LOST IN TRANSLATION (Matt Mendenhall)

Hey Guys, another great post from Pastor Matt in the Ukraine:

As you know I am receiving some helicopter training in Ukraine.  Ukraine, being a former Soviet bloc country, most everything is in Russian.  It is a very strange feeling to be in a former Soviet flight college that was used by the Soviet military, taught by former Soviet pilots and engineers, and to walk-in and fly a Russian made helicopter.  I mean I grew up watching Rambo take out all the Russians he could with no trouble.  Believe it or not when I went to Army basic combat training in 1993, “Ivan the Russian” was still the name of our simulated enemy when we trained.  All that said, this is a very unique experience. 

I walk around the flight college with an interpreter.  Serge sits next to me in my classes and interprets all that the instructor is telling me.  Most of the manuals have been converted to English, but not all the numbers and mathematical symbols, so I struggle to pick up all that is being taught. 

On Wednesday, I was in a class that was teaching about the interworking of a turbine engine.  This can be pretty complicated in English let alone being translated from Russian.  The instructor began to tell me all about how the oil and its processes as it goes through the engine.  He would say, “The oil starts here and goes there, and goes there, and then goes there, and then goes there”.  You get the point.  Pretty important stuff to know I guess.  The problem was that the Russian word he was using for, “goes”, is “idiota”.  Which sounded a lot like “idiot”?  As you can imagine, my train of thought was a bit off the track when every other word I heard him say was “idiot”.  It sounded like, “blah blah blah blah idiot, blah blah idiot, blah blah idiot, etc…”  I honestly thought, “Could he be calling me an idiot this whole time, and how would I know any different”. 

It really made me think about the entire process here in Ukraine.  My personal goal was now converted from wanting to learn all that I can, to making sure I learn the most important things that will save my life in combat.  I know that from this training much will get “Lost in Translation”, and it is critical for me to learn the essentials to safe flight, and survival of my aircraft and crew.

Our lives can sometimes feel like we are in combat.  We can have pressures and emotions that just feel overwhelming.  I know, I have been there too.  In times past I would reach out to the Lord and felt even more lost.  Sometimes I even felt like I was doing something wrong, or He would fix my mess or my heart.  I would try hard to get to church and figure it all out, but many times things would be “Lost in Translation”.  I would feel like I just didn’t understand the ways of God, or the way to get peace in my heart.  My prayer to the Lord was that He would break down all the barriers that would cause the, “Loss OF Translation”.  That He would show me how to know what was necessary to know to survive, the essentials!  What came to my mind was Mark 10: 30 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength”. 

Honestly in the middle of my, “Combat Zones” I didn’t not know how simply loving God could help.  It did though!  Little by little my love grew, which in turn, deepened my relationship and understanding of Him.  This resulted in battlefield success.  He was just saying, “Love me and I will love you back”.   I can deal with that.  Alright God, I Will Love You, for better or for worse, for richer for poorer, and thank you for loving me back.

In our lives it can be easy to have things get, “Lost in Translation”.  Amidst of all of this God says to just love him as much as you can, and he’ll take care of the rest.

God Bless

STAY or SWITCH?

Considering starting our Sunday morning service at the cinema at 10:30 AM instead of 10:00AM. Had many comments from many folks that the later start would make it a bit easier to hook up at Crossroads.  Weigh in. Lemme know what you think. Be sure to respond to the poll question on the right. Thanks!

ENJOY!

TGIF everyone.  Invite BIG this weekend.  Last week of Under The Influence. Gonna' be good! Enjoy the vid below (get your groove on)!

