Eric Offstage

Who Is Your "One"?

I talked to our community of leaders about this last month and I thought it would be wise to bring it up here as well. 

Ministry is hard work.  We are trying to help thousands of people know Jesus, love Jesus, serve Jesus and become radically committed to Jesus.  Because we are dealing with crowds of people coming and going each and every week, it is easy to forget that every face in the crowd matters to God.  Every number is a life, and every life has a story. 

To help myself remember every life matters.  I have "one" person-- "one lost sheep" that I write every talk directed towards.  This person is far from God, hurting and in need of Jesus.  I meet with this person regularly.  He gets my phone number and email address.  We cry together, and I pray for him, and try to push him to know Jesus and love Jesus.  

He is my "one".  He is the person God sent me to reach right now, and if I remember this "one" as I lead the crowds, I love the crowds well.  If I forget about this "one" I forget to love the crowds well. 

Something about helping "one" helps them all. 

So I would ask:  Who is your "one"?  Not do you serve in the kids ministry, or on the parking team or help with greeting, but what "one" person are you doing life with?  What one person are you trying to help and save and change and coach to become like Jesus?  I think every pastor and church leader of God, needs to have "one" life that he/she is pouring into. 

It is a principle I heard Andy Stanley preach about several months ago.  He says, "Do for ONE what you wish you could do for ALL."

You can't help everyone, but you can help one.  And in helping one, we better care for all.  WHO IS YOUR ONE? 

All I Can Say Is Thank You

This is just a shout out of gratitude.

First, to the multitude of volunteers that served so tirelessly at the Thrill and Move Conference last Tuesday - Thank You!  Our conference was a HUGE SUCCESS because of you!  Hundreds of pastors and church leaders from Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa came for the day to our church; and you sacrificially served, encouraged, blessed and helped them.  THANK YOU!  The kingdom of Jesus is going to grow so much due to your hard work.  I love that we weren't just about our little church but about the entire kingdom of Jesus. 

Second, to Pastors Brad White and Shannon Odell - you guys rocked the house at our conference.  Your talks on vision and funding the church were amazing, and I am thankful to have such great pastor friends like you all.  Thanks for flying to Minnesota and encouraging pastors, church leaders and our team at the Crossing as well.  Our church and our leadership will be better because of your wisdom. 

Third, to Pastor Bil Cornelius. Thanks for being my friend, mentor, and wise board member.  Your talk all 6 services on Thrill and Move weekend were hilarious and great!  Our church was super stoked to have you preach the weekend services, and Jesus totally showed up!  But what I am personally grateful for is your friendship and wisdom.  Having a friend in ministry like you is something I will never take for granted.  So many pastors go through ministry solo, and I so thankful for your support, wisdom, and ability to get all up in my grill and explode my paradigm so I think outside the box. 

Fourth, to the Crossing staff.  You people are an amazing team, and I love you all.  You worked your guts out for the conference (not to mention every weekend), and I am so thankful you serve with me.  I have the privilege of leading the craziest, hardest working church staff on earth.  I know you love Jesus and are willing to do anything, everything or nothing to accomplish our mission to de-populate hell in the northwest suburbs.  Thank you for all you do.

Fifth, to Jesus.  Thank you for being the head of the church (specifically for being the head of The Crossing Church).  Thank you for allowing us to be part of your kingdom team and for blessing us with your presence every weekend and every day.  Without you, Jesus, we are nothing.  And once again you showed up in a HUGE way for us this past weekend and changed a TON of lives.  We are grateful, blessed, and we will not take this for granted.  We realize we serve the Greatest Savior (Jesus), on the greatest mission (The Gospel), with the greatest organization (the Church) in all the world.  Thank you Jesus for allowing us ring side seats to life change.  It is always, only about you.  

THANKS...

Interesting Trends in Christianity - Brand Loyalty & Celebrity Pastors

This is just my observation, and is not based on anything scientific.  People used to be incredibly loyal to their denominations.  They used to say, "I'm Baptist, or Lutheran, or Presbyterian, or Catholic." 

