Excited Future

I am sitting here in my office preparing for Sunday's message and I am extremely excited to share...I want to preach it right now!  I am starting a new series called "MADE" which will teach you how to Unleash your Potential, Significance, and Creativity!!!  You won't want to miss one week of this awesome new sermon series!!!  

Also, I am thinking about our new stage design for 2009 and I am so pumped about the transformation that is taking place around here.  2009 is going to be the best year yet and I am believing that God is going to grow in us more than we can think or imagine.  Wow, I now ready to run around my office a few times.

Have a Happy New Year!!!

Weekend Wrap

I know that we had an awesome weekend at Crosspointe as Pastor Scott shared an incredible message!  It is so nice having people who can cover, giving me time off and away from life in Ada.

Jennifer and I have had an incredible week with her family in Missouri as we have celebrated Christmas, visited with friends, and shopped (a lot). Even though we've been plagued by strep throat and ear infections and have spend time in Urgent Care Centers and pharmacies we've had a great time together.

On Sunday I traveled over to Illinois to be with one of my good pastor friends and mentor Hal Santos who pastors Grace Church.  Grace is a great, solid church and I gleaned a lot from being there.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone this Wednesday at the New Years Eve Party that will take place in our Fellowship Hall from 6:30 to 8:30 PM.

One last thing, I am so pumped to start a new series next Sunday called "MADE!"  MADE will lead you in unleashing your significance, potential, and creativity.  Don't miss one week as we will have a great time worshipping and learning together!!!

A simple hello.

This week has been of of the busiest weeks I have had this year, thus I haven't had time to post any new blogs!  So, I want to say "HELLO" to all my readers!!!

Our staff and I have been working endlessly on Christmas at Crosspointe which is this Sunday, and the Spiritual Elevation Challenge which begins January 4th and the stage redesign with is kicking of January 11th!  So, as you can tell we have a lot of exciting things ahead for Crosspointers!

Christmas at Crosspointe is going to be one amazing day and I am believing for great results to happen in the lives of everyone who attends!  

Weekend Wrap

Wow!  What a great day we had at Crosspointe today as I shared a sermon entitled, "Growing in Generosity."  It is the final sermon of the current series "Going Green!"  It was a challenging sermon series for us.  So, here is what happened...

1.  A young lady rededicated her life to Christ today!!!

2.  I challenged everyone with something new that we are doing called "Change for Change," which is a commitment that we are making to give our change to Feed the Children.  In turn they will give it to schools in Africa to provide water and meals for the many children there!  We are excited to help the world around us.

3.  Found out that the lady who gave her heart to God was invited by a lady in our church who met her at a local gas pump, paid for her gas, and invited her to Crosspointe!  Awesome!  Whoever invited her - thanks!  Your rewards are in heaven!!!

4.  Looking forward to visiting a couple Connection Group Christmas parties tonight and hope to get great food!  

Sermons for 2009

I've been working the last few weeks preparing and organizing my sermons for 2009 and I am so excited to get to share some very insightful, powerful, and anointed thoughts with you.  I am believing that 2009 is going to be a breakout year for you!!!  

So far I will be teaching on...

1.  Unleashing your potential in Jan.

2.  Offense (it will kill you before your dead) in Feb.

3.  It came from within in March.  Dealing with the heart!!!

4.  Parenting in April.  We will kick off on Easter.

Santa Claus is coming to town!

Sunday, December 21 at 10:30 AM

Hello Crosspointers!  You can let Christmas come alive for you and your family at our “Christmas at Crosspointe” complete with a Christmas choir, communion, video testimonies, hot chocolate and Christmas cookies, and family pictures with Santa Clause.  Bring a friend, family member, or neighbor to this exciting event!

New Year Resolutions

As we end this current year it is once again time to deem our newest and hopefully enduring New Year Resolution.  So, what resolution(s) are you making for the new year? Leave a comment with your resolution...

Weekend Insight

1.  Awesome worship today...great job team! 

2.  I was so ready to share the message that God put on my heart that I felt like I was going to explode without sharing it.  I love talking about vision and the future!  God is going to do so many things in our church during the next twelve months!  2009 is going to be a breakout year for us!

3.  We will have the exact total of the Miracle Offering tomorrow, but the preliminary report is much, much better than anyone could ask or think!!!

