Monday, May 26

Three forms of art…

Back in April, while in the middle of the series “Losing My Religion” we looked at this passage from Colossians 2: 13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

We then looked at the Day of Atonement from Leviticus to try to understand this ‘legal indebtedness’ that had been taken away. (two great resources for this: David Reece, Rob Bell)

All throughout the morning Jason Oaks, an artist in our Crossings community, led us visually through this study.

What Bill has done is to take the video of Jason painting throughout the teaching, the song “Jesus Blood” from the band that day, and a few phrases from the morning’s teaching and mixed them together into the video below. It’s so very good.

Mark Nelson at 11:44 AM 1comments

Tuesday, May 20

MMIQ…

Here’s my question for you…when it comes to faith, in the midst of this journey toward God that you may or may not be on, what has been your most important question?

What has been the thing that was the hardest to wrestle through…the one truth that’s been harder for you to grasp than any other…the issue that has been your toughest obstacle to get past or get through in your faith?

It may be something you haven’t been able to work your way through yet…

For me, it’s the questions that come when I look at the Bible.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I don’t believe the Scripture to be true or to be from God, it’s just that, for me, it’s been a hard struggle to believe that the 66 books we have are the right 66 books. It’s been by far, my most important question to wrestle through in my faith…

What’s yours?

Mark Nelson at 7:36 AM 6comments

Monday, May 19

Advil, Neosporin & Afrin…that’s all I need.

I have with me, at all times, three things…Advil, Neosporin, & Afrin.

If you know me, you know that I pretty much believe that these three things are all you need to ‘cure whatever ails you’. Seriously, I’m pretty sure that a squirt of Afrin, or a little Neosporin, or three Advil can calm any malady you might incur.

I know it sounds ridiculous, but equally ridiculous is the idea that we all grow and draw close to God in the same way….which is one of the foundational points of a study we’re into at Crossings this month called ‘Sacred Pathways’…

Here’s a video Bill (our worship & arts guy) put together for a teaching a couple of weeks ago… (The original concept for this idea came from Greg Adkins a few years ago)

Mark Nelson at 7:30 AM 0comments

Thursday, May 15

Graduation…

My oldest son, Michael, graduates High School tonight. (Below is a picture from his prom a couple of weeks ago)

As you would expect, there are a lot of thoughts that surround such an event. Things like, “Seriously, has it been 18 years?” or “How the heck are we going to pay for college when gas costs $4 per gallon?”

I couldn’t be more proud of my son. (I feel that way about all three of our kids) Michael is an amazing young man who loves God, who works hard, has great dreams and can throw a frisbee disc further than anyone I know. I can’t imagine a brother treating his siblings better than Michael treats his brother and sister.

We’re excited about what awaits him at the University of Tennessee in the fall…(looks like architecture is the course of study)…maybe he’ll be able to get dear old dad some football tickets…

Mark Nelson at 9:45 AM 0comments

Wednesday, May 14

The biggest post-its in the world…

I’m still in Chicago, at CCC, and today we’re going from 9am-4pm planning out teaching ideas for this next year.

If you don’t know how the teaching works with New Thing Network churches… There are weeks of brainstorming leading up to one big day of ideas, creating series, wrestling around (usually not literally) with scheduling, etc.

The pictures are of the room, and the activity going on throughout…

There are huge post-its for each month with holidays, school schedules, etc…then we take smaller post-its with the teachings on them and move them around from week to week to make the puzzle fit together…

It’s a fascinating process…

Mark Nelson at 2:34 PM 0comments

Monday, May 12

Feedback on the pathways…

Based on a book by Gary Thomas called ‘Sacred Pathways’, we began a 4 week look at what are the ‘next steps’ for us at Crossings yesterday morn…

This quote by Thomas probably best describes what we discussed yesterday… “All too often, those who desire to grow and be fed spiritually are given the same, generic, hopefully all-inclusive methods---usually some variation on a standardized quiet time. Why? Because it’s simple, it’s generic, and it’s easy to hold people accountable to. But is it enough?”

He writes that he believes that there are different pathways, 9 of them, that people walk to relate to God, to draw near to Him.

Here’s the list that he gives of the different ways people draw near, relate to God…

1- Naturalist: Loving God out of doors
-A naturalist recognizes the beauty and majesty of God as He is displayed in His creation. …

2- Sensate: Loving God with the senses
-Sensates want to be lost in the awe, beauty, and splendor of God. They are drawn to God through the liturgical, the sights, sounds, smells of worship

3- Traditionalist: Loving God through ritual and symbol
-Traditionalists tend to have disciplined lives of faith that include worship through rituals, structure and sacraments

4- Ascetic: Loving God in solitude and simplicity
-Ascetics want nothing more than to be left alone in prayer.

