Leaders emerge in the heat of the moment.

That statement may not sound overly profound, but I’ve never found it to be more true than this week.

My boss began making critical decisions from the moment we realized the worst was inevitable.  That’s leadership.

Three Cross Point guys found a way through waste deep rushing water to rescue a widow who was neck deep in water in her home.  They literally carried her several blocks through that water to safety.  That’s leadership.

My husband and the rest of MNPD SWAT team worked a straight 36 hours and then have been working 12 hour shifts indefinitely to protect our city.  That’s leadership.

The Cross Point staff have given up their weekend to lead volunteer teams in disaster relief.  That’s leadership.

Hundreds of volunteers have gone into neighborhoods and helped families who were paralyzed by shock begin to make sense of what they need to do.  That’s leadership.

People all over our city have rallied to find ways to raise funds for disaster relief.  That’s leadership.

This may be one of the longest, scariest, most stressful weeks of my life… and yet I’ve been so inspired by the leaders who have stepped up to pull our city through this.

I’m so proud of the people of our community!  I love you Nashville!

I finally went for a run tonight.  The last four days have been so wild the last thing I’ve thought about was exercise, but tonight I had to get out.

I was somewhat prepared for what I’d find.  I knew my running route would look far different than it ever has before.  But, I still wasn’t ready for the emotional impact of it.  As I ran around piles of debris, mask-wearing homeowners carrying stacks of drywall to the curb, other neighbors wandering aimlessly in shock, I couldn’t help but feel guilty that my house is ok.  I’m just 2 or 3 blocks away and my life looks completely different than theirs.

This flood damage is absolutely overwhelming.

There’s a distinct smell in the air.  I’ll never forget this smell.

There are conflicting emotions of somberness and hopefulness.  There are people who are optimistic and apparently peaceful and those who burst into tears or seem to still be in shock.

The needs are great.  The road will be long.

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

If you live in the Nashville area and are available to help, please join us for the following volunteer days:

Thursday, May 6th
Friday, May 7th
Saturday, May 8th
Saturday, May 15th
Saturday, May 22nd
Saturday, May 29th

Meet at the Bellevue Campus (7669 Hwy. 70 South, Nashville, 37221) from 9 AM-4 PM!  For more details, check out the Cross Point website.

If you live outside the Nashville area and are looking for a way to help, your donations will make a huge difference.  All donations will go directly to help flood victims in the Nashville and surrounding communities.

How to give:

1. Donate online HERE
2. Mail a check to Cross Point Church 4301 Charlotte Ave, Nashville, TN 37209.  Make checks payable to Cross Point Community Church with “Flood Relief” in the memo line.

Thank you for your prayers and support.  We are so grateful!

Thank you all for the prayers, encouragement and support you have offered to the people of Nashville!

God is at work in spite of great tragedy.  These past few days have been some of the most challenging and yet most rewarding.

I’m so proud of the Cross Point volunteers who have come out by the hundreds to help love and serve people.  Here’s a story one of our volunteers shared with me.  Thank you Rachel for serving and loving these people!

My husband and I spent Monday morning with his brother’s very pregnant wife cleaning out their flooded basement and knew that if it was that bad at their house, that Bellevue had to be a hundred times worse – we knew we needed to get to Bellevue to help our church family. We met up with a group at Cross Point’s Bellevue campus; Ryan took us out to Boone Trace and we were “assigned” to a house. The owners and their 7-year-old daughter don’t attend Cross Point – they were some of the strongest people that I have ever met – they were so grateful and positive – their entire first floor was flooded, but they came out with smiles and thanks and couldn’t believe that there were so many people there to help. We took all of the furniture outside to either dry or throw away, ripped all of the carpet out, took the doors off, ripped out drywall and baseboards and insulation. At one point, the mom and I were standing in the kitchen and I just asked her how she was feeling. I can’t imagine being that strong in front of everyone all the time. She got a little teary and she started saying that they were evacuated the day before and that her daughter cried all night saying that she missed her house and that she was scared of the water. She continued to tell me that she told her daughter to pray that God continues to protect us and that he’ll provide for us and to help us stay strong. She said that she said that with faith even though she was scared and didn’t know how they could be strong in the midst of losing almost everything. Then she said this: God delivered. He answered our prayer with you – people that we don’t even know. We don’t know any of you and you all showed up and helped us with work that we didn’t know how we were going to get done. You gave us strength in numbers and my daughter is no longer scared.

