Honestly, I’m not quite sure how to process today yet.  It was an emotional overload… and I’m usually not so good with my emotions.

I started the day at Cross Point Dickson and was impacted again by Justin & Trisha Davis’ story.  Justin and Trisha were actually with us in Dickson this morning and it was so cool to watch them pray with and encourage folks after the services today.  Merlyn and I discussed how each time we watch their video it challenges us to consider another element/dynamic of our marriage.  If you have yet to watch their video, sit down for 27 minutes and watch it here.

Then tonight I headed back to the Nashville campus to hear Pete’s message that everyone has been talking about today.  I’ve heard bits and pieces throughout the week since Pete has been back from India, but hearing him passionately share his heart for reaching the world with the hope of Christ… well, I don’t know how it couldn’t move you.

Here are a few of the powerful statements/challenges from Pete today:

• If you don’t live like you believe your life was created to impact the world, you will miss the point of salvation and sanctification.
• Do you really believe the local church can still change the world?
• When you get hope, what are you going to do with it?
• Extending our hope to others is our commandment.  Missions isn’t a calling, it’s a commandment.  It’s not a program in the church, it’s the whole stinkin’ purpose of the church!
• We have a disconnect between the hope of God and the purpose of God.
• As American Christians we’ve become bored.  We run around complaining and not doing anything.
• Can our life count for something great?  Why not?  We’ve been given hope so we can extend hope.

So what are you going to do?

Not all of us can travel to India, but all of us can do something.

• You can sponsor a child through Compassion International
• You can go serve the folks of Tent City (right here in our back yard)
• You can be a lunch buddy at Preston Taylor Ministries
• You can join us on a mission trip to Wheelright, KY, the Dominican Republic or Honduras
• You can participate in our next serving Saturday on June 27 in Dickson and July 11 in Nashville

So what are you going to do?

Do something.

Do anything.

But just share hope!

Ryan Bult, our Director of Missions, has been challenging our entire church to participate in Servolution this week.  The Healing Place Church led by Dino Rizzo is leading the charge of Servolution – a revolution of people around the country doing random acts of kindness to simply love and serve people. How cool is that?

So yesterday several of our staff handed out free breakfast on Charlotte Ave… just because.  Check it out!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAUZ4k8aJQI]

I encourage you… do something randomly nice for someone this week and then tell us about it!

Last  week the people of Cross Point blitzed the city of Nashville with acts of service.  I’m still amazed by the stories!

Here’s a pic of me with the group at Matthew Walker Clinic where we painted and decorated a pediatric unit.

A big thanks to Lisa Gardiner for volunteering to lead this project.  Lisa, you did an amazing job!

Click here to check out pictures from the rest of the day!

Ryan and I are hanging out with the staff and volunteers of The Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, LA.  This church freakin’ amazes me by their love and compassion for people.  We spent the day tagging along on some of the various ministries and outreaches that they were doing.  I can’t believe how much impact one community of believers can have when they are committed to unconditionally loving and serving others.  Truly unbelievable!

Here are a few pics from our day:

Top row L-R – The table full of roses and candy that we gave away on the LSU campus, Ryan serving grits at the homeless breakfast, Ryan and a new friend

Bottom row L-R – Ryan and I with some of the homeless we served breakfast to, Ryan and I with the statue of the LSU Tiger (we did actually get to see Mike VII but he was sleeping and I couldn’t get a good pic), a Healing Place staff person handing out roses on the LSU campus

Here’s a quick video we did with Dan and JP, talking about our day:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5vGZ0AAbpQ]

It was an amazing day!  I’m reminded that such simple acts of kindness speak big love into others’ lives!

I couldn’t wait to be back at Cross Point Nashville today!  Last Sunday I was out of town and it’s amazing how much I miss things if I’m out for one week.

We continued the Xmas series today with “Putting Compassion Back into Christmas”.  Pete challenged that putting Christ back in Christmas means we humbly serve those around us.  He went on to share the multiple ways we have done this as a community this year and some of the plans that are in store for 2009.  Very exciting stuff!  I encourage you to go listen to the message at the website.  It should be posted tomorrow (Monday).

Here are some other random highlights from the day:

• The choir helped lead worship with Mike Grayson.  Love it when the choir is a part of worship!
• My sister and I showed up to church wearing the same shirt and we were both on stage – she was in the choir, I was doing announcements.  We’ve never dressed alike on purpose but somehow this happens frequently.  Great minds, right?
• Our Dominican Republic missions team hosted a chili cook-off today… amazing chili!  All proceeds went to support the upcoming trip.

It’s been a very good Sunday!

I think the most challenging thing that I’m pondering from the message today is:

“You will give your life away to something (career, money, status, etc).  Are you giving it away to something that really matters?”