Greetings From Matt

Thought I'd pass on to you a quick thought from Crossroads Children's Pastor Matt Mendenhall. Matt is making his way to Kabul, Afghanistan:

First thoughts on my travels.  WOW, there are a lot of people in this world.  There are a lot of temptations in this world.  I guess what I mean is that I have been surrounded with my life for quite some time and had not seen, smelled, or heard things from my past in a long time. This was apparent to me when I sat in the restaurant/lounge of a large Washington DC hotel. There were multiple business conferences ongoing and the lounge area was full of people from everywhere meeting about everything.  I didn’t see Christ anywhere.  I honestly felt very weird.  I am sure I would have felt better if I had had some of my friends and family with me, but I still felt strange.  I am not making judgments on of the people I saw in that lounge that day.  It just magnifies the importance of what we are doing at Crossroads.  There is great need for a Crossroads in every town.  It’s cool to be part of the beginning of the first one.  God Bless.

 

Thanks Matt, keep 'em coming.  We'd love to hear more from you soon! Sorry about the picture, I couldn't help myself! - PG

(Yes folks, that actually IS Matt!)

Bits And Pieces

I've been a bad blogger lately.  I know it, and I repent.  Well...I think I repent.  See, I get that repent doesn't just mean "I'm sorry", which I am, but it means "I change", which remains to be seen...concerning being a better blogger.

So, to catch up: Sunday was a rip-snorter (not sure what that means, but it sounds very "western").  We had a great crowd and once again I'm just amazed at the people that get up and get it done on Sunday morning setting up Crossroads at the cinema.  I am overwhelmed at the real community that is developing in our midst.

I have to admit, Sunday morning was kind of weird for me.  I had a sort of goof-up with some medication I take regularly which left me feeling very bizarre beginning about a half hour before the service started.  I was really shaky and very dizzy and somewhat out of it.  Not a good combination right before you walk on the platform to communicate with a room full of people.  I came to about 20 minutes in.  Watching the video later that night was an interesting experience.  I'll do better with my meds in the future.  

Sunday night we had a fantastic staff meeting.  We had an exercise required by my current coaching network that had us look at and define "turning points" in the development of Crossroads to date.  It was really cool to go back (although not that far) and see how God has orchestrated our lives and activities to center on what He is doing in Enterprise.  

Monday, Leslie and I drove down to Ocala for our monthly coaching network meeting.  We met for six hours of intensive learning at the Springs.  I am humbled and very grateful to be coached by Church @ the Springs lead pastor Ron Sylvia.  I am also amazed at how much of himself he invests, not just in the process, but in the people in our group.  It is an environment that really challenges me to learn and grow, something that I want to make sure filters through our whole organization at Crossroads.  There's a lot of guys with real large churches that I am listening to and learning from.  I feel like a beginner there...very green. But, like a 75 year-old friend of mine once said, "If you're green, you're growing. If you're ripe, you're rotting". 

Getting home tonight was a bit of an adventure.  My truck acted like it wanted to stay in Ocala. With some prayer (and a bit of mechanical convincing by a nice man who stayed real late at work to help us), we finally got down the road, and home a little before midnight.

Big rest of the week.  Some work tomorrow, a lot of prep for the weekend, and an all-day workday Friday at the Annex (see if we can get the offices whipped into shape).  Have a GREAT Wednesday!   

"BREAKER ONE-NINE..."

When I was a kid (oh, say 10 years old, or so) I wanted to be a truck driver. My grandparents lived in a tiny little West Texas town called Ozona.  I used to spend summers there, and I would always walk from my grandparents shack (not kidding) to the mini-mart, or to my Uncle Cleophas' meat market. Yes, his name was actually Cleophas (although spell-checker keeps wanting me to insert the word Cellophane instead).  

In order to get to the meat market or the mini-mart (or the Dairy King, or the grocery store, or Village Drug for that matter - yes, the Village Drug that had an actually soda fountain where you could get the best cherry-limeades on the planet), I had to walk right by a big welding shop that had a large dirt parking lot where big rigs would always park overnight, engines running.  

