Tremendous Response...Q&A;

Tremendous Response…a morning of Q&A;

I cannot tell you when the last time was we had such enthusiastic appreciation voiced for a service topic we presented as what happened this last Sunday, April 23. On a last minute prompting from the Holy Spirit, we jumped into an experimental approach to church: an “open mic” Q&A; time, where the entire teaching portion of the service was devoted to allowing the congregation to set the agenda by text-messaging questions, or writing them on notecards, or raising their hands during the teaching. The result was an unbelievably engaging dialogue format discussion. If you missed it, you ought to check it out online at www.crosscurrent.org in our teaching archives (posted by tonight, hopefully!!)

What I thought was so cool about it was the interactivity, and the authenticity of the questions. We so want CrossCurrent to be the kind of place where open skepticism, struggle with belief, doubt or issues with Christianity can be openly discussed in a safe and respectful way. We had just a great time talking through some really critical questions people had, and the response was overwhelming: we need to do this again!

To that end, we’ve laid out some plans for the next few weeks. Starting this coming Sunday, we’re launching a new series we’ve been planning: Jesus, Mohammed, DaVinci and Judas—What Really Happened? In this four part series, we are going to tackle the enormous discussion going on in our society around the historical Jesus, and the role of religion in the development of the world. From the impact of extremist Islamic terror, to the suggestions about the real Jesus by the recent hit novel (and soon blockbuster movie) The DaVinci Code and the recently discovered Gospel of Judas, we’ll look at the truth behind the history. What really happened? What is it’s meaning to me? How do I know what is truth and what is fiction? Can we even really know what the truth is?

You will not want to miss this series! Invite your friends—especially those who are skeptics or seekers themselves. This promises to be a really intense, discussion generating series. Coupled with the Sunday teaching, we will be hosting some Q&A; after-church BBQ’s at a nearby home, where we can gather and talk ‘til whenever about whatever. Also, we’ll be launching an Apologetics course for our School of Ministry sometime in June (more details later. “Apologetics” is the term for intellectual and historical defense of the faith.).

And then, due to popular request, after our current series, we will plan on another Q&A; Sunday, to follow up, and see what else we’ve stirred up.

In the meantime…I will be blogging on the questions that came in. As you can see from the list of them below, it will not be a quick process, and will take some time. I’ll tackle one or two at a time, and over the next few weeks, I’ll do my best to give you some concrete feedback on some really, really good questions. Check them out, and then buckle your seatbelt for an exciting ride these next few months!!

Questions that came in on Sunday, April 23, that we didn’t have time to tackle:

• How does the idea of ones “freewill” of choosing Jesus as savior work within the context of God first choosing us before we are even born as his Children?

• God is good, but why does he allow suffering?

• Does God ever deny us the desires of our heart?  Or does he just change them?  Does he have the best plan of all for our lives?

• I have heard that the Bible condemns sex before marriage.  Where dos the Bible specifically spell this out?

• Hoes does a child “get saved”?  Are small children accountable to God for their sin?  Will a small child who has not been saved go to Hell?

• When you die do you go straight to Heaven or are you asleep until Judgment Day?

• Can you lose your salvation even if at some point in your life you asked Jesus to come into your heart?

• Is Allah the God of the Muslim faith the same God we worship in Christianity?

• Are there other ways to eternal life besides through Christ?  For example:  Is a devout Muslim going to Hell but a 14 year old Christian punk kid going to Heaven?

• What are the differences between Jehovah Witnesses and other Christians?

• Tell me about the Sabbath.  Is it technically on Saturday?  How awful is it to work around the house on Sunday?  What if you really have to get something done?  Will God not bless me if I work on Sunday?

• Do Jews go to Hell since they don’t believe in Jesus?  Even though they are the “chosen people”?

• Please explain the timeline of the Gospels and why some Gospels were not canonized eg. Gospel of many Gospel of Jesus, etc.  Also explain how close the original gospels compare to other historical text and written manuscript.

• Why don’t we have a cross up front during worship (sometimes I feel like I’m praying to the band…)?  

• What non-Christians have given a written account of Jesus Christ’s life & death?

• What is the Apocripha(sic)? Is it worthy to read?

• Can you recommend a good book to explain the cultural context of the New Testament?

• I’m committed to Jesus and I want to give myself completely to him.  But there are soooo many things competing for my time, my wife, kids, work, family, ministries…..What are some practical ways I can focus more on Jesus.  Things I can do each day.

• When I have opportunity – I find I am afraid to share my faith.  What words of encouragement or wisdom can you provide for taking small steps toward this, so that I will not make the other person uncomfortable?

• Do you think there should be a separation between church and state politics?

• It seems communion is unimportant to Crosscurrent.  When will communion be offered to the body?  Can you speak to the importance/unimportance of this sacrament?

• If you could choose one book of the bible for our church to focus on in the coming week, what would it be?

• What book would you recommend outside of the bible to read?

• What do bad things happen to good people?  Example – Job.

• I have head that the bible never contradicts itself, however Proverbs 26:4, and 5 seem to directly contradict each other. What’s up with that?

