Are we Unchristian?

I recently attended an event in Atlanta called Catalyst. It's an exciting two day, high charged celebration of worship and great speaking from some of our best pastors and thinkers in the christian world. While there, a new book was unveiled called Unchristian by Dave Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons. The premise of the book is that people between the ages of 16 and 29 that consider themselves non-christians have a very negative perception about those of us who call ourselves christians. In fact, most of those surveyed for the book said that we're mostly known for what we're against. They would go as far to say that we dont represent what Jesus was known for, that our brand of christianity is nothing like the christianity that Jesus spoke of. That begs the question then, what has gone wrong? What have we been presenting to the nonchristian world that would give them this negative perception of what christians are about? Personally,I think that we have been so consumed with all the "sins" we're against that maybe we've forgotten what's more important and that's being friends with all kinds of people and loving people for who they are. Sure, they're are lots of issues that demand our attention that we should be against, but maybe it's time we let people know all the things we're for as well. Things like showing compassion to all people, serving the outcast, bringing justice to the oppressed and meeting the needs of the poor. Maybe we need to let our actions speak louder than our words. Jesus was very comfortable in the homes of those labeled as "sinners" by the religious crowd of his time. Maybe Jesus was on to something. Maybe those of us who call ourselves "Christ followers" need to spend more time following the way of Jesus and then see what happens to the negative perceptions. God help us make it so!

Thousands

Have you ever been in a room with over eleven thousand other people singing worship songs in unison? If you haven't you'll have that to look forward to one day in Heaven with millions upon millions of voices in unison. Until then, we have conferences like Catalyst here in Atlanta. I'm here this week with our worship pastor, Scott Spruill and my son, Tyler. This is one of my favorite conferences that I look forward to attending every other year or so. Each year I come away with one thing that God challenges me with for my personal life or ministry life. This year it's humility. Andy Stanley challenged us all to use our power of influence to serve others as Jesus did when he washed the feet of the disciples. He referred to him as "the most powerful person in the room" who stunned them with his act of humility. He leveraged his power on behalf of the others he led. That's the nature of true leadership. My desire is to humbly serve those I lead. Power can intoxicate those in leadership. It can lead to using people instead of loving people. Stanley said our response to power will determine our legacy of leadership. May God help us all to walk humbly before him as we seek to lead others.

Who is Jesus?

It has been a few weeks since I last posted a blog, for which I feel terrible, but don't worry about since I'm still getting used to blogging. I have a desire to do it, but the will power to get it done, hasn't caught up with it yet! With that said...

I'm sitting in Starbucks at Blakeney here in the Ballantyne area of Charlotte as I type this, studying for this Sunday' message on misconceptions about Jesus. I'm sure you've heard some of them yourself... "Jesus was good moral teacher, a prophet, a historical figure but there's no way he was God!" I've thought a lot about that. And it requires an abandoning of all bias and assumptions you may have had about him in order to take an objective look at him. It's kind of like having a negative or for that matter, positive perception of someone before you meet them. Going only by what you've read or heard about them or what others have said about them. But until you meet them for yourself or in the case of Christ, study his life and words, with the goal of really getting to know him, you can't make an objective declaration until you've done that.

That's the core of Christianity. You must make a careful research of his life and using his own words to come to that conclusion, "And who do you say that I am?"

Thoughts on Life

Last Monday on Labor Day, a friend of mine died of a massive heart attack. He was 38 years old and had no health problems. He and his family have been attending our church the past few months. He was one of the best people I have ever known becuase he was so caring and concerned about others. You will never meet a nicer person. As I've reflected on his life and knowing him, I was reminded again of the shortness of life. Death is no respecter of persons and it stinks. I hate it! It robs families of parents and kids and grandparents and so on. It comes with no warning. But then again, life is always full of surprises, some good and some bad. I know that in this life there are no easy answers to situations like these. I wish there were, but sometimes I'm glad I don't know the answers to these questions because I might not be able to handle it. I'm sure I will ask God when I get to Heaven "why?" Maybe then I will understand and appreciate it. Until then, I still have my questions but I must trust God. I must believe that He knows the beginning from the end and has a purpose to everything under the sun. God, I don't won't christian cliches and platitudes and pat answers. I want to know that there is a purpose for everything under the sun. May it be so in the life of this dear family who lost a husband and father this week!

New Life

Sunday was an incredible day in the life of CROSSPOINT! There were at least four people who said they wanted to cross the line of faith to begin following Jesus Christ. This is the reason we started CROSSPOINT and the past five months in our brief history have been building to this day. This is what I was called to do! This is what I gave my life for! There is something about new life that's so hard to describe! When a person comes into relationship with Christ, a new life has begun. It's young, raw, organic, rich, fresh, exciting, challenging, beyond comprehension and all that God desires for a new Christ follower! Now they begin to take baby steps. Heck, they'll be crawling for awhile and as they grow in their faith, they'll learn to walk. Now it's our turn to walk alongside of each of these people and encourage them in their new faith. II Corinthians 5:17 means so much more to me today. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

It's Brand New

This is my first ever blog. I've done prayer updates for the past year and a half that go out in the form of an email to over two hundred people each week, but this is different! Now I can share my thoughts, opinions, insights, concerns in a very straight forward way. But more than anything, I want to share what God's doing in my life and in the life of our church, CROSSPOINT! I hope that you'll find this blog inspiring, informative and encouraging. At times it may seem like a peek behind the curtain of my life. That's okay too. I look forward to communicating regularly. Thanks for reading!

Jimmy