On Mission

This week has been an interesting one for me. Let me provide some context:

For the last 4 years, I've led a mission trip to Staten Island, New York. This week, I've got 33 people here serving Jesus by helping Salem Church impact their neighborhood for Jesus! My attention has been on facilitating a clash between gospel sharing southerners and catholic-"ish" italian New Yorkers. It's been going well, I'll update with some results soon!

However, this year our mission trip has happened on the same week as the annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention in Phoenix, AZ. So, I've been keeping loose tabs on that too. It seems that most in the leadership of our denomination believe that change is necessary. So, there was a great deal said about adopting the 3,800 remaining unreached people groups around the world. I wholeheartedly agree with this effort!

The peculiarity of this week is due to the mix of being "on mission" and hearing so much "about the mission." Now, Staten Island has a growing, thriving, Gospel preaching church (see www.salemchurchnyc.com). So there is definitely a difference in this mission project and the ones discussed in Phoenix. However, there is a HUGE difference between talking about engaging in the mission and ACTUALLY doing it!

I commend the 33 people who took this week away from their lives & homes to share Jesus with Staten Island. I, also, commend Tom Elliff, Bryant Wright, Kevin Ezell and others for trying to shake Southern Baptists out of our slumber this week in Phoenix. My prayer is harvests to be evident on Staten Island this week and in the years to come as SBC churches embrace the mission!

Super Bowl (AKA, Easter) Sunday, 2011

I follow around 50 pastors on twitter and, based on the "tweets" before during & after this past weekend, it's obvious that we (yes, WE) all look at Easter Sunday differently than the other 51 every year. Let's face it, it's the protestant version of Superbowl Sunday! Now, there is room for a legitimate discussion about the virtue of this distinction on the part of pastors and churches, but this post isn't the time or place. I want to offer my thoughts on the biggest day in the history of Calvary Cross-link, to date.

1) An Unorthodox Message Seemed to Work - My wife, secretary and staff will attest to the fact that I was more than a little anxious about my sermon on Sunday. Usually, a pastor will preach a rousing, enthusiastic sermon on the resurrection of Christ. But several months ago, I decided to go with an apologetics message on Easter Sunday. I began by establishing the historicity of the New Testament, therefore making C.S. Lewis' Trilemma of Jesus being a Liar, Lunatic or Lord the only the logical possibilities. When the possibilities were examined a little closer, the only one that could reasonably be true is that Jesus Christ is Lord!

My anxiety stemmed from the fact that the message contained a great deal of technical information (2 Diagrams, multiple quotes from historians, archaeologists and scholars). And, from the fact that, when I get nervous, I begin to ramble on & on & on & on & on...you get the picture. So, this seemed like a prime opportunity to go far too long and bore people to DEATH! But, at the end of the day, God used the message and we saw 13 people accept Jesus Christ for who He is...Lord!

If you're interested in hearing the message, you can find it at www.calvarycrosslink.org

2) The Two-Service experiment was a success - One of the biggest challenges in a church going from one service to two is pitifully low turnout in one and a packed house in the other. However, it seems that an early service is attractive to a number of CCLr's, making the transition less abrasive than it would otherwise be. On Sunday, we put 373 people in worship on our campus in Harrisonburg, Virginia. We had 161 in the 9 am service and 192 in the second. Those numbers don't include the 25 or so volunteers that were at both time slots.

In September, we'll go to a permanent two-service Sunday schedule to accommodate the continued growth to Calvary Cross-link. Easter Sunday was a great "dry run" to let us know how it could work. We've still got to work through the details, but I believe we've got an answer to our worship space issues.

3) It only Takes a Taste to Develop a Craving- The two services I just mentioned were not the only Calvary Cross-link Easter Services. In fact, about 10 of our senior adults went to Harrisonburg Health and Rehabilitation Center to lead an Easter service for the residents there. They had 50 or so in attendance and Stacy Meyerhoeffer brought the message. Praise the Lord, a 92 year old woman invited Jesus Christ to be her Savior. The initial feedback is that the Seniors' Class is eager to continue ministering in that context!