• How do we get some of the church to stop being so clickish?  I have attend the church for awhile and have tired to make connections, but I feel the door keeps getting slammed in my face.  What else can I do?  How do I open up and become more spiritual if the people around me are not?  

• I have never been good at memorizing things.  How do I learn the word of God if I can’t keep in my brain for longer than a couple of days?

• There are not too many people at the church other than you I feel I can talk to without feeling Judged.  How do I make the first step at opening up to someone else

• Logical Test – Can God create a rock so big he can not life.  Also there is no rock so big he cannot lift. Both cannot be true.

• Predestination – If Jesus came for only the people that will be saved vs. Jesus came for everyone, which is truth.

• Is there a difference between being a Christian and being “saved”?  Can you be a Christian and/or saved if you have habitual sin (i.e., same sin like premarital sex) that you never get right?

• How does someone rationalize a tragedy happening to a good person?  How do you answer the “why would God let this happen to me” question?

• What does it mean to believe in your heart?

• How are Physics able to communicate with the dead?  What does the bible say about physics?

• Is smoking really that big of a deal?

• How do you explain how the first families began, and if they began in incest, how would you reconcile God condemning incest in the bible?  (this question was passed to me by someone who refuses to believe in a good that would break his own rule so to speak)

• How do we explain to people how the blood of Jesus cleanses us from sin.  How does it?  Why was blood necessary?  The O.T. sacrifices led to Jesus, but why?

• Why are dinosaurs not in the bible?

• Where do Jews spend their eternity?

• Do you believe that God is constant and consistent?  If so, do you believe that the gifts of the Holy Spirit (i.e., prophesy, speaking in tongues, miracles) still happen today?  If not, why would they change over the years?

• When does longing for another, cross the line into lust?

• Because Jesus has not come back yet, where do you go after you die until he comes back again?  Doe you still go to heaven or hell?

• Why does it seem like God “blesses” some (wealth, beauty, talent, etc.) than others (those who are sick, poor, etc.)?

• How do you get to giving someone forgiveness when there is so much hatred and bitterness and frustration you almost can’t stand to talk to them?

• Does judgment day determine if we go to heaven or hell?

• What does God say about a woman pursing a man?

• I have an acquaintance who believes all religions are equal.  How do I explain that Christianity is the only true way to God without sounding intolerant & narrow minded.

• Out of the 27 gospels known to scholars, why should only 4 be accepted to accurately portray the life of Jesus?  Why should the decisions of the council of Nicea be accepted without regard to the history & life of Jesus?

• What are the Gnostic gospels?  How are they relevant to us?  And your view of the gospel of Judas…?

• Is Rev 22:8-21 where all are warned for adding or taking away, is this just the “book” of Revelation or the whole bible?  Would the answer help us understand why the Gnostic words are not in the bible?

• How do you know the bible is the written word of God?

• How do we know there is a God?  How do we know the bible is not just another book but truly God’s word?

• A co-worker of mine is a devoted non-Trinitarian. Specifically he believes that Jesus is not God, but is just a man with the blood of God running through him.  How does this idea shatter the central theme of the sacrifice that Christ made for us?

• Will dogs go to Heaven?

• Could the amount of turmoil between countries & their religious disputes, such as the printing of the “comics” of Mohammed start a world war?

• Does the abundance of anti-Christian material (the Da Vinci Code, etc.) can notate the antichrists approach?  More over, how do I properly but thoroughly remind people the Da Vinci code is in fact a fictitious novel?

• Hoes does the concept of predestination jibe with volition?

• Do we have plans of getting some kind of elder board in place?

• In the past year that I have attended we have not had communion, why not?  Will this church have communion?

• Where do you see Crosscurrent in 5 years?

• Is it possible that the early church corruption has put our spiritual welfare in jeopardy by withholding vital info and excluding books meant for the bible?

• As a pastor do you believe Crosscurrent should be more involved in missions?  Do you think God requires that of the church?

• What is the churches response to the gospel of Judas?

• Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet like Mohammad, Jesus are still waiting for the messiah, they all believe in God however in Christ.  How is Christianity right and other religions “wrong”?

• God made us to be in relationship with him, the bible talks about dinosaurs, and give proof of history, but it doesn’t say how long it took him to create man.  Were we his first try or did he create aliens?

• Revelation (The seals, the bowls, the scrolls) Tribulation, are we in the midst of it, has it already happened or has it not happened yet?  What do you think?

• My best friend got into a car accident and two of her friends died instantly but she survived.  The girls weren’t what you consider saved, but were both loving and full of life.  How could God look at them in heave and shake his head and say sorry this place isn’t for you?

Easter Sunday is here!!

April 12, 2006

Dear CrossCurrent,

Easter is upon us! This coming Sunday we will be celebrating the miracle of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the road He took to “make all things new” through His redemptive work on the cross.

What is going to happen this Sunday in our church will be something of profound importance for believers and non-believers alike. While many churches will move quickly past the suffering of the Passion (Jesus’ road to the cross), preferring to center the morning on the joy and hope of the resurrection, we are going to enter into the space of Jesus’ most redemptive moment in history, so that our explosive celebration of the resurrection will be seen in its proper light. Without the cross, the empty tomb has little significance.

