I forgot to tell you something...

It seems in all my excitement of what God is doing at our church that I forgot to tell you a few particulars about this thing called believing in Jesus Christ. First, I forgot to mention the cost. That is simple. To follow Christ will cost you everything. Another thing I failed to bring to your attention has to do with your rights. If you follow Christ, you don't have any. Lastly, I would be totally remiss if I was to overlook the expectation level God requires. He expects you to deny everything else and follow Him.

Have you ever wondered why God has put such severe specifications on the true belief system? It is there for our good and not for our restriction. What is so cool about being a true believer is: while God requires everything, He actually asks us for nothing. He is the one who brings all the marbles to the table. It is His grace, His strength, His gifts and His love that enable us to live a life with true meaning and purpose. Isn't it funny that the only reason we have to deny all of our stuff is so we can appropriate His stuff? We hold on so tight to the thing that will never allow us to have the type of life God intended while we ignore the process that can really bring us freedom.

Just a thought...

Chris

Real

Well it is here and gone. Our "Two Faced" series has ended with a bang. I never realized just how tough it is to be honest about our faith, or should I say the lack of it. How cool would it be if we believed God actually accepted us where we are and for who we are without any changes at all? While we all know that we need to change, God's acceptance is foundational if we are going to become truly authentic. During this series it was very clear that true authenticity is not only difficult to act upon; it is just as difficult to envision. Let me give you a little test to rate your "authenticity quotient":

Have you ever thought that you were not good enough to ask God or a friend for something that you wanted?

Have you ever allowed yourself to be seated in a restaurant in a place you knew upfront you were not going to like?

Has there ever been a time when you wanted to say something in a conversation, but you were nervous about how it would be received?

One more... Do you have a strained relationship in your life that is in your power to get right and you haven't?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may be less than authentic to at least yourself, and possibly to God.

Taking steps toward true authenticity requires us to accept the fact that God does not change His view of us according to our actions. It mandates consistent and total acceptance through God's forgiveness, and it allows His total and complete access into all the benefits and privileges we have as His children. This belief and thought is the only way to true authenticity: when we are willing to say, 'it is not by my actions, good or bad, that regulates God's view toward acceptance of me'. This is the foundational biblical principle that creates authentic faith and living.

It should be interesting to see how God releases the authentic people He is calling us to be as we walk this life of faith.

Just a thought...

Let's be honest

Some have said I am crazy. It is not the first time. The reason they think I'm nuts is because of the new series we are launching at The Crossing. It is called "Two Faced" and it is about authenticity in all aspects of our lives. We have gone so far as to launch a new website called "Christianhypocrite.org". The website is there so you can tell us about your Christian Hypocrite experience. While the entries will all be anonymous, it should prove to be very interesting hearing what people have experienced from others in the name of religion.
Here is a story one friend told me last week:
While selling for a company in New England, he had a client that could not stop talking about his leadership in his local church and how committed he was to the teachings of the Bible. Because of this testimony, my friend decided to sign a contract with him for a couple million dollars worth of equipment, with the stipulation that he would buy the disposable products from him for the next two years. After a few months passed, the company owner canceled the contract, almost causing my friend to lose his job. When the owner was confronted about his commitment and faith, he simply told my friend that he had never said anything about his faith. This is one story of many that we all have experienced.
My goal for Christianhypocrite.org isn't to let people bash each other; but instead, I want to open the door for people who are angry and frustrated with the church as a whole, and for believers specifically, to vent their experiences. Let's be honest; if we can't be honest with our Christian experiences, we probably are not honest with our faith.

Visit the site and tell us your Christian Hypocrite experience.

Christianhypocrite.org

Bold prayer

I found myself asking God during the closing prayer in our service to turn the difficult situations in our people's lives to impossible ones so that they would be required to act in faith rather than still trying to work on the things that only God can solve. I wonder, is that to far or is that just the type of prayer Jesus would be asking for His disciples? Should we ask God to move things to that point? How much time do we waste trying to solve what only God can settle? The man inside of me screams,"I can do it" while the child of faith wants to let it go. In Hebrews 4 it tells us that if we are to labor we need to "labor to enter into rest." I don't think I have the answer but I have to believe that God is willing to solve more than we let Him. Next time I want to go solve it, I might just ask God to make it so I can't and see what happens.
Just a thought
Chris

Pet peeves

I don't have a lot of pet peeves. This week I had the pleasure to experience a two of them. One of my favorites is when you go through a drive thru window and the person living in that small box forgets to push the button when they talk to you. "lp .... uo." is short for " may I help you" and "do you want fries with that" sounds like "I think your fat." Either they need to get out of that box more often or they should learn to press the button a little sooner.
Another pet peeve is when the the five or six main movie channels show the same movies over and over again. How many times can you watch Die hard 2 and Men in Black. It seems to me with about a million movies created that they would not have to replay the same six movies over and over.