5- Activist: Loving God through confrontations
-Activists define ‘worship’ as standing against injustice and evil in the world, this is where they feel closest to God.

6- Caregiver: Loving God by loving others
-Caregivers have passion to love God by meeting the needs and healing the wounds of hurting people.

7- Enthusiast: Loving God with mystery and celebration
-Enthusiasts find God not just in concepts, but by responding with verbal and physical enthusiasm.

8- Contemplative: Loving God through adoration
-A contemplative considers a relationship with God to be a romance in which they sense loving intimacy.

9- Intellectual: Loving God with the mind
-Intellectuals feel closest to God when they first understand something new about Him.

I would love to get your feedback on the following questions…I’m extremely interested, especially as I prepare for next week, where some of you are on these paths…

Which ‘Pathway’ or ‘Pathways’ are yours…?

What basic ways do you try and ‘draw near to God’…? If this faith is about a relationship with God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, how do you go about cultivating that…?

What are the greatest struggles?

Mark Nelson at 11:53 AM 3comments

Early morning flight…

Just arrived in Chicago a couple of hours ago…(nothing like getting up at 3:45 am to catch a flight).

I’m here for a gathering of New Thing Network pastors here in Naperville, IL at the Community Christian Church. It's a group of just under 20... I'll be back home late Wednesday night ...

I’m excited, as always, for this gathering. It great to be in community with these incredibly talented and gifted leaders, imagining and dreaming about the world (yes, literally the world) finding their way back to God.

Also, this year, Alan Hirsch author of a book I love called 'The Forgotten Ways' will be with us for much of our time…

And last year, we went to a Sox game…Cubs are in town this year…I know, I know, not realistic to get Cubs tix, but a boy can dream can’t he…

Mark Nelson at 11:27 AM 0comments

Thursday, May 8

The Golden BVD…

Each month, on a Saturday morning, we gather our leaders together for a time of community, vision, and sharing about how God is working in Crossings. We call this time Leadership Community.

(By the way, we consider our leaders to be anyone who serves in any area of Crossings. We’ll have between 40-55 leaders there each month)

The highlight of each of these times for me is the awarding of our Golden BVD.

Our BVD’s are our beliefs, values & dreams….these things we believe God wants us to be about in this faith community.

At each of these Leadership Communities we try and honor a person who has consistently lived out these BVD’s in the life of our community. I know it sounds like a ‘cheese-filled moment’, but it is an amazingly emotional time when the winner is described and then announced and everyone stands and cheers for 3-4 minutes. It is an intense time of gratitude for this leader. (to the right is a picture of the very first BVD Award Winner, Lyle Bennett, back in 2.07)

We honor them with a traveling trophy (kind of like the Stanley Cup in Hockey) that goes from winner to winner. They get to keep for a month until the next Leadership Community. (yes, it looks like you’d think it would)

This past month’s winner, Jason Edelen, has decided to take the trophy on a little tour of Knoxville…he has pictures of he and the BVD all over the city on his blog. I can’t wait til the BVD visits the Sunsphere.

Mark Nelson at 3:59 PM 0comments

Wednesday, May 7

Full of four stars…

When I read books I use a red pen and mark the heck out of the pages. I underline and bracket and write notes in the margins (maybe questions, things I disagree with, notes for a teaching somewhere down the road).

I also have this little ‘star system’ I use. Nothing complicated, kind of like the movie rating system. I make little star symbols next to a line or paragraph I really like, and use one, two, three or four stars to categorize it, with four being the best.

Once or twice a year I come across a book that really sucks me in very unexpectedly. Usually it happens with a book I wasn’t expecting to be good, something I hadn’t looked forward to, a book I just stumble across...

And then, and many of you can testify to this, I find myself trying to convince everyone in the world to read it…now.

Last year it was ‘Forgotten Ways’ by Alan Hirsch…(In fact, I recently found about 10 copies of this one at the $5 book store here in town. I’ve been giving them away like crazy)

Here’s the one that is currently overwhelming much of my thinking…The Tangible Kingdom by Hugh Halter & Matt Smay.