In all honesty, this nursing home Easter service was something that the Senior Adult class kind of "fell" into. I praise the Lord for their willingness to step in, but now I can see an obvious passion to minister to people who have largely been forgotten by the world. A taste of this type of ministry has lit a fire within our blessed senior saints and this pastor is very proud!

4) The Calvary Cross-link People REALLY Stepped Up- We ordered 7,500 invite cards to Easter Sunday at Calvary Cross-link. We mass-mailed 2,500 of them and passed out most of the rest. Most of our regulars showed up with lost/unchurched friends/family/co-workers in tow! Also, our music & production team worked double duty on Sunday showing up at 7:30am and not leaving until around 1pm. Their families accommodating the demanding Easter Sunday schedule was essential as well! I am super proud of these team members.

5) I am going to need to get in better shape before September- I love to preach! After doing so, I am emotionally and intellectually fired up! However, I am physically exhausted after a 40-50 minute message. So, I am going to need to lose some serious weight before committing myself to two of those in a 3+ hour period every Sunday. I feel a little like a weakling for mentioning it, but unfortunately it's very true.

Lastly, I can say that this is merely the beginning of what God has in store for Calvary Cross-link. Next year, we'll look back at Super Bowl Sunday 2011 as a "good start" to managing the growth of this fellowship! Jump on board and help us steam full speed ahead!

Content & Delivery

I spend a great deal of time every week preparing sermons. I'll study original languages, do word studies and consult about a dozen commentaries in the process. All this is in addition to the prayer time and context reading from the Bible that each sermon demands. Once the preparation is finished (typically by Thursday afternoon), I'll let the message sink in to my life over the next 2 & 1/2 days. I quote my mentor and pastor, Dr Johnny Hunt, when he says "my sermon is finished, but it's not ready" once the writing process is completed, because I've got to respond to the message before I ask anyone else to.

This is not a novel idea for anyone who has ever taught the Bible at any level. I don't suppose I'm breaking any new news on this subject, but I came to my own realization last week and I'd like to share it with you...

I found myself asking God to guide the presentation of my message as much as he guided the content of my message. If it's true that many people will pay more attention to "how" I say something than to "what" I say, then my presentation needs to communicate the crux of the message as much (if not more so) than the content. Do you follow?

This past week, I was preaching the 2nd of Jesus' Beatitudes from Matthew 5:4 "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted." The crux of the message is that Jesus is calling us to Godly mourning over personal sin and societal sin. Well, in preaching this message to the hundreds gathered at Calvary Cross-link, I became extremely emotional. I could not finish my message and found myself absolutely broken over sin: my sin (first), my church's sin and my country sin. I was overwhelmed with the reality of my sin, past & present, and broken over the fact that Jesus not only died for me, but was also comforting me! It was a tough pill to swallow.

This is something that, in 14 years of preaching, has NEVER happened to me. I am a very passionate person, but not an emotional person. I rarely cry, choke up or break down in any situation, but God brought me to a breaking point over sin and then pushed me over to communicate this concept to Calvary Cross-link. No lie, I turned into a big, sweaty, red faced, cry-baby in front of my whole church! Tears and snot went everywhere while I attempted (with a high pitch whine) to conclude the service. I wanted to find the nearest exit and leave before talking to anybody (didn't happen). You can listen to an edited version (Thanks Robert) of the sermon at www.calvarycrosslink.org and hear for yourself.

I wish that I could tell you that revival broke out and the spirit of God was poured out on our fellowship. However, that wasn't the case. Most eyes were dry, wide in surprise, but completely dry nonetheless. Very little response to the altar or visible response to the message was apparent. I assume the days to come will tell the story of how well we obey Matthew 5:4.

Even if there is no difference, this preacher has been changed and I believe that this situation is a direct result of my praying, "Lord, guide my presentation of Your truth as You have guided my preparation of Your truth."

I fear that there is more of this to come...