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