goodness this morning.  

It's a good way to start a great week!

(DISCLAIMER: No actual lawyers were harmed in the composition, editing or posting of this Blog.)

This Is Good!

This weekend is Part Two of our continuing series Road Trip.  Let's take as many people as we can with us.

In John chapter one, Jesus begins his road trip gathering disciples.  Jesus told Philip, "Come, follow me".  Philip did.

Philip went looking for Nathanael to tell him that they had FOUND the Messiah.  That He was Jesus the son of Joseph of Nazareth.

Nathanael says, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?"

Philip said, "Come and see for yourself".

God is doing something incredible at Crossroads.  It is evident to all who have attended that "something good" can come to Enterprise, right to Suite 37 at Morgan Square Mall!

You have heard those who have come for the first time say, "This is good".

One day left this workweek to tell those you know, like Philip told Nathanael, "Come and see for yourself"!

See you Sunday!   

Don't Forget Mother's Day - Sunday May 11th

A very young 80 year-old woman walked into the small but hip new storefront church.  The friendly usher greeted her and asked her where she'd like to sit.

"The front row please", she answered.

"Uh, okay, but...you really don't want to sit there", the usher said.  "The pastor is pretty long-winded and boring".

"Do you happen to know who I am", the woman asked?

"No", said the usher.

"I'm the pastor mother", she replied indignantly.

"Do you know who I am", the usher asked?

"No", she said.

"Good", he answered.

Hey Guys:  Phone call with my Mom in Florida, live on stage this Sunday morning! Boring? Perish the thought!  BTW... I'm still looking for that usher!

Got Any Change?

I don't know about you, but I am a rut-averse person.  Zig Ziglar said, "A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out".  That chills me to the bone.  I'm too young for the grave!  Though change is hard for some people, others thrive on it.  If you've been here before, you'll notice I've changed the look of the Blog.  I'll probably do it again in another 60-days.  Why?  Because I dig constant change?  No.  I just really un-dig ruts.  

You know, there's a difference between a change in appearance, and a change in the nature of something. A change in appearance says, "I've changed the look of my Blog".  A change in nature says, "This Blog will now focus on the plight of migrant farm-workers in California".  Though it would be good for a Blog to focus on such a topic.  It wouldn't be God for me.  

When God changes us, he doesn't just change our appearance.  In fact, for many, the outward appearance doesn't ever really change.  Being rut-averse, however, mine changed as I morphed from 80's rocker into 90's conservative republican business-type.  But it wasn't a permanent change.  Another 10 years, another change in appearance (the settled-down construction project manager living in South Alabama look).  Another 10 years, another change in appearance (the increasingly socially-conscious and more liberal-minded post-modern biker pastor look).  

Those changes in appearance reflected a change in perspective, not a change in nature.  

A change in nature is a one time, permanent change.  When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly it has a new nature.  It's not the same thing as it was before.  When we receive Christ we are changed from the inside-out.  And the very nature of who and what we are changes for all eternity. That's good news in times when appearance and perspective are constantly evolving.  

It can be confusing for some people when the church changes to reflect the culture of its time. But a change in appearance generally flows out of a change in perspective.  Perhaps the church is beginning to LOOK different, because we are SEEING differently.  

God's word never changes.  As we grow in wisdom and understanding though, shouldn't our perspective change, as we begin seeing differently?  Be forewarned: Looking at things from a different perspective just might change your appearance!

GO LARGE!

What a huge start to our new series for May, ROAD TRIP!  We had the largest number of adults in our service since Easter.  It was a great way to kick off a new series, and it was great to see so many people in the lobby and in the sanctuary!

As I edited the audio podcast for uploading to our website, I was really touched by how people are beginning to connect at Crossroads.  Relationships are developing between people that didn't even know each other just a few weeks ago.  People are also connecting with God.  We have had many people rededicate their lives to Christ in the weeks since we began services at the Annex.  That's what it's all about guys, connecting people to God and to each other!