Then around the 1980's people stopped connecting with these labels or brand names in Christianity.  Instead of a label people just began to call themselves Christian or Christ-followers, and this was good.  It showed the world we were more concerned with being united in Christ than separated by the little insignificant things.  

But I think it is starting to change and move again.  Once again people are starting to take sides and throw verbal hand grenades at one another.  This time it is not over denominational loyalty but over Pastoral Loyalty.  

People have started to say things like:  "I follow Pastor Steven Furtick, or Mark Driscoll or Perry Noble or Bil Cornelius or Ed Young, Jr. or Eric Dykstra."

And something about those kind of statements really bother me. 

*****Now before I explain why, let me say I LOVE and RESPECT and HONOR all the other men I just mentioned.  They have taught me well and mentored me and helped me become a better pastor and man of God.  I shouldn't even be included with these guys.  They are way better men than me.

BUT as a Christian, there is only ONE GUY we follow, and HIS NAME IS JESUS! 

Seriously, it disturbs me how many people follow celebrity pastors and what they say rather than Jesus and what He says.  I AM INCLUDING MYSELF IN THIS.  I am just a jacked up HUMAN BEING like everyone else.  There are mornings I can barely tell my head from a hole in the ground. 

Remember something Christians.  You don't follow ME or any other Pastor - YOU FOLLOW JESUS CHRIST! 

Maybe instead of picking teams and following people, you should just FOLLOW JESUS - AND DO WHAT HE SAYS!

I Cor. 1:12-13 -- Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,” or “I follow only Christ.”  Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not!

WE WERE NOT BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF ANYONE BUT JESUS CHRIST.  ONLY JESUS DIED FOR YOU!  So love Jesus, worship Jesus, sacrifice for Jesus, give your all for Jesus.  This is what it means to be Christian.  This is where BRAND LOYALTY needs to be. 

Later on in I Cor. 1:30-31 Paul says, God has united you with Christ Jesus. For our benefit God made him to be wisdom itself. Christ made us right with God; he made us pure and holy, and he freed us from sin.  Therefore, as the Scriptures say, “If you want to boast, boast only about the Lord."

Notice:

• YOU WERE UNITED IN CHRIST
• CHRIST MADE YOU RIGHT WITH GOD
• CHRIST MADE YOU PURE AND HOLY
• CHRIST FREED US FROM SIN

So if you boast, BOAST ONLY IN JESUS.  If you follow someone, how about you make it JESUS.  All other leaders are flawed, faulty, and sometimes foolish.  Only Jesus is perfect and wise and good. 

It is always, ONLY about JESUS! This is the heartbeat of the Crossing Church and the heartbeat of my life.  We respect and honor our pastors and churches, but WE WORSHIP, LOVE, SACRIFICE and DIE FOR THE GLORY OF CHRIST ALONE! 

My Correction & Repentance -- Aww, Maan!

Even pastors (especially intense ones like me) make mistakes and need course-correction from time to time.  So here is one I am making as of today.   

Back in January, I started preaching without a script.  It was awesome!  I preached more and more from my heart and just kept to general points on an outline.  I really was enjoying it, but the downside of this style of communication is that I didn't control my tongue quite as much as I had in the past because I wasn't following my script as closely.  Because of this, I started to get more crass and insensitive from the stage.   

Last week, two gentlemen-- a local priest and a pastor whom I love and respect -- pulled me aside and called me on both of these issues.

The priest corrected me for being insensitive and making the sign of the cross in a flippant manner from the stage.  (I watched the video and he was right!) I was trying to explain that rituals without explanation become meaningless.  And I said something like, "You know, stand up, sit down, kneel, cross yourself is a big waste of time without explanation.  God is not interested in your rituals; He is interested in your heart!" (While saying this, I made the sign of the cross flippantly.)  I still believe what I said, but the flippant sign of the cross was insensitive and stupid--and this priest was kind and courageous enough to call me on it.  I sincerely apologized and promised to never do it again, repenting for my lack of respect for my Catholic brothers in Christ.  He was gracious enough to accept my apology. 

