Well, It's Finally Over!

The marathon graduation party for Landon has finally concluded. Twenty family members came to stay with us from Ohio, Texas, and Florida. On Friday night Landon had three friends over too, making the grand total 27 in our house! How could we do this? Well, we love being together and we have a lot of patience. Meals have to be coordinated, sleeping arrangements have to be figured out, and children's events have to be worked out. It goes better than it should.

The best part though was what we experienced with Landon. The entrance of the grads at Landon's school tore me up for a few minutes--I didn't even catch a word of the opening speeches. But Sunday morning was an experience that I wish everyone could have. The service had some incredible music by Matt Hancock. "You Raise Me Up" with the slides of all the grads was tough to hear. But at the end of my message about finding your life work from Eph. 3 I told the grads that while they were rooted in their parents' love only they could find their wings in life. As family and friends gathered with each grad at the front Matt sang the song, "Find Your Wings." Landon is not especially emotional but he wept as we prayed over him causing all of us to cry even more. He goes to Georgia St. in the fall to study Music Business, sensing that he has been called to be a voice for Christ in the music industry.

I believe he has the gifts for this but in the end as with all of us...God is the provider of your all you need to accomplish your calling. I am excited about Landon's future and I could not have anything greater from you than your prayers for my sons. A big thanks to all of you for your kindness to me and interest in Landon. Thanks for being such good friends.

The Graduate

I remember graduation from LHS like it was yesterday. 507 gowns of the Lancaster High School class of '83 decorated the aluminum bleachers of the football field like blue and gold bunting. For me it seemed so unreal. For many years I had watched someone else move the tassle to the other side of their cap. Now it was me doing it and I could not believe it.

I am having a similar experience now. For many years now as a pastor I have attended the parties, endured the ceremonies, seen the graduates smiling ear to ear and the moms (and a few dads) weep. It was all something I observed but now I am experiencing. Like my graduation, the fact of my son Landon's graduation has not seemed real to me. But this Friday night the boy that I just took to kindergarten last week is going to be a high school graduate. I can't believe it.

Some people hate change--some people love it. Regardless of how you feel about change one thing is for sure: it is inevitable. There is no stopping what is happening in Landon's life. There is no rolling back the clock and experiencing his first step, T-Ball, or his 13th birthday again. There is only now. Today is all you have.

And that prompts me to tell you something as a person experiencing something for the first time. You will want to roll back time. You will wish you could more fully savor those moments from the past that you burned so easily. You will wish you could do it better this time benefitted by your complete understanding of its importance. But again, there is only today. What you have is based on what you did yesterday. But what you will have is based on what you will do today. Today is the only thing that matters for it is the only thing you can control.

Make the most of it, because one day the fact that yesterday is gone, that tomorrow may never come, and that today is all you have will literally 'hit home'. One day the kindergartener will be the graduate. I am so glad I have spent today well! Are you?

By the way don't miss Graduation Sunday this Sunday at 10:45. Graduates invite all your family and friends to come!

WOW!

If you missed the service Sunday you missed a great one. The band was smoking and the song choices were super. Mother's Day gave us a good setting for my message, Mother God, which taught us about the loving, tender, mother-like qualities of God. But the final song was beyond awesome. Melissa Hamilton sang the Martina McBride song "I Do It Anyway." This is a song with an unbelievable range and you don't attempt it if you can't nail it. Let's just say that Simon Cowell would have given her a kiss afterwards. The band and background vocalists were powerful in support of Melissa's singing. It was amazing.

Don't miss this Sunday...who knows what is going to happen!

You've Still Got To Be Kidding Me

That post caused a strong reaction. Here is an important question and we will leave it at this: What do you do with Matthew 19:13-15? "One day children were brought to Jesus in the hope that he would lay hands on them and pray over them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus intervened: "Let the children alone, don't prevent them from coming to me. God's kingdom is made up of people like these." After laying hands on them, he left."

Dont prevent them from coming to me could not be more plain. I have teenagers so I understand the challenges you face. Honestly though having to resort to taking away youth group is not very creative. It is also possible that we choose punishments that are easy on us without considering whether they are really effective. With all the things kids are interested in these days isn't there one other punishment we can come up with?

