The church was heading in a dangerous direction. Casting aside love and mercy in exchange for judgment and wrath. With a message of condemnation we walked out into the world, proclaiming what may have been true, but lacking all the love of God. We spoke against the sin of men with a self righteous attitude that turned people away from our message instead of causing them to incline an ear to listen.

Then things changed.
We improved our approach.
We saw the disgrace that our methods brought upon the cause of Christ.

A generation moved to remedy the situation with a boldness and love that was beyond all others.

But somewhere in the correction, we over-corrected. In trying to swerve back onto the road, we jumped the median and headed straight for the opposite ditch. And now it is the fellow Christian that we speak to without love and mercy. Now it is our brother that we harshly discipline without the love of Christ.

Now we mock and we ridicule.

We tweet judgment. We blog satire.

And none of it glorifies God.

We over-corrected.

Your thoughts?

I’m known to be a very blunt person. It’s something I constantly try to work on. I usually just say what needs to be said. It may be tactless. It may even be rude. But it’s transparent. It’s honest. It’s real. Often my bluntness ends up offending people. People I never meant to hurt, then I must eat my words and apologize! Never a fun thing.

I’m left wondering though, is there an acceptable line of offense? Or is there a line drawn somewhere, an invisible line that says, “You are free to do or say anything, but don’t cross this line.” Too often, I cross it. I’m a line pusher. (and at good buffets a line jumper.)

The Gospel of Christ is a radical message. Matter of fact it is often times an offensive one. It offends our nature. It offends our pride. It offends us. My question is, in sharing the gospel what line of offense is acceptable? Do we portray the message in a way that no one is offended? Or do we just share it however, whether it offends or not? As the church moves forward, does it watch out for the feelings of man or does it just move? Does it give regard to the opinions and religion of others or does it just proclaim truth? Pure, unadulterated truth.

What do you think?

One of the hardest struggle I face as a pastor is forgetfulness. Not the forgetting of anniversaries, or birthdays, or meetings. I mean, we have Fellowship One to do that awesome job! But I forget a lot of other things. Important things.

I forget where I came from. That I was once a sinner who needed grace.

I forget who saved me. Sometimes I try and steal the credit for this awesome life I have.

I forget what it’s like to sit on a pew. To wonder if the pastor still knows you or has he forsaken shepherding you for the vision.

I forget what it’s like to be outside these walls. To wonder if the pastor is so concerned with “shepherding his flock” that he isn’t willing to do whatever it takes to reach you.

I forget the days when Christ was my passion and meetings were nothing more than an organizational tool.

I forget that I should be more concerned with how He sees me than how you do.

More than all of that…

I forget that he promised His church would never fail. (Matt. 16:18)

I may fail. Crossroads Church may fail. But, HIS church will not. Sometimes we abandon programs and it was a mistake. Sometimes we cling to them and find they fail. We make this decision and we see growth. We make that one and we see mud on our faces. And sometimes, we don’t even know what to do.

My prayer? My prayer is that Christ never lets me forget that the church of the Living God, in spite of being operated by many fallible people will always be there. And will always be victorious. And one day will be in complete unity. Forever.