Thought I would post some thoughts looking back at Sunday’s worship experiences.
We set a new record in our Children’s Ministry with the launch of Big City Studio. We have 75 kids between the ages of 7-11. That blows me away when I think that our church was only 75 in attendance a couple years ago.
We also set an attendance record in our first service and were PACKED in our second service. This was probably our biggest non-Easter service yet.
God moved in our church and we saw several people receive Christ.
We gave away many Next Step kits to people who made commitments. Have to order more kits!
Yes…I said that perfect people think their poop doesn’t stink. Got to love people who think their perfect. Of course I strive to be…but we all know I’m not.
I was actually a little nervous before preaching yesterday. I had been praying for this weekend for months and asking God to do something big…and He did. I haven’t felt that way in a while.
God helped me preach even thought I had been struggling with some sickness. In our weakness his strength is perfect.
The devil did not want what happened yesterday to happen. I can’t tell you how many attacks we faced this week. People getting sick, losing volunteers, etc…
The devil lost…again! Why doesn’t he just give up? We won’t…so he will always lose.
God is so good to us and I believe BIG things are on the horizon! 3 Services is coming very soon. If you aren’t volunteering some way on Sunday…you need to be!
Lastly, to all the volunteers who make Crossroads happen – YOU’RE THE BEST!!! I love leading you.
I firmly believe that people are hungry for what the church is serving. What are we serving…the Bread of Life (Jesus). This past week several of us went into the streets of our community to hand out free 180* energy drinks and free DQ cones to promote our new series and invite people to church. The response was overwhelming. It just showed me that people are truly open and I believe deep down hungry for something.
Most people are trying to fill that hunger with material items, relationships, wealth and anything they can buy. But all of those things still leave us hungry. Sure they take away the hunger pangs for a little bit, but after the newness wears off you still find yourself hungry. Jesus said that if anyone “eats” the Bread of Life (eternal life through Jesus), they will never be hungry again. (John 6:35) Only Jesus can satisfy our every need.
People need what we have – the Bread of Life. We must be ready to share it. Crossroads folks…I am believing God for something big this weekend. Stand with me and pray that people come and “eat” the Bread of Life this weekend. Bring someone and beg God to move in their life.
I work with a lot of “creative” people. That’s what we do. We believe very much in doing ministry in a creative way, because we were made in the image of the Creator. I believe that God inspires us with creativity to spread his message of truth. Think about it, the message hasn’t changed for 2000 years and yet we keep having to retell it.
Working around creative people has opened my eyes to the double-edge sword of creative people. Creative people need the flexibility to create. If you suffocate a creative person, their creativity suffers. Let’s face it…creative people do things differently from everyone else. They have a God-given ability to see things that are not and produce them. That’s the definition of creating.
If you work with creative people, understand their mind and work to facilitate their creativity. However, the other side of the sword is that creative people often struggle to organize and accomplish tasks. They often need roped in to focus on one thing and get it done. Somewhere you must find the balance to allow creativity to happen and yet focus that creative energy to produce something powerful.
I am thankful for the creativity in me (albeit not that much) and yet understand the struggle to focus. If I can find harmony between the two, I know I can harness it to create something God can use to impact people. If you are creative…you need both. If you work with someone who is creative…good luck!!
Are you ready for the change? This weekend we kick off 180 – which is about making the change in our life that we know we need to make. We have some incredible stuff planned for this weekend… you don’t want to miss it.
I just want to encourage you to invite as many people as you can. I believe God is going to do something incredible and I am believing God for lives changed. God can and will move in people’s lives, but we must first step out of our comfort zone and invite them!
Next time you see someone and think to yourself, “maybe I should invite them”, stop thinking about it and just do it. I keep a stack of invites with me in the car and try to keep them in my pocket when I go into the store. We are called to ‘always be ready’ to give a reason for the hope that is inside of us. (1 Peter 3:15)
Are you ready? Are you ready for this weekend? Are you ready to invite someone? Come ready to make some noise for God and expecting God to do a powerful work!
As I read Exodus 32:21 I got a little scared. Moses asks Aaron, “What did these people do to you, that you LED them into such a great sin?” Now remember that this wasn’t Aaron’s idea. The people were pressuring him to make them a god to worship. He was just stuck in a tough position as the leader.
And yet as Moses surveyed the situation he turns directly to the leader in charge and says to him, “What did you LEAD them to do?” What a sobering thought. Aaron lack of godly influence was responsible for leading them into a sin.
If you are a leader of any type…that should scare you a little. The Bible says that we are all held accountable for what we personally do. But the Bible also says that as leaders, we are ALSO responsible for how we lead the people God has given to us. (James 3:1) Responsibility comes with the authority given to leaders.
Aaron could have led the people OUT of a sin, but his lack of influence led them INTO a great sin. Our influence as leaders has that much impact on the people we lead. If you are a business leader, are you leading your people OUT of sin? Are you making sure they do things with integrity and not to “fudge” the numbers a little. If you are a ministry or church leader, are you leading people OUT of sin? When they ask to do something that could lead to sin, do you step in and say “I don’t think this is the right thing to do”?
