It's Not Crisis Yet...But It's Getting There

God could be creating crisis in my spiritual life and leadership. He does this pretty regularly and it usually ends up creating crisis and chaos in my life and ministry. Now, before you think that's a negative thing, let me say, "it isn't". It was through crisis that I became a Christian, met my wife, went to Dallas, and became a part of Crew. It is through crisis that God tends to do his best work in my life.

Also, notice I said that God "could be" creating crisis. I'm only the morning after evaluating some of the spiritual life at Crew. So, it may just be me dreaming of ways to change things for the better. I've always said early on that Crew would be a place that wasn't afraid to change things...radically. Mediocrity and status quo will kill us. But here are questions I'm asking this morning: Is our community really a community? Is transformation really happening? Are people on the ragged edge of life in the Tri-state really being loved, served, and connected to Jesus?

I might be jumping a little ahead here, but it seems like we have succeeded in connecting some folks to Jesus Christ for the first time. A great thing and I praise God for that. God has used Crew to get some folks who've dropped out of church excited about following Jesus. Again, awesome. We've stripped Christianity of a lot of cliche and false assumptions in order to practice a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Yeah for that!

But...Could there be something more? Could there be this ENTIRE lifestyle lived with Jesus and with other Jesus followers? Would we work jobs in order to love people and live the way of Jesus Christ alongside them? Can we do church in such a way that a true community of faith emerges? A place where deep friendships really are deep? Can we live lives in a way that we seep into the cracks and crevices of culture in order to redeem the world through the gospel of Jesus Christ? And is that happening at Crew?

What if we revolutionized how we lived Christianity in Huntington? What if our worship on Sundays wasn't a worship event, but a place where we came and sang songs to Jesus, creatively shared our gifts to serve and encourage one another, honestly talked about life, and read the Bible (I mean it. I'm talking about sitting and reading the entire book of Exodus in one sitting). What if we did that sitting around like in a coffee house or a living room or back yard? What if the Bible was taught and preached in this setting? What if...?

See what I mean? I feel crisis coming, but a good one. One that will make a difference. Oh no...I'm getting excited.