Teachable Teacher

  Alright all you I.U. fans, before you click the big red “x” in the top right of your screen, let me explain why I am writing an article about Purdue basketball on my blog.  First, it gives me the chance to brag about their pre-season ranking that the ESPN/USA Today Poll has spotted as high as #10 in the nation!!!  But secondly, and more importantly, I wanted to point out what all it takes to build a program (or in our case a church) from the ground up.

Crosswalk was started by many good, God-loving people.  The idea of a fresh start, and a new chance was a breath of fresh air for many.  And during the planning stages, it was almost euphoric to dream of the possibilities that a new church plant could bring.  Awesome worship.  An on fire children’s ministry.  Amazing creative arts and a sermon by a wise, well studied, charismatic personality.  That was the dream that many had in the beginning.  Now that things have been hitting the ground and running for the past three and a half months, certain ones who were there in the “dreaming” stage, are no longer attending. 

“Anyone can dream.  It takes a person with a God-inspired determination to turn that dream into a reality.”

Matt Painter, Coach of the Boilermakers, took over the program only to see the Boilers spend an entire season at the bottom of the Big10 Conference.  People began to point fingers of doubt and say things like “Coach Keady never did it like that.  If you want to win, you need to be more like Coach Keady.”  Plenty of well meaning attenders have tried to mold Crosswalk into the churches they had left.  Without realizing it, their comments and suggestions were for us to become like their old home church. 

Coach Keady, as good as he was, never in his tenure was able to lead the Boilermakers to a national title.  As good as many pastors are, they have never been able to reach their full potential because they refused to stick to the mission that God first stirred in their hearts.  They allowed the crowd to sway their mission.  Crowds are good to use for creating strategic ideas to reach a mission, but not to select the mission itself.  Coach Painter did just that…He relied on his coaching staff (those willing to sweat out the hard times with him because they believed in the mission).  They were the strategists and he was the visionary. 

“Pastors must be the visionaries who build a team of faithful strategists around the main mission.”

Finding the right people takes time.  But I am VERY excited to see the ones who have stuck around at Crosswalk.  Just today as I stood outside before the service, I was feeling a little hurt over the ones who said they believed in the mission, were on board 100%, and now have not attended in weeks.  That’s when the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, “Look at those who are still here.”  As I got to running through the faces of those people who were coming every week, I noticed something about them.  Nearly all of them had come from messed up lives.  All were in desparate need of Christ’s saving blood and the Holy Spirit’s liberating power.  Few had much of a church background.  Those that had come from other churches had been deeply wounded.  These were all people who wanted to see the vision of Crosswalk come to pass in their own life–To Be The Word In Action.  No more hypocracy.  No more playing games.  This group is serious about serving Christ, allowing the Word to change them from the inside-out, and showing the world that Jesus is still alive.

Be brave Crosswalkers, and stay the course.  The best is yet to come!

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way, though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its swelling, selah.  There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the most High.  God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; God will help her when morning dawns.  The nations rage, the kingdoms totter; he utters his voice, the earth melts.  The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.  Selah.”