CrossWay On Purpose

For the next few weeks we’re holding a church-wide Bible study on Wednesday nights.  It’s called CrossWay On Purpose, and its goal is to discover God’s design for CrossWay Church.  Over the next few weeks we’re studying quite a few Bible passages to see what God says about His plan for His church.  We’re focusing on two things: what God wants the church to be, and what God wants the church to do.  We’re compiling a huge list of everything we learn from these Scriptures about the answers to these questions.  At the end of the study, we’ll personalize it by talking about how we can apply everything we’ve discovered.  In other words, how can CrossWay be and do what God wants us to be and do?

Since I know that not everyone who wants to participate can realistically attend each week, I’ll be posting a summary of each session here.  (You’ll be able to find them all by looking in the column at the right and selecting “CrossWay On Purpose” under “Categories.”)  It would be ideal to put this summary on the church website, but since it’s still under construction, I’ll put it on this blog.  Each week I’ll email a link to the new post to everyone on the church email list.  If you don’t receive the email and would like to be added to the list, simply leave a comment below this post or email me (there’s a link to email me at the top right of this page).

Published in: on June 22, 2007 at 10:26 am  Leave a Comment  

It’s a Beautiful Day for a Ballgame–Let’s Play Two!

CrossWay Church and The Gathering Tree are teaming up this season in church league softball.  Last night we had our first game (games, actually–we play doubleheaders) against Ocean Pines Community Church.

We lost both games, 19-14 and 19-13, but we had a ton of fun and played a LOT better than we did in our scrimmage against SonRise a couple weeks ago!  There were a couple times when our bats really broke loose and we went on a tear, racking up hit after hit after hit.  And we had our moments in the field as well.

Even though we’re starting out 0-2, last night showed that we’ll be able to hold our own in this league.  Of course, it’s church league slow pitch softball, so it’s not like we’re chasing any Major League fantasies.  It’s nice to win, but it’s even nicer to have fun.  And last night was a blast!

One of the cool things about teaming up with GT and playing against other church teams is that we get to hang out with people from 3 churches at every game.

By the way, I have to point out that last night may have been a first in our league: We brought in Josh Engle to pitch for the last part of the second game, and in one inning, he actually struck out the side!  (For the non-sports people out there, that means all three outs that inning were strikeouts.)  Remember, this is slow pitch softball!  Strikeouts do happen (as I learned the hard way last season), but I’ve never seen three in one inning.  Bring the heat, Josh!

Trivia question: Who was known for the quote that’s the title of this post?

Published in: on June 22, 2007 at 7:19 am  Comments (2)  

SonRise Brings in a New Day

This morning I’m meeting with Pastor Daryl at SonRise Church‘s new digs.  These past few days they moved into their new office/meeting space at what used to be Calvary Chapel.  (Strangely enough, Calvary Chapel is moving into the office/meeting space that SonRise formerly occupied.  Works out pretty well!)

I’m looking forward to checking out the new facility and dreaming along with SonRise about the brand new worship center that should grace the grounds in a few short years.  The plan is to continue meeting for worship on Sunday mornings at Stephen Decatur High School, but maintain offices, youth ministry, meetings, etc. at the new building.  Outside events will also be held there, as there’s plenty of space.  Once the property is paid off, which they’re planning to do in no more than five years, they will begin construction on a large worship facility there near the existing building.

What an exciting time for SonRise!!!  For almost five years they’ve been setting up for worship services on someone else’s property–first at a horse track, then at the high school.  It takes a couple dozen people about an hour and a half to set everything up for the service, and about 45 minutes to take it all down again.  Now that there’s empty space owned by the church, just waiting to be built on, the end of this labor is almost in sight!

It’s so cool to see the great things that happen when people listen to God and trust Him to do things that we could never do on our own.

Published in: on June 21, 2007 at 8:13 am  Leave a Comment  

Anniversary at Antietam

Yesterday Carolyn and I celebrated our third anniversary by visiting a walking trail at Antietam, not too far from the Maryland/ West Virginia border.  Antietam has some of the most beautiful and peaceful natural scenery I’ve ever seen.  This is tragically ironic, considering it’s the scene of the single bloodiest day in American history.  On September 17, 1862, well over 20,000 men were killed in one day’s battle during the Civil War.  (The actual count varies, but the general consensus seems to settle the number around 23,000.)

So we had a great time enjoying a gorgeous nature trail, but it was definitely darkened by all the monuments and signs which are constant reminders of the carnage that took place there.  Having a vivid imagination didn’t help.

We started at the National Cemetery and wound our way through a trail that alternately crosses through woods, cornfields, and a stream, and comes out near Burnside Bridge.  It was awesome.

Unfortunately, after crossing Burnside Bridge, we missed our turn as we tried to follow the road back to where we parked.  The temperature was in the upper 90s and it was really humid.  The constant clouds of gnats didn’t help.  After much, much prayer and some help from a couple strangers, we finally made our way back to the car.  I really didn’t see this coming, considering how well we held up in the extreme heat of our overseas trip last summer.  But by the time we made it back to the car, we were thinking about nothing but AC and cold water.

If only we’d taken the camera…  Not only is the landscape so peaceful and beautiful, but we also saw a lot of wildlife.  There were countless groundhogs everywhere, and we startled quite a few deer who took off bounding through the high grasses and trees.

The trail was one we went on several years ago.  We went there to go hiking with a group of friends, back when we were “just friends” in the summer of 2000.  It was a very memorable day back then, and it made for a memorable experience yesterday, too.  It’d be great to go back again someday–when it’s thirty degrees cooler and we have a map and lots of water!

After getting cleaned up and coming back to life, we ate dinner at Cracker Barrel.  I know that’s not exactly an anniversary-style restaurant, but it’s a place we really enjoyed eating at when we lived in Tennessee, and it just seemed to fit the moment.  We actually had to go quite far just to find one!