I loved the sound the trucks made, and I love the smell of diesel fuel, and I was absolutely certain that I wanted to be a truck driver.  My father had escaped Ozona by way of WWII. Coming home from the war he went to college under the GI Bill and got his bachelors, his masters and was a few odd hours away from his doctorate when he got tired of going to school.  Imagine his surprise when the product of his personal baby-boom in 1960 announced at ten years old, "I want to be a truck driver.  You know, big rigs and such".  

When I was 12, living in Colorado, Kenworth came to dinner.  An actual over-the-road, owner-operator moved into our neighborhood, three doors down Kit Carson Drive.  I was ecstatic. My father...somewhat less so.  Brothers Bobby and Sammy Salter and their dad and mom and baby sister moved all the way to Colorado from Georgia.  I couldn't believe my fortune.  It was as if the truck gods were smiling at me saying, "Here is the shining path to enlightenment, behind the wheel of a Kenworth cabover".  I got to hang out with them and climb all over their dads truck, crawling through the sleeper compartment, sitting in the trampoline-like seat, left hand on the hula-hoop size steering wheel, right hand on the 13-speed shifter.  It was cool.  

My dad clearly didn't "get it".  He told me I wasn't born to drive a truck.  Add to the long list of ways I tried to prove him wrong: my years in the construction business addicted to the smell of diesel fuel, the roar of a Caterpillar engine, the squeaking of steel tracks on a bulldozer, and the camaraderie of hard scrabble men who elevated cussing to a high art.  

There's nothing ignoble about driving a truck or operating heavy equipment for a living.  But (like in so many other instances), I probably should have listened to my father.  I'm pretty sure he had my best interest at heart.  Like my heavenly Father, he tried to keep me from going down a road where it would be too hard to do a u-turn.  I made the u-turn eventually, but not before I took out a half dozen mailboxes, and several yard gnomes.  

I'm getting better at listening.  The yard gnomes are relieved to hear that. Keep truckin'. 

Knock Out!

Just got home from the opening of THE GARAGE, Crossroads new student facility at the Annex and I wanted to RAVE about it for a minute!  

The energy in the room was just incredible, I mean it was electric, man!  THE GARAGE BAND was ROCKING out of this world. Everyone involved collectively raised the bar tonight for youth ministry at Crossroads.  

Well done, ALL.  Kudos Youth Pastors Ben & Kelly Rice!  Your commitment to answer the call to youth ministry was met tonight with the biggest crowd you've ever had!  Keep it up and watch God grow it.  Thanks to Media Arts Pastor Will Lurie and the magical Natalie Lurie who ably assisted him!  You guys always make everything work, look and sound better.  Thanks to ALL of the adult leaders and ALL of the students who stepped up to get the Garage launched!  

What a thrill it is to see what God is doing at Crossroads!  I think we may need to knock out a wall... 

'Night, honey!

I am a confirmed night owl. I've been that way all my life. At least as far back as I can remember.  Okay, bearing in mind some of you may find this hard to believe, I remember being in the crib in our house in Detroit where I was born. Since we moved from Detroit in 1963, it was before I was three years old.  And since I remember looking out of my crib, I was certainly less than two years old.  

So here's the point.  I remember looking out from between the bars of my crib, into the family room, where my parents and some friends were sitting up late one night playing cards. I remember someone coming in several times and telling me to go to sleep.  I refused.  I wanted to stay up...late.  

Flash forward to the mid-1960's.  The hot TV show at the time was Man from U.N.C.L.E.  I remember each time it was on (well after my bedtime), surreptitiously slipping downstairs and hiding under the green vinyl couch to watch the show on our (only) color television. Caught, scolded, and returned to my bedroom - I would wait an appropriate amount of time and sneak back downstair to my secret viewing place under the couch.  

(Just in case you were wondering:  The fact that I was being disobedient and sneaky child is not lost on me.)  

