Join Community | Grow Week 5

When you think of church do you imagine a building with a steeple or your kitchen table? The Church isn’t a building. It’s people. The heart of community throughout the Bible is filled with storytelling, food, and wine around someone’s table. Sadly, 75% of Americans today are lonely. This week we teach you how to turn the tables on this statistic (pun intended) and start thriving with others.

  • 00:00:01
    - What was the most important tool in Jesus's ministry?
  • 00:00:05
    In the history of the church?
  • 00:00:07
    Was it giant cathedrals?
  • 00:00:09
    Was it stained glass windows?
  • 00:00:10
    Was it fog machines, sound systems?
  • 00:00:13
    What about lasers?
  • 00:00:14
    No, it's this: food and drink.
  • 00:00:18
    Eating and drinking was a key to Jesus life and work.
  • 00:00:22
    In fact, Jesus used food and drink
  • 00:00:25
    and meals around tables to change the world.
  • 00:00:27
    And you can, too.
  • 00:00:29
    Today we're going to unpack the beautiful picture
  • 00:00:31
    of community that's put to page in the Bible
  • 00:00:33
    and how a simple thing that you're already doing
  • 00:00:35
    every day could be repurposed to change
  • 00:00:38
    the social and emotional landscape
  • 00:00:40
    of your life and of our world.
  • 00:00:48
    But before we get there, I want to tell you
  • 00:00:50
    something that I actually learned
  • 00:00:51
    while watching Ted Lasso a few months back.
  • 00:00:53
    You know, scientists used to believe that
  • 00:00:55
    trees competed with each other for sunlight
  • 00:00:58
    and resources in, like, a Darwinian battle.
  • 00:01:00
    But what we're learning now is
  • 00:01:01
    that's actually not the case.
  • 00:01:03
    Trees actually work together to grow
  • 00:01:07
    and grow best when they're together.
  • 00:01:14
    - Deep in Sequoia National Park,
  • 00:01:17
    towering around 380 feet tall
  • 00:01:20
    stand the giants of the forest,
  • 00:01:23
    the tallest trees on Earth, the giant sequoias.
  • 00:01:30
    Many of these trees are over 2000 years old,
  • 00:01:34
    and these colossal sequoias withstand strong winds,
  • 00:01:37
    earthquakes, fires, storms, flooding, and time.
  • 00:01:46
    The giant sequoias are equipped with a root system
  • 00:01:48
    that's relatively shallow,
  • 00:01:50
    going down only 6 to 12 feet deep.
  • 00:01:54
    Remarkable, given their size, weight and stature.
  • 00:01:59
    How is it these mammoth trees rarely fall over?
  • 00:02:05
    These trees have been designed with roots
  • 00:02:08
    that reach out and around and intertwine
  • 00:02:11
    with the roots of the neighboring sequoias.
  • 00:02:15
    They are linked together by an underground network
  • 00:02:18
    that proves to be unwaveringly strong.
  • 00:02:22
    They are held up by their community.
  • 00:02:27
    There in nature God gives us a picture
  • 00:02:31
    of a rooted community,
  • 00:02:33
    an ability to sustain in difficult times,
  • 00:02:36
    to withstand, to grow and to thrive
  • 00:02:43
    beautifully and uniquely linked together by community.
  • 00:03:00
    - Well, you and I aren't that different.
  • 00:03:02
    We grow better together when we're with other people.
  • 00:03:05
    Right?
  • 00:03:06
    And today I'm going to show you
  • 00:03:07
    not just what Jesus had to say about community,
  • 00:03:10
    but how you can grow your own.
  • 00:03:12
    I'd propose to you that the most useful tool
  • 00:03:14
    that Jesus had at his disposal was something that
  • 00:03:16
    is sitting in the middle of your kitchen right now.
  • 00:03:19
    No, it's not your Vitamix or even your coffee machine,
  • 00:03:22
    but your table.
  • 00:03:23
    Let me just stop here.
  • 00:03:24
    We've been on this Journey now,
  • 00:03:26
    on this journey looking to grow,
  • 00:03:29
    looking at these different practices,
  • 00:03:30
    trusting that something in them will grow us,
  • 00:03:33
    will stretch us, will bring us to a new place.