To walk into this most important space, and do so with great relevance to us, our Creative Arts team has developed an incredible service that will walk us alongside Jesus through the eyes of those who were with Him on the road to the cross, as well as at the empty tomb. From Barabbas, to Simon of Cyrene, to Mary Magdalene, to His own mother, we will see through their eyes what the moment of humankind’s redemption really looked like, and how it speaks profoundly to every human heart. In my teaching, I will guide us step by step in making life-altering application to who Jesus really was, and what His death, burial and resurrection really mean to us.

There are 3 things you really need to know about this coming Sunday:

1. Do not miss the chance to make a huge impact in the lives of your unchurched friends and family. This weekend will guide them through a complete understanding of what Jesus did for us, and what it means to be a Christ-follower. Please make the invite to people you know who are far from God. This Sunday could have eternal implications for them.

1. Do not be late! In both of our services, the teaching and creative experiences will start right at the beginning of the service. There will be no opening music, no opening greeting time. We’re jumping right in, and if you are only a few minutes late, you will have missed an enormous amount of what is happening, and you might find yourself lost to what the morning’s experience really is. I know many, many of you are in the habit of showing up 10 or 15 minutes into the service. Don’t do that this week! And remember…the best way to be on time is to be early!

1. Parents, make an informed choice with your kids this week, as some of the material—especially some video images from Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ—may be inappropriate for elementary aged kids. In Rising Current, our children will be celebrating Easter through an exciting Easter Carnival. As always, your kids are welcome in the adult services, but please be prepared for the content, and make a wise choice regarding the appropriate nature of the material. (We have done our best to edit out the most difficult images from Gibson’s film, to make it appropriate for all adults—even those who had difficulty with the film. So…don’t worry as adults…it won’t be unnecessarily gory. But for kids…??)

I am really looking forward to this coming Sunday. Both of our services will be at their normal times—9:15 and 11:15 a.m. Come with a seeker on your arm, and come expecting to meet Jesus in some new and powerful ways!

Blessings,

Chris EadsCrossCurrent Pastor
Friend

Back to Blogging

Back to Blogging…

Sorry to have been gone so long. I had a lot of travel, being out with a cold, a week-long visit from my Dad, and other such schedule complications that have kept me out of the blog world for a while.

But I am back…and you should expect some more cool stuff soon. I’m working on a “controversial” blog that I’m going to call “When the Seeker-Targeted Church Stopped Working”, which if you know me, you know is a real shocking title, since I passionately consider our church to be a “seeker targeted church.”

BUT…before I grace you with such fun topics, I do have an “in-house” need to post. (If you read from outside of CrossCurrent, sorry…little house business here.) So, here goes…sent this to our parents today, but it’d be great for everyone to see this…

Hey Team…

We need your help regarding this coming Easter weekend, April 16th. We’ve been working on a special service for the adult services that will be a powerful creative arts and teaching presentation of Jesus’ journey to the cross, and the people who intersected him during his passion. To walk through this amazing day in the life of Jesus—where he ultimately atoned for all of our wrongs before God—we’ve developed a pretty intense dramatic script, as well as a number of video components from Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ.

As this script has come to completion, it has been our assessment that the service will not be appropriate for many elementary age children. While we had originally planned the service to be a “Family Sunday” where our kids and adults worshipped together, we’re sensing it is important that Sunday to maintain our regular ministry schedule of Rising Current and Generations being held in both services.

Here’s where we need your help: Since we had originally planned to have Easter as a Family Sunday, we did not schedule children’s ministry volunteers for that weekend. As of today, we have no volunteers scheduled, and have found our sign-up sheets in the foyer this past week unfruitful in attracting folks to help serve.

Would you consider serving in children’s ministry  for one of our Sunday services, and attending the other adult service? (You won’t want to miss the adult services, I know, since they will be powerful!)

We need some feedback pretty quick, so that if we cannot adequately staff our Rising Current ministry for that morning, we have time to re-tool the adult services so that we can go back to the “original” plan, which is now our “back-up.” If you are willing to serve with our kids this Easter, please e-mail Shannon Havens at [email protected].

Thanks for your willing heart! Sorry for the last minute appeal…this is one of those “oops…we got a great idea that has run ahead of our planning!” moments.

You all are a blessing!

Chris Eads
Senior Pastor
CrossCurrent Ministries

Study Notes on Obedience

Study Notes on “Obedience”

Some folks have been asking me to provide some more detail during our Sunday teaching on the Greek and such when I quote it in a message. Not that I know Greek, but I did take one semester of it in college, and have some great books—written in English—that give us a lot of perspective on what the nuances of the Greek language were as the New Testament was written.

To get the relevance of this posting to CrossCurrent, you’ll have to view the message when it gets posted online (January 29th talk, entitled, “Power, Part 4 – Obedience?”. It will be posted by Wednesday, February 1, if all goes well in John Dively’s world (our Worship Pastor, who is doing an awesome job getting us back to on-time with our video archives). Or, if you want, scroll down through some older blogs posted here, and you’ll see some dialogue on the topic of obedience.