So anyway, that staying up as late as humanly possible without getting caught trick was standard operating procedure for me as a kid - one night with rather disturbing consequences.  Parents out to dinner, babysitter watching me, I slipped out of bed and hid behind the living room drapes.  Normally not a problem, except this time I fell soundly asleep...hidden behind the drapes  Parents come home, babysitter says, "He was no problem at all".  Only real problem? I'm not in my bed, and no one can find me!  Totally hysteria reigned, babysitter yelled at, parents freaking out, and I'm resting comfortably.  

Long story short (too late?) they found me.  Though they were relieved to find me alive and in the house, their joy soon turned to consternation. As you might imagine.  

I'm sure there are several great Biblical principles I violated that could be used against me to demonstrate why you should always do all the right things all the time, but that's not why I wrote this.  I wrote it to celebrate the fact that while I am STILL a confirmed night-owl - doing my very best work between 10PM and 3 AM, and Leslie my charming, wonderful, and now totally Blogeriffic spouse can't seem to stay awake much past 10:15, I went to bed last night before 9:30 and fell fast asleep, while Leslie blogged deep into the wee hours and - by her own report - didn't hit the hay until 3:00AM!  

Ain't bloggin' fun, baby? (Posted at 12:54 PM - Ha, ha!)

What A Fool Believes

I've been having way too much fun today.  Got a bit of a breather in the estimating cycle. Back to it tomorrow, but today I just got to hang out with Leslie, get caught up on stuff, and spend some time editing video.  

Sorry for two vid posts in one day. I hope you'll indulge me.  As I was editing the whole service, and would speed through certain sections to get to other sections, I was struck by what a goofy, funky looking dance I seemed to be doing.  And the whole thing reminded me of this scripture:  

Since God, in his wisdom, saw to it that the world would never know him through human wisdom, he has used our foolish preaching to save those who believe. (1 Cor 1:21, NLT)  

Preaching the Gospel of Christ crucified and resurrected is foolishness to those relying on scientific understanding or human wisdom alone.  But the Bible says that God chose the things the world considers foolish to shame those who think they are wise, weak things to shame the powerful, and things which are considered nothing, to bring to nothing the things the world considers important.  

So, in the words of James (no, not the Lord's brother - James Brown, the Godfather of Soul): 

Ain't It Funky Now? 

You better believe it is.  

NOW WITH MORE FUNK!

Perhaps as much as 30% Funkier...

ZOMBIES FOR CHRIST

A little bit of last Sunday at Crossroads...

Very Funny Farm

I may have written about this movie before, but did you ever see 'Funny Farm' with Chevy Chase? It was made a long time ago, but it's one of my faves from the old days. Chevy Chase plays a sportswriter for a paper in New York. Fed up with the grind, he decides it's time to move to the country and write his great novel.  

They move, and though mishap, misadventure and a healthy dose of writer's block, it turns out he's completely unable to write.  Not even a sentence. His wife, however, begins writing a wonderful children's book about the mishaps and misadventures of a character named 'Chester the Squirrel'.  

The punch line to the movie (and their relationship) is when she gets signed to a big book deal for her Chester the Squirrel work, and he (the one who was going to write the great novel) realizes that Chester the Squirrel is actually him!  It's absolutely hysterical, and I could watch it over and over.  

Which brings me to Leslie's Blog.  Guys, I've been trying to tell her for many years that she is the one in our family with the serious writing skills.  I hope you'll go to the Crossroads website and click on "Chick Food", because I think that if you will, you will see that I was right.  She has a tremendous gift for writing, and I'm so happy to see that she is putting it out there!  

Having said that, I'll be watching her future posts very closely, just in case a character like, oh, I don't know...'Gene the Bombastic Armadillo' shows up!  

Keep up the great work, Leslie!  You guys have a great Tuesday!

No Wonder So Many People Hate Christians...

If you haven't already seen this...have a good laugh for Friday.  From my friend Dave Anderson's Blog, from Chris Elrod.  Oh my goodness...I think I need to lie down...  See you Sunday!

