MONDAY MIND DUMP

Hey guys, what a great day today at Crossroads.  Though I spent most of last week battling the crud, and I was feeling the effects of congestion and cough medicine this morning, I had my wits about me long enough to recognize that God is doing something really cool in our midst.  Here's a few quick takes from the weekend:

1. I was blown away by how HUGE the crowd was today considering the icky weather.  GREAT turnout!
2. The people of Crossroads continue to exhibit overwhelming faithfulness and generosity in their giving.  It is always inspiring, but especially in difficult economic times, to see people rely on and trust in God as their ultimate provider.
3. Great to welcome so many first time attenders this morning!
4. Really great also to see those who have hooked up in the last few weeks!  I don't know if you have noticed but we have a couple of dozen new folks that were at church for the third or fourth week in a row...and threatening to return!  Awesome.  Nothing like repeat offenders!  Very cool.
5. We live in a military town and one of the realities is that we only get our faithful flight school families for a short time.  But what an important part of the fabric of the church these families are!  Always sad to see families leave, but encouraging to see more and more of them coming and making their home at Crossroads. We need to find ways to connect with flight school students and their families EARLY ON when they just get to town, so we have maximum time to spend together!
6. The message today was needful on many levels.  Though it wasn't a laugh-a-thon (and I was not on my A-game due to the crud effect), I had more than normal people comment on how important it was that they heard what they did today about reconciling with others.  Thank God that He knows what we need to hear, when we need to hear it!
7. How amazing it is to see so many who come each week experience life change, true transformation, as they come in direct contact with the love of God.  I see it over and over again.  (If you are not seeing happen, grab me some Sunday morning - I'll show you MANY examples...starting with me!)  
8. I heard from MANY out in Roadie-land what a tough week they had last week.  I had many calls and spoke and corresponded with many people who were really struggling in the area of relationships with God and with other people.  Add to that the many who were fighting colds and flu, and those who were simply worn out and stressed out from their work life - it was good to gather together today, to worship, to pray, to hear Gods Word, and to recognize that God cares about EVERY area of our lives.  We can count on His grace and mercy to lift us up even in the really hard times.  Seeing that happen was probably my biggest "get" this weekend.
9. Thanks again to Brett Himes for allowing us to use so much of his sound equipment.  Though little by little we are getting our own stuff, we could not have done what we did to this point without his help!
10. To all who come early work hard and stay late to clean up each week - transforming the college cinema into the place we call home - THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.  Our amazing high output staff, leaders and volunteers are the backbone of the Crossroads community and cannot be praised enough!

Okay, 'nuf for now.  Have a great Monday and a fantastic week!  I look forward to connecting with you throughout the week, until we meet again next Sunday at Crossroads.  I will sleep well tonight, counting myself as the most blessed and fortunate man on the planet, to get to pastor this church.  How did I get so lucky?     

       

It's Gotten Worse...Where's My Bell?

Quite Possibly The 2nd Most Important Blog Post Ever...Maybe.

Well, I have to admit I'm approaching my keyboard a bit sheepishly this morning as I think back on Sunday, and how big a deal I made of using my Blog as a tool to stay connected to the going's on at Crossroads.  And I haven't blogged since Sunday night.  Hopefully, if you're showing up for the first time, you've found plenty to wade through in the archives to keep you intellectually stimulated and spiritually motivated, and tickled somewhere close to your funny bone.  If not, you're not looking hard enough.  Keep digging.

Truth be told, I wrote an extraordinarily long (and completely useless, for much the same reason) Blog post on Tuesday evening entitled, The Most Important Blog Post Ever. Apparently, it fell somewhat short of that billing, being relegated to the trash bin shortly after Leslie read it and found it neither intellectually stimulating, spiritually motivating (or funny bone tickling for that matter).

Here is what I meant to say:

1. We have a RARE opportunity at Crossroads.  The kind of opportunity that comes along in life about as frequently as Haley's Comet.
   
2. I can vouch for the scarcity of such opportunity, having been on the winning side of a similarly rare opportunity (though in the business world).
3. Because of that, I recognize that we must do everything possible to capitalize on this opportunity, lest it slip through our fingers.  Because it can if we let it.
4. We have a great deal of work to do.
5. We are infinitely qualified to do that work.
6. Keep your nose in the wind, and your shoulder to the wheel. (In other words, pay attention to everything around you, and keeping pushing through the hard part).  

