Intersect with God

Many of you know that my home church, Bakerstown UMC, is located at an intersection on Route 8. For the past couple years, our leadership has been using the concept of "intersection" in the conversation of our church.

For example, last year, Pastor Mark preached a whole series of sermons on our new motto: Meet us at the Intersection.

Similarly, our newly-formed preschool ministry, which serves as an outreach to our community has the following tagline: Where Learning and Values Intersect.

I even refer to the youth ministry here as the "X-Factor" - with "X" serving as a dual image: the Greek letter chi in "Christ," and an "X" as a symbol for crossroads or intersections.

Our latest addition to this image is a new worship service, to which we are simply referring as "Intersect." We are hoping to target teens, college age, and young adults with a worship service that has a distinctly contemporary flavor. The service will include a large segment of time for praise and worship songs, but will also include reading and meditating on Scripture, and spontaneous prayer. We will also have an area set up in our balcony with prayer stations and leaders who are willing to do intercessory and healing prayer.

Our ultimate hope is that with this worship service, people of any age, but especially the younger folks of our community, will come to the only place where they can truly intersect with God: the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Please keep this new ministry in your prayers. It was Mark's daughter Lara who provided the initial vision for this ministry, and much of the work is being done by younger folks in our congregation who are really taking ownership of it. I support it enthusiastically and I believe that the Holy Spirit is working in it already.

I pray that the Lord blesses your ministries as well, and as we head into this holiday season, may you all sense the presence and power of the Ultimate Intersection between God and Humanity: Jesus Christ himself.

Preaching to the Choir

For my personal devotions, I'm reading a book by Brennan Manning entitled A Glimpse of Jesus. Just today I came across a sentence that totally resonated deep within me...I felt like Brennan was personally describing me when he wrote that sentence. Does this sound like any of you? "In preaching the Gospel I have been graced to speak fearlessly in the knowledge and conviction that the Word of God must not be fettered, compromised, or watered down; but in my personal life, my fears and insecurities continue to lead me voraciously to seek the approval of others, to assume a defensive posture when I'm unjustly accused, to feel guilty over refusing any request, to doggedly live up to others' expectations, to be all things to all people in a way that would make St. Paul shudder." Thank God for men like Brennan Manning who have the insight to discern the destructive motives that often undergird much of our ministry work, and who challenge us to just "get over it" and live in the reality of God's grace.