Mirror, Mirror

Maybe you're in peak physical condition. Maybe, for your age,  you are a perfect specimen. Me? Not so much. I know it's my own fault. I could be lean and buff and ripped and cut and all those other really boss things to be, and as much as I think I would like to be like that, the reality is, I don't seem to have the discipline to make myself do the hard work.  

Stay up for days recording music, editing video, writing messages (or even estimating construction work...my old gig) and I will not only match you step for step, but be awake, hard at the task, long after you have given up and gone to bed.  It's just the way I'm wired.  

But after watching myself on stage preaching at the College Cinema (in HD, no less) I am pretty sure that God must have gotten some of my wires crossed.  Dude! You think looking in a mirror is rough after 45? (A speed limit I passed I past three years ago, incidentally). Spend several hours editing yourself in glorious high def, to post your video on vimeo.com for a bunch of other pastors to sit around and laugh at.  I feel like drunk Barney Fife in Sunday's video clip, "I don't have to take this humiliation, Andy".  

The good news.  If that's as bad as it gets...we can probably fix it.  Yes, I may not be as new as I used to be, I may look like I swallowed a whole watermelon, I may say, "Uh", and "you know", and "man" entirely too much, but if I have to keep editing these service videos every week...I'm bound to learn something.  And change a few things along the way.  

Hey, it could happen.  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then. Have a great Friday. TGIF!

Happy Day & Stuff

Wow.  It feels like it's been a week since Sunday morning.  I have been super busy (just like everybody else), and I'm finally getting a chance to catch my breath for the first time since a week ago Friday! (That's nuts!)  Anyway, I wanted to recap some of my take-away's from Sunday's service, so here goes:

Starting a new series was cool.  It was just good to have the first month at the Cinema behind us.  And it seemed like we got a lot of other stuff behind us, too.  The sound was much improved and the stress level on our media folks seemed to be down a few notches (at least pre-service).

The band was simply wonderful!  Janna really sang great and I was truly impressed with the bands sound overall.  The mix was good, and the band just gave a really solid performance. There was a good groove going on up there and I couldn't have been more pleased with the progress!

It was fun sharing using a new map instead of a script.  While our media folks had a scripted message, to make sure we hit cues at the right times, I preached (largely) from a mental map instead of from a printed out script.  This is a new way of doing this for me, and after doing it hundreds of times the old way, it may take some time to get good at it.  But I felt like the rewards were instantly recognizable. Sunday morning (at least in the first 10 minutes and the last 10 minutes) I got to experience a whole 'nutha level of connection with the crowd.  It was really neat.

Great crowd on Sunday.  Over 16 first time attenders.  Many re-commitments, and just overall a really wonderful and special day. Thanks to all who make Crossroads a truly different church experience for the people in this community!  It's such a privilege to get to do this!

Look to your right and you'll see you can now subscribe to this Blog via email.  Take advantage of it.  Every time there's a new post, you'll get an email alert.  Good, yeah?  Have a great week!      

NEW SERIES!!

This Sunday @ Crossroads (College Cinema in Enterprise) we start a brand new series called UNDER THE INFLUENCE.

Sept. 7    SMASHED   We're ALL under the influence of SOMETHING.

Sept 14   SWITCH   Changing more than just your BRAND.

Sept 21   SIP    Lessons from the BREW MEISTER.

Sept 28  SPILL   Influence the INSPIRES!

Sounds boozy, right?  Sure, whenever we think about being under the influence the first thing that comes to mind for many is being under the influence of alcohol. But there's a whole lot more that you and I are under the influence of.  Let's have a conversation about it and get some direction that can help us to live every day UNDER THE INFLUENCE of God.

This series is going to be a breakthrough for Crossroads (and me, personally) as I take to the platform with no script.  "What?!?  No script?!?  How will you know what you're doing?  How will WE know where you're going?"

Don't worry guys, I'll have notes to keep us on track, but I am definitely going to be UNDER THE INFLUENCE of something bigger than just me.  I want change in my life (not just nickels and dimes, either), but REAL change.  Here's the conclusion that I've reached: If I COME to church without being able to remember the message - how can I expect you to LEAVE church remembering the message?  (Good point, huh?)  So, "Goodbye" scripted message, and "Hello" conversation".  

