Eric Offstage

On Being Bread

****I am deeply indebted to Henry Nouwen and Bishop T.D. Jakes for rocking my world and teaching me what I am about to so poorly communicate.****

Luke 24:30 As Jesus sat at the table with them, He took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them.

This little verse is packed with so much. Jesus took bread, He blessed the bread, He broke the bread and then He gave it to the people. This is the same pattern Jesus must take all His people through in order to be used by greatly by Him.

• Jesus takes us. He takes us from where we were and what we were doing, and He takes us for a new use. He takes us to be used by Him and for Him (Col 1:16). We would never choose this on our own, so God initiates grace towards us and takes us in spite of ourselves. God did this for me when I was seventeen. He took me from a path of sin and rebellion and despair and gave me a second chance. I am so thankful God did this for a rebellious guy like me. And once He took me or I like to say “OVERTOOK” me, I was never the same.

• Jesus blesses us. After Christ takes us, He blesses us. As we follow Him, he blesses us with His Spirit to guide us (John 16:13), His wisdom to make good choices (I Cor 2:16), His heart to love others (Ezek 36:26), His vision to care about broken and lost people (Lk 19:10), and His ways to interact in our world as His hands and feet. (Ps 86:11) I am so thankful Jesus has blessed me far more than I will ever deserve.

• Jesus breaks us. This is where it gets hard, and so many people quit on God. After He takes you and blesses you, He must break you. (James 1:2-4) You have to die to yourself before you can truly live like Jesus and for Jesus. For this to happen He must BREAK you. And to go through the breaking process is the most painful thing you will ever endure. It will feel like you are going to die, and you will not be able to make it another day. St John of the Cross calls this the “dark night of the soul”. But if you are unwilling to go through this breaking period, you will never live up to your full potential. Remember, if God brutally breaks you, it means He has great plans for you. So don’t quit. (Gal 6:9) Don’t give up. God will not break you and abandon you. He will break you in order to use you in greater and greater ways.

• Jesus gives you to the people. Once you are broken, then the new you, the better you, the usable you, can be given out to help the world around you. God will give you out to feed the spiritually hungry and hurting, and the end result is spiritual nourishment for all. You will be bread for the world, like Jesus is the “bread of life.”

This pattern is seen all throughout Scripture.

Moses:

• He was taken from the river.

• He was blessed to live in Pharaoh’s house.

• He was broken by living as an outlaw shepherd on the backside of the desert.

• He was given to the people as leader.

David:

• He was taken and anointed king.

• He was blessed with leadership and courage to defeat Goliath.

• He was broken by an evil king whose desire was to kill him, and spent years in the wilderness as a fugitive.

• He was given to the people as king.

Jesus

• He was taken and chosen by God at His baptism.

• He was blessed by God at the transfiguration.

• He was broken by God at the cross.

• He was given to the people with the resurrection.

He is the bread of life.

Leader, pastor, teacher, Christian. - In order to be used greatly by God you must not only be willing to be taken and blessed, but also to be broken and given.

Once I heard Pastor Mark Driscoll say it this way, “In order to be used greatly by God you must first be wounded deeply by God.”

Today, allow God to be God.

Let him do what He wants with your life. Don’t fight Him. Trust Him. You are just bread. This is the best place you could be. You are in the hands of JESUS!

Super Secret Staff Meeting Stuff

Psalms 9:1-2 I will thank you, LORD, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvelous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.

Scripture wants us to constantly tell of the good things God has done in our lives. As we praise Him for how good He is we are filled with joy! This morning in our staff meeting we shared many of the crazy cool things God is doing right now at the Crossing Church. Because most people don’t get to sit in on our staff meetings, I thought I would share a few of the things that we praised God for this morning:

1. Over 200 people in our services this past weekend made commitments to make Jesus the forgiver and leader of their lives for the first time or recommitted their life to Christ. It was amazing watching people giving their hearts and lives to Jesus! It gave me chills.

2. This summer is the largest summer attendance this church has ever experienced (by many hundreds of people!)  God is good.

3. Someone I love and care deeply about finally after years of indecision decided yesterday to go public with their faith in Christ and get baptized. I have the honor of baptizing this close friend next Friday. That made me cry when I heard the good news!

4. We just found out in the past week that ground breaking on our Elk River campus expansion will probably begin by middle to late September!!! Things are falling into place big time for our new building!!!

5. We had the privilege of spending the day learning from a great man of God last Wednesday. Pastor Larry Brey from Elevation Church killed it! He spent the day teaching our staff and key leaders and was really just a blessing to our whole team.

6. THIS ONE IS AN ACTUAL, LEGIT MIRACLE. During one of our services back in February I said, “If you know God’s will for your life and you don’t do it, you are a coward.” One couple (Samm & Angie Platt) took that literally and sold their house, got rid of most of their possessions and decided to obey God by taking their 3 sons and moving to New Zealand for a period of time, to reach people for Christ in that country. They were to leave on a plane last Thursday morning, July 21.

   Early in the week, they asked for us to pray over them before they left. We said, “How is your fundraising going?” Their answer: “Well, it's not all there, but we're going to the airport anyway. We know God is going to provide!”

