Is that egg on your face?

May 21 has come and gone and the rapture did not take place! In case you were unaware, Harold Camping, California Bible teacher and owner of Family Radio International said that it would happen last Saturday at 5:59 PM. I blogged on this earlier this year, but I felt like I should write this follow-up piece to emphasize why this is so dangerous.

When these 'predictions' get this kind of publicity and then fail to happen, instead of just discrediting the false prophet who wrongly predicted it, it begins to discredit the idea of the rapture itself in the minds of people. Maybe that's why the Bible declares so few will be expecting Christ's return when He comes! The truth is, the rapture will one day take place and God's people will be caught away, ushering in a seven year period of great tribulation like this world has never experienced. As awful as the recent natural disasters have been, they are nothing compared with what the Bible says will happen when God's judgement is poured out on this world. We need to be ready, waiting and watching!

Today, Harold Camping has egg on his face because he ignorantly tried to predict what Jesus declared none of us can know (the exact time and day the rapture will happen), but there is a much worse case of egg on the face - and that will be found on the face of those who say the rapture will never happen!

Summer Movies

It’s mid-May, we're all getting graduation invitations in the mail every day, and that can only mean one thing: Summer movie season is upon us! There are a lot of promising offerings on the docket as well. I realize there will be a lot of sequels and reboots, but I don’t mind. Many of their predecessors were HUGE! Take for instance the Pirates franchise. Johnny  is back in the Caribbean on stranger tides. The original Pirates has found a place on my all-time favorites list. I didn’t care much for the two sequels that followed but this summer’s forth installment promises to be a reboot, ditching Orlando and Kiera’s characters and focusing primarily on the true star of the show - Captain Jack Sparrow! 

Another reboot will be X-men: First Class. It’s more of a prequel than a sequel - demonstrating how the group of mutants got their start. The trailer reveals the setting is within the context of the 1960’s Kennedy era. It should make for a very interesting story line and James McAvoy (cast as Professor Charles Xavier) is one of my favorite actors. Can’t wait to see how the X-men deal with the Cuban missile crises. (Or start it?) 

One movie on the summer line up I’m really looking forward to is J.J. Abrams’ Super 8. Abrams is one of the most brilliant young directors out there and the preview for his latest film looks like he’s taken his cues straight out of the Spielberg catalog of movie making: Serving up extra-terrestrial mayhem in a stereo-typical midwest town. Should be fun! 

Superhero films will be out in full force with Green Lantern and Captan America making their debuts. I hope they are as entertaining as this month’s Thor. (I really like it!) Captan America was one of my favorite superheros when I was growing up and I’m really glad they are keeping the film within the context of World War II and the 1940’s. 

Another original offering that I really liked that stumbled with it’s successor was the Transformers films. They’re back this summer with another effort and I sure hope it will be as well thought out as the first one and not just all eye candy. 

Last but not least is a film I have mixed feelings about: Cowboys and Aliens. I know - The premise is ridiculous! (But intriguing!) One of the things that upset me most about last summer’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the way they tried to sneak the inclusion of aliens in. (I felt betrayed.) At least Cowboys and Aliens are letting you know up front what to expect - So I’ll give it a try! 

I’d love to hear about the movies you’re looking forward to this summer and I hope to see you at the Theater! 

What do our church services say to the unchurched?

Sometimes when attempting to apply the Scripture to our lives, I think we miss the point. I'll give you an example.

1 Corinthians 14:22-25 says, Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!” 

A lot of people will look at this passage of Scripture and see a discussion about spiritual gifts. I look at it and see God's heart for the unchurched! 

First of all, I see that in the early church, as believers met together week-to-week they were bringing the unchurched to their services. They weren't having church as a Christian 'bless-me' club, they were using their services to reach the lost! 

Secondly, it's clear that God wants us to conduct our services with the unchurched in mind! We have a tendency to think about how our services will be received by Christians, but obviously God is more concerned about those who have yet to receive Christ as their Savior. Instead of catering to the whims of those already secure in their salvation, we should structure our services to purposefully appeal to those who do not know Christ.

The motive of bringing unchurched people to our services should be to get them saved! I'm so glad our church understands that! At Crossroads, our people look at their role in our church as a partnership. They know if they will leverage their influence with the unchurched to get them to one of our services, that service will be designed to bring their friends to a decision about Christ. Every week, dozens of people receive Christ as their Savior at our services because of that partnership!

The next thing I see in this passage is that God wants to use everyone in the church to accomplish His goal of bringing the unchurched to Christ through weekly church services. Verse 24 talks about everybody prophesying. Now, I know what you're thinking: "How's that going to work? Will everyone take turns getting up on the platform and prophesying?" Our problem is with our concept of prophecy! We think that prophesying is pronouncing a word of warning or judgement. It certainly can come down to that, but the word 'prophesy' simply means to proclaim! A proclamation doesn't have to be words at all! Like the old saying goes, "Our actions speak louder than our words." God wants to use the actions of every member of the church to make a proclamation to the unchurched attending our services. What is that proclamation? Verse 25 makes it clear: The proclamation is, "God is here!" God is in our services. That fact will bring sinners to their knees in repentance and reverence saying, "God really is among you." How will they know? Because our actions will reveal it - The way we have treated them, the kindness we've shown. Remember, Romans 2:4 says it's God's kindness that leads us to repentance. Let's make godly kindness the proclamation we collectively make each weekend in our services to reach the lost! 

