CrossRoads Café – Moving Forward

Yes! Thank you Lord!

The first installment of CrossRoads Café was a tremendous success. The Lord really exceeded our expectations and blessed our time. One of my major concerns was whether or not people would press through the icy weather, but they did. We more than tripled the attendance from our last meeting.

It didn’t happen without hiccups though. Well, grandma said that hiccups mean you’re growing! My man David James from the group Ndelible had to back out at the 11th hour because he realized that he double-booked himself. So we only had one artist rather than the planned two, which gave Chris Settles a little more time to do his thing. And that he did! Praise God for the gifts within the body.

We had a few technical difficulties. My A/V guy didn’t show up until 8:20ish to hook up the PowerPoint & iTunes (we were scheduled to start at 8)… then when we hooked it up, we realized that the music isn’t coming through the speakers fully. It was like listening to a CD with only one headphone. Also, I must admit that I shouldn’t be the one handling refreshments. Why, you ask? Because only I would get the hot water, get the teabags, get the hot cocoa mix… and forget spoons to stir it! Genius. I think this is a job for someone with an administrative gift!

The POW-WOW (Pouring Over the Word so we can Walk Out the Word) was on the topic of Moving Forward. We discussed Toyota’s most recent marketing campaign and what it means to “move forward” as young adults. Then we took a look at some instruction that Paul gives on the subject in Philippians 3:12-16. We had great discussion and I didn’t feel like I was up there just preaching. People really got involved in the convo, and the feedback cards indicated that people really were really edified by it. Praise God!

Clearly, God brings hiccups to show us that we’re not inviting Him to our party, but that we’re honored to be invited to His. Everything that happened made me relax and trust Him rather than stressing that everything be perfect by MY standards. Howboutthat!?! The Lord really exceeded our prayers and showed us what can happen if we trust Him. I look forward to building on last night and making CrossRoads Café the bangin event of FBCG.

Today is the Day!

Some of you may know that I’ve recently been assigned to lead the Young Adult ministry at my church, “CrossRoads.” One of the major immediate changes that we have made since I took over has been changing the feel of our bi-monthly meetings.

I feel the need to explain. One thing that First Baptist Church of Glenarden values in our facilities is multi-purpose. Pastor Jenkins wants every room to be multi-purpose. Many times, however, multi-purpose equals vanilla. And vanilla is exactly what we had. By vanilla I mean a bland classroom with bland roller chairs and bland tables. So when people arrived, I was the best looking thing in the room… BIG PROBLEM!

So here’s what we’ve done. We’ve taken advantage of the luxury of a church that has two facilities and moved from our “Ministry Center” to our “Worship Center,” Thus sparking some newness. Then, we’ve taken an otherwise vanilla room and flipped it into a coffeehouse. Add to this some recessed lighting, live music, spoken word, and refreshments and you’ve got CrossRoads Cafe’.

I’m excited about kicking this thing off, but the weather might prevent it from going down this week. We’ll see what happens. Most of all, let’s pray that we can impact the lives of hundreds of young adults in the area.

Wizards vs. Knicks

I took my dad to the Wizards/Knicks game last night. Aside from the Wiz blowing a 9 point lead with 5 minutes left in the fourth, I had a great time. As usual when I bum tickets off my favorite Pastor, we had some great seats (as you can see). Then, thanks to some friendly FBCG members in high places, I got to go back into the locker room area for a while after the game. Thanks to Keith Veney and Jennifer for hooking us up. After seeing my old high school coach and getting schooled by Etan Thomas (another FBCG member) on why Obama is the better candidate than Hillary, we called it a night. Enjoy some of the moments from my digital camera.

Sunday Reflection

The Lord blessed me to preach at a great church in NorthWest DC, Southern Baptist Church Praise & Worship Center. It was a fun situation for me because it is a very traditional church. I tend to struggle when I’m visiting a traditional church and they do things that (in my youth) I feel are stagnant. They had devotion at the beginning of service, responsive readings, announcements for about 25 minutes, and pastoral comments for another 15. The A.D.D. in me struggles with 2 ½ hour church services.

Once I got over myself, the Lord really blessed. I preached a message called “Real Rhetorical Questions” from Galatians 1:10. In that one verse, Paul asked rhetorical questions to the church at Galatia. In order for them to be rhetorical questions to them, they first had to be real questions to him. We also need to ask ourselves some real questions in order to determine our commitment to Christ.

After church LaVera and I got to hang out with one of our favorite couples to hang out with, Jeremy and Dawn Berkeley. We went to Outback Steakhouse and chilled with them and their two boys Nehemiah and David. Touch your neighbor and say… BLOOMING ONION!!!

After that, had to hustle home and change for evening service at FBCG (which was off the chain). Overall, it was a great day. I praise God for allowing me to do what I do for a living. What a privilege to be an instrument in the Master’s hand!

Waitaminute… Can I Really Say That!?!

A lady called the church earlier this week looking for some guidance. This is one of the best parts of my job. Here’s her problem… Life Happened! (raise your hand if this doesn’t apply to you)

Life happened with this lady so much so that she has become so angry, so discouraged that she can’t pray. “I can’t bring myself to pray,” she said. At first, I didn’t understand what in the world she was talking about. It didn’t take long. The issues of life have been frustrating and it feels like God isn’t listening. I bet that’s frustrating. It might be like when my wife is talking while the Duke vs. Carolina game is on. (Ya’ll pray for my marriage… lol).

So I asked her, “have you told God that?” Have you voiced your frustration to God? At times like this, we can must cry out at God… tell Him how angry we are at Him… drown our bed with tears… yell at Him… even curse at Him (gasp!). You may be asking the same thing she asked…

Q: “Waitaminute… can I really say that to God!?!”

A: YOU BETTER!

The truth is, that’s exactly what God wants. He desires for you to bare your heart before Him… whatever that means. God is not caught up in what we humans would consider politeness. I believe He is much more concerned with the AT-ONE-MENT that He paid His Son for (i.e. Dad: “Didn’t I just pay $170 for those sneakers… go put them on!). Atonement was given at too high a price for you to mutilate it with tact which stifles true relationship. Baring your naked heart before someone is the first step to true/unhindered union… unhindered union is the essence of the atonement… atonement is what God wanted so much He sent His Son.

Don’t believe me? The writer of Hebrews says that because of Jesus our High Priest, we can “draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. (4:16 NASB)”

Wow! Praise God for His grace that allows us to enter His presence just as we are… complete with our frail emotions.

Thank God for History

As a lifelong fan of the legendary Washington Redskins, it has been a tough few years. The Daniel Snyder era continues to be incredibly frustrating. Even Joe Gibbs couldn’t curve Snyder’s perpetual foolishness. The most recent episode is the current head coach search which has almost driven me to look for another team to root for… again.

Thank God for history. It was announced Saturday that Darrell Green and Art Monk have been selected to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This is sweet justice in an otherwise disappointing Redskin situation. For Art Monk, it’s about time. Cowboy hatred aside… I actually like Michael Irvin, but he shouldn’t have made it to Canton before the holder of NFL records in receptions in a season (106) and consecutive games with reception (164). For Darrell Green, there was no question. He was the first “shut down” corner. I can’t think of one better, even today.

Aside from their on-field accomplishments, I’m mostly excited because this couldn’t have happened to two better men. Both believers in Christ. Both of incredible character.

Even Daniel Snyder couldn’t mess this up. We’ll see in the coming weeks what he does with this head coach thing.