Taking Another Look

After God created the first man, God quickly concluded, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Have you ever wondered what exactly was that aloneness? After all, even before Eve, Adam wasn’t the only being in the garden. There were the animals and God himself was there. God must have meant that the man should not be the only one of his species. Adam needed someone to identify with in his humanity.

But here's the wrinkle. We commonly read these words as though God meant "It is not good for the man to be lonely." The biblical translators steer us here by substituting the word "man" where the text originally says "him." Hearing it that way justifies our pursuit of friendships and partners to quell our loneliness. And in a sense, we're right. We were not created for a solitary existence. I wonder if the translators haven't done us a disservice in their translation that causes us to miss part of the impact of what God said. What if what God meant was that it was not good for him, for God himself, for the man to be the only one. It does not suit God's purposes for a person to exist in isolation from others.

How might this alternate interpretation change how we view relationships and relational learning environments? What is your gut response to what you learned on Sunday?

Imagination and the Imago Dei

Week three of our pure, fresh and simple approach to church centered on the first three words of our vision statement, "Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic missional partnerships to move everyone toward their full potential in Christ." My approach was simple: support the idea from the Scriptures and tie it to our mission of loving God, loving others and living out loud.

We are imaginative because creativity is part of the Imago Dei (image of God) in each of us. Just as God named and then separated as part of the creation process, so Adam named and separated the animals. It was perhaps the first right brain, left brain activity. Right brain (creative) naming the animals and left brain (analytical) separating things like the 52,000 different beetles God created into categories.

The beautiful tie to our mission statement is that in the Great Commandment we are told to love God with all of our heart, our soul and our mind. The word Jesus used for mind is often translated imagination. It refers directly to the right side of our brain rather than the left side (a different word in the original language.

I'm interested in your reaction to what you heard? How do you respond to imaginative ministry design? Is it exciting to you, terrify you or something in between? How might it play into your desire to invest and invite people to join our faith journey?

P=MV2

This past Sunday, Pastor Dave shared a simple equation...or not so simple if physics isn't your thing:

P = MV2; momentum equals mass times velocity squared.

Momentum is what gives us impact; in our case, impact within our community.

Mass refers not to size or volume, but rather weight and density. One of our BHAG's is to double our worship attendance; not for the sake of increasing our volume/size, but to give more weight to what we do, to create a greater impact.

Velocity, as Pastor Dave shared, is speed with direction. In our case the direction is our vision statement:

Thru imaginative design create relational learning environments and strategic Missional partnerships to lead everyone to their full potential in Christ.

So the question of the week is: If our vision provides the direction for velocity, what provides the speed?

Thoughts anyone?

Pure, Fresh and Simple

Pure, fresh and simple are in. AquaFina knows this. Papa John’s knows this. Apple knows this. Today I shared with you how Jesus set the example of how the church should be pure, fresh, and simple. He condensed all of the law and the work of the church into two statements: the Great Commandment, and the Great Commission. These are reflected in our mission statement: “To move everyone toward loving God, loving others and living out loud.” In reflecting on the mission statement, which do you feel will be the most difficult for you in 2008: loving God, loving others, or living out loud (fulfilling the Great Commission).?

An Exciting Conclusion

We concluded our SeeWorld series this week as we examined the fourth and final chapter of Jonah. In it, we find Jonah's unlikely response to Nineveh's repentance found in chapter three. Jonah just wants to die! He reveals for us his fear from the very beginning - that God would be as merciful to the people of Nineveh as he has been to Jonah and his fellow Israelites. Jonah is not comfortable with that fact.

What makes you uncomfortable about the Gospel? What gives you comfort when the city around us continues to move farther and farther from God? What can we do to move beyond our comfort zones and see the city the way that God sees the city?

Unlikely

Unlikely. That was the word on which we focused this morning. Jonah was an unlikely prophet, sent with an unlikely message to an unlikely people. Jonah's repentance may have been unlikely, but more unlikely still was the message he was asked to share with them. No soft sell here. Simply, "God hates your wicked ways and offers you utter destruction. From that unlikely message comes a most unlikely response - the people of Nineveh repent. Here's my question: Do we really believe that people can repent (realign)? I ask this because I have found myself failing to share God's message. When I take a deeper look at the reason I didn't share, often times it's because deep down inside I don't believe people will respond. Am I the only one who has experienced this? What things keep you from sharing God's message most often?

Got Repentance?

Today, our SeeWorld series focused on the second chapter of Jonah. A casual reading of the narrative might lead you to the conclusion that Jonah repents while in the belly of the fish. But a careful study of the ten verse prayer reveals 26 references to "I", "me", "my" and "mine" with only two lines failing to have a reference to Jonah himself. Consider taking a few moments to read all four chapters of Jonah. Pay special attention to Jonah's attitude. Do you see the ten verses of chapter two as true and authentic repentance? What do you believe to be evidence of true repentance? Was does authentic prayer mean to you? What was your takeaway from the passage today?

Jonah: Blindfold

Everyone loves a good story. One of the best known tales in all the Bible is that of Jonah. But is it just a big fish tale that we learned growing up or is there more to it? Are there greater insights to be gleaned than a big fish swallowed a little man? We began answering those questions during our Gathering this morning. Jonah, in essence, put on a blindfold in the hopes that if God was out of sight he would be out of mind. In the midst of his running from God, he finds himself in the middle of sailors who desperately need to hear about the love of God. Unfortunately, Jonah was silent. Do you ever find yourself in that kind of position - surrounded by people who need to hear the message of the Gospel - and yet you're silent? Why do we do that? Why do we often avoid the situations God puts in front of us daily?

Time to Throw in the Towel

The clock is ticking down toward the crucifixion. Jesus gathers his disciples around him to teach them one last, profound message. John 13 records the washing of the disciples' feet by Jesus. Our focus yesterday was on this phrase: "and having loved them, he now showed them the full extent of his love." In the context of this passage, Jesus connects love with servanthood. In other words, you really haven't loved someone fully until you are willing to serve them.

What is it about serving others that is most difficult for us? Is it that we are lazy? Do we struggle with time management? Do we not understand kingdom values? Is it pride? I'm interested in hearing your thoughts about why there seems to be a gulf between knowing and doing!

Spiritual Conversations

On Sunday we spoke about the dreaded "E" word. You know the one I mean. The word that strikes terror in churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike. Evangelism. Most non-churchgoers, when encountering the word, imagine the letters TV in front of it, opening the door for all kinds of negative images. The dominate Sales Basis Approach to evangelism (create need, demonstrate how the gospel fills that need, move for a close through the sinners prayer) has led to many of those negative images.

Jesus' dominate method of evangelism was spiritual conversations. He was a master of asking questions that allowed him to climb into their lives. The number one evangelism tool for the 21st century is the ability to ask leading questions and then actively listen. I asked these questions on Sunday and I would love to get your feedback: "What would it look like for Crosspointe to inject the evangelism model of Jesus into its DNA?" "When was the last time you engaged someone in a spiritual conversation?" What fears to do you have related to evangelism?"