Paul CastelliLead where you’re gifted, serve where you’re needed.

Great weekend for me and my family and at Crosspoint Church.

Erin and I had a great date nite. Husbands make date a priority every week. There is no reason not to do it. She needs it, you need, your kids need to see you do it!

Saturday was relaxing, got some guy time with my buddies, watched Miami get creamed, had dinner with some friends, fought off some sickness.

Sunday was fantastic! Pastor Wayne finished teaching our Maxed Out Series, one the best series we have ever done at Crosspoint. He taught about having a financial plan. If you missed download it www.crosspointlive.com

* 5 people accepted Christ!!!!!!
* 9 first time guest families!
* 6 second time guests, Iike these a lot, it means they came back!
* The sickness bug seems to be moving on, lots of families back, after a few week absence.
* The promo video for our new series “Whatever It Takes” rocks, can’t wait for Sunday. Who are you inviting to join you there?
* I can feel God stirring big things in my heart, seeking clarity and focus, please pray for me.

By the way we have the best volunteers ever at Crosspoint! Over 20 people come and set up each Sunday at 7:00am, over 30 show up at 9:00am to get ready for first service. Over 30 serve at second service and over 20 tear down and reset our stuff for next week. That is over 100 people serving each week to reach, care for and love on people to build God’s Kingdom. From the bottom of my heart Thank you. If you don’t serve at Crosspoint we have a place for you and I promise you it will make an eternal difference.

I just finished reading Visoneering by Andy Stanley. It was a great book and a must read for anyone seeking direction for their life, a career change or leading a minisistry.

The book outlines the 20 building blocks for a vision and engineering it’s reality (hence the title visioneering). So here they are:

1. A vision begins as a concern.

2. A vision does not necessarily require immediate action.

3. Pray for opportunities and plan as f you expect God to answer your prayers.

4. God is using your circumstances to positionand prepare you to accomplish his vision for your life.

5. What God originates, he orchestrates.

6. Walk before you talk; investigate before you initiate.

7. Communicate your vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately.

8. Cast your vision as a solution to a problem that must be addressed immediately.

9. Don’t expect others to take greater risks or make greater sacrifices than you have.

10. Don’t confuse your plans with God’s vision.

11. Visions are refined-they don’t change; plans are revised-they rarely stay the same.

12. Respond to criticism with prayer, rememberance, and if necessary, a revision of the plan.

13. Visions thrive in an environment of unity; they die in an environment of division.

14. Abandon the vision before you abandon your moral authority.

15. Don’t get distracted.

16. There is divine potential in all you envision to do.

17. The end of a God-ordained vision is God.

18. Maintaining a vision requires adherence to a set of core beliefs and behaviors.

19. Visions require constant attention.

20. Maintaining a vision requires bold leadership.

Andy Stanley does a fantastic job unpacking all of these building blocks and really drives home the keys of the making you God given vision a reality.

You can order the book on amazon.

This was so good, it is worth sharing. Chuck Swindoll has such great insight.

http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/catalyst_talk_summary_chuck_swindoll/

10 MINISTRY LESSONS I’VE LEARNED
Catalyst Talk Summary: Chuck Swindoll
Chuck Swindoll of Insight for Living discussed 10 things he has learned in almost 50 years of ministry during Catalyst Conference’s 8th session. Here is what he said:

Fifty years ago, I was a first year student at Dallas Theological Seminary. I was scared, unsure of myself, and fresh out of the Marine Corp. I did not know much about seminary.

I remember sitting in chapel, and a minister told me, “When God wants to do an impossible task, he takes an impossible person and crushes him.” I am so proud of everything you are dreaming of and doing that I hope that you remember to leave room for the crushing.

10 Things Chuck Swindoll Learned in 50ish Years of Ministry:

1. It’s lonely to lead.Leadership involves tough decisions.
The tougher the decisions, the lonelier it is.
2. It’s dangerous to succeed.
It is dangerous to succeed while being young. rarely, does God give leadership that young because it takes crushing and failure first.
3. It’s hardest at home.
Nobody at home is applauding you. They say, “Dad! You’re fly is open.”
4. It is essential to be real.
If there is one realm where phoniness is personified it is leadership. What I care about is that you stay real.
5. It is painful to obey.
There are rewards, yes, but it is painful nevertheless.
6. Brokenness and failure are necessary.
7. My attitude is more important than my actions.
Some of you are getting hard to be around. And your attitude covers all those great actions you pull off.
8. Integrity eclipses image.
What you are doing is not a show. And the best things you are doing is not up front but what you do behind the scenes.
9. God’s way is better than my way.
God is going to have His way.
10. Christ-likeness begins and ends with humility.
2 Corinthians 4:5-7 tells us that we must be willing to leave the familiar message without disturbing the Biblical message. We get that backwards. This was written in the first century, and now we are in the 21st century. The message stays the same. Don’t miss the message. As you alter the methods, don’t mess with the message.