How was your Sunday?  What challenged you today?

SHOES!

I love them.

Today I counted them….

51

Yes, I counted 51 pairs of shoes in my closet today!

How many of them did I wear today?

1 pair

So it’s time to put these shoes to good use!

I love the Soles 4 Souls “50,000 Pairs in 50 Days Challenge” and I’ve been trying to figure out how I could contribute in a meaningful way.

So, here’s my plan:

1) I will be donating 20% of the shoes in my closet directly to Soles 4 Souls.  (They do take gently used shoes at their donation centers.)

2) Over the course of the campaign I will be purchasing a pair of shoes for every pair that I own.  In order to do this financially I will have to make a few sacrifices including:

• Eating out one less time per week
• Not purchasing any additional shoes for myself between now and the end of the year (I have to admit this freaks me out because holiday parties are coming up and I will be tempted to purchase that perfect pair of shoes!!  But there – I made the public commitment!!)

So, how about you?  Have you accepted the Soles for Souls Shoe Challenge?

The cool thing is only $5 buys 2 pairs of shoes!!

It takes under 2 minutes to donate and only three clicks – super easy!

So if you think this is something you can do…five bucks, three clicks, two minutes = two pairs of shoes to someone in need, just visit http://www.50000shoes.com.

And just for fun, how many pairs of shoes are in your closet?

… of the amazing people of Cross Point!

This afternoon I went out to the Habitat for Humanity work site where nearly 300 Cross Point Nashville attendees are serving this weekend.  Each time we do a community project like this I’m just in awe of our community.  These individuals gave their entire Saturday today to serve families who desperately need some help getting on their feet.  It was really sweet to watch our team work alongside the people who will move into these homes in just a few short weeks.

Here are a few pics from the day:

One really special highlight was meeting a precious women named Dorothy.  Dorothy lives in Dickson, TN and our Cross Point Dickson campus will be building a Habitat home for her on November 8th.  As part of the Habitat program Dorothy has to commit a certain number of hours volunteering on work sites, so she is in Nashville this weekend serving.  When she heard that we were from Cross Point she was so excited to meet us because she knew we are sponsoring her home in Dickson!  So cool how God works, huh?

Here’s Dorothy with Ryan Bult, Cross Point Missions Director who coordinated our efforts with Habitat this weekend! (Thanks Ryan!!)

Thank you to each of you who are serving this weekend!  Thank you for being the love of Christ to our community!

Last week while I was at the Leadership Summit I was introduced to the Compassion Leadership Development Program.  I have always admired what organizations like Compassion are doing to support children around the world but up to this point have not committed to sponsoring a child on an ongoing basis (Gasp!  I’m a little ashamed to admit that… it’s only $30/month, right?).

Anyway, this week I learned about this program and I thought “This is it!  This is the way I’m supposed to be involved!” I was so excited.  I took the brochure back to my hotel room and started reading all the fine print… I was ready to sign the dotted line and start sponsoring a young leader…

but, then I read this all important detail:

Your sponsorship of $300 per month will help a promising young person continue down the road to professional Christian leadership.

And my heart sank…

$300 a month!  Don’t misunderstand me.  I’m sure it actually costs this much.  In fact I’m quite sure that it does.  I don’t know what I thought it would cost.  I hadn’t really gotten to that detail because I had found a cause that my heart could resonate with, but this hurdle has brought me to a screeching halt.

So, my BIG PRAYER is to figure out what God wants me to do with this.  Do I need to partner with others to meet this monthly contribution?  Is there some other way that I can give to this program?  How can I be a part of helping young leaders have the opportunity for continued eduction and Christian leadership development?

Will you join me in praying my BIG PRAYER?

Gary Haugen – President & CEO International Justice Mission

Just because I’m leading and people are following doesn’t mean that I’m leading them in things that matter to God.

Are Jesus and I interested in the same things?

What is God’s plan for dealing with injustice?

• The answer: US!

When the task seems hopeless, we lead by re-centering the basis of our hope.

If God is passionate about getting it done, he is also responsible for getting it done.

The work is God’s.  He simply asks us to give all we have.

Jesus did not come to make us safe, he came to make us brave.

When the task seems scary, we lead by reminding people that Jesus came to make us brave – not safe.

Follow God beyond what you can control.

When the task is hard,

1. Choose not to be safe
2. Choose to pursue deep spiritual health
3. Choose to pursue excellence
4. Choose to seize joy

*************************************************

What Gary shared today was absolutely riveting.  I wish I could have captured the stories that he shared and wove throughout these powerful statements that he made.  Be sure to check out the IJM site and I’m told his books are amazing as well.