• Passionate about seeing kids from 0-5th grade grow in their relationship with Christ.
• Work and play well with others – staff, parents & volunteers.
• Able to communicate exceptionally well.
• Always looking for new ways to reach kids and parents who are far from God.
• Willing to champion the DNA of Cross Point at every campus.
• Able to commit to the vision and values of Cross Point Church.
• Are a leader of leaders.
• Excel in keeping up with the details.
• Able to lead a team of paid staff and volunteers.
• Experienced in working with kids and adults of various ages and have a management background.
• Like to have fun.

This is a picture of our Mobile Hope Center that Carlos Whittaker tweeted from Joplin. One of my projects while I was filling in as our Dickson Campus Pastor was getting this truck wrapped with the graphics and back on the road as a Mobile Hope Center.

I thought that it was going to be an amazing blessing for Dickson County. And it has. But I was thinking WAY too small. I had no idea that within 6 months, this truck would not only serve Dickson County, but also make 3 trips to devastated Alabama and a trip to Joplin, MO. God has a way of doing that to our puny ideas. He takes them, changes them, and blows them up.

I am so proud of our teams that are carrying the Message of hope WAY outside of our territory. That kind of hope can’t be contained in county or state lines.

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13

It’s just a mis-mash of clothes. Some on hangers. Some on the floor. Some in a pile on the shelves with absolutely no sense of sorting or folding. And that is perfectly fine with me. Until…I’m looking for that sweet, Ed Hardy t-shirt that I feel like has another summer season in it. Then it’s a 2 hour session filled with bowling words and clothes tossing, until I finally remember that it had a rip and Jenny made me throw it away.

If only I had a good clothes system, I could save a lot of time and pain every new season. Luckily, I have worked hard to develop systems in other parts of my life to help me and the initiatives that I lead be more productive. Andy Stanley says that systems create behaviors. The systems that leaders create will drive the organization more than the missions statement.

I am going to dive into some of the systems that I use in more depth next week, but here are a few of the tools that help keep me on track:

- Spiraled notebooks. I still write it with a pen first.
- Evernote. It organizes everything digital for me.
- Google Docs. Great for collaborating.
- Dropbox. Can’t imagine not having it.
- CalenGoo. iPhone calendar app.
- Square app. For credit card transactions and inventory.
- WordPress app. iPad blogging app.
- Google Reader. For reading blogs.
- Angry Birds. For sanity.

What are some of your tools to keep you on track?

Since we put most of our ministries under the Community Groups banner, we have to be able to measure whether our groups are healthy or not. To do that, we have identified 3 things that every community group should have:

1. Community

Our groups are ultimately about doing life together. This does not mean that every person in the group needs to have a deep, personal relationship with each other. It simply means that relationships are being formed that are built on more than just the study.

Questions to ask:

• Are people getting together sometimes outside of the group?
• Are people engaging in conversation before and after group starts? 
• Is there a lot of laughter at the group? Laughter is a healthy sign.

2. Study

Community is important, but without a study, it might as well just be a social club. People can get that from other places in their lives. Our groups exist to help people take their next spiritual steps in the context of community. We have a list of suggested studies for groups to use. A good study simply starts a conversation that leads to action.

Questions to ask:

• Are people in the group growing spiritually?
• Can you see a difference in their lives?
• Are they serving in the church? Are they giving their time, resources and talents?

3. Mission

We believe that every group at Cross Point should be engaging the community around them. We do this by partnering with organizations that are already making a difference in the city. We also do it with simple acts of service. Our groups did an amazing job of this during our Serve 4 Seven week before Easter. Each quarter, we also offer a Serving Saturday where all of our groups serve on the same day around the city. It is a powerful reminder of what the Church should be.

Questions to ask:

• Has the group served somewhere in the community this semester?
• Are the group members understanding the importance of serving their neighbors?

One of the questions that people often ask when they find out that I am the Ministries Pastors at Cross Point is, “How many ministries do you oversee?” Usually the question is accompanied by a look of horror and disbelief at the idea that one person could possibly oversee the hundreds of ministries that a church should be offering. After all, that’s what the church is supposed to do…right? We are in the ministries business…correct?

Here are just a few of the ministries that every church should have on the menu:

• Men’s Ministry
• Women’s Ministry
• Single’s Ministry
• Adult’s Ministry
• Older Adult’s Ministry
• Younger Adult’s ministry
• Kid’s Ministry
• Older Adults That Feel Like Younger Adults And Have Kid’s Ministry

He listed these 6 possible idols and questions for us to ask ourselves about them:

• Money
• Success/work
• Attractiveness
• Relationships
• Pleasure
• Church

1. Which of these do I find myself thinking about the most?
2. Which one of these do you most fear losing or feel like life might not be worth living if I did not have this, if I lost that?
3. Which one of these most gives me a sense of identity?
4. Which of these do I most look to, to make me feel secure?
5. Which of these do I most want to be known for?
6. Which one of these do my efforts most tend to revolve around?

A need for hurry + a desire for control will often lead to idolatry.

I may or may not have figured out that anything that Steve Jobs tells me to buy is my idol.

Here is the amazing Empty Promises video that kicked off the message.

I am very excited about the start of this series at Cross Point! Here are a few details.

WHAT IS THE SERIES ABOUT?

In a nut shell it is about believing in things that leave us feeling less than fulfilled. It is about creating idols in our lives. From time to time we all have believed that money, power, acceptance, relationships, or love would fill us up when in reality only God can fill the void we have in our lives.

Culture is full of all kinds of promises isn’t it?
Beauty = Confidence Success = Happiness Money = Security

Over the course of our lives we buy into promises around us that can leave us just as empty. We believe the promises of Success, Love, Acceptance, and Money, but when these things materialize . . . or don’t . . . we are left feeling unfulfilled.

How do we avoid a life filled with Empty Promises?

Join us for a new series,
Empty Promises
Sundays in September and October.