crossthoughts.com

Random Thoughts

-Looking forward to church tonight!  Love teaching through the gospel of Mark.  Any time you study a gospel; you will see Jesus.  And if you see Jesus; it will change EVERYTHING!

-Started a new series of studies through the OT book of Habakkuk.  The series is called Tension.  So far, there have been many that have told me that the message was for them.  Actually, I think it's for all of us. We all live in a world of Tension.  And the tension intensifies when there is a disparity between what we think God should be doing and the reality that's around us.  What do we do?  Well, I will answer that this weekend!  Check out part 1 of the series here 

-Gungor was stinking brilliant.  Need I say more?  Much love to the CCk team for making it happen.  You guys are even MORE Brilliant!  Without Jesus working in you; there would be NOTHING!

-Looking forward to Easter 2011.  It is going to be insane.  We are doing 3 services at the Miami Dade County Auditorium.  9AM & 12:00PM and then RebelChurch at 6:30PM.  We have some special surprises.  Stay tuned for details! 7500 seats to fill for all three services.  So we got work to do!  Get out and start inviting!  Flyers will be out soon!

-We will also have 3 Good Friday services at the CCk Central Campus.  Noon, 6PM, 8PM!

-There is nothing like spending the night in the hospital to remind a person of their call in Christ.  We are living in a broken world with hurting people and we are God's agents of relief.  In us we hold the answer to life and eternity!  Open your eyes!  The world is waiting for us to go out and change it!  And if you remember, please keep praying for my dad!  I believe prayer is HUGE!  He's having a procedure done today that will determine what the fix is going to be.  Love you all!  Privileged to be On the Road with you!

 

A F T E R M A T H

On Monday morning my beautiful wife and I, along with Tito (lead pastor at RebelChurch) and his wife Dasha, jumped on a plane for Atlanta to catch the United concert.  They are on the road giving live expression to their recently released album, titled AFTERMATH.  Now if you don't own this record, do yourself a favor and BUY it.  In my opinion (which could probably get you a free cup of coffee somewhere), this is their BEST work ever!  The album is simply brilliant!  Sure it has some elements that are United, but it is a whole new ballgame.  The themes are HUGE and at times wonderfully overwhelming.  I haven't stopped listening to it since I got my hands on it.  

Now, with all that being said, none of it can be compared to listening to these songs live.  It was an amazing night from top to bottom.  From the moment these guys (and gals) hit the stage, the Presence of God came with them!  They ripped into "GO" and continued on with a setlist that was flawless.  And by flawless I mean, that when the concert (and I hate to call it that) was over, it just felt right.  Many times when you go experience a band live, especially one with such an amazing catalogue of songs, you always end up saying, "man they didn't play this song" or "they didn't play my favorite song that was on the B-side of a single that was only released in Bosnia."  But that was not the case here!  It was perfect.  It just felt right.  Now the highlight for me was what has become one of the greatest moments that I have ever experienced.  When United went into "With Everything," I can't even begin to describe what went down in that arena. It was as if all heaven broke loose in that place.  A moment that I will for certain never forget!   To use a phrase that is often over used, it was a God Encounter (why it's not a concert).  And that's really what's at the heart of these guys.  They have a passion for God, they have a passion for People, and they have a passion for creating the platform for those two to collide.  And as a result, you get what we got on March 7th, 2011 that left Tito, Dasha, Lourdes and I and about 13,000 of our closest friends beautifully and wonderfully smashed in the AFTERMATH.  Miami, your day will come soon!  And when it does, you need to be there!  Thank you boys for an amazing night!  Now off to sleep!

ONE

It's been a while since I post on the blog, but it has been ONE crazy busy season. I have been to Dallas, New York, and all over Miami in the last couple of weeks.  And next week I am off to Atlanta and Tucson. But this past week we rolled out an announcement that I am pretty excited about.  Okay, that would be an understatement.  I am flat out stoked about it.  Since last September, I have been kicking around a dream, that turned to vision, that turned to faith, and finally it is full steam ahead towards reality.  It is a vision for an event that would bring the church in Miami together for a historic event that we are calling the ONE Conference.  The purpose of the event is to Unite the Church of Jesus, Ignite a Passion for Jesus, and Impact the World through Jesus.  It will be held at the Bank United Center on February 10-12, 2012.  

Now the cool thing about this are speakers that have agreed to be a part of it.  Brian Houston, Franklin Graham, Greg Laurie, Bob Coy, James MacDonald, Christine Caine, Ed Young, Rich Wilkerson JR, Miles McPherson, Britt Merrick, Francis Chan, Frank Harrison and Carl Lentz.  We are expecting a few others to confirm.  We are excited!  Tickets are on sale!  We are doing an early bird special at $99.00.  You can register at www.oneconference.com  Sign up NOW!  This will sell out!