Wednesday, February 28

"You can do that..."

I got home from the ChurchPlanters.com last night in time to mock American Idol with my daughter, but not earlier enough to catch any of my son’s soccer game…(I tried, but I couldn’t go any faster through the mountains)

Overall, the conference was good (not great)…It was good to have a little sabbath time in the car and at the hotel and it was good to spend a little time with Troy McMahon and Dave Ferguson from CCC in Naperville. They’re always so encouraging and genuinely interested in ‘how we’re doing’.

Dave spoke at the conference and began with a story about his dream of doing multi-site many years ago. The abbreviated version of the story ends with his friend looking at his dream drawn out on a napkin and said, “You can do that.” (spoken as “of course you can”, “why not”, “it makes total sense”, “a no brainer”)

I realized as I was listening to Dave speak that it was that attitude and that insight from Dave, his brother Jon, Pat Masek and many others at CCC that was a main impetus that led to Monica and I signing up for this church planting gig in the first place. Something for which I am forever grateful.

Mark Nelson at 7:52 AM 9comments

Tuesday, February 27

Notes from Church Planting Redone....

I thought I would give you an update on this conference I am attending in North Georgia…

Here’s some things shared and taught yesterday…

Resist…Shawn Lovejoy
-Be ‘mean’ to protect the vision you believe God has given you
-Over communicate the vision
-Deal with hijackers of the vision
-Live for an audience of One

Relate…Ed Stetzer
-Relate to people in culture
-Relate the Gospel not just creativity
-Relate but don’t confuse

Good stuff…

Dinner with about dozen gentlemen, many of them on staff with the host church Mountain Lake Church, three of the main speakers here at the conference and other great minds in church planting. Good meal, good conversations, Godly men. I just tried to soak it all in…

Oh, yeah…and you’ll be glad to know that I found a nice 18 hole disc golf course near Cumming, GA. And I’m sure you’ll be glad to know I shot a +4

By the way, I’m posting this blog while I sit in a workshop on blogging…Oh the irony.

Mark Nelson at 1:51 PM 0comments

Monday, February 26

churchplanters.com

I’m near Cumming, GA today and tomorrow for a day and a half conference entitled ‘Church Planting Redone”…

I’m excited to be here…it should be good. The main session speakers are Perry Noble, Ed Stetzer, & Dave Ferguson.

Workshop options include: Communicating for Life Change, Off and Running: Breaking the 200 Barrier from Day One, Going All Out for the Disconnected, Closing the Back Door of Your Church Plant, Developing a Culture of Generosity.

I’ll try and let you know what I learn…

As good as all of this will be, it’s going to be hard to beat the drive down here on every back highway between here and Knoxville. Sweetwater, Turtletown, Ducktown ('a quacking good place to be'. Honestly, that’s what the sign says at the entrance to the town), and Ellijay were just a few of the towns I enjoyed passing through…man, the mountains of east Tennessee and northern Georgia are gorgeous.

Mark Nelson at 8:49 AM 1comments

Sunday, February 25

Can we do this again tomorrow...?

I know it means getting up at 5:45 am…
I know it means we’re at the theatre at 7am unloading in the rain…
I know the time it takes to set up and tear down is 4 ½ hours compared to a worship gathering that lasts only 70 minutes…

But, I tell you what…I’d do it all over again tomorrow if I could…

We had another good day at the theatre today…a lot new faces…many returning faces…21 kids in Kids’ City (woo hoo!)…188 total today for worship…

Probably the highlight for me was in the middle of the worship set, during the song ‘How Great is our God’, when the band dropped out and all you could hear were the voices singing the chorus…it sounded so good, (not that the band was bad, don’t get me wrong)

What an incredible group of leaders we have who are stepping up each Sunday morning to play their part in God’s dream that is Crossings. Thank you, thank you, thank you…

Mark Nelson at 8:38 PM 1comments

Thursday, February 22

In conclusion...

20 years ago this May, by the slimmest of margins, I graduated from Johnson Bible College in Knoxville.

Last night I attended a Homecoming Session at JBC where the retiring President, Dr. David Eubanks, gave the message. Dr. Eubanks is an incredible man of God, he’s been President since 1969. It’s hard to imagine JBC without him.