Here is a list of other options:
1. No phone
2. No internet
3. No snacks
4. No TV
5. No going anywhere
6. Additional chores
7. Essays
8. Book reports on books you choose
9. Washing the family car everyday
10. No Music
11. Pushups/ situps/ exercise
12. Dirty projects (cleaning gutters, ovens, trash cans, etc.)
13. Early bed time
14. Early wake up time for exercise or projects
15. Community service at someone else's house

Any one or a combination of these other punishments will have a powerful effect on them without making them miss something that connects them to God and teaches them to become better children. It may take thought and a little work (which is why we don't do it) but there has to be a better way than keeping them away from youth ministry. A person who is willing can probably find a better way. Feel free to comment on some other options. If punishment from youth group is your first thought you probably aren't thinking enough.

10:10 Connection

“A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.” -Daniel 10:10

Make the 10:10 connection! Join the leaders and staff for prayer in the theatre every Sunday morning at 10:10 AM as we pray for The Crossing. If you are a leader in The Crossing I expect you to be there.

You've Got To Be Kidding Me!

I recently had a conversation with our Student Pastor Matt and he told me some amazing things. He was telling me that some parents punish their kids when they do something wrong by grounding them from all activities including youth group activities at The Crossing. Youth group activities...you've got to be kidding me? That is like saying, "Son, you are sick again and because you are sick again I am going to ground you from seeing the doctor." So staying home in their rooms away from an event with their Heavenly father is going to help them obey their earthly fathers, how? And how does their absence help their youth group to get stronger? These things drive me nuts. We just don't think sometimes as parents.

I know some parents don't make their kids come to youth group if they are tired or have some other excuse. There may be times we should do that but rarely. Maybe if they weren't doing all those other events that don't touch their souls they would have more energy for one that does? I know some others think, "Well I don't want to shove religion down their throat." I wouldn't either but The Crossing is hardly religion. Religion is the boring, judgemental, adult focused church some of us grew up with.

But let's use that reasoning in other areas of a teenager's life. "I don't make them do homework because I don't want to shove education down their throat." Or how about..."I don't make them shower because I don't want to shove personal hygiene down their throat." Or even..."I don't make them go to practice because I don't want to shove commitment down their throat." We would never say these things. So why does everything else come before God and our children's spiritual growth?

I think it is because we ourselves are not that committed to it. Is it because God is not the living center of our lives, so why should he be for our kids? Do we think sports, education, or discipline is more important than God? What we do not realize is that if those things keep taking precedence over giving God and Pastor Matt the opportunity to shape and mold our kids we are setting ourselves up to have athletic, educated, disciplined, nominal Christians if not outright non-Christians. Well at least you got to see them play some sports and get good grades.

I challenge you to make some changes for your kid's future and yours. Get them involved in the student program. Get them to the apartment outreach this Saturday, 10-2. Be at the office at 9:30 AM Saturday or call Matt by Friday for a ride, 678-372-3130. The teens will go to an apartment complex in a repressed area and minister to kids in that complex. That will touch them.

Parents take the lead; they need you to, and so do you! You won't regret it but you will almost certainly regret not doing it.

Mother's Day???

It is a good idea to have a day set aside to honor mothers. But is it a good idea to have a day set aside to bash mothers? Because in many churches the preacher's message beats them up on Mother's Day. They get it for doing dishes instead of devotions (Mary and Martha) or for being less than a perfect mother, wife, and woman (The Virtuous Woman of Proverbs 31). In addition all those ladies who could not or did not have children feel like failures on Mother's Day.

So this Sunday we are doing something different at The Crossing--we are not going to pick on the ladies. And don't worry guys...we are not going to sap you to death with lacey sermons or rose scented bulletins. In fact I believe what the Lord has given me to share with you is going to blow everyone away. And the final song definitely will. About the message: I have heard people address God as "Father God"--nothing wrong with that Jesus told us to in the Lord's Prayer. But I believe I am supposed to tell you about how God is our Mother...Mother God. Man that is awkward. Don't worry I am not going new age liberal on you...pray for me that God will help me pull it off. It might actually be funny. So join us for Mother's Day, Crossing style!

Les Miserables and My Son

I am writing something right now that is completely selfish...in a good way. My son Landon has his final performance tonight in the lead role of Javert in the musical version of Victor Hugo's classic, Les Miserables. I believe what I am about to say is neither biased or opinionated: Les Mis is the best musical of all time.

Some musicals are funnier, some are more serious, some are more modern, some are more classical--many muscial's can top it in one category but add it all up and Les Mis is just better. The story is so full of grace and redemption that any Christ-follower ought to fall in love with it immediately. The music is so challenging and powerful that any lover of music has to admire it. But there is something intangible about the musical...something almost anointed that just gives me chills when I hear a certain line or tune from it.

