the crossroad blog

Rescue Missions Behind Enemy Lines

There was a great movie that came out nearly 15 years ago called Saving Private Ryan. If you love war movies, like me, you must have a copy of the movie somewhere in your collection. It was a Steven Spielberg masterpiece about the story of a group of U.S. soldiers during World War II that go behind enemy lines to retrieve a paratrooper (Matt Damon) whose brothers had been killed in action. This group of soldiers led by captain John H. Miller (Tom Hanks) had just come out of the war and was preparing to depart for America when the news of this new mission came up. The film is a powerful depiction of sacrifice and courage Read More

Caffeinated For Life!

What gets you up in the morning? For many American adults who lived in the late 80’s and early 90’s it was a cup of fresh brewed Folgers coffee. Last year Folgers celebrated 25 years of their jingle “The Best Part of Waking up is Folgers in Your Cup” which had become one of the most memorable and recognizable pieces of advertising in America, traditionally the largest market for coffee in the world. In honor of the silver celebration the company had encouraged young singers and musicians of the next generation to come up with a memorable contemporary rendition of the cult classic ad. Today in an age where Starbucks has nearly eradicated all competitors in the caffeine sector it is hard to think that people actually enjoyed waking up and brewing coffee from a can at home! Although Folgers has now become an irrelevant product of our past (except for traditional church coffee break times!) their advertising still remains the concept motivation behind consumer product development today. What can we make that gets a person up in the morning? What element of a person’s day can we exalt to the place of priority, purpose, and urgency? I often sit at my local Starbucks doing my work and see hundreds, nearly a thousand people, walk in like clockwork for their regular morning shot of brew. That’s marketing success at its best! Read More

Perfect Church Syndrome

People who avoid commitment to a local body often do because they seem to always find imperfections in some aspect of it. It may be the preacher who seems irrelevant to your culture. It may be the style of music played in worship that may be too slow and traditional. It may be the inadequate facilities for childcare. It could even be a bad experience in your past. These reasons may be very real to you but what we fail to realize is that there is no perfect community out there, just as there is no perfect person out there.

When we choose to only “date” the body of Christ and never commit to it we are benefiting from what we can and disposing of what remains. It is like a man who simply reduces a woman to body parts, we use the church for our gain like a parasite that never adds value or worth to its host. Read More