Traditionalism is the dead faith of those still living. You will defend those things that don’t need defended.

Three Important Observations:

1. With every ministry a special mercy is needed.
2. In every ministry the same things must be renounced and rejected.
That is hiding shameful things, doing deceitful things, and corrupting truthful things. Guard against deception. Guard against deception.
3. Through every ministry a unique style should be pursued.
We don’t preach or promote ourselves (it isn’t about us). We declare Christ Jesus as Lord (it’s all about Him). We see ourselves as bond-servants for Jesus Christ.

Five Statements Worth Remembering During Your Next 50 Years of Leadership:

1. Whatever you do, do more with others and less alone.
It will help you become accountable.
2. Whenever you do it, emphasize quality not quantity.
3. Wherever you go, do it the same as if you were among those who know you the best.
It will keep you from exaggerating. it will help keep your stories true. Your good friend will tell you things that others will not. They will hold you close to truth.
4. Whoever may respond to your ministry, keep a level head.
5. However long you lead, keep on dripping with gratitude and grace.
Stay thankful. Stay gracious.

(This summary created by Kent Shaffer at ChurchRelevance.com)
If you missed the Catalyst Conference you can still get all the great content and many more resources with the Catalyst Experience Kit.

http://www.catalystspace.com/content/read/catalyst_talk_summary_chuck_swindoll/

Great weekend, I got to spend sometime with one of my friends from Clermont on Friday, Date night with my wife on Friday night, spent time with Erin’s family in town from New Orleans, Killer services at Crosspoint on Sunday. Only downer the Giants got creamed by the Saints. So here are some highlights:
* 2 decisions for Christ
* Pastor Wayne taught and awesome message on the practice of finances. Unbelievable, if you missed listen to online, download, pick up a CD on Sunday.
* Rocky did an awesome job leading us in worship. I am so grateful that he is helping us out on regular basis. He has a tremendous love for God and desire to connect people in worship and it flows through him on Sunday Mornings.
* A lot of sickness going around at church, we had a ton of volunteers and people down for the count. Please take care of yourself. lots of Vitamin C and wash your hands regularly, it helps, trust me.
* Halloweenie roast is coming up, it is the best way to reach over 1000 families on Oct 31 simply by giving out hot dogs, cold sodas, and the love of God. The beauty is you don’t even have to go anywhere they come to you. To sign up to be apart of it go to www.crosspointlive.com
* Big things on the horizon for November keep your eyes peeled!

Several times a week someone asks me why I am not on Facebook. I always tell them that I don’t want to be and they look at me like I am crazy.

But lately Facebook or shall I say how others use it is really getting on my nerves. I think Facebook can be a useful tool for connecting with friends and family and sharing updates on life. But it can also be a very dangerous unsafe place.

It really depends on the maturity and conviction of the user.

People who use Facebook to say publicly what they don’t have the courage or wisdom to say privately are one of the reason I dislike Facebook. God’s Word is very clear on how we should respond to problems and people in Matthew 18 and how we watch what we say in Ephesians 4 and James 1. I think the ease of posting often gets the best of people. They post before they think, they post before they pray, they post before they go to the person. This leads to more problems instead of leading to resolution, restoration and reconciliation.

OK, enough of the “p” and “r” words.

Secondly Facebook is a place for community and relationships, but cannot be a substitute for face to face daily interaction. It is great to keep people in the loop of your life, but not at the expense of actually doing life with other people. We were wired for relationships and real relationships are a lot more work then status updates and poking.

The last thing about my personal struggles with Facebook is the need to be so connected. I’ll be honest, the people I care about and the people that care about me have managed to stay connected long before Facebook. And for me I just don’t want to be that connected to people that I will not have a real mutually beneficial relationship with and give off some false sense of connection.

So if this post made you angry or upset it is not geared to anyone person, in fact it is posting days after I actually wrote it. Maybe what you are feeling is conviction and you should stop and pray, then go and talk to whoever you are upset with.

If this post makes you think I am afraid to embrace new technology, not true I love twitter, my blackberry, and cell phones

Closing thought: Facebook like anything else can be an effective tool to enhance your life, but it is and will always be just that. Never use it to say or do anything you would not do face to face or to do or say anything that is contradictory to what God would want you to do.

Wow, what an awesome weekend.

Saw U2 in concert on Friday night, life long dream, it was awesome!