  • 00:03:36
    There's a reason why we're ending
  • 00:03:38
    on this idea of communities,
  • 00:03:39
    because all those other great things
  • 00:03:42
    happen best when we don't do them alone.
  • 00:03:45
    When we do them in the context of community.
  • 00:03:48
    We can be like those redwoods, where we grow tall,
  • 00:03:51
    where we grow strong, where we build something
  • 00:03:53
    and grow something that lasts for generations.
  • 00:03:57
    That's how you and I can follow Jesus's example
  • 00:04:01
    for using our tables not just as
  • 00:04:03
    a platform to consume calories from,
  • 00:04:06
    but as a catalyst for community, for growth,
  • 00:04:10
    for life change that can change the world.
  • 00:04:15
    Matthew and Luke's Gospels both catch
  • 00:04:17
    a really unique phrase on this topic
  • 00:04:19
    that was lost on me until recently.
  • 00:04:20
    The phrase goes like this: The Son of Man.
  • 00:04:24
    The Son of Man came.
  • 00:04:25
    It's used twice in short succession,
  • 00:04:27
    that would have been like a highlighter.
  • 00:04:28
    It would have jumped off the page
  • 00:04:30
    to the people hearing it at the time.
  • 00:04:32
    They would have intuitively recognized
  • 00:04:34
    that these two uses of this phrase
  • 00:04:36
    mean that they go together, like two sides of a coin.
  • 00:04:38
    So, let me give them to you.
  • 00:04:39
    Matthew 18:11 says:
  • 00:04:45
    This is just beautiful.
  • 00:04:47
    This is Jesus's mission. It's His purpose.
  • 00:04:49
    It's His what, it's what He came to do, right?
  • 00:04:52
    To seek and save the lost.
  • 00:04:56
    But it's followed up with Matthew 11:19 that says this:
  • 00:05:01
    It actually goes on to say,
  • 00:05:03
    "The Son of Man came eating and drinking.
  • 00:05:05
    And they say, 'Here's a glutton and a drunkard,
  • 00:05:07
    a friend of tax collectors and sinners.'"
  • 00:05:09
    This was like people knocking on Jesus
  • 00:05:12
    for hanging with the people who didn't measure up.
  • 00:05:16
    But this the Son of Man came eating and drinking
  • 00:05:19
    is Jesus's how.
  • 00:05:22
    It shows us that Jesus best tool for ministry
  • 00:05:24
    was the table, and He understood
  • 00:05:26
    that a meal isn't just a meal,
  • 00:05:29
    it's setting the table to grow with God and other people.
  • 00:05:33
    Around a table people are invited into a family.
  • 00:05:37
    They're nourished not just to survive, but to thrive.
  • 00:05:41
    For example, just in the Book of Luke,
  • 00:05:42
    there are ten stories that happen at meals,
  • 00:05:46
    where enemies are forgiven,
  • 00:05:48
    where the outcast are invited in,
  • 00:05:50
    where the hungry are fed.
  • 00:05:51
    Man, you've got reconciliation,
  • 00:05:53
    you've got social justice, you've got rest,
  • 00:05:55
    service, humility, storytelling, great wine,
  • 00:05:58
    comfort food and more all happening around a table.
  • 00:06:03
    But the table isn't most people's picture of church,
  • 00:06:05
    right?
  • 00:06:06
    If I were to ask you to send me a picture of a church,
  • 00:06:08
    you'd probably send me something with a stage
  • 00:06:11
    or a steeple.
  • 00:06:12
    And those are totally fine.
  • 00:06:13
    Those are buildings, though, not the church.
  • 00:06:17
    The church is people. It's you and me.
  • 00:06:19
    Scripture is really clear about this.
  • 00:06:21
    So, how did we get from a poor, homeless,
  • 00:06:24
    itinerant rabbi and some fishermen
  • 00:06:26
    to massive auditoriums and fog machines?
  • 00:06:29
    Well, let me give you just a little bit of a history.