There is another Chris Lockhart in our Church

I got to a chance to see real creativity and commitment this week in our Sunday service.
Ryan Monson pulled out all the stops when he took the top ten list of things I am likely to say every Sunday and put together a monologue that had the entire congregation in stitches. He dressed the part, spoke the part and even went so far as to shave his head to look the part. My hat is tipped to you Ryan for your great creativity and delivery. It will be a long time before I forget how hard I laughed that morning. Some have said that you looked just like me. That could be really scary for your future. Thanks for all your effort.
Chris

Commitment at The Crossing

There has been some discussion of late how and why we have commitment levels for service at The Crossing. Let me try to explain what was hammered out by God in my basement during the first six months of the ministry . We believed that God could draw people to Himself by more than just a Sunday morning worship service. For that reason, we designed a process where people could participate in what we are doing at the Crossing at every level of commitment. Here is how they are designed.
There levels are from lower commitment to higher level and are as follows.

Participant - A person who volunteers for a single time for any inreach/outreach event by The Crossing
Involvement - A person who commits to a more than a single event participation.
Connection - A person who unites with the church through a covenant relationship
Service - A person who is backed by the Crossing as they seek to minister in a specific ministry on a regular basis
Partnership - A person who is following their calling for ministry and is supported by the Crossing in that ministry
Commission - A person who is called to full time ministry and is sent by The Crossing to fulfill that ministry

Here is an example of these commitment level's work. Let's say The Crossing decides to hold a concert at the mall where we meet. Glen shows up before the concert and asks if he can help set up chairs at the concert. Glen is now at the lowest level of commitment. He is a participant. If Glen decides to set up chairs at every concert, he now moves to the next level of commitment. He is involved. During the the third concert Glen, gives his life to Christ, gets baptized and covenants with the church two months later. He now is at the next level of commitment. He is connected. During the next year's concert series, Glen decides that he now wants to run all the chair set up for the following season. Glen now is in a place of service and at that level of commitment. By the end of that year Glen believes that God is calling him to teach others how to set up their chairs at their events. At this point, The Crossing helps Glen bring his chair show to the road. Glen has moved to the next level of commitment. The level of partnership. The final stage of commitment is commission and by now Glen is clearly ready for a full time chair ministry. The Crossing sets up his commissioning to his full time chair ministry and now supports him as he seeks to fulfill God's ministry through him.

Why is this important? We use these levels for two reasons. First, it allows everyone to move through process at their own pace and time which keeps us from moving people into leadership to soon. It also makes everyone move into the process at an entry level position that enables the church to view these people as they mature toward deeper levels of commitment.
This process may not be for everyone but it seems to work well for us at the Crossing.

Can you make it happen???

Would you like to be a person you can make it happen?
Do you want to finish the project, win the race, complete the diet or set up a new company? Here are my thoughts on making it happen.
A great way to have all projects reach completion on time is by constantly keeping the end in mind. It doesn't matter what you want to do. They all should be approached the same way.
First, submit the process to the end result. Don't let the result ever be submitted to the process. In other words, visualize what the end will look like. Let your dream become a reality in your mind. If you cannot see what you want, you will be in danger of letting the process produce the results. This is why most people settle for less than they actually want.
This week I decided to change the lighting in the worship center and we also started a new worship series which required a new platform reset. I knew exactly what the end result was going to be before I lifted a finger to begin. By having a clear view of the end I was able to marshall resources, regulate time and produce production schedules that always seem to fit.
Winning sports figures never look at themselves as losers. They always visualize themselves in the winners circle.
Let me issue a disclaimer for all who now have diagnosed me as the ultimate control freak. Most leaders will tell you that they are always working to give away projects and ideas for others to complete. While this is true, most all of these same leaders when they started their leadership process had to hand pick and personally supervise the projects that were dear to them until the people who were around them understood the level of accomplishment they were looking for.
Let's say you have a large project to complete. In that case you have to clearly instill the vision you want into others involved so they can have the same mindset. Sometimes people are not able to visualize the final results. What then? Simply section off what they can visualize. Let them see what is their part. Make the tasks for them small enough so they can see it. When they are completed put their results into the larger picture. They will be amazed.
The last part of the process that insures success is by keeping the "whatever it takes" mindset. No job is to big or to little. You can never say " that's not my job" make every job your job and no detail is too small or to big to be considered. Do what others won't do. Refuse to quit even if everyone else wants to quit. Your goal as a leader is to do less and less of the details and more and more of the concept but keep in mind that people are always looking at what I call your "capacity for completion." If you cannot complete or motivate others to complete the project, your projects will always be less than you expect them to be.
You can have any goal you want if you keep these two basic principles in place.
just a thought...
Chris

When is prayer bad...

