The Next Leg of the Journey

While traveling in Uganda recently, I asked one of my Ugandan hosts about how long it would take to make the trip from our base guesthouse to a school on the opposite side of town. His reply? "It depends upon what you want to see." What I envisioned as a trip - one such as I make a dozen times each day - he perceived as a journey. Where I expected direct-route GPS trip precision, he saw the twisting, winding possibilities of a journey.

Crosspointe has been on a thirty-month journey - a spiritual odyssey of sorts - that has forced us to challenge the assumptions that have girded our faith-community to this point. We've abandoned certain assumptions that we have always had about how faith and followership are expressed within our church. We've had to leave behind things we thought would be or should be part of the church experience. In the end, we found ourselves well off the map but fully engaged with the Map Maker.

Has it been a difficult journey? Absolutely. Have we become impatient a time or two? Without a doubt. But God has faithfully led us to the next waypoint on our journey.

Recently we acquired 6,000 square feet of space in the Hebron Plaza shopping center located at 2425 West Parker RD in Hebron. We believe this is the next leg of the journey that God is showing us. We hope you are as excited as we are to see what God will do in our lives as well as the lives of the people around us through this new facility. We want you to be apprised of our progress in making this space a great location for Crosspointe. To see what is taking place, you may click through the slideshow below.

Abraham: Treacherous Faith

Genesis 22. My friend and mentor Len Sweet says that speaking about Abraham can be compared to collecting antiques. Some people collect in order to put their prized possessions on display never to be touched. Others collect in order to handle them and put them to use in everyday life. Both people believe they are honoring the antiques. Both consider what the other does as disrespectful.

My aspiration in today's message was to approach this text with respect it deserves yet with an eye toward a deeper understanding of the God who authored the test. I suspect that I left some of you with more questions than answers. That's okay. The God we follow is untamable. His wild ways are often beyond our ability to comprehend. I'd love to see us wrestle with the text some more in this forum.

We also asked for posts on this topic: Have you ever been asked to do something by God that other's thought was crazy? If so, how did you respond and what lessons did you learn?

Glimpse into a Journey Team

Crosspointe meets in smaller groups throughout the week called "Journey Teams." John and I (pictured left) happen to belong to Oxygen which meets every other Friday night in Carrollton.

Last night, we began by talking about Palm Sunday's gathering. David--our pastor--had taught about the passage where Mary breaks open an alabaster jar and pours it on Jesus. Each person in the group shared the unique things they got out of the teaching and we shared different ideas and asked questions.  One of the things that struck all of us was how the scent filled the room as Pastor Dave went around and anointed each person with the oil. (Pastor Dave frequently uses very practical visuals to illustrate.)

We talked about some needs in our congregation and made plans to help. We prayed for our church.

In Oxygen we always share a meal together and last night Holly cooked. Over dinner conversation ranged from the practical (like Sheila's upcoming garage sale and DeAnn sharing aromatherapy tips) to the abstract (like the giraffe that stuck it's head in Vicki's sunroof at Fossil Rim or John suggesting she upload the video of that to YouTube which launched us all watching the Evolution of Dance).

The best part of journey teams is that they create community at a closer level than you can get on a Sunday morning.  And the best part is there are a variety to choose from that meet in different places and times.