Influence is something leaders gain as their followers begin to trust them. Influence is everything to a leader. So what are you influencing people to do? I have to ask…because you can be sure God is going to ask as well.
Back to our story of Moses, Aaron and the Israelites wanting a “god” to worship (Exodus 32). Aaron, had all the people bring him some gold and the passage tells us that he made a golden idol in the shape of a calf for the people to worship. Aaron caved to the pressure and gave the people what they wanted. He made them an idol.
Aaron didn’t influence the people but rather the people influenced him. He gave them what they wanted. But is that influential leadership? If we gave our kids everything they wanted they would probably eat dessert for every meal of the day. But as parents we know that is not the best thing for them. So we have to say “no” often. Aaron was afraid of the people, so he said “yes”.
Moses on the other hand, when he heard about what happened and saw the people, he got so angry that he broke the tablets that had the 10 Commandments on them (which God Himself made!) and took the golden calf and threw it into the fire. He did not care what the other people thought about him or even what they might do to him. Why? He feared God more than man.
When we care more about what God thinks than what other people think…that is when we can become an influence to those around us. Aaron was influenced by the people…Moses influenced the people. What was the difference? Aaron was more afraid of the people than God and Moses was more afraid of God than the people.
What makes us influencers? Having a healthy fear of God in our lives.
Are you ready for a 180? This fall we are kicking off a huge series called 180. It is all about the change we know we need and yet struggle to implement. We have a lot of great things planned for this series.
Crossroads…invite everyone you can. We are going to be handing out free 180 energy drinks to our community and other free things to promote this series. Join us August 26th as we head into the community to invite everyone!! We are praying and asking God to use us to reach a lot of people this fall. Pray with us.
And don’t miss the change I am making to kick off this series. Here’s a little video to explain.
I am so pumped up for this series. Bring everyone you can and let’s believe together that God is going to bring some real change through us!
One of the greatest failures of leadership in the Bible is found in Exodus 32. This week I’m going to explore what we can learn from this story about influence. It’s a story about when Moses is on a mountain with God and while he was gone his brother Aaron was left in charge. The Israelite’s finally got tired of waiting for Moses and they ‘gathered around’ Aaron and said, “make us gods who will go before us.”
Aaron was in quite a tough spot. He’s surrounded a by a group of disgruntled people pressuring him to make them gods to worship. This is the same Aaron that witnessed up close and personal the only true God perform 10 miracles in Egypt. He witnessed the parting of the Red Sea and how God destroyed the Egyptian Army behind them. He saw all that and yet still…he caved to the pressure.
There are times in our lives when we are going to be faced with incredible pressure. Pressure to lie…pressure to cheat…pressure to ignore our faith in order to be “liked”…pressured to do something we know is wrong. It’s all around us. And the only way to keep from imploding under that pressure is if the force inside of you is greater than the pressure around you!
When that pressure comes, remember God’s Word says “greater is He that is in us than he that is in the world”. (1 John 4:4) If God is in you, you have what you need inside of you to stand up against the pressure of this world. Don’t cave…stand tall.
In my last post, I wrote about some dreams of doing church in a different way…doing church online. I just had a flash back to about 8 or 9 years ago when I remember talking with our Care Pastor Bob Sykes about some day putting our service online (before we even started Crossroads Church). At that time I don’t think anyone was doing church online. So this dream is not a new thing for me. But to see how some churches are doing it now inspires me!
I wanted to share this post from LifeChurch.tv with you. They are in many ways leading the effort to embrace church online. In this post you will find a video story of a man who lived in Ireland and found Jesus Christ through their church online. What a powerful example of what happens when the church ask “why not?” rather than always “why?”. We need to be people who are willing to step out and do anything to reach people with the Gospel – including church online.
As we continue to grow, we have been embracing technology and how we can use it to share the Gospel. Too many churches think the web is just where people go to find your address and service time. While it can be used to pass on information about you, we are finding that today’s generation is more interested in getting to KNOW you online.
We have begun to make our messages available online for the past 6 weeks and already I’m hearing about its impact. I have heard of people in other countries watching ALL of the messages we have posted online. I have heard stories of people in other states who NEVER go to church going to our website and watching ALL of our messages. I am quickly realizing that we can impact the world like never before because of technology.
Do we think that God’s Spirit can’t move on people watching a “previously” recorded message? Do we think that God is only with us when we are having a service? God is everywhere! Even with the people who are hearing the truth about him through a video online.
So with that…here are some of my dreams for what we can do online in the future.
- Broadcast our entire service online (many churches are already doing this) and even LIVE.
- Provide online LifeGroups for people who can meet in conventional groups.
- Provide service opportunities for people online.
- Provide video training for future leaders in the church
- Reach millions with the Gospel…in their own language (LifeChurch.tv is attempting to do this now)
I can’t wait until we can begin to do these things and I want to credit Craig Groeschel from LifeChurch.tv for pushing the envelope with technology and the Gospel. They are blazing the way for all of these things and the number of lives being changed is astonishing.