The Year A Bunny, Indiana Jones, The Death Matrix and Ballet Dancers Told The Easter Story

Imagine the most successful Easter Production ever put on by Crossroads Church. Wait! You don't have to use your imagination - It just happened! This past weekend we experienced unparalleled success with our Easter Production called "Imagine." Over 4200 people attended the five services we offered this Easter weekend with 70 people receiving Christ as their personal Savior!

The production gave us the opportunity to see the Easter story though the lens of a child's imagination. In our story that unfolds on video produced by our incredible production team, nine year old Joey (Played by Tom Wood) is curious about the Easter holiday. His mom (Played by Jennifer LaBerteau) explains the origin of Easter and how early pagan influences have all but taken over. Joey's imagination kicks in and provides us with an onstage performance of the old Veggie Tales classic The Bunny Song (performed by Richard Gaspard and rewritten to reflect the bunny's hostile takeover of Easter.) For the performance we used black light technology and full-bodied costumes to create a song and dance number that featured a puppet-version of Joey, his mom and dad, the bunny, evil minions and three singing peeps that you absolutely have to see! (I'll be posting the video here later this week.) Once the scene ended the band went into a lively Reliant K inspired version of Peter Cotton Tale arranged by the always masterful Coy Watson and performed by Jordy Davidson. Jordy was joined by the aforementioned "bunny" (brought to life by Luis Vasquez) and a host of candy-throwing teens from the youth group dressed in bunny attire! Jordy and the kids did a great job and the song was a lot of fun!

In the next scene, Joey is informed by his mom about the efforts that have been made by the scientific community for centuries to discredit the Easter story. She lets him know that there are many credible sources that point to scientific, historic and archeological evidence that supports the story of Easter. Yet, just like in the case of the lies the soldiers told in the first century, many choose to believe something other than the truth. When Joey asks about it, his mother explains what an archeologist does by referencing Indiana Jones. That's all it takes to send Joey's imagination into a onstage scene with he and Indy (Played by our magnificent set designer Rhett Wyatt) in a large cave where Nazi soldiers under the command of Professor Doubt (played by Jeff LaBerteau) try to steal the evidence for the Resurrection of Christ. Fight scenes, gunplay and the familiar Indian Jones theme music make for an exciting scene that everyone enjoyed! (It's always fun to see Nazi's get beat up by a nine year old kid!) When the scene ended the band (comprised of Coy Watson, Kari Campbell, Lance Morgan, Mark Conley, Bill LaLande and Beau Roy) kicked off an inspiring new arrangement of the old 4-Him hit Can't Get Past The Evidence. Jeremy Greene did a great job covering the song.


In our third act, Joey and his family are in church where the Pastor (played by Jason Rhoades) is sharing a sermon called "What Happened Those Three Days Jesus Was In The Grave." As the sermon unfolds, Joey's imagination transports him to an onstage portrayal of Sheol where Satan (played by Jared O'Kelly) and the Grave (played by Jordan Springer) are arguing over the body of Jesus (played by Chaz Jones). They are joined by ghoulish Voodoo dolls and Zombies (played by our Master's Commission students) who are all connected to what amounts to a death matrix - operated by the Grave. All of this played out to a sound track produced by Curvine Brewington that is a 21st Century remake of the old Carman song Sunday's on The Way. Both the track and the Human Video (written by Jared) were REMARKABLE - A definite highlight in the production! At the close of the scene the band covered Tree63's Sunday with Carter Berry providing lead vocals. It's a great song and Carter did an incredible job with it!

Lastly, Joey's dad explains the reason we celebrate Easter by pointing to our own resurrection from the grave. He tells the boy that because Jesus rose from the grave, we can too and makes the point personal by bringing up Joey's late grandfather. When asked what he thinks it will be like to see his grandfather again in heaven at the resurrection - Joey answers, "I can only Imagine." It's the perfect segue to a beautiful ballet arranged by Michelle Sanchez and performed by Michelle, Mariah Hebert, Brittany Alexander, Jasmine Chaisson, Natalie Myers and Skylar Courville. The ballet is set to the MercyMe classic I Can Only Imagine in an onstage heavenly setting. Jane Lantier breathed new life into the song that ended with Joey meeting up with his grandfather (played by Ken Lantier) and joined by Jesus Himself. The crowd loved it!

Once again this year, our team absolutely rocked! This was our last production in our current auditorium. We've achieved a lot in the old venue, but I'm really looking forward to what we will be able to accomplish in the new worship center!