Let me tell you, I don’t know if I’ve ever used as many ‘4 Star’ labels in the margin…

Go, buy it now…

Mark Nelson at 10:58 AM 2comments

Monday, May 5

If you could choose, which would you study?

It’s that time of year where we wrestle around with what we think God wants us to study at Crossings this next year…

Right now, we’re good through the summer…we’ve got some things I’m really excited about studying, including 4 weeks on something called ‘Sacred Pathways’ beginning this Sunday…

To review…
This past year, beginning in September and ending at Easter, we spent 26 weeks studying the story of Jesus from John’s narrative. I think it went well, and I think it was crucial to us as a faith community to lay this foundation that everything else is built upon.

Now, as we think and pray about what’s next for us beginning in the fall, we think we may want to enter into another book in much the same way we did with John. Maybe a shorter time, maybe not.

Where I feel like God is leading us has three possible angles. Some of the leaders I’ve polled are evenly divided in their opinion… I’d like to hear yours…

The three books were looking at entering into are: Genesis, Acts and Romans

I don’t want to taint your perspective with any commentary on the ‘why’ part of any of the three. I’d just love your thoughts on which you’d love to study the most and why…

Mark Nelson at 11:06 AM 8comments

Friday, May 2

This ride is just beginning...

“We’re on this amusement ride, but we’re only strapped in. In some ways, it feels as if we haven’t even left the docking station yet.”

One of the ways we structure our leadership at Crossings is that we have a group that we call our Lead Team. Since the beginning, 6 months before launch in 2.07, this group of incredible people met to discuss, plan, strategize, dream and pray. Without them, I don’t know how God could have ever created this community.

As time has gone on, we have had some people move away so we have added to this group as needed. Currently the Lead Team numbers 15 of us.

At a recent meeting we were discussing all the good things God is doing, all the places He is ‘winning’ at Crossings. Things like: “This really does work.” “All these pieces have come together….it’s rare and it’s beautiful.”

Then Lyle Bennett said, “You know, it feels like we’re on this amusement park ride…but we’re only just strapped in. In some ways, it feels as if we haven’t even left the docking station yet.”

That’s an amazing statement considering we are 15 months into this thing.

But then I began to think how great a statement this is, and how well it describes these leaders and their vision. Yeah, we are 15 months past launch; Yeah, God has been teaching us so much and changing all our lives. Yeah, He has brought a lot a people to us, allowing them to find community in small groups, etc. Yeah, we are extremely excited about what He has done. But…

But…we know that in so many ways, we haven’t even started the ride yet.

As we dream and pray about this community called Crossings and how it will continue to follow God and seek to be a part of a reproducing movement, we better make sure we’re strapped in tight, because Lyle’s right, this ride is just beginning…

Mark Nelson at 11:29 AM 2comments

Tuesday, April 29

Learning to be aware…

The serious part of being aware:
“The unexpected sound of your name on somebody’s lips. The good dream. The odd coincidence. The moment that brings tears to your eyes. The person who brings life to your life. Maybe even the smallest events hold the greatest clues. If it is God we are looking for, as I suspect we all of us are even if we don’t think of it that way, maybe the reason we haven’t found Him is that we are not looking in the right places.”
“Pay attention. As a summation of all that I have had to say as a writer, I would settle for that. And as a motto for that journey in search of a homeland, which is what faith is, I would settle for that too.” -Buechner

The not-so serious part:

Mark Nelson at 7:34 AM 0comments

Monday, April 28

Sometimes you just never know what to expect…

What a wild and wacky day at Crossings…we were scheduled to finish our teaching series, “Losing My Religion” this past week. I had been in Orlando all week, so Bill (our worship/arts guy was scheduled to teach out of Colossians 3.

About 7pm on Saturday I received a call from Bill, who was in Bloomington, Illinois on Friday and Saturday for a wedding, who promptly said, “Well, you’re not going to believe this…”

We had joked a week or so ago about how Bill better not miss his flight back to Knoxville on Saturday. I told him I’d make him teach via phone if that happened.

Well, I didn’t keep my promise.

His flight had been rescheduled but he hadn’t been notified, and when he arrived at the airport, the last plane of the day had already left. (say it with me, “never, ever fly AirTran”) You can read his account on his blog.

Anyway, after we rejected the idea of Bill having himself filmed in the airport and then posting the teaching on youtube to show the next morning, we decided it was best for me to go ahead and teach.