As a student we were always amazed at his servant’s heart and the incredible humility that characterized his leadership. As I think back, there is one particular thing that oddly stands out about Dr. Eubanks:

When he would preach in chapel, after about 25 minutes or so, he would say the phrase, “In conclusion…”. One would think it was safe to assume that he was almost finished. Well, 30 minutes and three more “In conclusions” later you were still assuming the same thing. He wasn’t much of a joke teller, but each time he said “In conclusion”, we always chuckled a little.

Well, last night was his last address to the Alumni as President…it really was “In conclusion”.

As I sat in that service last evening with hundreds of alumni, students, friends of the school, I thought about how there are some aspects of my faith that I try to separate myself from…parts that I’ve had to grow out of, grow past, work my way through. Things I’ve left behind so I can follow Jesus more closely.

Johnson isn’t one of those.

I’m thankful for my time there, (I sure wish I had studied more…one of my great regrets of life). I know so many people who want to cut themselves off, have nothing to do with the place they’ve gone to school, as if the college is at fault for something. I don’t get it.

So, in conclusion…Thank you Dr. & Mrs. Eubanks for your hearts and your leadership. May God bless you as you follow Him into this next season of your life…

Mark Nelson at 9:36 PM 4comments

Live at Crossings...

Below is a live recording of Pierce Pettis’ “God Believes in You” sung by our worship/arts guy, Bill Wolf and his wife, Betsy, at the first service at Crossings on 2.11.

It was a powerful conclusion to a great day at Crossings...

Bill wrote on his blog…”We usually don't record any of the music during the service because we lack the proper recording equipment needed to do it well. So we record the teaching and that is typically it. But our sound guy apparently forgot to hit 'stop' after the sermon and thus accidentally recorded this.”

“It is live and recorded on one track...so keep that in mind. “

I think it sounds great…

If you’re not familiar with Pettis’ music, you’re missing out…this song is available on the CD “Everything Matters”.

God Believes in You...

Mark Nelson at 2:08 PM 1comments

Tuesday, February 20

Make your plans now...2.10.08

You may have read my post last week how we served Eli’s Cheesecake at our launch of Crossings on 2.11. (It was a gift from Tim Sutherland from Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL who insisted that we have Eli’s.)

What I failed to mention is the best part of the story… I received an e-mail from the president of Eli’s who had read on my blog that we served their Cheesecake.

He asked me the story behind how this all came about. I did my best to relate the entire story to him…and then received this great e-mail from Mr. Schulman:

Our thanks to Pastor Tim Sutherland for his generosity and support for your program. To show our thanks to Pastor Tim and in recognition of your leadership in opening the new church, Crossings, we at Eli's will provide cheesecake each year for your anniversary celebration, next year that would be February 10, 2008. We look forward to your congregation growing significantly and that our cheesecake can help support your mission.

Best wishes,
Marc S. Schulman
President
The Eli's Cheesecake Company

How amazing is that?

Make your plans now for…355 days until Eli’s…

Mark Nelson at 8:02 PM 1comments

A dialogue...

I’m a big fan of ESPN Radio, especially Mike & Mike in the morning.

Even though Knoxville is ‘anti-ESPN’ (It has to do with Peyton Manning not winning the Heisman Trophy…don’t ask) I am finally able in the last few weeks to listen to Mike & Mike, Colin Cowherd, etc. on 1180 AM each day, at least during the daylight hours.

Last week one of the biggest stories in sports involved two former NBA players, John Amaechi & Tim Hardaway. One recently came ‘out of the closet’ to reveal his homosexuality (Amaechi), and one came ‘out of the closet’ to reveal how he feels about the issue (Hardaway)

Last Wednesday, Hardaway said the following… "I hate gay people and I don't like to be around gay people. I am homophobic. I don't like it. It shouldn't be in the world or in the United States."

My point of this post is not to necessarily talk about Amaechi/Hardaway. It’s to point out how Mike Greenberg addressed the issue the next morning on Mike & Mike.

He was great. He spoke not about the issue of homosexuality but of the issue of hate and responses like Hardaway’s. How Amaechi’s declaration has done many things, not the least of these being opening up a dialogue about a multitude of issues. He emphasized the fact that when you open yourself up to dialogue you open yourself up to discussing every angle of any given issue. He went on to focus on the idea that dialogue is an amazing thing and an incredibly difficult thing all at the same time and in some ways, you should expect responses like Hardaway’s when you begin a dialogue.

The word ‘dialogue’ is defined this way: A discussion between two or more people or groups, esp. one directed toward the exploration of a particular subject or resolution of a problem.

