Cross Street LIVE / this Sunday @ 1:30 > labor day COOKOUT 12:45!

WE ARE BACK! On Sunday Cross Street Live is back and we are excited about bringing you a totally revamped experience for the family. Cross Street Live is an hour long experience once a month where kids and parents sing, dance, laugh, and learn together. This year we are bringing some new characters, some new songs, some new actors...it is all pretty incredible and we can't wait to experience it all with you! CSL is this Sunday at 1:30 at Rossview High. We know it is Labor Day weekend so we decided that at 12:45 we are planning a CSL style cookout with some great food for the kids, moms and dads. If you want to get a quick glimpse of what Cross Street LIVE is about go check out www.crossSTREETlive.com and we hope to see you Sunday.

what's your RELATIONSHIP with technology?

What's your relationship with technology? That's the question we will be asking students at Relevant Student Ministry the next three weeks as we dive into the BABEL series. Why name the series Babel? In Genesis 11 we see a group of people take the technology of the day (bricks) and use it to show God up. The story does not end very well but I think we can learn something from these Babylonians of the past when it comes to how we use technology today. Every one of us are immersed in the use of technology. Our cars, our homes, our cell phone, our laptop, our schools are all hubs of technology. Technology in not "good or bad" but how we use it can have a dramatic impact on our lives and those around us. The next three weeks we are going to be asking our students what kind of relationship they have with technology. Here are three questions we are asking each other tonight. I thought they were good questions for all of us, not just our students at Relevant...

• Are you using technology for good or evil?
• Are you allowing technology to have too much ownership of your time and attention?  
• Have you allowed technology to become your life and in some ways replace God?

Remember when?

Looking forward and planning for the future is a needed discipline for any leader, but I think there are times, REMEMBER WHEN MOMENTS, when we need to reflect back on what God did in the past. Remember when moments are simply the times we can look back and see where God delivered us in the past. Every leader has these memories, the moments where God just showed up and moved despite our lack of talent, volunteers, or resources. Think back...

• Remember when we did not know where we were going to meet?
• Remember when we did not have office space?
• Remember when we left our secure position to start a new work?
• Remember when we did our job for free as a volunteer because we knew God made us for this?
• Remember when 15 people showed up at our weekly event?
• Remember when we were not sure we could pay the bills?
• Remember when we had nothing to loose?
• Remember when we shut that program down to do something different?
• Remember when we did not have _______ (fill in the blank...sound system, lights, banners screens, whatever helps take your environment to the next level)
• Remember when had 2 volunteers and even they were not sure what was going on?

Remember when moments remind us what we need most today and in the future is simply God...nothing more and nothing less. God has called us, He placed us where we are serving, He has a plan, and He will deliver us. What we are called to do is simply live by faith! What is faith without risk? Are you facing big challenges in the future? If you are then you might want to look back and remember when God showed up last time!

2010 football predictions...

I am so ready for college and NFL football to be back. I am going to go ahead and make my predictions this weekend for Middle Tennessee State University, the Tennessee Vols, and the Tennessee Titans. Not going to worry about post-season play so here goes my regular season predictions...

Tennessee Titans / 11-5
2 words are needed to explain why I am so excited about the Titans. CHRIS JOHNSON. CJ looks great and the offensive line just looks just a good. Big question will be can the young defense play Titan football. I say yes and we will give the Colts a run for the AFC South.

MTSU / 9-3
Would have given them 11 wins but with Dwight Dasher out for the who knows how long I had to throw in at least 2 more losses. Dasher is that good but he also is a discipline problem. I hear the #2 QB is good so lets see if the rest of the team can come together and get 10 wins and take the Sun Belt!

Tennessee Vols / 5-7
No bowl this year and I will be THRILLED if we can pull 5 wins out of the hat and move on to 2011. I bleed orange and this is the weakest Volunteer team I have ever seen. I am hopeful and I like Coach Dooley. If the Vols can stay healthy and the coaches can work together we may have some surprises this year.