Published in: on June 20, 2007 at 8:42 am  Comments (2)  

Doh!

Aw man, I just discovered that I totally forgot to put pictures in this morning’s post about our first day in Paris.  I’ll work on that this week and re-post it.

Published in: on June 19, 2007 at 10:34 pm  Leave a Comment  

Three Years and Counting!

Today marks three years since Carolyn and I got married.  It’s hard to believe it’s already been three years!  We got engaged on October 24, 1999, and were engaged for nearly five years!  It seemed like the big day would never arrive, but alas, it finally did on June 19, 2004.  I’d post some pictures on here but I just realized that I don’t have wedding pics on this computer.

Published in: on June 19, 2007 at 8:17 am  Leave a Comment  

Riverdance

Last night Carolyn and I saw Riverdance at Wolf Trap.  I’m not one for all that dancing stuff, but it was really, really cool.  (Every time I see one of those dancer guys leap 12 feet in the air, I just can’t help thinking that he should be playing basketball.  But anyway…)  Some of the stuff just wasn’t my thing, like the Spanish lady who waved her arms around and twirled her skirt.  Or the shirtless guy who rolled around on the stage.

But most of it was simply amazing.  The technical precision of the dancers shows the kind of remarkable feat (pun intended–sorry) that people can accomplish with years of intense training.  It kind of makes me wonder what other kinds of things we could accomplish if we apply that same kind of tenacity.

Two parts of the performance were the coolest.  One was when a couple black guys came out dressed like tap dancers from Harlem in the 1920s.  They had jazz music playing as they danced with a very free-spirited, expressive style.  Then some Irish guys came out dancing very Irishy to a fiddle.  The two groups went back and forth seamlessly, alternating not only the dancing but also the music.  Then both styles of music and both styles of dancing blended as they all went at it.  It was so impressive.  It was also pretty funny, because a few times the black guys imitated the Irish dudes–it was hilarious!


The other coolest part, which occurred several times, was when most of the dancers were all out on the stage at the same time.  The sheer power of their perfectly synchronized movements was awesome.  The thunder of their feet moving rhythmically to the music–at times altogether replacing the instruments–was stirring.  They did some other things I can’t even begin to describe, but it was impressive.

There have been times when I wished I was one of those people who “get” fine art.  But I’m not.  Those fine art people might have appreciated Riverdance on a more artistic level than I did, but I don’t think they could have enjoyed it more.  If you ever get a chance to catch this show, I definitely recommend it!

Published in: on June 18, 2007 at 8:32 am  Leave a Comment  

Happy Father’s Day!

Happy Father’s Day!

Today at CrossWay we’re looking at 5 things about our dads that we’re grateful for.  (Or as my mom would have me say: Today at CrossWay we’re looking at 5 things about our dads for which we’re grateful. [It's that whole ending-with-a-preposition thing.])

ANYway…  There’s no question that we’re experiencing a crisis in fatherhood today.  Unfortunately, Father’s Day is often a time when people expound on the problem.  But that’s not what Father’s Day is for.  Instead of bashing our dads for falling short, we’re going to honor them for how much they measure up.

In particular, we’re going to look at 5 good things that dads do, and we thank them for it:

(1) Provide for our needs. (Matthew 7:9-11)  My dad is a great example of this, often going way above and beyond the call of duty, so I’m sharing a story about one of the countless times he demonstrated this dadly responsbility.

(2) Love our moms. (Ephesians 5:25)  At CrossWay, LJ is a great model for this one, so I’m relating a conversation we recently had that explores this fatherly duty.

(3) Teach us biblical values. (Proverbs 22:6)  Carolyn’s dad is one of the best examples of this I’ve ever seen, so he’ll find himself a useful sermon illustration on the subject.

(4) Give us life. (Proverbs 23:22)  Wait–don’t our moms do this one?!?  Either come to CrossWay this morning or catch the podcast in a day or two, and you’ll hear about how my brother Jason, as well as many other dads, give life to their kids.

(5) Discipline us. (Hebrews 12:7-11)  Yeah, that’s right–we’re thankful for discipline from our dads.  As we look at Josh & Christi’s kids, you’ll see why.

These are just 5 things from an inexhaustible list of stuff our dads do that make them one of the most important gifts that God gives us.

So to all the dads out there–happy Father’s Day!

Below is a picture of my dad with his dad and brothers.  Today all of them are dads and granddads–and my grandfather is the great-granddad of seven, with #8 on the way.  My dad is the second from the right:

Published in: on June 17, 2007 at 8:05 am  Leave a Comment  

nathan@crossway.cc

Just a little FYI to let everyone know that my email address has changed.  It is now nathan@crossway.cc.  The other one (pastorn8@sonrisechurch.cc) will still be active for a short time, but if you could please start using the updated address, it’d be helpful.

I tried to send a mass email to update everyone, but most of it bounced back for some reason.  So I just wanted to let you know!  And by the way, it’s updated in the bar on the right that says “Email me!”

Published in: on June 16, 2007 at 2:05 pm  Leave a Comment  

GDP & USA

“Strange Maps” is definitely one of the coolest and most interesting blogs out there.  What a creative and unusual idea, to have a blog based solely on–literally–strange maps!  Several days ago it posted one that’s really worth looking at.  It’s quite thought-provoking.  This particular map compares the Gross Domestic Product of different nations with the GDP of different American States.  For example, the GDP of Maryland is comparable to that of Hong Kong.   The way this idea is expressed is by showing a map of the United States, but instead of State names, it has the name of a country with a comparable GDP.

Check it out here.

Published in: on June 16, 2007 at 8:59 am  Leave a Comment  
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