The pastor friend of mine told me my language had become too crass several times in the last 6 months, and I had used some words and phrases that were just plain over the line for a pastor to use.  Once again, I went back and watched some video-- and, holy cow! He was right!  DANG!  I was an over-the-top shock jock a few times, for no good reason. 

So, (drum roll please) I am repenting of this behavior and apologizing for my lack of discernment; and I will seek to change.  Scripture says in Prov. 12:1, He who hates correction is stupid. 

And I don't want to be more stupid than I already am.  So to everyone who reads this blog, know that I repent of being overly crass and insensitive.  If I offended you - I was out of line and stupid.  I will make an effort to not be a shock jock, but a minister of the Gospel of Christ.  

Now, that doesn't mean I am going to go all churchified with my words, it just means I will be more careful with my choice of words so that I can reach as many people possible with the Gospel. 

2 Final Thoughts:

I believe in failing forward.  I use every failure as a stepping stone to my success, so God is going to use this correction to help me reach more people who are far from God.  Watch out, world! A newly-adjusted Eric Dykstra is going on to GREATER THINGS because of this change!  YEAH!

I now take you back to your regularly scheduled programming - I'M GONNA GO REACH SOME PEOPLE WHO ARE FAR FROM GOD!  No use crying over spilled milk!  I'm going back to my mission TO MAKE ELK RIVER AND THE NORTHWEST SUBURBS THE HARDEST PLACE TO GO TO HELL FROM!

Prune Juice is Good for the Body of Christ

No one likes to drink prune juice.  It tastes awful and is super disgusting, BUT (there is a big BUTT here and I cannot lie) prune juice does keep you healthy. Prune juice purges from the body the things that would make you sick. 

Same is true in the body of Christ.  Every once in a while a church needs a good purging.  It needs to drink some prune juice and PRUNE OUT the people that could make the church sick.

Jesus said in John 15:1-2 “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more."

God the Father is the gardener of the church.  His job is to PRUNE OUT the people that are faking it and consuming resources but not sacrificing or producing anything for the kingdom of heaven.  God as gardener cuts out the unhealthy spiritual fakers to make room for new growth:  Real, Jesus-loving, passionate disciples who make more disciples.  

So pastors HEAR THIS:  Stop worrying about people leaving your church!  Sometimes the best way to grow your church is through subtraction, not addition!  Sometimes you need to let God cut some people out of your church--or you need to be the instrument in God's hand to cut some people out.

God is not interested in a weekend crowd in your city; He is interested in a vibrant, committed, sacrificial ACTS 2 church dedicated to changing the world. 

Your city doesn't need a crowd on the weekend, either.  It needs a vibrant, committed, audacious, faith-filled church willing to do whatever it takes to rescue people from hell and bring them into a real, life- saving, committed relationship with CHRIST.

A church can only be healthy when there is consistant pruning! 

A church will only grow long term if you are willing to cut the complainers, the consumers and the complacent people loose.  You are not trying to just grow a crowd; you are trying to cultivate a healthy, vibrant, faith-filled CHURCH in your city. 

So, who do you need to prune out or pray out of your church so it will grow? 

What risks are you failing to take because you are afraid people will leave? 

Remember: Prune juice is good for the body.  Without prune juice, you will get all backed-up and toxic and gross. 

DRINK UP and get healthy! 

On Preaching and Teaching

Every pastor has some known or even unknown philosophies that determine how he preaches and what he preaches about on the weekend.  Here are 11 major statements that govern me as a preacher.

1.  At the end of the day people should leave church more Jesus-obsessed and less self-obsessed.  The church is not a self-help organization; it is a place where we realize we are screwed and need a Savior.  Every message and every passage of Scripture always points to Jesus; and if we leave Jesus out and just talk about relationships or jobs or wisdom but leave out Christ we are not Christian; we are an atheist self-help club. 

At the end of the day I am not trying to end addiction or fix marriages, or make people happy.  I am trying to get people to love Jesus, worship Jesus and follow Jesus, because if they do these things they will kick their addictions, fix their marriages, and find real happiness.  Everything is always, only about Jesus.