4.  The building is decorated beautifully for Christmas.  I love this time of year. 

5.  I listened to the choir rehearse today and they are really good.  I am proud of them.  They have put a lot of time into the Crosspointe at Crosspointe, which is only TWO weeks away!!!

6.  Have a lot to do this week in finalizing things for Christmas of Crosspointe, following up on people, developing the Spiritual Elevation Challenge and preparing the 2009 teaching calendar.  My heart is pounding fast, right now, just thinking about his next year.  God is taking us to the next level!!!

7.  Love you Crosspointers and I hope you have the best week of your life!

Christmas Parade Outreach!

Burr!!!  It was a blistering cold 32 degrees as the people of Crosspointe gathered at Bates Electronics on Main Street in Ada for a community outreach.  We gave out hot chocolate and popcorn to those who were watching the parade.  Surprisedly, although it was free many people offered to pay and insisted that we take a donation!  When all was said and done we served more than 300 people!!!  Here are some pictures from the night.

We even had a Bedlam Rivalry!

Let ‘em walk

So Steven Furtick over at www.stevenfurtick.com posted a thought tonight about T.D. Jakes' quote that I posted here last week and I thought it would encourage the many pastors and church leaders who read Building People.  Here it is...

Let ‘em walk

I want to expand a little on a concept that I touched on recently.
I heard a 5 minute rant by Bishop T.D. Jakes recently about dealing with people who choose to exit your life.

His bottom line instruction:
If somebody can walk away from you, let them walk.

Our reflexive response is to chase after the people who leave our lives.  I’ve seen pastors approach the verge of nervous break down attempting to convince disgruntled church members to stay.
This rarely works.  If you do convince them to stay, chances are good their attitudes will begin to demolish the interior of your church.
Let them walk.  There’s a better church for them.  Let them bless another ministry.

I’ve seen girls give guys their hearts, their bodies, and irrevocable pieces of their souls trying to keep a guy who’s not even a keeper to begin with.
If he doesn’t see the goodness and the virtue in you, and you have to cross the line of sin to make him stay, let him walk.
Make room for someone better.

Granted, there are exceptions to this rule.  When you’ve sinned against someone, it’s your Biblical responsibility to make it right.  Even when someone has an issue with you, you are obligated to do everything you can to make it right.

But that doesn’t mean that you continue to pursue the relationship to your own detriment, or that you continue to extend unwarranted and unwise trust and access.

There are too many people waiting to be reached for a pastor to agonize over those who don’t want to stay.
You have too much going for you to expend energy trying to convince another person to love you, accept you, believe in you…

If someone can walk away from you, let them walk.  Gracefully, with dignity.
Your destiny is never connected to those who leave.
Build on the foundation that remains.

Merry Christmas

Jennifer and I hosted our Team of Elders for a Christmas Party tonight and had a great time of community and enjoyed some of the best food in the world!!!  Seriously, we have the best cooks at Crosspointe!  

Weekend Wrap

Wow!  What an amazing Worship Set we experienced yesterday!  I could have kept on worshiping for hours!!!  We really have a very talented worship team of whom I never want to take their talent and dedication for granted.  Many churches strive to have one or two talented people yet we have a church full.  Thanks God.  

I began a series entitled, "Go Green, Creating a Growth Environment!"  Yesterday, I spoke about how we need to grow in sanctification, hunger, and devotion to God.  It was really awesome as several responded to the call for a deeper walk with God.  

I am so (extremely, off the chain) excited about that Spiritual Elevation Challenge that we are going to journey together as a church community during the month of January.  We will have a page on our web site devoted to the challenge...it should be up soon.  We will also have a table in our lobby up soon to detail the Challenge.  

We had an ARMY of people show up last night to decorate the church building for Christmas, and it looks amazing!  I think this is the best it has ever looked for Christmas.  Speaking of  Christmas - Mark your calendars today for the Christmas at Crosspointe Gathering on December 21 at 10:30 AM.  It is going to be amazing!!! I'm telling you - it is going to be AMAZING!!!  Have I said, "Amazing?"  OK, you get the point, but seriously it is going to be really good.  

Next Sunday is our Miracle Offering where we will give a sacrificial gift to enhance our worship area by remodeling our stage with new screens, projectors, and lighting, and we are going to use the offering to restock the Samaritan's Food Ministry!  You can find out more by going HERE.