Yesterday I found a time that prayer did not work for me. I was in a group of men praying for the upcoming service and right in the middle of the prayer time I realized that the prayer being said, while well intentioned and perfectly valid were taking me totally away from the mindset God had given me to preach that morning. I was so distracted that I finally got up and left the prayer time so I could regroup my thoughts and regain my focus for the service. It made me think. Is there a time when prayer is not useful? Yes, I believe there is and here are a couple of the conditions.
First, prayer could be harmful when it is time to act. I think of the time when Joshua walked around the walls of Jerihco. On the seventh day God said that the time for prayer was over. It was time to shout. A time to act or in this case time for Him to act. Another time prayer can be trouble is when we pray presumptive prayers. This is when we create preconceived notions about what the answer needs to be inject our results as they are mandatory for God to follow. It always amazes me how some people only pray their solution during prayer time. Help John realize how wrong he is or let Liz get out of that relationship because he is no good for her. Presumptive prayers are popular. I just wonder just how biblical they are.
Just a thought...
Chris

The Truth

Went to the Truth project training this weekend. While the truth lessons we learned at the conference were good, they were hard pressed to compare with the life lessons we learned from the hotel stay Friday night. Here are a couple of truths I learned. First, don't believe all the reviews you read on the internet. The two and a half star hotel did not shine as bright in real life as it did online. Next, the truth of real world is everywhere. I could tell because one of our staff received an arbitrary call in the middle of the night from a call girl. What a stark contrast from singing Holy, Holy, Holy as we did at the end of each session at the conference. The last lesson was the greatest and best of all. It is always great to spend time with people who you care about. The location does not seem to matter when you are with good friends.
Thanks guys for laughs and the fun.
Chris

Hang On...

I almost fell off a roof when I was younger trying to retrieve a ball that had been hit up there during a game. To get down, I had to hang on to the edge of the roof and stretch my foot over to a porch three stories up. I don't know why, but the distance I had to stretch to get up to the roof seemed shorter than the one coming down. The problem was simple. Same roof, same porch, different perspectives. Looking down is always scarier than looking up. It is always that way when we are facing trouble with our relationships. What seemed like a small stretch coming up in our relationships has now become a near death experience looking back. How did we get here? What went wrong? He does this... She does that... These are all views from the top looking down to what is usually unsure footing.
The simple truth is this. As we go through the life of a relationship it will always take looking forward and not looking back. Keeping that upward focus enables you to have sure footing even when you are in way over your head. Just as I managed to get down off the roof, you will be able to survive your issues as long as you hand on and keep looking up...
just a thought...
Chris

calling all couples

Looking forward to the new couples bible study tomorrow night. There is no way we can work enough on our relationship with our mates. I can hardly wait to see how this group develops. It should be very cool...

It still hurts

I realized yesterday while talking about my daughter during the morning service that there is still a lot of emotion inside of me over the loss of my son. What seemed to be a fairly simple illustration of God's faithfulness turned into a very emotional moment for me during the service. I guess it will never really go away. I don't know if I ever want it to. Thank you God for reminding me of of your love toward me by the way I miss my son. You are an awesome God...
I still miss you Greg...Dad

Ready or not...

When finalizing the last minute thoughts for the Sunday sermon every pastor wonders just how effective what he has studied will be. Looking for the right words, the right illustrations and the right intensity. I'm sure glad to know that God will use what He decides to use no matter what we do. Ready or not...

Hat change

It's time to change hats. This week I had the joy of building a new deck. I like to build. You get a great feeling of accomplishment looking at the finished product and being able to say, "I did that."
Now that it is Friday night, I get to put on my church hat. We are about to unfold our new series "28 days." I hope this week God will allow the same feeling of accomplishment as He moves into the lives of His people. Let's pray that he will continue to build Himself into us.

Chris

28 days

Why is it that we refuse to do what we know is best for us? Looking at this new series (28 days) makes mw think about myself. 28 days seems reasonable enough. If that is what it takes to create a good habit or eliminate a poor one I would think we all would have buy in. Wonder why we don't?

What's in a Sunday?

Most people who come to church don't realize all that goes into a Sunday Morning service. I thought this week as I watched the band practice on Saturday, that Sunday service for most churches is not a simple put together. There are bullitans to create and print, Coffee and doughnuts to organize, worship center to clean, music to be learned and practiced, children's program set up and so on and so on. I think you get the picture.
This note is to say thanks to you all and how much I appreciate all that you do to make each week's worship experience happen. It would not happen without you.
Thanks again
Chris

groundswell

Reading a new book- groundswell- It is clear that social networks can change the way church is done as we know it. I wonder, if we asked people to tell us what they really believe about what we are doing in church would we be shocked.
just a thought..

today

What a time to be involved in people's lives. There are a lot more questions than answers coming from people today. We that are trying to serve Christ should consider if we really believe we have those answers or are we just pretending to have them. What it boils down to is if we are real or not. What a day to have an authentic relationship with Christ...

Post 1

I have just set up my first post on this new blog.
Looking forward to the future.