I think that at this point it hit me. God DELIVERS GRACE AND HOPE in the midst of the most low places. SERIOUSLY – he orchestrated ALL of that. This family didn’t know about Cross Point, but they asked me for all of the information. Who knows? Maybe I will get to worship next to them one Sunday soon. We, as a body of Christ, are doing way more than just ripping out carpet and washing laundry and dishes – we’re attempting to be the hands and feet of Jesus. I think that it’s awesome to see – even though it’s a horrible thing that happened – that GOD will be glorified in Nashville, TN.

This is just one of many stories that we are hearing and there are still hundreds more to be told.

Will you take some time to come and help?

We’ll be sending out teams all week:

Wednesday, May 5th from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM – Meet at Cross Point Bellevue Campus

Thursday, May 6th from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM – Meet at Cross Point Bellevue Campus

Friday, May 7th from 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM – Meet at Cross Point Bellevue Campus

Saturday, May 8th from 9:00 Am – 4:00 PM – Meeting location TBD

** For more details, directions, pictures, contact info, check out the Cross Point website

We were literally washed out today from having regular services.  The flooding here in Nashville is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.

Please be in prayer for this city.  There is much help and healing needed in the coming days and weeks.

If you or someone you know has been affected by the flooding and needs help, please email details to info@crosspoint.tv.  We are rallying teams and putting plans together to respond.

Right now there are two immediate ways that you can help:

1. A team of volunteers will be meeting at our Bellevue Campus at 10AM Monday morning to go out and begin helping whereever we can in the community.  Please join us if you can.
2. We have set up a Flood Relief Fund on our website.  All proceeds will go directly to those affected by the flood waters in middle TN.  You can DONATE HERE. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and concern!

We opted to broadcast our services online this morning.  My notes from the message are below:

“The Wall” by Pete Wilson

The wall – the place where you realize you don’t have control of your life

God loves us enough that he’s willing to strip us of anything that keeps us from him.

The wall is the place where we relinquish what we cling to for our identity.

Job 1:1

Job 1:20-22

Job did not sin, nor did he blame God.

For some of us God’s gift has taken the place of God.  In other words – idolatry.

Idolatry is simply taking something other than God and making it our ultimate.

Job 2:4-7

Genesis 2:15-17

No matter how hard you try in life things will never be quite the way you think they should be.

If you have faith, you will always be susceptible to doubt.

Job 8:4-6

Being a christian doesn’t mean we know how to respond to everything that happens.  It doesn’t mean we have all the answers.

The reality is we often have more questions than answers.  The reality is that even though we believe we also doubt.

Job reminds us that how we respond shattered dreams really matters.

Can we worship God even when He’s not showing up like we want Him to?

Can you still trust Him?  Can you still believe that He has all things in His hands?

Waiting on God by Pete Wilson

There is an undeniable relationship between CRISIS and HOPE.

Matthew 5:1-4

It is rare for us to seek God when everything is going well in our lives.

John 11:1-6

We love the idea of following Jesus until it disrupts our plans or our dreams.

We have become quick-aholics.  We don’t like to wait.  We don’t like when we’re in a hurry and God is not.

We don’t like to wait because it makes us feel powerless.  Waiting taps into one of our greatest issues – control.

It’s in the waiting that Jesus lived out his truest and deepest purpose.  Could the same be true for you?  Could God be doing his greatest work in your life during the waiting?

God will allow suffering, pain and crisis in order to detach HOPE from other things and attach it to himself.

You’ve got to get over the idea that God is doing something TO you.  He may be doing something in you, but not to you.

John 11:17-22  Martha is saying “God, if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened.  You could have done something.”

Martha is not doubting God’s power.  She is doubting God’s timing.

The question isn’t whether you can trust God.  The question is, “can you wait?”

Hope does not come only from believing God’s power, but also from accepting and trusting his timing.

Transformation takes place in your life when you’re waiting.

John 11:22

In the waiting, you are doing the most important thing you can do.  You are allowing your hope to grow up.

Are you in the waiting?  How can I pray for you?

His Powerful Presence by Pete Wilson

How do you response in life when you feel like God is not there, when you feel like the dream is shattered?

Key Question: What would you do in your life if you were absolutely confident that God was with you?

Genesis 37:3-4

When things aren’t working out, we usually make the assumption that God has abandoned us.

Truth: God is most powerfully present even when he seems most apparently absent.

Genesis 39:1-14

We make the assumption that if the Lord is with you, everything works out.

Joseph made the choice in all of his circumstances to choose to believe that God was there.

God’s more concerned about who we’re becoming than where we’re going.

Let’s be honest: Isn’t it difficult to be faithful to God when you feel like God hasn’t been faithful to you?

So often my prayers – my crying out to God – has nothing to do with wanting God, it’s all about the things I want.

Genesis 39:22-23

Genesis 40:14-15, 23

We’re haunted by the fact that we worship a God who could have done something, but he didn’t.