   We had them come to our Community of Leaders meeting on Wednesday night; just 7 hours before they were to leave for the airport, where we could all pray over them.

   We were so encouraged by their faith that we decided to give an offering to help them meet their goal. I was hoping we could raise a few thousand dollars to help, and The Crossing was going to match what was given, up to the amount they needed. What occurred blew my mind.

   The offering was counted, and Kelly wrote the total on a piece of paper and took it to Angie. Angie looked at it, freaked out, and then said, “Wait, what was that total again?” Kelly: “$9,471.44.” Slowly, Angie said, “Nine thousand four hundred seventy one dollars? That's EXACTLY THE NUMBER WE NEEDED!!!!” We couldn’t believe it. What are the odds of that? Our leadership gave, and God worked it out so they gave the exact dollar amount! It blew my mind. God is so amazing. The Crossing didn't need to match any of it, but added $1000 anyway. GOD OVER-PROVIDED!!!

Crossing Church, church leaders, pastors, committed Jesus people, skeptics and seekers: GOD IS GOOD! “HIS MERCIES ARE NEW EVERY MORNING! HIS LOVE NEVER FAILS. GREAT IS HIS FAITHFULNESS.” Trust Him.

I don’t know your life story, but no matter WHO YOU ARE, God wants to give you His favor. He is for you and not against you. If you will seek Him and trust Him and follow Him, you will be surprised by all the great things He is will do in your life! I hope you will try it. He is good.   

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? 

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!

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.  

 

Living on a Prayer (Part # 2)

I gave you the first 1/3 of my prayer journal yesterday.  Here are 20 more prayers I pray every day to start my day with God.

1. Bring your Word to my mind all day long so I follow your plan for my life.
2. Help me lead our staff, volunteers, and leadership team well.
3. Help me be gentle but strong and courageous.
4. Help me make room in my life and space to hear you. 
5. Help me pray more about everything.
6. Help me say "no" because I have a greater "yes".
7. God I ask for our church to meet our financial budget ($14,000) per week.  And I ask us to exceed that by thousands so that we can reach more people for you. 
8. God I ask for a spring attendance average of 1500 and an average of 2000 by Christmas.
9. God please grow our church by thousands and help many people commit their lives to you and be baptized this year.
10. God help people to be committed to our vision and bring their friends to church. 
11. God I ask that our music is spirit-filled, and not just a show. 
12. God I ask that our talks are easily written, memorized, engaging and life changing.
13. God help me bring honor and glory to You, the main character in the movie of my life. 
14. God fill our church beyond our capacity.
15. God grow our Zimmerman campus to two service and 300 people by Christmas.
16. God grow our staff members in wisdom and godliness.
17. God help us start, grow and pay for two more campuses in 2010.
18. Help me become less; and you become greater, Jesus.
19. God please don't let me indulge my ego or my sinful nature at the expense of my soul.
20. Jesus please bind Satan from my mind -  Help me take every thought captive and make it obedient to you.

I will give you my last 20 prayers I pray every day tomorrow.  I hope this list helps you in your own personal prayer life. 

Living on a Prayer (Part # 1)

Every morning I start my day with God.  For about 10 years now as part of my morning time with Jesus, I pray through a prayer journal to keep me focused.  (I am way too ADD to pray without a journal.) This is basically a list of prayers I pray every day for myself, my family, our church and our world. 

For all of you who wonder how to pray and what to pray for, I am going to show you some pieces of my daily prayer journal over the next three posts.  If this helps, you can use some of these prayers for yourself as well.  I am doing this in hopes your life will become fueled by prayer. 

Here is the first 1/3 of my prayer journal, and how I start every day:

Jesus

1. Help me stay connected to you every hour of the day.
2. Help me remember your joy is my strength.
3. Do life with me today Jesus.  I invite you into my day. 
4. Remind me of your unfailing love.  Show me how much you love me today.
5. Forgive me for where I have failed you and sinned against you. 
6. Help me be honest and not lie. 
7. Please keep my mind pure and help me not look at any woman in a lustful way.
8. I surrender my body to you.  Eyes - look at purity.  Ears - listen to people and to you Jesus.  Mouth -  guard my mouth and keep in holy.  Stomach - don't let me ruled by my hungers.  Heart - keep it pure.  Mind - keep my thoughts clean.  Hands - help me do right with them.  Feet - guide my steps today.
9. Make me wise.  Wiser than all my teachers
10. Bless me with mentors and friends who are wise.
11. Bless me financially; bless my career, our church, my marriage, my relationships. 
12. Use my life to change the world for good.
13. Help me not give into sin so I cause no one pain.
14. Expand my influence today.
15. Help me look like you, Jesus, be like you, Jesus and bring honor to you Jesus.
16. Help me love my wife and put her needs before my own.  
17. Help me love my kids, and help me teach and train them well.  (Then I pray for each one specifically.)
18. Help my life to accomplish much for you, and not hurt people.
19. Help me be extraordinary. 
20. Bless me with the fruit of the Spirit today.  Give me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  

Tomorrow I will give you my second 20 prayers that I pray every morning. Hopefully this will fuel some ideas of things you could ask God for in your own life.