2.  Speak the truth and shame the devil.  There is nothing as pathetic and stupid as a preacher who sugar-coats the truth.  He is a wimp, afraid of people, and he needs to stop the B.S. and tell people the truth.  If people are going to come to your church, don't waste their time by beating around the bush.  Tell them the TRUTH!

3.  Preach grace.  One of the best things someone has ever said to me was: This church is as easy to get into as a whore house in Bangkok!  I loved it.  That is what church is all about.  Talk about sin and evil and our stupid mistakes, BUT always always always move to GRACE.  Grace is GREATER than all our sin.  We are all sinners who are freely given FAVOR from our great God.  Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost.  (Luke 19:10)  Everyone is welcome, no one is perfect, anything is possible. 

4.  Speak their language.  A pastor's job is to take a 2000-year-old book and not put on the level of religious people, but on the level of average people.  Everyone and anyone listening should be able to follow you and understand-- from the 13-year-old boy or girl to the 25-year-old wasted kid in the back, to the 60-year-old, soon-to-retire executive.  Our job is not to show off our knowledge and talk over people's heads; it is to open up the Bible and explain it to the common man and woman so they can love Jesus.   

5.  Preach as long as it takes to get people to hear you.  There is no right length to a sermon.  If you can say it in 20 minutes, do it.  If it takes you an hour, take an hour.  Take as long as you need for the Holy Spirit to break into their hearts and change their souls.  

6.  Preach from your heart, not from your head.  If you have not spent time with Jesus and heard from Him, DON'T PREACH!  Preaching is about communicating what God is already speaking to you about.  Let God fill you up, and you will fill people up.  

7.  Preach like you are preaching the very words of God.   I Peter 4:11 says that when you speak, you should speak as one who speaks the very words of God.  You are communicating to people on behalf of all of heaven.  So when you stand there, own it.  God is talking through you.  Speak with the authority of Christ, not with the words of man.  Don't say, "Well, the Bible says this."  NO!  Say, "God says this or thinks this."  YOU ARE GOD'S MOUTH PIECE ON EARTH.  Talk with authority.  

8.  Don't worry if people get mad and leave.  The only people that get mad and leave are those who say they are "too spiritual" for you (which is pride).  Or they get offended at your directness, which is an indication that they have a sin issue they don't want to deal with. 

If you preach about immorality, only the dudes banging their girlfriends get offended and want to leave or flip you off. (It's happened to me.)  If you preach about money and tithing, the only one who is angry is the self-centered Christian who is stealing God's money and doesn't want to change or feel bad about their sin.  So don't FEAR PEOPLE.  FEAR JESUS!!

9.  Think about the one lost person in the room before you speak. I usually have a name or a face I put in my head before every talk, and I write the talk like I was speaking to them directly about their issue.  Remember in every crowd someone in the room is dealing with being raped, another without a job, another going through divorce, and still another who is an addict or has just been diagnosed with cancer.  These are real people with real issues.  Love them well and ask God to give you the words to speak into their lives.

10.  Preach the Bible, not your own opinion.  Opinions ARE CRAP!  We follow Jesus, that is the only opinion that matters.  If people would follow Jesus their lives would be so much better off so PREACH THE OPINIONS OF CHRIST!  Give the people the WORD (Jesus--John 1) and the WORD will give them LIFE!

11.  You have an audience of ONE.  At the end of the day you don't stand up to tickle people's ears.  You don't answer to people; you answer to Christ.  Speak to please the ONE who is everything.  If Jesus tells you to yell, YELL.  If Jesus tell you to use strong language and slap them with the Bible DO IT!  In the end, what Jesus thinks of your sermon is all that matters.  IT IS ALWAYS, ONLY ABOUT JESUS! 

Church VS. Church

Sometimes people make the assumption that the reason why The Crossing Church is so aggressive and advertises so much, and does over the top music, and is so creative, is because we are trying to compete against other churches to get church people to come to ours. 