Don’t count on this kind of thing every week, as this one kept me up well past midnight on Saturday night getting prepped for this week’s talk. But as we’ve been going “deep” into the inner places of spiritual formation during this series called, “Power” (check it out in our teaching archives), I am finding some enormously eye-opening truths as I study the Greek…and even take a stab at dusting off my old college textbooks, and trying my hand at a little Greek translation!! (Yikes…I promise not to publish any of my ill-fated attempts to translate Greek. I’ll just stick to the dictionary* in my English study helps!)

* (All dictionary definitions are paraphrased or quoted from Zodhiates, Spiros, The Complete Word Study New Testament. AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN, 1992.Included in this text are dictionary definitions from Strong’s Concordance of the Bible.)

So…here goes:

Greek and Obedience:

There are several commands given in the New Testament regarding obedience. Correspondingly, there are six primary definitions we have to consider to really grasp the intent. I’ll give you the definition, and then how I think about it and interpret its import to us (please note: my interpretation is not “scholarly”, in the sense of having studied the Greek language in depth; rather it is more “devotional”, in the sense of my own spiritual thoughts regarding a scholar’s definition.)

• “…Obey the commandments…” (e.g. Matthew 19:17); “…obey my commands…” (e.g. John 14:15, 23; John 15:10); “…obey everything I have commanded you…” (Matthew 28:20); “…obey his commands…” (e.g. 1 John 3:24, 5:3; Revelation 12:17; 14:12).

• The Greek word used here is “Tereo” (with long vowels), which means to keep, watch, observe, to hold-on, hold-out, reserve, to maintain as opposed to leaving. The word is derived from a Greek word meaning “to keep, as in a prison”. I see in this definition the intent of the author to capture the idea of us “locking in” on the commands, and holding onto them, reserving their place within us. This is more than just doing God’s will, but rather a locking ourselves to it; owning it, keeping it—in the sense that we possess that will as our own. It is interesting to note that in John’s writings—the Gospel of John, 1 John and Revelation—he uses this concept of “obedience” almost exclusively.

• “…hear the Word and obey it…” (e.g. Luke 11:28).

• Similar to the meaning above, the Greek word used here is “Phulasso”, which means to keep or preserve from danger or harm, to guard, to watch, or at times to beware. Another derivative of the word also carries the meaning of “to prison, or to hold.” Again, as above, I see this as a careful ownership of the Word. An example of its interchangeability with tereo is found in Matthew 19. Jesus tells the rich young ruler to “obey” (tereo) the commands in vs. 17; the young man asserts that he has “kept” (phulasso) the commands.

• “…obey God…” (e.g. Acts 5:29, 32); “…be obedient…” (e.g. Titus 3:1).

• A derivative of the next word we’ll see, “peitharcheo” here means to be persuaded by a ruler, to submit to authority, to conform to advice.  It has the direct connotation of obedience to leadership—whether of God (Acts 5:29), or of human authority (Titus 3:1). I see in it a “coming under” the governance of someone else’s will—a yielding to their wisdom, authority and/or power. When viewed in light of its obvious source in the following definition (peitho), which has enormous implications of “trust” and a willingness to follow, I see this concept of obedience as a willing follower-ship, a trusting connection to the leader that leads me to submit to His view of the world, and follow His will.

• “…obeyed the gospel…” (e.g. 1 Peter 4:17); “…obey the truth…” (e.g. Galatians 5:7); “…obey your leaders…” (Hebrews 13:1).

• This word, “peitho”, means to entice or persuade, to solicit the favor of; in the passive, it means to be persuaded, to assent, to believe. It also carries a meaning of to assure, to make confident, to free from fear or doubt. In the perfected middle voice, it means to be persuaded, to trust. In certain applications in the New Testament, it carries a meaning of following, to depend upon, to trust in, to have confidence in. I see in this word a very clear sense of trust that leads to our following a command, a vision, a value, or a specific entity (human leader or God). It makes “obedience” something much less about begrudging compliance, and much more about willful, joyful alignment with something (or someone) we deeply trust.

• “…obey the law…” (e.g. Romans 2:13); “…doer of the Word…” (James 1:22-25).

• “Poitese” means to be a performer (from the concept “do” or “make”). It is where we derive our English word “poet”, as it also had use in Greek of the same meaning. To me, this is an “acting out” of God’s will, as one would create the art of poetry. Again, much less begrudging, and much more something that flows from within the wonders and beauty of our hearts.

• “…obey [parents, masters, etc.]…” (e.g. Ephesians 6:1, etc.); “…obey our teaching…” (e.g. 2 Thessalonians 3:14); “…obey the truth…” (e.g. 1 Peter 1:22); “…obeyed from the heart the gospel…” (Romans 6:17); “…eternal salvation for all who obey…” (Hebrews 5:9).

• Here the word “hupakouo”, in its various derivatives, means to hear, to hearken, listen to, to yield, to give heed, to follow. Unknown in other Greek usages, one particular derivative in the New Testament specifically carries the meaning of a willing subjection to that which, in the sphere of divine revelation, is right. This word is often used in the New Testament to stand alone as a simple definition of being “a Christian” (see Romans 15:18, 2 Corinthians 7:15, 1 Peter 1:2 for examples). It was used to speak of the kind of following engaged in by soldiers, students, or servants. It refers to the humble acceptance of the message, and denotes a continuous subjection of faith, keeping the Word in belief that leads to obedience. I see here a very willing yielding to what is perceived—and indeed truthfully—right. It is the kind of obedience that flows naturally out of a heart that senses the rightness of what is.