Let's have fun with this all month long.  Invite BIG this weekend and let's get our new series kicked off right! See you Sunday!

What It Is

Not sure how to properly describe what I am experiencing in my personal life right now.  I made a commitment to a company to do some work for them - something I refused to do during the incubation period of Crossroads pre-launch.  I felt I really had God's heart about that decision at the time.  We were really hurting for money (you know, the kind you use to eat and stuff?) but I could NOT get a "release" from God to take on any outside work.

God's plan and purpose is often easier to distinguish when you're looking at it in the rear-view mirror. Looking back, I can see we would not have been able to do the things we did to develop the work of God in Enterprise if it hadn't had our 24-hour focus.  You know what? We still ate.  God provided everything we needed at just the right time.  Is it hard on your pride? Uh...what pride?  Gone.  I don't get to have that anymore about the things I can personally accomplish.

Which is why it was so flummoxing (you like that word?) when I got a call a few weeks back from a company asking me to do a bit of estimating for them.  I KNEW that I couldn't do it before.  But now that we were post-launch, I had a "release" (there's that word again) to do it.  I have to be honest.  The very thought made my stomach turn.  I felt I was abandoning what i was supposed to do - but we had to eat, right?

So the most bizarre thing has been happening.  Despite my fears about doing this work - every step of the way, I have exactly how much time I need to accomplish my work in the ministry.  In fact, everything I am doing, from studying, to attending coaching meetings, to message preparation is on like...some sort of supernatural accelerator.  I am able to do more - better - in less time than I could before.  And the work?  That's the really interesting part.  I have enough time to take care of what I'm responsible for, and tons of support from those around me.  It's like...it's like I am being fed by ravens.  It's truly remarkable.

I just wanted to share that with you guys.  God's heart is in the work at Crossroads.  My heart - and my life - is in God's hands.  It is such a privilege to serve Him.  Just like He provided a way for us to be with Him forever, He provides everything we need to live for Him today.

Where's My Answer?!?

Wow. I am bushed, man.  Loooooooong day.  But truly incredible.  I am participating in a NEXT Level coaching network that is going to help us, over the next six months, develop a strategic operating plan for Crossroads that will spell out exactly what we need to do to develop the infrastructure and put the systems in place to handle the rapid growth we are going to see over the next couple of years. Truly exciting work. Much more about it later.

Wanted to send out a quick note to those who are waiting for the answer to Ask Pastor Gene questions they posted on the website.  Over the past week...a lot of people had a lot of questions.  It's great!  Keep it up.  I just got a bit behind, but I'll get them all answered in the next two days and then Will can get them posted. Thanks for your patience

Reeeeeeeeally sleepy now.  Bed.

Heading Out

What a great Sunday!  Trust you all enjoyed it as well.  It was brutal at times because of technical difficulties, but I thought we had a great crowd considering the holiday weekend and all!  

I am leaving in a few hours to head to Ocala to begin the Next Level coaching network headed up by Ron Sylvia of Church@the Springs.  It's a big deal for us.  Pray for favor for Crossroads and pray that I don't get an attack of "the stupids" when called on.  

Had a great meeting yesterday with our youth pastors Ben & Kelly.  They really "get" the vision of Crossroads and it's great to have people like them in leadership.  They are willing to take the heat and go the distance.  That means a great deal in ministry.  It can be a butt-kicker at times.  

Listen, you guys have a GREAT week!  I have a laptop I'm taking with me.  (Even though it's a Hal Mayer approved Dell product, I'll TRY to make it work and do something useful with it while I'm gone...maybe it would make a good giant coaster or something).  

This just in:  My BlackBerry seems to be working again.  Call me.  But do it quick...just in case.  

Check out the lobby pic.  Cool, yes?