My hat's off to the students and teachers at Buford who tackled Les Mis. But I am especially proud of my son, Landon. He kept auditioning for leads throughout his high school career only to see them go to others, sometimes even to underclassmen. He dutifully filled a role in the background of each of those performances. But finally, in the last musical of his senior year, he got his opportunity and he made the most of it by getting a lead role as 'Javert.' People have been extremely complimentary to me about his performances thus far. I am proud of how he has handled it all and I have loved his interpretation.

As 'Javert' he has the pressure of singing difficult music using a background track where mistakes are obvious and unfixable. In addition he must focus on acting while he focuses on singing. The sound is not always perfect and it would be easy to miss notes or cues. Except for a few minor moments of humanity he has been outstanding. He has brought me to tears several times.

And as I think about him graduating from high school I am very sad that he will not be around in a few months. Please forgive me while, as a real man, I cry a little bit. I just thank God for Landon and in moments like these I have to remember that many years ago I gave him to God. He is embarking on that part of his journey where he is becoming more God's boy than mine. And while that is a very good trade for him it still saddens me to see him entering this phase in his life. But I am pleased to let him go because I believe he is following God, which is exactly what I raised him to do. Landon has not lived up to my expectations...he has lived way above them.

I just wanted to let him know by telling all of you how proud I am of him and how grateful I am to God for giving me a son like Landon...and Logan!

The Spir-It Factor

Cheesy, I know but as true as it gets. Any prevailing church that makes a difference has God's Spirit in all they do. Period. They may not have a building, gear, money, an organization, or even a plan. But what they have trumps everything else. And ministries with all the other stuff cannot begin to do what the church's version of the "It Factor," the Spir-it factor, can do.

The It Factor is usually something unseen that seems to be producing the company's/ organization's/ person's success. In the church's case the It- Factor is unseen but not unknown. God's Spirit is the only thing that produces life and success in the Kingdom. There is no other way.

This past Sunday, The Crossing had the Spir-It Factor. The Spirit of God was there probably as never before. Mark down April 29, 2007 as an important date in our history. Something changed that day--in me if in no one else.

But I sensed it was not just me. The prayers of the worship leaders and technical team before the service were awesome. The presence of God was evident from the beginning of the service until the end. There was fruitifulness in the way people responded to God at the end. And one of our teens came to me and said he had come to know Christ in the service! That is the way it is supposed to be.

I don't think it had anything to do with bulletins, equipment, or the subject matter of the message. It had nothing to do with metaphors we have used like cars, football, or poker. It was not about a building, a stage, or seats. It was simply and powerfully, the presence of God.

I never want to go back. I never want any other kind of service. I want God's presence and changed lives. Why come every week if God won't be there and no lives are being changed? I have told the staff and I am telling everyone else--nothing less than God's presence and changed lives is acceptable anymore.

I told our Worship Pastor Adam, that I don't care if he has band practice or any equipment is set up; we have to pray for God to come and people to be changed.
I told our Children's Director Angie, that I don't care if there are cookies or crayons in childen's church; we have to pray for God to come and kids to be changed.
I told our Student Pastor Matt, that I don't care if we have a cool logo or Destination Unknown; we have to pray for God to come and teens to be changed.
And I am telling our board, that I don't care if we have an agenda or if we solve any financial issues; we need to pray for God to come and people to be changed.

If God isn't coming to our services in an obvious way, then lives won't be changed. And if he isn't coming and lives aren't being changed then we fit the description of Jesus's example of the salt that has lost its saltiness. We are useless without God's Spirit at The Crossing.

I am calling The Crossing to prayer! We have not been called to be useless but we will be if we rely on anything else but God. I refuse to be useless when God has called me to be so much more...how about you? I am inviting you to join me in prayer every Sunday from 10:10-10:30 AM. I need people who can pray to be there so don't come if you don't mean business. That's right, a pastor just said don't come to a prayer meeting...unless your motives are right and you are ready to pray.

We will not be praying for any special personal needs unless they relate to the service. We will pray for God to come and be worshipped and for people to come and be transformed. But as important as the content of our prayers is the attitude of our hearts. We must have a passion and pray with a sense of desperation. Nothing can happen without God...therefore we are desperate. We must pray like a thirsty man in the desert looks for water.

And because we are praying we can expect some good things...even some miracles. I can't wait. I will see you Sunday.

By the way...you have my permission to begin praying right now!