There are not enough kids in my life… or more accurately I don’t make enough time to spend with the sweet kids in my life.

That was my Sunday lesson yesterday. 

After a very long and challenging day, I was racing home to meet my sister and two of my little friends to bake Christmas cookies.  Both my sister and the mom of one of my little friends asked me if I was too tired or spent to still bake cookies.  They each graciously offered to reschedule if I wanted to.

I didn’t even hesitate… NO WAY!  I had been looking forward to this all day!

These little bright spots of sunshine brought with them lots of joy, laughter, new arrangements of Christmas songs including…

“Frosting the Snow Man” and “Frosty the Dough Man”

and a kitchen covered in red icing!

They were the highlight of my day!

Sometimes in my busyness and responsibility I forget that the seemingly simple things are sometimes the most profound. 

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done a Sunday Lessons post.. sorry about that.

We wrapped up the Better Days series at Cross Point today with a message on “Gratitude”… fitting of course for the week of Thanksgiving.   Although it was the type of message that most of us will hear this week, Pete’s intentionality with it somehow caused it to resonate differently for me.

There were plenty of great quotables from his message but the lesson that sticks out to me the most is this:

“Gratitude is never invisible or silent.”

I’m ashamed at the number of times I’ve gone about my day thinking of the things that I’m grateful for with my team, but failing to verbalize them.

If I didn’t say it, it’s as if I didn’t think it.  My team will never benefit from appreciation left unsaid.

Do you ever fall into this trap?  Maybe this is the week to start speaking up.

G R A T E F U L

I long for my life to be marked by this word.

Today we kicked off our new series “Better Days” and Pete challenged us to evaluate how much cynicism effects our level of hope and faith.  It’s so easy to get trapped by the negativity and fear-based sensationalism that surrounds us.

Better Days // Starting OCT 23rd from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

Gratefulness changes your perspective.

A grateful attitude breeds a hopeful heart.

What are you grateful for?

Join us for the #BetterDaysChallenge and take time each day this week to journal or twitter 3 things that you’re grateful for.

I’ll go first.  I’m thankful for…

1. The beautiful fall weather.
2. An evening at home with my husband.
3. The group of talented, brilliant young women who lead at Cross Point.

Okay, now your turn!

I’ve been sitting here staring at a blank screen for some time now… and for the second time today.

I’ve replayed my day over and over trying to identify what I learned today.

What was my “ah ha” moment?

What was my lesson to tuck away and remember for another day?

Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Zilch.

It was a good day.  Our staff did great.  Our volunteers rocked as always.  We had some things go well.  We had some things go not quite as planned.  We rearranged when needed.  We critiqued as necessary.  We praised others often.  We laughed.  We were challenged.  We had fun.

It was a good day.

So I guess that’s the lesson for today… sometimes there is no great leadership dilemma that I have to solve.

Sometimes it’s just a good day.

And that’s a good thing!

Sometimes we forget what the rest of the world is doing.

Most Sundays I wake up to a before-sunrise alarm clock and set out on an early morning drive to the office.  It’s usually a bit hazy.  The dew lingers on the grass and the fog is still hanging in the air.   Everything is generally pretty quiet and peaceful.

But the last couple of weeks I’ve had some alternate plans that have had me out and about mid-morning on Sunday.   And it seems I’ve kind of forgotten what the rest of the world is doing on Sundays.

• At about 8am Percy Warner park is buzzing with activity, especially on a beautiful fall morning like today.

• Around 10 or 11am the Interstate is clogging up with carloads of Titans fans, flags proudly flapping in the wind, headed to the game.

• About the same time, every local Starbucks is full of casual coffee-drinkers sipping their treat of choice and reveling in a good read.

I was amused by all the activity that happens each and every week while I’m tucked away inside the four walls of a place that I would still rather be more than anywhere else.

However I have to admit I was easily tempted by each of their activities.  All equally enjoyable things that I would be eager to do if given a lazy Sunday morning.

My Sunday Lesson today is that sometimes I forget what the rest of the world is doing.  I forget what is competing for their attention.  I forget what a commitment and sacrifice it is for them to attend church rather than one of these activities that so easily woos them.

Church leaders, don’t forget!  Don’t forget what we’re competing with.  Do everything you can to create a place as compelling as any one of these other environments.  Because if we can create the place, they’ll experience something that none of these other things can ever do… provide them an encounter with their Creator and Savior.

Everyone is preoccupied.

As a church leader I approach Sunday as if it’s the priority if everyone’s week.  It’s “game day” for those of us who get to do this for full-time employment and so it’s natural that Sunday feels like a big deal.  My life on the weekend even revolves around being ready for Sunday.

• We rarely make Saturday evening plans because I prefer to be home relaxing to get to bed on time.
• I wake up earlier on Sunday than any other day of the week.
• Sometime during the weekend I’ve planned what I’m going to wear and I make sure it’s washed and ironed.

I plan very intentionally to be at my best on our big day.

I think it’s critical that I treat this day so seriously.  It really matters.  In fact today across all of our campuses over 100 people gave their life to Christ.

That’s a big day!

But I also think it’s important that I don’t project my intensity onto those attending.  Sometimes I catch myself expecting them to be as excited as I am about jumping out of bed and coming to Cross Point.  It’s a nice desire, but it’s a poor expectation.