Now let alone the fact I was going to miss the rest of the NFL Draft on ESPN, the idea of preparing to teach the next morning without my usual 25+ hours of prep was not a popular idea in my head. But as I said the next morning, after we played the game “Where in the World is Bill Wolf”: “We’re going to have to trust even more than normal that God has got something He wants us to consider this morning… (and I think He did) …And we’re going to have to trust that God’s story is bigger than our plans… (which is always true)

There were many other things surrounding the morning that fall into that ‘you’ve got to be kidding me category’…including technical difficulties in kids and adults, my daughter feeling sick and hugging the porcelain god for a while, and Carrie Perkinson who missed a call from their husband, Jake, from boot camp when she stepped across the hall to unload a crate. (Her husband gets one 3-minute call per week and that was it.) (Postscript: God was good though and somehow Jake was provided with another call later in the day)

And yet it was a great day…And we can’t wait till next week to be in community and see what God has for us…(by the way, Bill is limited to a 20 mile radius around the theatre until next Sunday afternoon)

Mark Nelson at 2:57 PM 0comments

Two years and counting…

Again this year at the Exponential Conference in Orlando, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed, time and again, with this deep feeling of gratitude.

It was 2 years ago, at this conference, late on a Wednesday night, that one fateful conversation with Jon & Dave Ferguson, Pat Masek, Tammy Melchien, and about 15-20 others who wandered by our table, led to the birth of Crossings. We are forever grateful for the opportunity, the constant encouragement and support… I can’t wait to see what God does next…

By the way, the conference ended well…Tim Keller’s teaching was so very good, and the last session involved a ‘commissioning’ of those feeling called to be involved with church planting.

It also involved Rick Warren doing a “Raffiki from Lion King impression” that I’m still not sure I understand…

…and, for those of you concerned for my loss, I found my Gumputter Disc the next day at the course…whew. Evidently the alligators spit it back up on shore. (I think that means I must now take it to Ninevah and call people to repent…)

Mark Nelson at 10:14 AM 1comments

Wednesday, April 23

Some highlights and one lowlight…

From the Exponential Conference in Orlando…

Some highlights…
-a strong teaching from Andy Stanley during a main session about making vision stick. (and immediately afterwards, a Q & A with Stanley…just 20 or so of us in the room)
-connecting with some people I only see once a year
-hearing Ron Kastens phone go off and play “Rocky Top” during the Stadia Banquet (he’s a former Tennesseean, now in the Northeast)
-shooting 3 under at the Turkeynator (disc golf)

-And in my opinion, as well as other’s I’ve heard, the teaching that Alan Hirsch shared in the main session this morning. It’s fascinating to hear people who have not heard of Hirsch before respond to his thinking, specifically the concept that our ‘Christology (our belief and understanding of Jesus) must determine our Missiology (what we believe our mission is) which much determine our Ecclessiology (how we do church). Those around Crossings have heard this for a year or so…it’s foundational to why we do what we do.

Lowlight…
-Lost my Gumbputter to the alligators in the swamp part of the Turkeynator (pray for my loss)

Mark Nelson at 1:16 PM 2comments

Tuesday, April 22

Lionel & Diana for Earth Day…

Today is Earth Day…and unfortunately, most believe it involves a certain mentality and attitude to celebrate it, i.e.- the video below. (Great job Bill…it brought a tear)

Obviously, we think it’s much more serious than that…this call to be stewards of all that God has given should be all encompassing, touching every aspect of our lives…

I know I have a ton to learn, as I believe most followers of Jesus do, but taking care of creation, being a part of God restoring all things, is not just the new hip thing to do in the church, it’s one of those things we grossly neglected a long time ago and now we’re just trying to catch up…

Mark Nelson at 8:26 AM 0comments

Monday, April 21

It’s all about creating a culture…

As I traveled through Orlando this morning, on my way to a little disc golf, I was enlightened once again by that ESPN theologian Colin Cowherd.

Colin is always entertaining, and always thought provoking when it comes to commentary on culture. His rants on Reality TV, Bill Belichek, and the fact that Serena Williams and Ricky Williams are the same person are legendary. (Wait, sorry…that last rant would be mine)

This morning he was talking about coaches and how the great coaches are the ones who ‘create a culture’.

The Lakers’ Phil Jackson was his primary example today. Jackson, Cowherd says, has somehow ingrained in his team this concept that ‘passing is cooler than shooting’ (which is a supreme accomplishment when Kobe Bryant is on your team). He used this example to explain why the Lakers destroyed Denver yesterday in the playoffs. (I actually think it had more to do with the fact that Denver plays defense like the Harlem Globetrotters)

This ‘creating a culture’ is an obvious foundational piece of church planting.