So I thought I would set the record straight.  We are not competing against any other church.  In fact we are not trying to reach people that attend church.  Why would I want to offer food to the already spiritually fed when I can offer food to the spiritually starving? 

The Crossing exists to reach people who are far from God and to help people who don't yet know Christ, or go to church, meet Christ and find hope and help at His church!  We don't advertise, do creative things, push to have great music and good teaching because we are trying to compete and have a better product than other churches in town. 

NO!  We do these things to be more interesting than a movie, the bar, the strip club, or getting stoned on Saturday night.  We do these things to be more valuable than a hangover, sleeping in, going shopping, or playing video games on Sunday mornings.  

We do these things not to compete against other churches but to compete against hell itself.  As long as people find more value in cheap entertainment or getting high than they do in Christ --HELL WINS. 

But if we can get people in the door, and show people the incredible, unbelievable value of Jesus and how his supernatural power can change their life --GOD WINS! 

This is not church vs church.  This is CHURCH vs HELL. And we are going to win this fight one weekend at a time. 

See you this weekend with a friend for Ineed2change!

The 13 People Who Influenced Me Most in 2010

Here are the people who have influenced me most in the past year.

1.  Jesus.  He is not dead, He is alive and leads me each day to make wise choices, change the world for good and help lost people find Him.  I would be nothing without Christ. 

2. Kelly Dykstra.  She is a brilliant woman.  She is the reason many times why a dumb guy like me makes good choices.  Her constant push to make me a better man and more like Jesus is the reason for my success.  Her blog is here.

3.  Braden Dykstra.  My 13 year old son is a freakin' genius.  The feedback he gives me about our services and my preaching is a huge reason we reach students and young adults.  God is growing him into a fantastic leader.  

4.  Ted Snyder.  Ted is our creative arts pastor and is honestly a creative machine.  Much of what you see in our services came from his head.  Check out the Crossing Band Blog here.

5.  Chris Schierholz.  Chris is the man I go to when I need to get a project from theory into reality.  He knows how to break big projects down into do-able bite-sized chunks.  His brains are behind the scenes in almost everything Crossing Church.

6.  Bil Cornelius.  Bil is the pastor of Bay Area Fellowship Church and is one of my heroes.  Bil is further ahead of me at this church planting thing so when I have questions or need advice he is usually one of my first phone calls.  Bil's blog can be found here.

7.  Ed Young Jr.  Ed pastors one of the greatest churches in America (Fellowship Church) and he consistently pushes me to think outside the box and reach people no one else is reaching.  I love his heart for creativity and lost people.  Ed's Blog can be found here.

8.  Judah Smith.  Judah and I have never met, but this past year Judah's preaching has kept me spiritually alive.  His preaching has given me passion and drive to love Jesus, a desire to reach lost people, care for broken people and basically just pushed me to be a Christ-follower to the best of my ability.  Judah pastors The City Church in Seattle.

9.  David Phelps.  Dave is our media pastor, but he is also one of the most insightful people I know.  He understands nuance and feels how something needs to be communicated better than anyone I know.  His abilty to shape the direction of our services and teaching is a gift from God.  

10. Ross Carlson & Charlie Wanha.  (I know it is two people but I couldn't choose just one.) They serve on the board of The Crossing.  But they are also just great men of God, good friends, hard workers and wise counselors.  I have learned so much and been helped so much by having these two men serve with me. 

11.  David Hughes.  David is the pastor of a great church in Florida called Church By the Glades and has given me wisdom on all kinds of issues over the last year.  I am so glad I have him as a friend.

12.  Brad White.  Brad pastors a church in Florida called LifePoint Church.  He has taught me so much about the subject of tithing and generosity in the church.  Thanks Brad for all your great wisdom! 

13.  Jason Keech.  Jason is our Zimmerman campus pastor and one of my closest friends on earth.  I am so glad I get to serve on a team with this great man of God. Here is his blog.

So those are the 13 most influential people from this past year in my life.   Who are yours?  Who did God put in your life to influence you most in the past 365 days?       