In all of these definitions, which cover the predominant expressions of our English word “to obey”, I see a common theme emerge. The idea of obedience to God is not one of difficult and labored conformity, against our will, to the will of God. Rather, obedience, as a biblical concept, is one of seeing the truth of God for what it is, and joyfully, willfully, and easily falling into line with it.

This is enormously freeing to me, as I often carry a sense of great guilt at my inability to successfully keep God’s commands in every circumstance in my life. I strive to get it right. I aim for perfect compliance to God’s will. But I am also so clearly tempted to disbelieve, to distrust. And when I do, and my sufficiency is not found in Christ, I am perhaps the first to drop out of obedience, and to enter into disobedience.

Growing Up

Growing Up

Joshua and Caleb were the only two who believed.

Facing enormous challenges, a certain intense battle, risks beyond comprehension, and being forced to step up into a role as the warriors they had never been, twelve spies crossed the Jordan River in Palestine somewhere around 1440 B.C. to explore what God had promised this escaping band of Jewish ex-slaves: a land of their own, a land flowing with “milk and honey.” (You can read the whole story in Numbers 13 & 14).

These spies went on the investigative mission to scope out the battle plan, as we would expect. What they came back with was a paralyzed fear to move forward into the fullness of their calling. Ten spies—names you’ve likely never heard of from the Bible: Shammua, Shaphat, Igal, Palti, Gaddiel, Gaddi, Ammiel, Sethur, Nahbi, Geuel —returned with a deep-seated pause, a sense that this land was not able to be possessed, that God’s promises were beyond their abilities, or that the costs would be too overwhelming. Only two saw the promise of God’s provision as sufficient enough to forge ahead. And you likely know their names as heroes of the Bible: Joshua and Caleb.

The net result was that Israel, as a society, albeit fledgling in their national independence, chose to sit out on what God has promised them, and chose to settle into the space they were in—a lonely desert they had called home for a few months. For most of them, this desert of choice became their home for the rest of their lives.

But before we cast our aspersions at them, and wonder aloud how a people who had seen such miracles as the parting of the Red Sea, the 12 plagues on Egypt, and God’s mighty deliverance from the hand of Pharoah could be so short-sighted as to choose a desert home over the wonders of the Promised Land, let me challenge us to pause and see if we aren’t more like them than we’d like to imagine.

What was it that gave Israel such pause to embrace the obvious gift God had given them in choosing this generation to be delivered from slavery in Egypt? What would make people who had followed the clear leading of God right to the doorstep of the Jordan River —in the form of a pillar of fire—back away from wading across the river and possessing the very thing they had always wanted? What would cause an entire nation of very godly people, elders, priests, worshippers and leaders who had eaten from God’s hand—in the form of daily “manna”, a supernatural bread found each morning outside their tents—to disbelieve that God could provide for their success in possessing the land across the Jordan?

As I was laying in bed the other night reflecting on the lives of Joshua and Caleb, a thought hit me. Perhaps it’s of God, perhaps just of my over-analytical mind that tends to run at higher RPMs when I turn the light out and stare at the ceiling while my cat lays on my chest and purrs so loud no one could sleep.

First, my mind went to the sorry reality that poor Josh and Caleb—the only faith-filled dudes who thought God could actually pull off what He had promised—got stuck wandering in the desert with the rest of the tribes of faith-weak Israel for the next 40 years while time and age slowly extinguished all who made the choice to call the desert home instead of the Promised Land. That whole stinky reality of how they, though willing to obey God, didn’t get to because of the rest of the clan, well…that’s a topic for a whole other blog. Maybe we’ll do that soon.

But then my mind went to the real, fundamental why. Why would Israel bow out on one last miraculous movement of God…right at the finish line?

I think the reason is clear.

To have stepped across that river would have required Israel, as a whole collection of individuals, to grow up.

The people of Israel who were alive at that incredible moment in history were, as a people, accustomed to a certain way of life. They were slaves. They had all grown up serving under the burden of Egypt’s manual labor laws for Jews—work hard, get paid nothing, and then work harder. And while they hated every thing about that lifestyle, and everything about their potential future within that system, they at least knew it. It was predictable, it made sense, it was manageable because of its familiarity, its routine…and its absence of growth.

To have stepped across the Jordan would require the Israelites to grow into a new phase of their lives, to wear a new calling, to take on a new set of responsibilities. To step across the Jordan would require Israel to move—overnight, mind you—from a band of runaway slaves to a band of warriors. They would have to learn how to wage a war and conquer a land, instead of being the conquered that they had been for their entire lives.

Remember that they hated being the conquered. There was nothing about that life that had appealed to them. But they apparently hated more the idea of learning something new, and stepping into their newest roles as conquerors. To take that step would require an enormous amount of faith that God could reshape them, not just that God could reshape Pharoah, or reshape the laws of nature.