I get goose bumps the size of baseballs when I think of what God is really doing in Enterprise, Alabama.  I get goose bumps on those goose bumps when I see what he is doing in our community at Crossroads.  I am not dumb enough to think that feeling all goose-bumply will get the job done.  The things we have accomplished, to get where we are in one short year, will not take us where we need to be one month, one year, or five years from now.

What will?

Praying God's will.  Studying to show ourselves approved (and not just the Bible, either). Connecting with God, each other, and the world around us. Not giving up when things get tough.  And working diligently to improve our systems (how we do things), our environments (how things look and feel), and our communication (how we send and receive information).  

If you are part of the staff or leadership, or are a volunteer at Crossroads, I look forward to working with you to improve systems, environments and communication in your individual area of ministry. If you are not...Why not?  Join with us as we commit to improve those three areas in our church, and in our personal lives as well!

Love you guys!  Hope you are stimulated, motivated...and tickled.  I have a screaming headache and a stuffy nose and I'm going back to bed.  Have a great day tomorrow!  Invite someone to Crossroads this weekend.     

   

MONDAY MIND DUMP (Sunday Night Version)

I am so stoked about today, there's no way I can possibly wait until tomorrow to download.  So...here we go:

1. Nat Lurie - Off the chain!  Great job! Kudos!  Like a Pro!  "What the Crap?"  Hahaha, you bought it today girl, and left it ALL on the platform.  I appreciate your boldness and willingness to stand and deliver! GREAT MESSAGE! My BIG takeaway from it...DISCUSS EXPECTATIONS...PRAY FOR YOUR SPOUSE EVERY DAY!  Good stuff.  Thanks.
2. Explosions in the tweet-o-sphere!  Roadies connecting.  It's a mad, mad craze and we're all learning about one another.  What a cool thing.
3. Great crowd yet again.  Our average attendance is climbing.
4. The lobby was ELECTRIC this morning (@leslieoden)!
5. First-time attenders rock!
6. Thanks Laura Armstrong for killing "Mom & Pop" in the main sanctuary with the hot new custom fit seat concealers!  Way to help us get our sheets together! 
7. What a HUGE donut victory and a (Bob Ross) happy accident by Krispy Kreme!  What it taught us about our crowd today:  They like VARIETY. What a great tweak! Way to take control Janna (no Donuts in the WHOLE town of Dothan)!
   
8. Thanks to @JCutrell for steeping up and stepping in for Officer McElveen today.
9. DUG the Taylor Swift tune...twice!
10. Way to WORK IT set-up team.  Volunteers stepping up and helping out all over the building.  @Benrice1 bringing leadership to make the whole thing rock solid.  Watch it grow.     
11. Amped about the billboards and the other adverts that are giving presence to what God has given Crossroads.
12. Overwhelming amount of communication cards got filled out today (maybe people were hoping I'd stop talking if they filled them out)!  MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
13. Strong giving for the first of the month.  Yea, God!
14. Moved by what God is doing by his Word and by the power of the Holy Spirit in our midst.
15. Great meeting with Community Group Leaders tonight.  Great leadership from Leslie (she's WAY smarter than me - and holds shorter meetings)!
16. Again...way to go Natalie.  Thanks for all the hard work (and for Prince Charming's help - ouch, sorry, Will) putting together a great, and totally practical message!

So excited about today, I'll be buzzing deep into the night.  Pray - continually - that God would give us the wisdom to know EXACTLY how to reach people that left church, got burned in church, got burned out by church, or never went to church.  Pray - continually - that God would equip us to share his love with the beat up and the bummed out.  Pray - continually - for God to strengthen marriages in our church.  And pray that those far from God would find him alive, well, forgiving, patient, caring, compassionate, and ready to receive them at Crossroads every time the doors are open.

Love you guys.  Have a GREAT week!

I'm Ba'aaaack!

Okay, until I get some professional help (and I'm not just talking about the electronic kind), I'm keeping my Blog right here.  I moved making some assumptions about Wordpress that do not appear to be correct.  Just meet me here (and mouth off) until further notice.  Thanks.

No More Secrets

If you want different results than you've had before - really, in any area of life - it's pretty plain that you have to do different things than you've done before.  Same things, same results. Rocket science, right?