Leaders and Followers

A statement I heard from someone this week:  "Eric, you are always talking about leadership, and it makes some people feel bad because they are not leaders.  You need to talk about followers too.  Everyone can't be leaders."

I completely disagree with that statement.  I will put this in big bold letters: 

EVERYONE AND ANYONE CAN BE A LEADER!  

• Moses was too old.  He seemed to do alright. 
• David was too young.  He seemed to make it.
• Peter was too mouthy.  He turned out pretty well.

MY point is this:  Jesus loves to take average unimpressive FOLLOWER types and turn them into some of the GREATEST LEADERS this world has ever seen.  This is his heart for everyone.  That is the story of the disciples.  He took 12 rough, uneducated followers and turned them into 12 faith-filled unstoppable leaders.

Christ's specialty is turning followers into leaders.  And that is his heart for you as well.  His desire is though you may be a follower now, if you listen and learn and serve and walk by faith, you can go from average and ordinary to faith-filled unstoppable leader very quickly.  

The only thing that holds you back is-- YOU!

Read that sentence again.  Yes you are the only thing that holds you back.  If you think you are only a follower that is all you will ever be.  But if you believe God has greater things for you, then hold on because greater things are coming your way!   

Everyone starts out as a follower, but that does not mean you have to stay one.  

• Christ wants to use your life to create a transformation in the world.
• Christ wants to use your life to create a momentum shift in your church.
• Christ wants to use your life to create the next revolution of Jesus on earth.

BUT YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE:  I can be more than just a follower.  I don't have all the answers but I know the one who does.  I don't have all the talent, or all the cash, or all the influence, but I do know the one who hands out all these gifts and I will ask for what I need and I will LEAD. I am called to it!   

Lead, Christian.  This is Jesus heart for you.  

 

Vision Refresher (Re-Post)

We say it and spray it, wheel it and deal it, try to make you feel it. 

Every weekend at The Crossing we bleed our vision.  All we do is,"THRILL believers with spiritual truth and MOVE seekers one step closer to Jesus Christ."  Every weekend that is our only goal. 

We want to make sure that every person who isn't sure of what they think about Christ is MOVED a little closer to wanting to "do life" with Him.  We do this not just with the sermon but as the entire body of Christ.

• When someone is greeted well and made to feel welcome we MOVE people.
• When a child is well cared for in Crossing Kids and the parents are reassured their kids will have a good time we MOVE people.
• When an usher helps people find a seat in the front so that they are part of the energy of the crowd we MOVE people.
• When the building is clean and well cared for, we MOVE people.
• When SIT members hold the line and keep infants out of the service so moms and the people around them can actually pay attention to the talk, we MOVE people. 
• When the PIT team greets people and points people to parking spots before they ever get to the building we MOVE people. 
• When the coffee tastes as good as Starbucks (ok, close), we MOVE people. 
• When the band, video, lights, sound and stage management teams works together seamlessly we MOVE people. 

And by moving people I mean:  Over 1000 people in the last 9 months have made serious commitments to follow Christ with their lives.  God changes eternal destinies when we MOVE SEEKERS.

But we are also about THRILLING believers.  We are not just an outreach center.  We are a church. We want to THRILL believers every weekend with how AWESOME our God is.

• When the Worship EXALTS Christ we THRILL believers.
• When we call CHRISTIANS to radical commitment, not consumer cheesy faith we THRILL believers.
• When we dig in and study Scripture together we THRILL believers.
• When kids are taught about Jesus, not just played with, we THRILL believers.
• When we don't just play church but beg for God to show up every weekend we THRILL believers. 
• When we push Christians to give and invest in God's kingdom we THRILL believers.
• When we recruit and train volunteers we THRILL believers.
• When we care for the hurting and pray with people and encourage them in the lobby and hallways we THRILL believers.  

And by THRILLING I mean:  In the last 9 months thousands of Christians have walked through the doors of our services beat up by the world and walked out thinking about the GREATNESS of our Savior.  That is what it is all about, Church! 

Thanks for getting the vision of THRILL and MOVE!  God is showing up because we are focused on the Vision!  WELL DONE!