It is one thing to believe God to do things outside of ourselves—to move a mountain, bring a plague, part waters around us, overcome the heart of a king. It is an entirely different thing to believe God to do something miraculous within us—to reshape our vision of life, to empower us to overcome a stronghold, to free us from an addiction, to let go of a past hurt…to make us warriors in a life-calling of taking possession of the absolute best that God has for us.

I can find no other reason that such fear of “giants in the land” could move a people who had seen God obliterate the largest army in the world before their eyes just 3 months earlier to give up, right at the finish line, the chance to embrace the promise for which they had prayed their entire lives. I think they simply were not ready to stomach the new roles—the new selves—they were going to have to wear to take possession.

So how about you and me?

I know for me, the work that God wants to do in other people, in our church, in our community, through my ministry—all of this seems so easy to believe God for. No worries letting God be God in everybody else. But when it comes to the work inside my own life—overcoming my fears, breaking through my strongholds, stepping up to new roles and places I should be ready to live within—the faith for God to pull that work off in me…well, that just sometimes seems like a daunting giant. The familiar of today seems more inviting, even if it is a desert, than the risk of letting God be God within my own life, and within the most private places of my heart.

The problem is that if we don’t embrace the potential for God to pull off the things He’s promised to pull off within our own hearts, we can settle ourselves into the present place—the present desert. And there’s nothing God can do about it. The enormous breakthroughs into the promised land of spiritual formation, and of a life lived radically in the ways of the Kingdom of God, will never be realized. Time and age will slowly extinguish the potential we once knew about what life lived in the Kingdom adventure could really be.

Only Joshua and Caleb believed. I wonder about me. Will I believe enough to allow God to be power in my life? I wonder about you. Will you believe?



A PERSONAL NOTE: We’re moving through week 4 of this incredible 14-week journey in our church called, “Power”. It’s kicking my tail, as I am coming face to face with the inner workings in my life that God is wanting to forge. I sense that for so many in CrossCurrent, this same thing is taking place. I am stepping up to the plate, to allow God’s inner discipline take hold in my life, and to stop resisting His work, even if it calls me to the uncomfortable places of taking on new roles, new thinking, and a new miraculous work within me. My prayer is that for you, the same inner (trans)formation will take place. I would encourage you, if you’ve not been with us for any of this series, to take advantage of our teaching archives, which are now being kept up to date (with messages posted by Wednesday each week), and follow along in the teaching, as we go down and in, and deep, into the waters of what authentic spiritual formation really looks like. You are in my prayers as we do so.

2005-2006...thoughts about our church

Here’s some thoughts I mailed (snail-mail!) to the CrossCurrent congregation last week, as a “year end letter”, to celebrate what God has been doing in our church, and what’s coming next. Thought you might like to take a look!

What a year it has been! For so many of us, there have been dynamic changes, growth, challenges, and opportunities. Several families in our church have had their first children. Many new families and individuals have come to our church in the last few months. Quite a number of people have answered God’s call into a place of full time service to God, as missionaries or church planters. Others have answered God’s leading to move to new cities and fulfill lifetime dreams.

Most notable perhaps, in terms of our church life, we planted CrossCurrent as a new church! Even in that endeavor, there has been lots of challenge, growth, change and God’s leading. We’ve seen the establishment of an entire church staff, we developed an incredible children’s ministry, we sponsored our first church planting project by sending a team to help plant Steel City Church in Pittsburgh, we launched a dynamic youth ministry, we sent two missions teams to serve in disaster relief in Mississippi, we held our first Encounter Retreat, and we launched a School of Ministry for deep theological training. There are hundreds of details—individual projects and ministry initiatives—that scores of people have lifted in to make CrossCurrent a healthy, vibrant, thriving church. There is much to be celebrated.

2006—A Look Ahead

Having not only “survived” our first year as a church plant, but thriving in it, we have every expectation that 2006 will be a great year of God’s leadership and work in our church.

On January 15, 2006, we will celebrate our first anniversary as a church! Both in our morning services, and at Core Community that night at 6:00, we will look back at the successes and challenges of 2005, and look forward to what God is doing in 2006. Annual membership renewal will take place that night, as well as some critical decisions on the purchase of land (more on that in a moment).

It has been my sense that God is leading us to take a renewed focus on healthy spiritual formation, looking at the internal ways God works in us, and the responses we must make to ensure a thriving spiritual life. The teaching series for the entire first quarter of 2006 will be a 14-week series called “Power”, where we will be wading into “deep waters” of what the roots of authentic spiritual formation and transformation are. Discover with us some of the most widely under-used, yet most profoundly critical components of deep spirituality. Whether you are a Christian or a skeptic, you will want to dig into these truths of what it means to go real, go deep, and tap into the power God has made available to us, to live far about the realms of mediocrity.

In February, we will launch our next round of the School of Ministry, with classes on systematic and practical theology (School of Ministry Level 1, with two courses), and classes on various subjects of spiritual formation (School of Ministry Level 3, elective courses). In March, all of our small group and ministry team leaders will spend a weekend retreat tackling the spiritual formation of others (School of Ministry Level 2, revised content). In May, we will hold our second Encounter Retreat, where we walk through our life history, and discover the freedom we have in Christ over all spiritual strongholds.