At Crossings, our desire is to ingrain, to establish in our DNA, the ideas of valuing leaders like they’ve never been valued. Investing in them in a way that changes them and the community of which they are a part. We have made reproducing a normal part of every vision discussion, whether it’s small groups or other faith communities. Our desire has been to create in this community the culture of ‘entering into the story of God’ every day of our lives, allowing His Word to change us, to make us whole…not just so we can be restored, but so that shalom can come to this entire world.

I absolutely agree with the Reverend Cowherd…it’s all about creating a culture…

Mark Nelson at 4:57 PM 4comments

Friday, April 18

The travails of a church plant…

Most church plants meet in temporary locations…which means that you are transporting equipment, etc. every Sunday morning to unload then load…which means that you must store your equipment in trailers…which means, all that you own as a church is just ‘out there’ in a parking lot or storage facility somewhere…

Here’s a story that every church fears…

One weekend in early March, Kinetic Church in Charlotte had the trailer containing about 75% of their equipment stolen; leaving their portable church with virtually nothing.

Since the theft, the approach Kinetic has taken is incredibly interesting…

They have been very intentional about trying to make contact with the people who took their equipment with two main modes: Billboards around the city, (like the one pictured here) and a youtube message specifically to the people who stole the trailer Check out their site for more info…Kinetic Church

Mark Nelson at 9:23 AM 1comments

Wednesday, April 16

Can’t wait to read this one…

My friend Tim Sutherland has tried to convince me for at least two years to start listening to and to read everything I can find from Tim Keller. I have passively resisted, no particular reason, just too many books to read and too many podcasts to listen to I guess…

Keller is the senior pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan (New York, not Kansas). It’s a church of mostly twenty- and thirty-somethings that totals about 5,000 each week.

He’s been described this way…”Keller’s intellectually upscale apologetic has helped change how non–New Yorkers view our so-called secular city and usher in a paradigm shift in how evangelism is done in postmodern America.”

Well, tiring of Tim begging me to check Keller out and knowing Keller is also scheduled to speak at a main session at the Exponential Conference in Orlando next week I bought Keller’s new book: The Reason for God. As of 4.13 it is #7 on the New York Times hardcover non-fiction list, just ahead of Stephen Colbert’s “I am America (and so can you!) and, unfortunately just behind “Stori Telling” the memoir of 90210’s Tori Spelling.

The thing that sealed it for me was reading an interview from First Things, The Journal of Religion, Culture, and Public Life. It’s a great article. Read it, now, hurry… Especially for those of you reading from Crossings or in the world of church planting, it’s a great read.

Anyone out there read the book yet…?

Mark Nelson at 10:59 AM 10comments

Tuesday, April 15

I can’t wait…

I’m scheduled to be in Orlando next week for Exponential, the 2008 National New Church Conference.

Now, I’m one that really likes these types of conferences, for two main reasons: the learning aspect and the community aspect. I love the chance to clear my mind of all that is happening in the present and think and dream and write during this ‘time away’ while I listen to good teaching 4 or 5 times a day.

The speaker lineup for the main sessions is extremely strong this year. The two I look forward to the most are Tim Keller and Alan Hirsch. (More on Keller in another post this week) Here’s a link to the list of the speakers…

Also, I get to attend a workshop track of 7 sessions discussing the missional church. Hirsch, Neil Cole and Ed Stetzer will lead those. The course description includes: You desire to lead a church that is faithful to the values of being a blessing to its community and culture. You desire to produce disciple-making disciples and plant churches that result in redemptive movements that witness to the loving kindness of Jesus Christ.
This track will focus on developing leadership for churches that seek to plant missional churches that are movements more than single entities.

The community aspect, I think, is fairly obvious. It’s comforting and encouraging to gather together with this ‘band of brothers and sisters’ who are as passionate about what they are doing as you are. (Alan Hirsch would call this ‘Communitas’) These ever evolving relationships, especially for me, are unbelievably indispensable in ministry.

This is the third time I’m attending Exponential…and by far, the most excited I’ve been to be there.

Oh, and maybe, just maybe, my excitement has something to do with the fact I’ll get to play “T-2, The Turkeynator”, a disc golf course just a couple of miles from the conference. Maybe.

Mark Nelson at 7:42 AM 0comments