It’s a poor expectation because I’m failing to be aware of all that is going on in their lives.  They’re preoccupied by…

• the argument they had before leaving the house
• a friend who is hurting or sick
• the loss they feel in a relationship gone wrong
• the teenager they had to force to get up and get moving
• the aches that keep their well-worn body from moving like it used to
• the stress of their job and what’s looming for them Monday morning
• hope that the Titans will win
• the pain from the burn they got from pouring scalding hot water on themselves trying to make breakfast (Oh wait!  That was me )

We’re all preoccupied by something.

Our lives are full and sometimes just making it through the doors of church is a miracle in itself.

My Sunday lesson this week is to anticipate each Sunday with eagerness and expectation but to weigh that with a tenderness and sensitivity for the load that people bring with them through those doors.

The greatest gift we can give them is an hour of uninterrupted space for God to speak to them.

May He do that through the work that we do every single Sunday!

Today I was struck by a couple of unique perspectives…

The first was a volunteer who was serving his heart out at Cross Point.  Each week he arrives early and stays all day to serve.  He has no greater joy than getting to spend his day serving.

The second was an email from a young couple who were a part of Cross Point for several years but recently felt a call to go plant a church back where they are originally from.  I get a weekly report from them sharing the highs and lows of their ministry experience, but whether good news or bad news there is always a firey passion in their correspondence.  These guys are seeing God at work in every moment and their excitement is contagious!

My lesson today was to challenge myself to always keep these passionate folks around me.  It’s too easy to lose sight of what God is up to if you let yourself become preoccupied by the minutia of the mundane.  Anything, even ministry, can become mundane if you’re not purposeful about keeping the vision fresh.

How do you keep fresh perspective in your work or ministry?

Be wholeheartedly somewhere rather than halfheartedly everywhere.

I feel extraordinarily fragmented right now.

• I live between two houses.  One of is for sale and the other I’m remodeling to move into.

• I don’t have an office so I office in many different places but none of them feel like “my space”.

• And on Sundays I bounce between 5 different campuses.

I’m usually ok with juggling a lot of different things.  I’m not overly sentimental so I don’t get too bound by tradition, however having so many areas of my life disjointed is causing me to lose focus.

Sometimes I’m just not sure where I “should” be since there are so many places I “could” be.

I realize that feeling so halfheartedly a part of many things is making me less effective.

As leaders, the natural progression is to lead and manage more and more.  But I think we have to always be careful to narrow our focus and wholeheartedly commit to the things that need us most.

So my Sunday Lesson this week was to commit to being “wholeheartedly somewhere rather than halfheartedly everywhere.”

Have you ever felt this way?  How did you realign your focus?

Yesterday I had some guests with me for most of the day.  I took them to 3 of our 5 physical campuses plus I brought them backstage for the live q&a of the Internet campus.  We had a great day!  I love showing others around and sharing the story of Cross Point.

However as typically happens when you’re entertaining guests, my senses were heightened to our “needs improvement” areas.  I was hyper-aware of trash on the floor, messy bathrooms, sticky cafe tables, unmanned volunteer stations, etc.

My critical eye was laser-focused yesterday.

But then I became aware of another interesting dynamic…

I was dismissing what was good. 

“Oh, you love the worship, yeah those guys are good aren’t they?”  Yeah, that’s Carlos.  He leads worship here pretty often.”

The things my guests really admired, I dismissed as ordinary.  ORDINARY!  There is nothing ordinary about one of the best worship leaders in the country serving his heart out at our church.  There is nothing ordinary about really talented musicians volunteering their gifts for the church instead of taking some great paying gig around town.

My lesson yesterday was never to neutralize the highs and lows of the ministry you serve.

Don’t miss the trash, sticky tables and M.I.A volunteers.  Every week counts.  Every person matters.  It’s always someone’s first day.  Someone else may be bringing a guest today.

And don’t miss the really good stuff, the amazing talent God has blessed you with, and the things that have great momentum at your church.

Embrace the highs and lows and go after it like your life depends on it… because someone’s life does!

Another Sunday…

If you work or volunteer in ministry full-time, you understand the feeling of “another Sunday”.  It’s amazing how regular and routine Sunday is.

Same formula: music + teaching + prayer + announcements = dismiss and start it all over again multiple times.

Sometimes I catch myself saying things like:

“One down, four more to go”  or  “Just one more”

As if I’m counting the minutes until it’s over.  Ugh!

Do I really want it to be over?  Yes, it’s a long day.  Yes, I get very tired, but do I really want to just get it over with?

Because while it may just feel like another Sunday for me, it’s not another Sunday for most of the people sitting in the services:

• What about the dozens of first-time guests that were there yesterday?  Why July 24th?  I have no idea, but it was their first time to experience Cross Point and possibly their first time to hear the hope of the Gospel.  That’s not just another Sunday for them.
• Or the daddy who eagerly wanted to introduce me to his daughter who will be moving to Nashville this fall to start her first “real” job.  With tears in his eyes he was desperate to know that he had found a safe place for his daughter to worship and build community when she’s a thousand miles away from home.  That’s not just another Sunday.
• The sweet girl who worshiped on the front row with such abandon that I couldn’t help but watch her because it made my heart full to see her love and worship her Creator so joyfully.  It’s wasn’t just another Sunday for her.

Those are just a few of the stories from the thousands of faces who chose to attend a worship service yesterday.  I have no idea what the rest of their stories are, but I’m convinced…

…it’s never just another Sunday.