MoviePastor.com: Church, Culture, Christ

Beer Run

This is Sunday's video used to introduce the subject of Alcohol.  To set it up, I told our congregation I had a prop that was missing and I'd be right back.  Then I ran off stage and out of the theater.

Deadliest Catch

Excited about our next series that begins Aug 17.  We take a 4 week look at the book of Jonah in a series called "The Deadliest Catch" - Check it out here

More about hot topics

Cannot get over what happened during Hot Topics. In 4 weeks we added about 100 people. I have seen and heard more life change than ever before. I wore my first (last) coconut bra (bro.). I think people "get" what we are about. I've seen our leaders evolve and stretch like never before. People are buzzing. Volunteers are coming put of the woodwork. We nearly ran out of seating today and people sat on the floor.

We saw all this happen while I am working full time. I travel every other week and when I do I work 60 hours. All of our "staff" are volunteer or part time. We did almost no advertising (a business card for people to hand out) and we preached this series because we expected a slump and thought we'd preach to our people.

I guess what I'm saying is we have no idea what we are doing and this doesn't make sence but we figure God is probably grinning real big cause he seems to be up to something nutty.

I am humbled and honored to Pastor Crosspoint.

Sunday Mind Dump

• Incredible Day
• Shattered a record - still blown away by it.
• Yes I wore the coconut bra and grass skirt
• if you were late - sorry - dont be late any more
• Lots of Country Music and Videos
• Im leaving on vacation.
• May give more details later but family is first.
• You can follow me on Twitter
• See you Sunday

iPhone Update

I found out today that even though iTunes says my iPhone has the latest software update - apparently it didn't.  My software was 2.0 (5A345) (Settings-general- about).  My buddy called me to tell me he was having problems and updated his.  Here's how he did it. 

1. Sync your iPhone to back it up in iTunes
2. Restore your iPhone software and blow everything away (There is a setting for this in iTunes)
3. Restore everything from the backup (this will be an option after you do #2)

When you do this - iTunes downloads a newer iPhone software release from apple in step 2 and installs it and wipes everything off your phone.  Now I have version 2.0 (5A347)

I dont know that this is really significant - but i've heard reports that battery life is improved (or charging is improved - one friend said his wasnt charging fully) , crashes and delays dont happen (maybe not as frequently anyway).  My friend said all his issues were gone and his phone was acting great!

Its all speculation and I have no clue what Im talking about.  There are no cool things like are rumored to be in the next release (turn by turn with velocity data and cut and paste) but the version number changed so it makes me feel like I got an upgrade.

Gone Country

Tomorrow we are going to do something CRAZY.  We are going country!  The Hot Topic is BEER.  We have some funny video and great music planned.  Its going to be DIFFERENT for us.  You dont want to miss!  Also I am going to make good on my promise for breaking 200 people.  We'll set some people free Sunday.  Cant wait to see you and teach!

It doesnt look any better!?!

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entry about the work I do and how we had to clean up the site because a colonel was coming for an inspection.  Today we were working in one of the classrooms and they sent some guys in to remove some boxes that had accumulated in a corner from other work that we werent involved in.  Another inspection was around the corner - this time with a GENERAL and people were getting nervous and making sure they were ready.  After they left, one of the government program managers came in to the room where we were working to see how the clean up was going and said:

"It doesnt look any better!" 

What he didnt notice was they cleaned only one corner of the room we were in.  That corner looked great. But the work we were doing had caused a lot of clutter and it really looked like crap when you walked in.  If you didnt know they had removed those boxes you'd think it was a HUGE mess.  And it was. 

I got to thinking about this.  We do this in church.  We look at someone who has a messed up life and maybe God has been working on them - but we still see some of their junk.  They are taking steps in the right direction - but there is a lot that still isn't right.  And we look at them and say "It doesnt look any better!"

Often we forget that God worked on us (and still is) and it took (takes) a while.  And God may be cleaning up their mess in a different way than he cleaned up ours.  When I first started back at Church I had problems with porn, alcohol, tobacco, language, lust and money to name a few.  The tobacco problem went away pretty early.  The language cleaned up dramatically and fast.  Some of the other things took a while longer.  And honestly - here I am years later and God keeps finding new dirt and clutter that I need to deal with.

Here's my point - dont look at someone and think that God isnt working in their life just because it doesnt look any better to you!  You may not think they are spiritual enough, or they don't walk with God, or they have major issues before they will pass your spiritual litmus test.  God may have just done a HUGE work in their life that you can't even see - or didn't even know was a problem.  You cant see what God see's!  (Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart!)

The guy who came in on us today had no idea that our plan was to finish our work in the room and clean it up by lunch greatly diminishing the clutter and making the room usable.  Because they had cleaned that corner out - it gave us the room we needed to finish the job - and when we were done - it looked awesome! 

God has a plan for every person - and He may be doing things that you cant see - so that he has more room to work and finish the job - and when he's done - its going to look AWESOME!

 

Do I have STUPID written on my forehead?

YES.

This Mr. Magoo moment was brought to you by me dropping a 5 lb commercial power strip on my head while I was trying to screw it into the bottom of a desk.  The sharp edged metal tab that holds it to a flat surface nearly scalped me!

The Little Church

David foster (davidfoster.tv) has an EXCELLENT blog post today. Go read his post on the little church. I can't link it right now but you can find it.

Sunday Mind Dump

• Incredible Day!!!!
• Started with a headache, things were hectic for me because I slept in to sleep it off.
• Service started a little rough and awkward today - we didnt totally think through a couple of transitions.
• Worship was as good as ever - but I was distracted because I forgot to check something in my slides - and I was worried about it - turned  out not to be an issue.
• Had two people email be before the service telling me they were praying for me - really cool!
• Preached on Homosexuality.  Honestly it was one of the most difficult topics of the series - maybe ever for me. 
• Tough to preach the TRUTH in LOVE. 
• Christians are usually good at the truth part - but usually we suck at the love part.
• Lots of positive feedback.
• TONS of guests.
• After service went and shot next week's video.  It will be SO funny.
• We are doing a song next week you wont believe!
• No, I have not worn the grass skirt yet.
• You may want to bring a camera Sunday ;-)
• Great to see some old faces returning  "home" to crosspoint.
• AWESOME seeing new faces.
• We are going to blow a WAD of cash on some MUCH needed upgrades, KidZone and guest services/follow up. 
• Loved the cage fight last night and hanging with some of our men!
• cool to see some of the people I saw there last night at Crosspoint this morning
• Had a MR. Magoo moment that would make Chris Elrod proud of me.   I tripped and fell today between a couple of the video shots we did.  Landed HARD and skinned up my knee, hands and elbow.
• Fortunately nothing broken or jammed.  Maybe in a year i'll develop symptoms!
• Great small group tonight - new ones start in fall.  Let Kenny know if you want to be part of a life group or lead one.
• Cannot WAIT till next Sunday - "The Sin of Light Beer!"  We are going to have a good time!
• Loving Crosspoint, love the people, love what God is doing - but hang on - you aint seen nothin yet!