Saturday I was feeling a funk, not sure what but it just was not all it could have been.

Sunday, was a fantastic day at Crosspoint. God moved, lives were changed.

* 2 people accepted Christ!!!!
* We taught on getting my priorities right. Pastor Wayne nailed it.
* Rick and Pat were honest and very open in their testimony.
* We have a ton of gifted and committed volunteers. Thank you for all you do!
* I am looking forward to this week, it holds some tough conversations, but I am eager to see what God does thru them.
* I love my job.

What an awesome kickoff to our new series “MAXED OUT”. Pastor Wayne did an fantastic job teaching. If you missed it, download it at www.crosspointlive.com

Here are the highlights…
* 3 people made decisions for Christ!!!!!!!!
* 7 second time guest families, I love that. Anyone can come once, but when you come back that means you liked what we had to offer.
* Debuted a new room to for our children’s ministry, bringing our total to six rooms. That means we can minister to over 100 kids per service.
* Kicked off live worship in our kidmo room, it rocked!
* Sickness still hitting our volunteers and regular attenders hard but we were able to get it down.
* I have had the privilege of leading and serving at Crosspoint for 4 years. It has been a great adventure and I look forward to the next 4. Thank you.

I read this blog this morning and it is right on. So I thought I would repost it. Perry Noble nails it.

14 Things That Jesus Did Not Say… September 29, 2009

We get things messed up from time to time…especially the words of Jesus…here is what He did NOT say…

#1 – “They will know you are my disciples by your theology, and the arrogance that accompanies it.” (John 13:35)

#2 – “Dream really small dreams and make sure you never ask for anything big!” (John 14:12-14, Psalm 2:8)

#3 – “If someone doesn’t believe just like you believe…make sure to do all you can to attack, criticize and beat them down as much as possible.” (Mark 9:38-41)

#4 – “Be tolerant of everyone…I am one of the many ways to God.” (John 14:6)

#5 – “Make sure you make the church about you…that you are served well…please, don’t do anything that might cause you any type of inconvenience. My goal is for you to be happy!” (Matthew 20:28, Luke 9:23-24)

#6 – “Please, whatever you do, DO NOT tell people the good news…keep it to yourself! The reason I died on the cross is so that you could get into really small groups of people and talk about ‘deep things’ that aren’t going to help anyone when it comes to eternity.” (Matthew 28:20, Mark 16:15, Luke 24:48, John 20:21, Acts 1:8, Romans 10:14, Romans 10:17)

#7 – “Don’t EVER try anything new…don’t ever take a risk…don’t ever take a step of faith. Be AVERAGE!” (Isaiah 43:18-19, Hebrews 11:1, Hebrews 11:6)

#8 – “You can follow me and it will not impact your money at all!” (Matthew 6:19-24)

#9 – “Pray a prayer to get out of hell…and then live however you want.” (John 14:15, John 14:21)

#10 – “You can do it without me!” (John 15:5)

#11 – “I don’t expect you OR your church to be fruitful in any way.” (John 15:4)

#12 – “Isolate yourself from the world!” (John 17:15)

#13 – “Make sure there is a time when you question my word because it will one day be no longer relevant.” (Luke 21:33)

#14 – “Stop crying out to me in desperation…can’t you see I’m busy.” (Mark 10:46-52)

http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/09/29/14-things-that-jesus-did-not-say/

Great weekend at Crosspoint Church. Here are the higlights…
* 5 small groups did waterbottle handouts on Saturday. Hundreds of touches.
* Sunday we finished up our series 1st and 10, great teaching.
* The band was really tight and on target as they led worship.
* In spite of a lot sickness reeking havoc on volunteers and attenders God showed up and we did out part.
* 6 decisions for Christ, yes your read that right 6!
* 5 people recommitting their life to Christ.
* 4 people signing up for baptism, that makes 11 for the month, I guess we need to plan the next baptism service soon.
* 13 first time guest families. I love new people.

Every week I am blown away but what God is doing and that we get to be apart of it.

I believe big things are brewing. Crosspoint get on your knees and seek God’s face…Isaiah 43:18,19
18″Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.

19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.

Let’s get in tune with the Spirit and see what God is doing!

P.S. Thanks to the generousity of my sister in law and her family, Erin and I got to go see the Giants crush the Bucs, great ending to an awesome day!

On Sunday we covered several commandments including Do not commit adultery. We talked about Jesus’ expanded understanding of this in Matthew 5:27,28.

Here is a link to a blog I read yesterday that will help couples be honest and hopefully get the marriage on track to be everything God intended it to be.

Check it out http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/09/21/are-you-a-slacker/