Quietly, we started doing church differently than it was traditionally done in this town. And we've had very positive results.  Quietly we have begun to coalesce into a community (tribe) of people connected by a common purpose.  Quietly we have begun to learn how to connect with one another, and we have begun to use new and innovative ways to communicate within our tribe.  Quietly we have reached those outside of our community with a positive and inspiring message.  Quietly we have experienced - and have witnessed others experience - life change.  Quietly.  

Enough quiet.  It's time to crank the volume up.  Time to let the secret out.  We're taking a big step to do just that at the end of this week.  Look for it.

 

02-03-08

Exactly one year ago this very hour we had our first official Sunday service/launch team meeting at our house in Gateway. 30 people sat patiently while Leslie and I gave a tag-team talk about all the fantastical stuff we believed could be accomplished if a bunch of people came together and practiced loving God by loving other people.

Though it's not really Crossroads "first anniversary" (that date will be celebrated August 10th, the day we officially "launched" at the College Cinema), it's still a remarkably memorable day.  So...here's some remarks:

Crossroads would not exist without the people that showed up that day and on the Sunday's that followed.  Most of you still show up every Sunday and make Crossroads work.  Our time at "The House" was a time, not so much of planning and strategizing, but of group dreaming in the presence of God.  Those meetings were sweet and fresh and alive with possibility.  And we couldn't do what we do now, if we hadn't done what we did then.

Thank you to everyone who came that first sunny day in February, as we awkwardly sat on stools wearing blue jeans (a first for me on Sunday), and explained (for far too long a time) what our purpose and all 21 of our core values were.  Hopefully, we've been able over the past year to narrow them somewhat.  Perhaps they'll finally be reduced (not by elimination, but by being brought to a boil and simmered over an open flame) to something like: Love God, Love Others, Serve the World - everything else is negotiable.

I'll never forget how terrified and exhilarated we were on that day.  Many worked all day and stayed up all night until the wee hours to make sure we were ready. Zero sleep - far too nervously excited for sleep.  And before we knew it, the donuts were on the folding table in the kitchen and cars were rolling down the driveway. (BTW, it is really weird having church in your house.  It's a lot like having a block party in your underwear drawer.)    

We drank coffee and ate donuts, and we shook hands and shared hugs.  Jeff and Rusty played, and we sang together, and Nat did communication cards, and Will ran cues and Max did sound, and we prayed together, and we read from God's Word, and it all seems like a dream - like it was a thousand years ago, or like it was this morning.  

In keeping with the spirit of what we talked about in that first meeting (how those who came after us were the truly important ones - how we're here to reach and teach the un-reached and un-taught - how if you're already a Christian and you don't like to work, you probably won't like Crossroads very much - etc.) let's keep our focus on how we can Go and Love and Serve THIS day, and not make too much of THAT one.  Anniversaries are cool, but really current testimonies (like, who did I share Christ with this morning?) are way cooler.  So pause and reflect, but move quickly forward, giving glory to God not only in the remembrance of what he did then - February 3rd, 2008, one year ago today - but in the importance of what He is doing now.

 

MONDAY MIND DUMP

Sunday was such a great day for Crossroads in so many ways I don't even know where to start, so I'll try chronological order.  No...that'll never work.  Okay, here's a few take-aways:

1. After spending an inordinate amount of time preparing Sunday's message, I woke up Saturday morning completely stuck.  But God knew exactly what would happen Sunday morning.  Though I'm getting better at relaxing and trusting, it was still a rather tense day.  Thank God for his Word and the power of the Holy Spirit (see post below 'Up Late').
2. What a GREAT CROWD on Sunday morning.  Many, many regulars out and we still had one of our best crowds ever.
3. God did something HUGE Sunday (see previous post), giving was off the chain, right on time, and exactly the amount we needed!
4. Many people rededicated their lives to Christ on Sunday!
5. Great to have the Comm Card lady back in action.
6. Many, many people under the weather on Sunday still WORKED THEIR BUTTS OFF!  What an inspiration. Thank you all for blowing off your very real physical challenges to make Crossroads work this weekend.
7. Saw old friend and his family Sunday that I only dreamed I would see at Crossroads.  Guess what?  They had a FANTASTIC time!
8. Mad props for Filling Station. MANY GREAT COMMENTS from moms and dads about the quality of children's ministry at Crossroads!
9. Set-up team in sanctuary ROCKS!  Everything looked great.  Cool new series signs were a highlight in the big room.
10. Crack tech staff did a great job yesterday.  Sound was great, cues were right on time, no buzz, no fuss, no muss, and we had a feed from the board through the whole building.  Yeah!
11. Worship band cooked it down.  LOVED the open song!
12. Top to bottom, front to back, yesterday was probably about the best day all around we've ever had at Crossroads from the standpoint of doing ministry the way God put it on our hearts, and communicating practical application from God's Word to help people LIVE better.
13. People STAYED in the lobby after the service.  That's a big win.  When people aren't flying out the door as soon as the bell rings, and we keep the donuts out and the coffee on, we get more time to connect.  I love the lobby at Crossroads. (But I do wish it was twice as big as it is.  Someday...soon).
14. Great lunch with a handful of Roadies at the Hut.
15. GREAT BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION FOR JOHN!
16. And, uh...oh yeah, the Superbowl was a pretty good game.  The commercials weren't nearly as good as they usually are, but it was GREAT to be home on Superbowl Sunday Night, and not at an obligatory church service with a handful of people that a) don't care anything about what hundreds of millions of other people do, or b) didn't want to be at church either.  (insert chorus to Aretha Franklin song 'Think' here, "Freedom...woh-oh freedom...") 

Peace.

       

Big News

Okay, no more tease.  I'm going to share something important with you.  Now, having said that, this may not be big news to anyone but me and Leslie, but I can assure you it's big news to us, and I believe it will have a far-reaching impact on the continued growth of Crossroads.

Now, having said all that, let me say that last week Leslie and I felt very strongly - and felt a great deal of peace - about putting some real teeth into the way we advertise.  So we began looking at some rather large options.  When the pricing came back, we were not surprised, but we knew it was more than the church could afford right now.  So Leslie called them back and said, "Look, here's what we can afford, what can you do?"  Well, what they did was meet our price.  Not only that, but they offered a package which included an additional option that we did not consider before because we were sure it would be too expensive.

So we entered this weekend, knowing exactly what we wanted to do as a big piece of our advertising presence in the community (not ALL of it, but a big piece); we felt certain that we were hitting the bulls-eye on God's timing for it; and we knew we did NOT have the money in our possession to cover the initial cost of setting the whole thing up.  Today, this very morning, while the normal weekly  offering we feel we are somewhat able to project was very strong,  there was something else in it.  In this morning's offering was a large check - one which we did not expect, because it was outside the projected level of our normal offering - that was MORE THAN ENOUGH to cover ALL of the initial costs to get this advertising push rolling!

Having said all that, let me just keep from going completely public with the exact nature of what we're going to do until we actually do it.  However, understanding you may be getting tired of all this crap, give me a call and I'll talk to you about it if you want to know.  I just really don't want it on the blog right now.

Here's the thing I think is the important take-away:  WHEN GOD GIVES THE VISION, HE MAKES THE PROVISION. Guys, what God did this morning BLEW MY MIND.  I should know better, right?  I've seen Him do things like this a hundred times before.  We were dreaming out loud, and while we were dreaming out loud, God had ALREADY PROVIDED everything we would need to make those dreams a reality.

Now THAT, is big news!  

  

Up Late

Wow.  What is it about God that makes us always wholly dependent on Him?  I have thought about little this week other than tomorrows (this morning's?) message. Throughout the week I have studied passages of scripture, made notes, and of course spent hours editing video for the service.  My normal routine of late has been to have my message essentially ready by Friday night, so I have the luxury of tweaking all day and night Saturday if necessary.

I began today feeling as though I had never prepared a message, let alone stepped up on the platform to deliver one.  

God is supernatural, and we require supernatural ability to do His work.  Paul calls our lack of recognition of that fact foolish.  "Are you so foolish?  Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? (Gal 3:3)"  I can no more rely on my own natural ability to minister the Word of God, than I can rely on my own natural ability to receive forgiveness for my sins, or eternal salvation.

I am really excited about tomorrow's service at Crossroads. It's been difficult to weed out the unnecessary elements of the message to get to the "main thing".  But now I can't wait to see how God's Word and the power of the Holy Spirit work together to bring change to people's lives.

Start with me, Lord.  Continue to move ME out of the way, so I can be something You can use.