Ultimately, when I think about Crossings being a place of people finding their way back to God I think that in many instances it begins with a dialogue. An in many ways, our Sunday gatherings are one door to open up a dialogue about God and faith.

Some will look at the ‘idea of dialogue’ as a compromise of the Truth. I don’t. My resolve to the Truth of Jesus and the Scriptures is stronger and more powerful than ever. Because I believe in the midst of all the talk and all the that the Truth always rises to the top.

Mark Nelson at 10:29 AM 0comments

Monday, February 19

The questions of week two...

We’re are so grateful for another day to gather at Downtown West yesterday morning for worship & teaching…

It was a good day to be together. We had about a 160 gather together in spite of the snow and the cold (It was a blizzard for Knoxville, almost a half of inch).

It was a morning where we talked about why we chose the name Crossings. (the story of Jacob crossing the Jabbok River and wrestling with God…something we believe everyone does at some time in their journey with God)

It was a morning of questions…Including this quote from Athol Dickson:

At the church of my youth, I somehow got the idea that only a prideful person would dare to question the Lord. But I have learned that sometimes asking is a way to demonstrate humility, because inherent in the question is the assumption that I do not have the answer: God does. Sincere questions give God respect. They acknowledge His power. They honor him.
-The Gospel According to Moses

Our hope is that people leave Crossings each week with more questions than answers. To me that’s a successful talk. If the teaching ever becomes “Here are 7 steps to solve all of life’s problems”, we will have failed.

It’s not teaching that says we aren’t to have answers; it’s saying that having all the answers simply isn’t enough.

“Being a believer in Jesus hasn’t given me all the answers; instead it’s given me a whole new set of questions”. -Bono

Mark Nelson at 12:32 PM 2comments

Thursday, February 15

Two launches in one week...

Mark Nelson at 4:30 PM 2comments

Wednesday, February 14

Go...#4

I was searching for a word that could describe the past couple of days…

I think I found it.

Frenetic- adjective, [fre-netik] Fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way; Energetic; Intense; Amped-up.

Yeah, that’s it.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been a great couple of days, but, honestly it’s been more surreal than the actual launch day of Crossings on Sunday.

We have received so many calls and e-mails from people who attended on Sunday, either sharing their story with God with us or simply saying ‘thanks’.

I wish I could share some of the e-mails with you…they are so powerful and such evidence of such a caring and loving God.

I will share a response I received from one of our leaders after she read one of the e-mails sent to Crossings…

I am weeping from this email. This is what it's all about. I am so grateful that we did not get in His way. To God be the glory! May His name be praised! What an honor to be a part of this work. We could never earn this. What a humbling, horrifying thought. May He continue to lead, and may we continue to follow.

Mark Nelson at 5:04 PM 2comments

Tuesday, February 13

Go...#3

Here’s a first for you…my first foray into posting videos in the blogosphere…

Below are two segments that were filmed by two different local new stations during our launch of Crossings on Sunday…

They’re pretty good…(For you fans of the movie “Mystery Men” take note of the first few seconds of the video from WBIR)







What do you think?

Mark Nelson at 3:13 PM 5comments

Monday, February 12

Go...#2

I wrote last November: Dreams are gifts from God. Vision is the picture God gives of dreams coming true.

Yesterday at Downtown West Theatre here in Knoxville we believe this picture came just a little more true as we experienced another chapter of God’s dream for this city coming to fruition.

As I mentioned in my previous post today, yesterday’s launch of Crossings was an incredibly exciting day.

Our Kids’ City leaders were amazing…12 leaders in all led by my wife, Monica, they were so prepared and so ready to care for the kids God brought to them. I’m sure a highlight for all of them was Jake the Pirate…

Our aesthetics team went far and above creating an environment that feels comfortable, inviting and safe to come and find God. They literally are transforming different areas of the theatre each and every week…


Among all the other incredible things the hospitality leaders do each week, this week I added an extra task…they served about 270 slices of cheesecake to everyone immediately after worship. (It was part of an illustration from the teaching during the worship gathering)



Our setup and sound and tech leaders kicked butt…they were quicker and set up and more efficient than any week so far… Matt Bullard is a genius.

Bill Wolf and the band were unbelievable. They sounded great and their hearts seemed so focused on simply leading people to worship God…Everything was great, especially their version of Pierce Pettis’ “God believes in You”.

All in all we had somewhere around 210-215 people at Downtown West Theatre yesterday…God is so good.

