Eric Offstage

People that I am indebted to in 2008

There are a ton of people that have really made my life worth living during 2008.  And in honor of them, today I start a blog tradition to say thank you on New Year's Eve.  If it wasn't for these people, who knows where I would be today.  So here goes. 

1.  JESUS CHRIST!!  He loves me through all my crap and stupidity.  He forgives me, guides me, sustains me and empowers me.  I am so grateful for his sacrifice and for his love.  I can't believe the creator of the universe thinks I am so special that he would die for me and want to do life with me!!  AMAZING!!   

2.  MY BEAUTIFUL, INTELLIGENT WIFE!!  People, I promise you this is not for brownie points.  I would be absolutely nothing without her.  She puts up with me on my good days and my bad.  She encourages me when I feel like the world is against me.  She corrects me when I am screwed up.  She has given me so much wisdom and counsel, and she is also one of the best leaders I have ever known.  Having her for a wife and partner and best friend is the greatest earthly gift I could ever receive.  Prov 18:22  He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.  OH YEAH! BOY DID I FIND A GOOD THING IN HER!!  

3.  OUR PRIVATE CHRISTIAN COUNSELOR AND LEADERSHIP COACH.  Yes, believe it or not, Kelly and I many times need outside help to deal with our issues too.  Sometimes you are so in the middle of your junk that you just need some outside perspective.  And so this past year we began meeting with a private counselor and coach.  He has been life changing in helping us understand each other, our own personalities and our church.  I am truly grateful for the way he has hit us between the eyes with our issues and helped us make changes and be more like Jesus.  I am so thankful that I was not too proud to seek outside counsel.  I just wish Kelly and I had sought out his councsel earlier.  It would have saved us so much time, heartache and stress.

4.  DAVID PHELPS.  What can I say? He is my armor bearer.  If there is one guy who has charged hell with a bucket of water with me, it is Dave, and I love him for it.  I can not believe how selfless, hardworking and missional he is.  We do have our days when we don't quite see eye to eye, but what an awesome co-worker, friend and leader this man is.  The day he said yes to coming to the Crossing and serving with me was one of the biggest wins this church has ever had.  Dave, you rock. 

5.  OUR PARENTS.  Wow.  Even though they don't always get what we are doing, man are they supportive.  If it were not for their hard work during our growing up years to point us to Jesus I don't know that I would be seeking Him today, and I am quite sure I would not be a pastor.  Kelly's parents too are just huge supporters and fantastic people to seek out for wisdom and advice.  I am so thankful for those 4 people in our lives.  How cool to have such godly wise people in our family. 

6.  COURAGEOUS CRITICS.  I have really learned a ton from some of the criticism that has come my way this past year.  Some of it was way off base but at least those people were gutsy enough to tell me what they thought.  Some of it was very valid.  I take it to heart and hope to make changes so that I look more like Christ at the end of 2009 than I did at the beginning. 

So that is my list.  You are the people that have truly helped me this year--in leading an awesome church, loving my wife and kids, and seeking to be like Jesus.   

THANK YOU!! 

A family in need

I talked and prayed with a family today that attends our church who had their house burn down the day after Christmas. They pretty much lost everything and they have no insurance at the moment.  The Red Cross is helping them out as well as The Crossing.  But I would love to see individuals in the church really help these guys out as well.  They have an 8 year old son who lost all his Christmas presents. 

We are trying to co-ordinate help and donations for them.  If you can give a donation please contact our church office this Friday between 9 - 4:30.  (Gift cards and cash donations are preferred.)

Thanks, Crossing.  You all are the best. 

5 Things I Can't Wait For

Ok.  So I am getting blog-happy.  And just so you know, I don't want to just write about stuff that bugs me.  I will pick that up again tomorrow.  I would also like to mention 5 things I am really excited about right now. 

1.  RUT BUSTERS STARTS IN 4 DAYS!!  This series is going to be totally off the chain!!  I get to spend 4 weeks explaining why we get ourselves into terrible ruts in our lives and then how to get out of them.  This series is going to totally rock.  You have to bring a friend with you.  I get to tell my truck-stuck-in-the-mud story.  (It is one of my favorites.)

2.   January 7th Staff Meeting.  That is going to be a killer day.  We are doing a new "what if" list for The Crossing.  All morning long the staff will be coming up with a new list of ideas for the Crossing to pursue.  It is one of my favorite staff meetings of the year.  I can't wait.