Throughout the year, our staff and volunteer leaders have been assembling a calendar that reflects our sense of God’s call to go deep in spiritual formation. Our youth will be exposed to intensive teaching, missions opportunities, and spiritual retreats and camps. Our children will be guided through a year of intense teaching on subjects like The Garden Project, where they are learning about meeting the needs of others, or a 10-week series on the Ten Commandments, where they will learn about living God’s way. Our small group leaders are developing new groups and Encounter Retreats.

The Details—Staff, Membership, Land, Money, Etc…

We welcomed our newest staff member in December, with John Dively coming on full-time as our new Worship Pastor. We also moved Shannon Havens to full-time as our Director of Children’s Ministry. Be looking for further staff development this year, as God allows, as we plan to enhance staff leadership in the creative arts and youth ministry.

Church membership in CrossCurrent is renewed annually, at our annual anniversary celebration, on January 15 at Core Community. We want to encourage every member to attend (as well as every non-member), and consider renewing their commitment for this next year to be a “member” of CrossCurrent. If you are a member, you can expect a mailing in the next week or two, with more information, and a way to renew by mail if you are unable to attend the meeting. For those looking to join the church, we will hold a new membership class in January (date TBA).

CrossCurrent is about to buy land! Having searched for nearly 2 years for the right long-term real estate acquisition, we believe we have found the right piece of land, and have signed a contract for purchase, pending congregational approval, and a positive result from environmental and engineering studies. Located on Broderick Drive, across the street from AOL’s headquarters (next to the Pan Am Flight Academy), this 5.12 acre property is being sold for $1.7 million (gulp!), which is actually a very good price for commercial land in this area. Currently, engineers are studying the land for environmental issues, water flow, parking requirements, etc. As a part of this “study period,” our members will vote at Core Community on January 15, on whether or not to acquire the land, and the debt (about $1.1 million; our loan is approved from Wesleyan Investment Foundation).

Financially, CrossCurrent has been enormously blessed by God’s provision, your faithfulness, and careful spending by our leaders. I don’t know of another example of a church planting project being so financially stable in its first year. Your faithful sacrifice during our capital campaign (“Chapter Two—This is a Movement”) last fall enabled us to assemble a cash reserve to use as down payment on real estate. The careful spending of the staff and volunteers enabled us to not use a single dollar of that capital money to purchase the needed material for the church plant (unheard of!!), and we instead saved the entire amount. As a result, we will end 2005 with close to $700,000 in available funds, allowing us to put over $600,000 down on the purchase of the land, should our members approve, thus reducing our debt load to a manageable amount. Your faithful tithing has enabled us to operate the ministry at full-force, without ever losing ground month-to-month, and without needing to dip into cash reserves. In fact, most months we were able to set aside a surplus to add to the building fund. In addition to all of our regular ministry expenses and missions giving, we were able to give over $40,000 to charitable work—such as hurricane relief in Gulfport, benevolence needs in our local congregation, and Christmas gifts to wounded U.S. soldiers.

This next year will prove to be a financial “challenge”, as we assume the new responsibilities associated with land ownership and expanding ministry. We are also hoping to expand the amount we give away from CrossCurrent through charity work and missions. But it is my firm belief that the ownership you all have shown in this ministry, your commitment to the biblical principle of tithing, and the conservative spending of our leadership will make this coming year a testimony to how God uses a congregation to provide for His work financially!

Finally, I would be remiss to not highlight the enormous contribution made every week by the countless volunteers, servants, and leaders who serve in the logistics of setting up, operating, and tearing down our “portable church” each week! Such attitudes of humility and servanthood that exist in this church amaze me week after week, and have allowed us the incredible joy of 52 Sundays of church without a single glitch in our ability to operate as a portable church! Thank you so much to all of you who serve—load-in, breakfast crew, tech crews, nursery workers, children’s leaders, connections team, prayer team, creative arts teams, small group leaders. All of you do so much to make this church the community that it is. And for the incredible honor to serve alongside of you, I am so, so grateful.

I am looking forward to another awesome year with you in this little expression of God’s Kingdom, known as the local church!

Blessings,



Chris Eads
CrossCurrent Pastor
Friend

Merry Christmas?

Merry “Christmas?”

The news media was a frenzy recently on the whole issue of “Christmas” vs. “Holiday” as the label for this time of year. You’re familiar with the debate, aren’t you? You see it at the stores in the mall—“Happy Holidays.” You hear it at the office—“holiday tree.” It’s become politically correct to avoid the use of “Merry Christmas” in greetings, avoid the use of “Christmas Tree” in reference to that pine tree with colored lights on the courthouse lawn, and to avoid calling it “Christmas Break” when we take off school between December 21 and January 2.

Every year there seems to be discussion about it. The blather usually takes the predictable lines of discussion—the government and school systems backing away from “Christmas” labels, and the conservative Christians jumping up and down about removing their Christ from the holiday.