I’ll continue to write more about yesterday throughout the week…

Mark Nelson at 3:24 PM 1comments

Go...#1

Wow, how can I begin to express the feelings and emotions as I reflect on yesterday’s launch of Crossings, a faith community…

First of all, the days leading up to launch were filled with call after call from people praying for us and cheering on this dream of God…I received calls on Saturday from Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Washington & Ireland…dozens of e-mails from people encouraging us…a bouquet of flowers, a basket of fruit and cheese…it was a flood of goodwill towards Crossings. Thank you to each and everyone of you dear friends.

Yesterday morning we had friends come to the launch from Stadia (thanks Tom & Debbie) and from CCC in Chicago (Thanks Kevin, Nicole, Rick & Louise). Area churches took the time out of their morning services to pray for Crossings as we began…(thanks Lighthouse CC & Farragut CC).

Two local television stations showed up at the theatre and both did pieces on their broadcasts, at 6pm, 11pm and then again this morning. I will put up the video here on my blog soon, hopefully…

In addition we had 21 cheesecakes delivered from Eli's Cheesecake in Chicago. (The president of Eli’s actually posted a comment of thanks on this blog) To continue a part of the teaching Sunday morning we served everyone cheesecake as the left the auditorium. (Thanks Tim Sutherland, or “Mr. Cheesecake” as you will now be known.)

So before I write more of the actual details of yesterday’s gathering I just wanted to say ‘thank you’ to all of you…and at the same time beg of you to keep praying, keep calling, keep visiting, and (when appropriate) keep sending Eli’s Cheesecake.

Mark Nelson at 11:40 AM 1comments

Saturday, February 10

Ready, set…

We had our first Leadership Community today…what a great time. This will be a monthly gathering of all people serving in some kind of leadership role in any area of Crossings.

We worshipped together, continued to talk about how everything we do as a faith community must go through the sifter of “helping people find their way back to God”.

Today we awarded our very first ‘Golden BVD Award’; given to a person we’ve notice living out the beliefs, values, & dreams of Crossings. This month’s recipient is Lyle Bennett… I’ll try and post a picture soon of the award.

Also, I thought some of you might like to check out an article about Crossings in today’s Knoxville News Sentinel…
New church ditches traditional trappings

Mark Nelson at 7:59 PM 2comments

Friday, February 9

All that God has done...

Crossings, a faith community, is launching this Sunday. (I assume that’s something most of you already know.)

Obviously, it’s an incredibly exciting time. The next three days involve a multitude of things including the following:

-A 24-hour prayer and fast begins this morning at 11am. Our Launch Community and family and friends have signed up to pray for time slots of at least 20 minutes over the next days. Some are fasting as well.

-Saturday morning we will have our very first Leadership Community. We have over 50 committed, totally ‘bought in’ leaders as part of Crossings. They are serving in every area you can imagine. Our desire is bring these leaders together once a month and care for them, teach them, give them a place to worship, and continue to keep the vision of helping people find their way back to God out in front them. As part of this Leadership Community we will ‘break our fast’ at 11am together. I’m so excited for this time; it may be the most important thing we do all weekend.

-At 7am on Sunday we will begin unloading and setting up at Down Town West Theatres for the fifth time. (The four weeks we have had in the theatre up to this point have been invaluable.)

-At 10am our worship gathering will begin with the Rich Mullins song, “I Will Sing”…and will end with me eating Eli’s cheesecake from Chicago on stage (that one’s too hard for me to explain, you just have to see it). We have no idea who will come or how many, and that really is okay. Really. We simply pray God will bring who He wants to Crossings…

-After our worship gathering…it’s time for the buffet at Mandarin House. You are all invited…seriously.

-Monday morning…well, your guess is as good as mine.

Please pray for us…May God have His way in all our hearts…

We are so thankful to Stadia East, Smoky Mountain Christian Men’s Fellowship, New Thing Network, and Community Christian Church in Naperville, IL for partnering with us to allow God to bring His dream to continued fruition.

We are so very grateful for all that God has done…

Mark Nelson at 9:26 AM 1comments

Wednesday, February 7

A reel to reel memory…

I don’t know what triggered it in me, but the other day I found myself thinking about the teachers or books or talks I have heard that have had the most influence upon me.

The first thing that came to mind was sitting in a group of high school students in Terre Haute, Indiana and Dave Malooley, a youth sponsor, bringing out his reel to reel tape player.