Choose to put your faith in God’s identity not his activity.

How you respond to the circumstances in your life matters more than you could ever imagine.

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

Are you experiencing a shattered dream?  If so, please leave a comment.  I would love to be praying for you!

Isn’t it true that most of us grew up with expectations of the way life was going to turn out?  In our minds we had it all planned out.

Nobody ever grew up dreaming they would be divorced twice by age 45 or be alone and depressed at 26.  Nobody ever things “I’m going to have cancer before I turn 50,” or “Ill be unemployed at age 32.”

• So what do you do with your shattered dreams?
• What do you do with your unmet expectations?
• What do you do when God doesn’t show up like you thought God was going to show up?

Today we launched our new series “Shattered Dreams” at all of our campuses.  I’m super excited about this series because it speaks so directly to some of the most tender hurts that many of us are carrying.

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/9056665[/vimeo]

The Birth of Control by Pete Wilson

1 Samuel 21:1-3

Don’t abandon your God-given values in the pursuit of your God-given dreams.

1 Samuel 21:8-9

Where in your life are you trying to control outcomes?  Finances?  Relationships?

Where are you tempted to think you know how God should think or act?

Develop a systematic way to remember God’s past faithfulness, or you’ll have a hard time trusting him with future challenges.

What do you do when your dreams aren’t coming true?  What’s your habit?  What do you turn to?  Drugs?  Food?  Introversion?

Control is birthed when we assume God must think and feel as we do.

I need to get to the place where I realize that even though my will isn’t being done, it doesn’t mean God’s willing isn’t being done.

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

My toes start getting stepped on when we talk about control.  You?

It’s the Monday after.  Hope is restored.  Lives are changed.

Easter never gets old.  God’s story of redemption is still amazingly powerful.  We had an incredible weekend at all of our campuses.

HE IS RISEN INDEED!

3 Words that Changed Everything by Pete Wilson

Easter is about remembering and worshiping the only hope capable of sustaining a human life through everything.

Underneath your Easter clothes many of you are just broken.

The Easter story starts with shattered dreams.

Luke 23:44-49

When life isn’t happening the way we assumed it would happen we feel like God is abandoning us.  That is likely how Jesus followers felt.

We have to base our faith on God’s identity rather than God’s activity.

We have to base our faith on His promises, not our predicament.

Luke 24:1-6

This is the hope that has held believers together for over 2000 years.

Because of those three words: He Is Risen!, hope was restored.

Romans 6:4

We don’t gather together to celebrate a holiday, we gather together to celebrate that over 2000 years ago, he changed everything.

Because Christ is risen:

1)  There is forgiveness for your past.

• Unresolved guilt will destroy you.
• Romans 5:6,8
• No one has ever drifted so far from God that He can’t reach them through the cross of Jesus Christ.

Good Enough Plan – you hope that your good out-weighs your bad in the end; it only leads to guilt because you’re not good enough

Comparison Plan – you compare yourself to others until you find someone that you are better than; you become a small-hearted, legalistic, bitter person

Grace Plan – you realize you’re not good enough and no one else is good enough except for Jesus Christ

2)  There is hope for your future.

• You can have hope even though there is no circumstantial reason to have hope.
• When God shows up at your tomb, He brings life.

**Photos courtesy of Danny Bates

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/10497851[/vimeo]

I don’t know about you, but Easter seems to get more meaningful for me each year.

Today at all of our Cross Point Campuses we took time to remember the sacrifice Christ made for us, with the observance of communion.

As I watched the roomful of people with arms raised in worshipful response, I began to try to imagine their hurts.  What is going on in that person’s life?  What are they facing?  What are they celebrating?  What are the mourning?

I have no idea what is specifically going on in their worlds, but I know and understand hurt, disappointment, betrayal, fear, frustration and hopelessness.  And as I watched them worshiping in surrender to their Savior I was reminded that there are even greater numbers of people outside the doors, throughout our cities that are literally dieing for the hope that we have in Christ.

I’ve jokingly referred to Easter as “Our Superbowl”, the Sunday of all Sundays, to our staff.  There is a hurting world that needs the hope of Christ and there is no better Sunday to invite someone to hear that message.

Who do you know that needs to be invited to an Easter service this year?

(You can click HERE to send them an email invitation.)

Leave their first name in the comments below and I’ll be praying for you both this week!

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

Easter Services at Cross Point – April 3rd & 4th:

Dickson Campus

• Sunday 8:00, 9:30 & 11:00 AM

Nashville Campus

• Saturday 5:00 & 6:30 PM
• Sunday 8:30, 10:00, 11:30 AM & 6:00 PM

North Campus

• Sunday 9:00 & 11:00 AM