This year, though, it seems to me that the rhetoric has reached a new level of intensity as some pretty major players in our American societal conversation have gotten involved. In the last week, I’ve come across literally dozens of pretty heated conversations about the topic, all spawned by moves pretty well known folks have made on the topic. Congress made a move to call their lighted pine tree out front of the U.S. Capital a “Christmas Tree,” sparking a whole lot of fervor on the nightly news. President Bush left out a mention of Jesus when lighting the Christmas Tree outside the White House, celebrating instead the coming of “Santa.” Jerry Falwell and his attorney friends sued the city of Boston for naming its tree a “Holiday Tree.” Several conservative Christian groups called for a boycott of WalMart, Target and other stores for forbidding their employees from wishing customers a “Merry Christmas.” Oh, and let’s not forget the big hubbabalu created when George W. and Laura sent the annual White House Christmas card—complete with a Bible verse from Psalm 27—but the card said nothing about Christ or Christmas; it just read something like “happiness and joy in the Holiday season.”

ABC’s Nightly News ran the story of the Bush Christmas card with the teaser, “find out what has so many conservative Christians so upset at the President….” Local talk radio host Chris Core (WMAL) ran a whole program the same night on the boycott of stores, and President Bush’s apparent celebration of Santa at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree (yes, the White House still calls it a “Christmas Tree”).  My email box that same day contained a pretty stinging commentary from a Lutheran friend of mine who feels pretty embarrassed to be of the same religion as Jerry Fallwell and the boycotters. Quoting my friend (with his permission, of course): “Says Mr. Christian to Mr. Wal Mart employee, "I demand you acknowledge my personal religion as I go into debt celebrating it!" God, save us from these nut bags! Various religious right factions have sponsored boycotts of these stores. On the flipside, if I should ever meet Fallwell and Robertson, I'd ask them if they'd go out of their way to support an establishment that wished them a
"Merry Christmas". Oh, yes, they'd say. Absolutely! I'd then point out that the Hooters here paints "MERRY CHRISTMAS" in HUGE letters across their front windows. Funny, I've never seen either of them eating in there.”

So what are we to make of the whole thing? What do you think? Is it a big deal that many places—stores, schools, governments—are choosing to amend their language in the name of political correctness, cultural diversity and religious sensitivity? Are we loosing something as a society by secularizing our public discussion of the religious origins of the holiday celebrated on December 25th?

I’ve got some thoughts on the matter, as I’m sure you’d expect.

I think I’d have to land—somewhat predictably—on the side of disappointment that our society has come to the place where it is considered offensive to acknowledge that December 25th is a religious holiday in honor of Jesus Christ. Regardless of your religious views, I can’t understand why knowing a pine tree is decorated in the name of Christ on the courthouse lawn would bother anyone so much. I certainly don’t believe in the Koran, Mohammed or Allah, but I’ve never been offended when the local news station flashes a “Happy Ramidan” on the screen in November. I’m not Jewish (though I worship a Jew…uh…that would be Jesus), but I’ve never been offended knowing that the gold-plated candelabra on the Ellipse in D.C. is called a “Minora.” When I see decorations or see icons of another person’s religion being celebrated—even when my tax dollars are spent on it—I am not offended. I am actually happy for them, that their religion is being celebrated for them. I obviously don’t take it for myself. Say, “happy Ramidan” to me, and I will look blankly back, since I don’t celebrate it. But I’m not going to be mad at you!

As a “melting-pot” society founded originally on the idea of religious freedom, let’s not force our country to avoid religion. Let’s celebrate it. Sure, let’s be sure to provide lots of opportunity to acknowledge the diversity, and if we let one religion put up a tree on the county courthouse lawn, let them all. Just because I don’t believe in your religion, or just because I believe my religion is the one true way to God doesn’t mean I can’t be OK with you celebrating your religion openly and publicly.

But, on the other hand, I think I’m not going to get bent out of shape that someone or some organization doesn’t choose to use “Christmas” in their language surrounding the holiday. I do think it’s a shame for WalMart to forbid their employees to say, “Merry Christmas.” But at the same time, I don’t expect them to force their employees to say, “Merry Christmas” either. I say give them the option, and if they say, “Happy Qwanza” to me, I’ll likely just smile, and say, “thank you,” since I am a polite member of a culturally diverse society.

I don’t think it was a bad thing for President Bush to send his “holiday greetings” without a mention of Christ. He is the president of a religiously diverse country, and there were folks of all religions on his mailing list, so to take the “politically correct” road makes some sense to me, since, after all, he is a politician. And I got a little tweaked by ABC’s implication that because I am a conservative Christian that I was up in arms at the president’s card. (Please, Mr. News Media, don’t lump me in with every political activist who shares my religion!)

I don’t think I’m going to boycott WalMart, Target or any other store, since I think boycotts are silly and overused, and simply make us Christians look like spoiled kids who don’t get their way and take their toys home. If we get into  the business of boycotting any merchandiser who does or supports something out of line with the Bible, I’m not sure you’d be able to buy anything from anyone—maybe not even from the “Christian” bookstores (gasp!) who sometimes, in my humble opinion, go a little overboard on the commercialization of Jesus and our eternal salvation.

But in the end, I’m going to church on Christmas Sunday, and I thank God I live in America where such a move won’t get me arrested or shot. I thank God that in my church on Christmas Sunday, I can openly tell anyone who comes that I believe that Jesus’ birth opened the one true way to meet God. For that freedom that has given rise to such religious diversity in our country, I am thankful. And let me be the first to say it loud, clear and publically: “Merry Christmas!”