I was probably a sophomore or junior in high school and I remember Dave and our youth minister, Jim Nartker, playing us recordings of a guy named Tony Campolo on that reel to reel.

They were recordings from a series of talks Campolo had given at another church in Terre Haute a few days previous. We listened to and discussed those talks over a period of a few weeks.

What an impact those talks have had on my life.

I still remember the very first story on those tapes…(a tale about Tony getting caught with his fly undone on an elevator and when he tried to zip up quickly he got a women’s scarf got in the zipper.)

I remember the extraordinary story that is now a classic “It’s Friday, but Sunday’s Coming”…I remember listening to him challenge me to look at my faith unlike I ever had before…I remember thinking about what it would mean for me to have a faith with an ounce of the ‘radical call’ that Tony was calling for…

So…I was thinking…how ‘bout you? Who or what, as your reflect on your faith journey, has had that ‘reel to reel effect’ on you?

Mark Nelson at 12:43 PM 4comments

Tuesday, February 6

Isn’t she lovely…

This past Sunday we held our last preview service at Downtown West Theatre…and this Sunday, 2.11.07, in just five days, we launch. (Boy, I’ll be glad when I can stop using all this church planting terminology, “launch”, “preview”, etc.)

It was another good day.

We’re learning how quickly we can set up some things and how long it takes to set up others. We’re learning how to make the theatre as welcoming and as promoting to community as we possibly can. (Carol Hundley and her hospitality crew are tremendous, not to mention those brand new, very trendy Crossings aprons) And we’re learning exactly what do you do when one of your main speakers blows a few minutes before your gathering begins…

Our aesthetics people, led by Stephanie Pridemore, have been incredible as they attempt to create an experiential environment that both recognizes our desire to worship God and our desire to love each other.

We had over 100 in attendance this past Sunday and talked about the birth of this ‘baby’ and how beautiful and wonderful it is that God has given us this faith community of which to be a part.

Just like new parents, we wonder what this baby will look like, what it will grow up to be…

We closed the morning with the Stevie Wonder song that he wrote after his daughter was born. We felt it described fairly well our feelings about this gift of community that God has given us… (Go ahead, sing it out loud, no one is looking)

Isn’t she lovely
Isn’t she wonderful
Isn’t she precious
Less than one minute old

I can’t believe what God has done
Through us he’s given life to one

Mark Nelson at 7:39 AM 0comments

Sunday, February 4

This one's for Pervis...

About 20-25 of us just finished watching the Colts win the Super Bowl at our home.

What a great time…what a great victory…(sorry to my friends in Chicago). We hooked up the video projector and watched it on a screen about 8 foot by 8 foot. (I could get used to that)

Commercials were great too…I think my favorite was either the David Letterman/Oprah Winfrey CBS promo, or the Emerald Nuts commercial with Robert Goulet.

My dear friend Pervis (real name Brian Dunn) is in the Peace Corps in Uganda. (Check out Pervis' blog)

Pervis is the biggest Colts fan I know. Here is a section he wrote recently about the Super Bowl…

The Colts are in the Super Bowl! The Colts are in the Super Bowl! Man, that’s unbelievable and it just won’t sink in. Every day I’ve been on the Internet reading dozens of articles about it, I just can’t get enough. I’m so pumped for the game!!! I’m going to stay up late Saturday night and watch NFL Primetime on DSTV here at 2am for 2 hours and then the Super Bowl pre-game stuff starts Sunday night at 9pm and lasts 5 hours until the game comes on live at 2am Monday morning. A few other hard core PCVs who live around here are coming to watch it live w/ me. The game is then replayed on ESPN International at 1pm and 6pm the next day, so even if the power does decide to go out (and who knows) there is a place in town that has a generator we can watch it on that afternoon.

Ladies and Gentlemen, that’s a true fan…

If you listen real closely I think you can hear Peyton Manning dedicate the victory in the post game interview to Pervis…

Mark Nelson at 11:05 PM 0comments

Thursday, February 1

Last postcard...10 days...

February 1st...10 days to 'official launch'...(we're actually gathering this Sunday for a 'preview service at 10am at Down Town West if you'd like to come)

Our third mailing for Crossings went out today...20,000 pieces to the Bearden & Ft. Sanders areas of Knoxville...

(If you have trouble reading the text on the back side just click on the picture and it will get larger)

Mark Nelson at 2:43 PM 7comments