There ya go...what are your predictions for this year? Go Titans, Blue Raiders, and Vols!

fresh perspective

Three weeks ago we had a "secret shopper" drop in with his family at Grace Community Church. A secret shopper is just someone you ask to come in and check out your organization. This was our first time to try this process out and today our staff got to sit down with Greg Atkinson and work through an entire report about his experience in attending our services on a surprise Sunday morning. We got some amazing feedback and the report is full of info we are going to have to think though. We did some things really well and we dropped the ball on a few important systems. I would never list off what we did well and what we missed on because that is not the point of the process. That info is for our team to use to get better. The reason we went through the process was to get one thing...FRESH PERSPECTIVE. Visitors see things that we miss because we are already focused when we arrive. Greg gave us a new look at GCC. I am thankful that our co-pastors choose to surprise us with a guest so we could get better. None of our team had any idea this was coming. I am also thankful that God is working though our church and our secret shopper was able to see that and confirm what we think is happening. Thanks to all our volunteers who make GCC happen every week. Thanks to a staff that strives to keep getting better. Thanks to God for letting me serve in this church and in Clarksville. Today I was reminded why I love Grace Community. Thanks Greg for a fresh perspective.

NEW brings momentum!

New is fun. Everyone loves a new shirt, car, cd, or laptop!  That same principle holds true with new environments inside our ministries. Every summer we intentionally stop our weekly student gathering so we have a NEW LAUNCH every fall. New brings excitement. We launched a NEW middle school and high school service for teens this fall and the NEW has brought tons of extra room to reach students and fresh energy from teens excited about their new service. Launching new environments also brings a risk factor to the table. If you want the energy of new you have to be willing to embrace the risk that comes along with it. The fun part is that our teams are fueled by the risks we take for the Kingdom of God. Part of the reason we love new is because of the risk. You are not going to be able to launch a new service every year or have new space but you can always work hard to introduce new elements into your ministry...

• What about a NEW retreat?
• What about a NEW setup on stage?
• What about a NEW t-shirt design?
• What about a NEW intro video for your service?
• What about adding 5 NEW leaders to your volunteer team?
• What about NEW staff?
• What about a NEW Facebook page or website design for your ministry?
• What about NEW signs or banners in your space?
• What about NEW lighting on stage or in the hall?
• What about NEW songs for your band?
• What about a NEW way to enter your building, new traffic flow?
• What about a NEW way of doing small groups?

Sure NEW takes effort and resources but it is needed in order to find momentum for your ministry. The Kingdom of God is always advancing and encountering new lives. Staying the same is really not an option if you want to continue to engage the hearts of teens. Look for what you can do NEW in your ministry this week.

HELP, I'm changing churches!

Where people choose to go to church is a big deal and changing churches is even bigger! People think, pray, worry, flip-flop, discuss, change their minds, and then do it all over again when it comes to moving to a new church. If there is one thing I have learned it is that people take church seriously, even if they are not regular attenders. When someone visits Grace Community Church they are investigating and trying to figure out what we are about. They are trying to imagine GCC being their church. They are worried about leaving friendships at their current church. They are asking God for direction. How our team engages people in transition is very important. Here are some principles that guide us as we work with families through the process of changing churches...

• Listen // so many times people just want to tell you what is going on, they need to vent! Be ready to just listen and thank them for checking out your church. They are not ready for advice, they just need to vent, so listen.
• Engage, don't sell // when someone visits, just engage them like you would anyone else! What is not needed is us selling our church to them. We are not in the business of convincing people why they should choose our church. The church / community we lead should speak for itself. Resist the pressure to sell your church.
• Never be negative // never never never talk bad about other churches or other leaders in order to make your church look better. Again, just never do it and never encourage it.
• Be patient // people need time when they are considering a move. We have to be patient with people as they work through the process.
• Encourage // moving to a new church is hard. People in transition need encouragement that the process is ok, that it is normal to question, that it is important to find the best ministry fit for their family. Encourage and allow God to work!