The Bridge Community Church

From the Elders of Christ Community and Crossroads:

“The votes have been counted. At Crossroads, 96% voted in favor of the merger (133 yes and 5 no). At Christ Community, 87% voted in favor of the merger (159 yes and 22 no). Nonmembers at both churches voted in favor of the merger in even higher percentages.

We want to express our profound gratefulness to God and to you, His people. The Lord has shown His faithfulness to us throughout this process and protected the unity of His body. And we are humbled and encouraged by your willingness to seek the Lord’s direction in your own life and for all of us together.

This is an exciting time! The Bridge Community Church will launch on October 2nd!”

Praise God! Jason and I are so excited to get this new youth-thing rolling! More info is to come. But for now, check out the calendar link above to see updated dates and times. All current Downtown campus comm groups will continue. But please take special note of Sept 28, Oct 26, Nov 30, and Dec 7. On those Wednesday evenings, all 7th-12th grade students from both campuses will gather at the Downtown campus for fellowship and worship.

Our God is an awesome God!

Everyone has a story

Over the past year, we (Crossroads) have been focused on stories: God, Abraham, David, Jesus, the early church, our individual stories. Listening to someone else’s story and sharing our own stories is what builds, encourages, and strengthens community.

This morning, our teaching pastor, Skin, tweeted this video. Stories are all around us. Are we willing to read them?

Kia Soul Bringing It

Tisha and I LOVED the Kia Soul commercial from last year with the dancing hamsters. We own a Scion XB, and thought that the way Kia made fun of our car, and other “box” cars like it, was brilliant. So here’s that one:

Now, Kia Soul has brought it again. Just genius.

I’m back…

I think I’ll have more to say about “I’m back” later, but at the moment, it’s simply that. I’m back. And on the horizon is reentry to seminary.

When I first started seminary, my view of getting a masters degree was very shortsighted and one-dimensional. I went into the program with the understanding that I was there simply to get a piece of paper because that is what the denomination would require for my “status” in the work place. The effects beyond that were the financial ramifications down the line for my family and the potential job security that the piece of paper could help bring. What I did not want to admit, but what I knew was inevitable, was that my grades would reflect my attitude about seminary. As a result of that outlook, I became very “bored” and distracted. This resulted in an almost-complete disintegration of anything related to seminary. I did not budget my time wisely. I procrastinated so much that my procrastination eventually turned into ignorance.

I intentionally took the past year off. I knew that I needed to spend time away from seminary in order to see the big picture again. What I didn’t know at the time was whether the big picture would include reentry and finishing the program.

I spent a lot of time over this past year doing soul-searching about seminary. I talked at and with God. I talked with my wife and parents. I talked with ministry partners. I talked with my team of pastors. I prayed and prayed and prayed. It didn’t take long for me to realize what needed to change in order for me to experience success, not just in the short term of earning the degree, but more importantly in the long term of taking and applying what I could be learning to thousands upon thousands of ministry and life situations. This process and degree was not in the box that I had placed it in. It was far-reaching and multi-dimensional. I just needed to choose to see it.

Having said all of that, I do not believe that all of a sudden classes and studying and the learning process will be easy, requiring little thought or planning because now I have the right mindset. It will take careful planning of my day and great time management to see this adventure through to the end with thankfulness and joy. One of the advantages that I have is a church that fully supports my involvement in this program, and as such have no problem with me using “office time” to work on seminary assignments.

The last piece of information that I want to share here would be where I see my priorities in life. A lot of Christians will say that their relationship with God is first. Then they will list off the other things in their life. I don’t have a problem with that. I just define it a little different. For me, everything in my life is an outward reflection of my connection with the Father. So it’s not that my relationship with Him isn’t the most important. It is that my relationship with my wife reflects my relationship with Him. My relationship with my sons reflects my relationship with Him. My relationship with my co-workers and partners in ministry reflects my relationship with Him. And the way that I study and “perform” in seminary reflects my relationship with Him.

Is seminary a means-to-an-end? Absolutely. But for me, what I now see and what I am committed to is that the “end” is not a piece of paper, but a furthering of opportunities to impact the Kingdom for His glory.

G.O.S.P.E.L.

As of ten minutes ago, I was going to post the third rule in my “Porn Rules” series.  Then I saw the video below.  Too awesome to not post today, especially with this week being Holy Week.  It fits perfectly.  I would encourage you to come back and watch it as many times as you can.  So good.

Don’t Dress Girls Like Tramps

This article is absolutely fantastic.  All parents of girls should read this.  Even parents of boys should read this simply to get the message that you are the parent.

Tomorrow, Porn Rules: Part Three.  See you then!

Girls hit puberty earlier than ever

Girls hit puberty earlier than ever, and doctors aren’t sure why.

I’ll be back on Tuesday with the third rule in our “Porn Rules” series.  But for today and the weekend, an article that fits within our conversation about youth and sex.  This is a very informative, very educational story for parents about puberty and children (mainly girls).