3.  Our Fourth Service Launch.  We are only 1 1/2 months from launching another Saturday night service.  On February 14th the Crossing will be starting another service--this one at 7:00 p.m. on Saturdays.  (THAT IS SO COOL.)  I am already praying for a huge crowd that weekend. 

4.  THE CREATIVE CHURCH CONFERENCE.  The staff are all headed down to Texas for our annual trip to Fellowship Church on February 18-21.  We will spend 3 days listening to some of the best church leaders in the world.  It always rocks my world and inspires me to sit and learn from Ed Young and the whole Fellowship Church team.  I can't wait!! 

5.  OUR NEW STUDENT MINISTRIES PASTOR!!  Yes, folks, that's right.  Tentatively, The Crossing will have a full-time student pastor as of the middle of March.  I am so totally pumped to see what God is going to do with this new team member.  (I will give you more info later.  For now I have to keep this on the down low.)

Things that bug me (Part # 2)

Small-Minded Critical people
Now don't get me wrong.  Being critical is not always a bad thing.  We should be critical thinkers and analyze things to make sure that we are bringing honor to Jesus and actually reaching people. 

But the problem I have is that many times church people would rather to be critical of new ideas rather than actually have any.  It is interesting to me that the people who are the loudest critics of new programs or efforts or ideas in a church are usually (not always) the ones sitting on their butts doing the least amount of work.

When people immediately assume something is shallow or evil or Satanic because it is new, or different, that is small minded.  When people sit around and complain rather than try anything new, churches die.  No wonder most churches aren't reaching anyone.  You have to take risks and try new things if you want the message of Christ to be heard in our world.   

I am totally up for criticism as long is it is from people who are doing AS MUCH OR MORE THAT ME to reach people.  See I can respect those people, because they are working as hard as me or harder.  Their heart and soul is passionate about seeing God's lost kids get found, and I can learn from that kind of criticism. 

But honestly I could care less about criticism from people who do jack squat and then whine and criticize and complain about how shallow or evil or suspect The Crossing is. 

The Crossing is on a mission to THRILL people with an awesome God and MOVE seeking people one step closer to Jesus.  And we ignore criticism from people who aren't working as hard as us to do the same.   

   

Stuff that bugs me (Part # 1)

Lazy Church People. 
This I think truly sickens and saddens the heart of God.  See, the goal of the church is to invade the world with the truth love and hope of Jesus Christ.  That is our goal.  TO SEEK AND SAVE THE LOST!!  To do that takes more than singing hymns, going to bible study and praying.  IT ACTUALLY TAKES WORK!!  AND TONS OF IT!! 

If we truly believed that our job is to invade the world with Jesus, We would be doing anything short of sinning to help people know that God is for them and not against them. 

To many religious people are really just plain lazy.  They don't want to have to actually do the hard work of developing deep meaningful relationships with people who are far from God.  They don't want to actually try and make their faith make sense to people who don't understand.

They just want to feel good about themselves by reading the book of Ephesians one more time and  singing some church songs while the people around them go straight to hell. 

HOW INSANE IS THAT?!! 

Something I just learned and taught the staff

A few weeks before Christmas, Dave and I drove to Indiana to Granger Community Church to listen and learn from Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel for a day.  It was an awesome event and well worth the trip.   

Below is a picture from the day as well as my biggest takeaways.  (I taught all this stuff to the staff a few days later.)

Some of the coolest points of learning from the day:

1) To reach people no one else is reaching, we have to do things no one else is doing.  "We have 175,000 people within 10 miles of North Point, and we aren't reaching them. We aren't going to reach them by building another church building. We have to do something no one else is doing."  -  Andy Stanley

• Become preoccupied with those you want to reach rather than those you are trying to keep.
• Church isn't about making people happy; it is about reaching people far from God.  (OH YEAH, I am loving that thought.)

2) The best idea for reaching the next generation isn't going to come from the existing generation, it's going to come from the next generation.

• If you are over 45 years old, you aren't going to have any good ideas. It's your job to recognize the good ideas.  (Don't be offended. This is from a guy over 45.)
• Don't do to the next generation what the previous generation did to you.
• Be a student, not a critic.

3) I'm looking for what can't be done in church, but if it could be done would fundamentally change the church.

