So, hang in there while we make these changes.

With this time off, my heart is stirring with a lot that I want to start posting about. In this transition to Lead Pastor, my personal blogging has taken a hit, but I don’t believe that is the best thing. I miss sharing more of our lives on here and what God is teaching me. So be looking for many more posts in the future, and a new look and feel to the blog itself.

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

Basically we all come from all sorts of backgrounds, but together, collectively, pushing aside ourselves and our pride, we become the Body of Christ. At VBS, on Sunday mornings, in small groups, at HYPE, in the life of a healthy church, you’ve got all these people serving in different ways, in different roles, so that God might be honored. They are grasping hold of this truth…

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

It says each one of you. Not some of you, not a select few, but each and every believer is called to serve. Thank you Crosspoint family for the way you serve so faithfully and with such passion and faithfulness.

I love this job: Sure it is not without its challenges and stress, but in the end, I love what I do and the people I serve alongside.

Having an elder team is invaluable: I love the four other guys I serve with on the elder team. They are a source of encouragement and support in my role. They lift my load all the time.

Video teaching can be effective: The Dave Ramsey series we did proved to be very powerful, all via video. There is potential for multi-site down the road.

Preaching weekly is hard work: Anyone who thinks a pastor stands up to preach with little prep work is crazy. It takes some significant hours each week to prepare messages and plan ahead for what is next. I love preaching, but it is not without putting serious labor and love into each message.

Priorities: It is easy to allow the priority of Jesus and my family to become secondary to ministry. It seems crazy to say that, but the demands can cause your priorities to get out of whack. I am committed to not allowing that to happen. I won’t sacrifice my own walk with God or my family on the ‘alter of ministry.’

Vision, vision, vision: You can never cast vision enough. We all need to be encouraged and challenged continually to press forward into what is ahead.

Leaders surrounding: I rely heavily on the many volunteer leaders around Crosspoint. I love their passion and faithfulness. Without them…well…I don’t want to think about that.

Websites matter: I knew this before, but after now having a great new website, I am reminded of it again. It is effective and flexible, and in my mind, is extremely strategic in the pursuit of our vision.

Change is good: In the first 100 days, we’ve initiated some changes and clear vision for what is ahead. I believe in order to be effective, we must be willing to adapt and change as a church. You won’t find too many sacred cows hanging around Crosspoint.

Communication is key: As a church, we are striving to be very good at communication. A lot of my job is wrapped up in communication and helping people stay informed. Good communication is something we can take for granted. If it wasn’t there, we would all suddenly notice. And it is something we must continually improve.

And to those questions, some would say, why? Why do I need that in my life? Well, because our flesh is weak. Because if left to ourselves, we can walk down a path of sin or complacency and justify it all the way down the path. And then we find ourselves at a place, and we wonder how we got there.

We land in that destination, because we make little comprimises along the way. We can justify the sin, and in turn, it grows, and becomes an ugly monster in our lives. To combat that, we need to enter into relationships where we are accountable to another. Now accountability is only as effective as you and I want to be honest. We can lie our way through it, and any sort of benefit is thrown out the window.

For me personally, I have a handful of guys who I am accountable to. Both formally and informally. They have the free reign to step into my life as they see fit, and I have that authority into their lives as well. A healthy accountability relationship takes an incredible amount of humility and honesty on our parts. We must admit that we don’t have it all together, that we need to grow in some areas. If we are unwilling to admit that, then accountability is fruitless.

But if approached in a humble spirit, I believe God can do great things in our lives, when we are accountable to another. So who do you need to call this week to ask them to hold you accountable? And after answering that question…actually make the call.

*A big, big thanks to Bree Johnson who created the 10×10 design. She always does a great job with our designs.