I am encouraged this morning as I reflect on how quickly things have progressed for Crossroads in the 90 days since our first service at the House.  Today, just three months after we started, we see a scale model at the Annex, of what ministry will look like at Crossroads in the months and years to come.

Bill Hybels, Senior Pastor of Willow Creek - a church that numbers some 20,000 members today - related a story of a meeting he had 30 years ago with Robert Schuller.  Willow was considering the purchase of some land, and they were nervous about how much money it would cost - and whether their goals were too lofty considering the present size of their church. Schuller said to Hybels, "If you give God a thimble, He may fill it.  If you give God a glass, He may fill it.  If you give Him a five-gallon bucket, He may fill it.  I think you need to give Him a 55-gallon drum and see what He does".

God filled it.  And when they gave him an even larger container, he filled that, too.  God filled our House.  He has filled the Annex.  We gotta give him a bigger container.  That's what the College Cinema is for us now.

But there's another container that He wants to fill.  You and me.  How much of your capacity will you make available to God?  A thimbleful?  A glassful?  A bucketful?  Or a barrel-full!  God wants to pour into us wisdom, ability, and vision for His Kingdom.  And we'll be able to contain it, in direct proportion to how much of our capacity we make available to him.

I want to encourage you this week to BIGGEE-SIZE your capacity for God's influence in your life.  Go LARGE!         

You Came To My Rescue

This is a touchy subject for a lot of people.  Maybe I'll get some feedback.  Ian Johnson, author of Our Oneness in Christ, says that most of us live somewhere between "grindingly poor and fantastically wealthy".  In other words, he believes that neither abject poverty, nor blinding wealth are a result of seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.  I tend to agree. I have at various times experienced something of both, and I can blame neither on God.  

If you're anything like me there has been a time, or there have been times in your life, when you have looked to the Father for provision and it didn't seem to happen.  It just didn't seem to come when you needed it most.  Why?  Why weren't the finances there to pay that bill?  To support that work? To fix that problem? To help that person?  Why?  Why, God?  

Here's a thought:  For me (maybe not for you, you decide), those times are perhaps linked to some other time in my life when I really wasn't seeking FIRST the Kingdom of God.  Perhaps I wasn't entirely focused on Him.  Rather, perhaps my real focus was on what He could DO for ME.  You've never done that, have you?  Then, fast forward to the time of need, and the prayer for that provision seems to go unanswered.  Hmm...  

If every action taken, every word spoken, every dollar spent is a seed sown, should we be surprised when the harvest comes and it looks just like it came from the seed?  What about"good seed", sown in "good ground"?  That seed we sowed in faith, was it really the kind we thought it was?  Were we sowing a seed of future provision, or we were sowing for the benefit of the Kingdom, not considering ourselves and our wants?  

This business of seeking God's kingdom first, doesn't mean that everything in our lives will instantly be wonderful when we do (especially if we've only just begun).  Seeking God's kingdom first isn't like dropping an Alka-Seltzer tablet in the water glass of life and ridding ourselves of financial indigestion.  If we're honest, financial hot water can often (not always, but often) be linked to some misadventure - or some series of bad decisions or poorly reasoned choices - that landed us in the cauldron.  Then we pray (and sometimes even add the "magic words": In Jesus Name) and expect God to "provide".  

God never ceases to provide.  His Name is Jehovah-Jireh.  The Lord will provide.  Look in His word.   His provision is continual, and it never, ever stops.  But our ability to recognize it and receive it is always conditioned on our response to His Word.  I'm convinced there is a big difference between God's provision, and simply being rescued.   How about you? Fortunately for all of us, he does both!  

On the timing of the rescue?  If you haven't drown yet (or you're not quite hard-boiled), does it really matter WHEN the rescue helicopter shows up?  Isn't it more important THAT it shows up?  Are you tempted to get "mad" at God, because He didn't do that "thing" you wanted Him to do, when you thought He should do it?  Just proves you're human.  And you're in luck.  God LOVES humans!  Be of Good cheer!  

Hey, I think I hear a helicopter...thwap, thwap, thwap, thwap, thwap...