• Pay attention to people who are breaking the rules. It's the rule-breakers who are oftentimes the problem solvers.

4) The problem with most churches is we fall in love with the way we do ministry.  Therefore we don't solve problems; we live with our problems.   (OUCH!!)

5) When your memories exceed your dreams, the end is near. You look back with smiles and lots to celebrate, but you don't have a lot to look forward to.

• Are you willing to be involved in the future more than the present?
• Don't let success overshadow your vision.
• Success breeds complacency, and complacency breeds failure.

6)  The best thing a leader can ever bring is his/her energy.

•     If the leader is not enthusiastic about the mission, his/her people won't be either.

7)  Don't be that old couch.  Many times churches keep programs that are no longer helpful.  Like keeping an old ugly piece of furniture just because it has nostalgia to you.  If a program is old and isn't helpful, cut it loose.  Don't become attached to anything that is not producing results. 

8)  Success doesn't happen by accident.  It happens through continuous, systematic, unfiltered evaluation.  No one and nothing is off limits.   

•  In the business world if the product isn’t making money, it is cut or changed.

9)  The most successful churches in the country are the ones with the least amount of programs.  Keep it simple, stupid. 

• If we want to really reach people we must keep our programs streamlined and simple: 
  
• We do weekend services, small groups, Celebrate Recovery, The Cellar, Church planting/ multi-site; (coming soon: Youth Ministry)  and that is about all.  That way we do a few things very well rather than 25 things poorly.

WHAT COOL STUFF!!  THE CROSSING IS HEADED FOR AWESOME, AWESOME THINGS!!    

 

 

My First Shout Out - 4 things going through my head on vacation

So I am sitting here on vacation writing the very first post of my new blog.  This is designed to give our church family a glimpse into what is going on in my mind and heart when I'm off the stage.

I want people to feel like they know their pastor so this is one of my feeble attempts at that.

Here is a short glimpse into what my crazy mind has been thinking and feeling lately:   

1.  2008 absolutely FREAKING ROCKED!  I feel really blessed.  God blew my mind.  I've got 3 great kids and an awesome, hot wife and a fantastic marriage and an unbelievably great church family. 

Our church went from 2 services to 3.  We saw tons of people walk across the line of faith and say yes to God.   We grew faster than ever before, and we raised over half a million dollars with Purple Cow!!  Holy Cow!!  God is awesome.  I can't believe I get to pastor this amazing church. 

2.  I heard this crazy cool story today.  A guy that used to hate church is driving all the way from Mankato to make our Sunday services!  He started coming with his girlfriend at the beginning of Retro.  He leaves at like 6:00am to make it to church!!  That is so cool. 

3.  Our Christmas eve service was packed out and fan-flippin-tastic!!  If you missed Christmas Eve you missed an awesome service!!  Kelly and Ted were hilarious as the Phelps in the candle lighting instructional video.  Kelly Hansen and Dave were amazing as "Mary and Joe" and the band and music was absolutely smokin'.  I know a ton of seeking people were there, and I am so excited to see what God is going to do next in their lives because of that night.  I think Dave will have a version up on the website eventually.  We will have to see...but right now he's on vacation, like me.

4.  Personally I am bummed right now and proud all at the same time. 
I am proud because the Crossing is finally launching a new church.  In July I did that talk "God make us pregnant" and it is finally happening. 

We are in the middle of huge planning to get a Crossing campus to happen by October in Zimmerman. 
(I would like to send 75 adults to that location, plus we are hiring two new staff members to get that campus rolling.) 

We are sending hopefully 20 people to Uptown to launch a new church called the Exchange.  Eric Whitman is going to lead this new church.  It launches on January 18.  I am praying at for a huge crowd for him. 

So I am really proud of our people and our church being kingdom-minded.  But honestly I am also a little bummed, because I am sending at least 2 guys that I love and respect to go help Eric get that church going.

Jason Koslowski and Mike Carver (my 2 preachers in training) are going to go help get that new church off the ground, and honestly I want them to go, but I will really miss them.  They are great guys who have brought a ton of good things to our church, so it with much sadness that I send them off.     

It is hard to be generous and give away really quality guys that I would love to keep around here. 

So those are the 4 things in my head today.  (Oh and Rut Busters.  I woke up in the middle of the night and wrote my entire outline for this weekend's talk.  It is going to be fantastic.  I can't wait.) 

Peace.