  • 00:06:32
    And so I'll be honest,
  • 00:06:33
    I'm going to nerd out on you for like 2 minutes.
  • 00:06:35
    So when Christianity first started, it was illegal.
  • 00:06:37
    Like, it was --it was seen as like the punk rock
  • 00:06:40
    alt culture to mainline Judaism or Roman paganism.
  • 00:06:43
    It was under the radar
  • 00:06:45
    and those who practiced it were persecuted.
  • 00:06:47
    It was made up mostly of like small clusters of families
  • 00:06:51
    living in close knit communities where they,
  • 00:06:53
    like, lived, worked, worshiped,
  • 00:06:55
    and ate in really close proximity to each other.
  • 00:06:58
    I actually had a chance to visit one of these homes
  • 00:07:00
    in a place called Capernaum where, like,
  • 00:07:02
    they're pretty sure they found Peter,
  • 00:07:04
    like, Saint Peter's legit home.
  • 00:07:07
    It's like 100 feet from the temple on one side,
  • 00:07:09
    100 feet from the Sea of Galilee on the other.
  • 00:07:12
    Like, Jesus probably stayed in it.
  • 00:07:13
    It was so cool. Anyway.
  • 00:07:16
    But this was a time in the life of the Church,
  • 00:07:19
    of Christian community,
  • 00:07:21
    where they couldn't gather publicly.
  • 00:07:22
    And so their architectural choice at the time was,
  • 00:07:25
    you guessed it, a home gathered around,
  • 00:07:28
    you know it by now, a table, right?
  • 00:07:30
    So, their architectural choice, the building was a home,
  • 00:07:34
    gathered around a table, emphasizing community.
  • 00:07:37
    Fast forward a few hundred years
  • 00:07:39
    and you've got this guy, Emperor Constantine,
  • 00:07:42
    who ruled the Roman Empire.
  • 00:07:44
    He converted to Christianity.
  • 00:07:45
    Some would say this was legit.
  • 00:07:47
    Others would say it was like opportunistic,
  • 00:07:50
    he saw the writing was on the wall.
  • 00:07:52
    But overnight almost, an illegal sect
  • 00:07:57
    suddenly became the official religion of an empire.
  • 00:08:01
    And as a result of that,
  • 00:08:02
    there was a bunch of empty temples
  • 00:08:04
    to, like, Zeus and whatever
  • 00:08:06
    that were all of a sudden vacant
  • 00:08:08
    and got turned into churches, right?
  • 00:08:11
    These temples and later cathedrals, man, they were big.
  • 00:08:14
    They were -- they emphasized the majesty of God
  • 00:08:16
    through art and architecture.
  • 00:08:18
    The acoustics were terrible.
  • 00:08:19
    That didn't matter because the sermons
  • 00:08:21
    were all in Latin, which, like, nobody understood.
  • 00:08:23
    But they had stained glass.
  • 00:08:25
    They had ceilings that stretched to the heavens.
  • 00:08:28
    They had stuff, like, covered in gold.
  • 00:08:30
    Their architecture was a temple gathered around an altar
  • 00:08:35
    and it emphasized ritual.
  • 00:08:38
    Phase three in our history goes a little bit like this.
  • 00:08:41
    So after 1000 or so years, including the Dark Ages,
  • 00:08:45
    a little thing called the Reformation hit.
  • 00:08:47
    Martin Luther was a guy who saw a bunch of abuses
  • 00:08:50
    by the Catholic Church, and he nailed 98 theses
  • 00:08:53
    or complaints against the church,
  • 00:08:55
    like, to the wall of the church.
  • 00:08:56
    It was like a -- it was a bold move.
  • 00:08:58
    So, as a reaction, like, there was a split that happened
  • 00:09:01
    where Luther basically said, "Hey, if people understood,
  • 00:09:05
    really knew, like, we're taught what the Bible says
  • 00:09:09
    they would understand and we wouldn't be subject
  • 00:09:12
    to these different abuses
  • 00:09:13
    and they wouldn't be taken advantage of."
  • 00:09:15
    So, their architecture took on
  • 00:09:17
    the characteristics of a lecture hall,
  • 00:09:20
    like, tiered seating around a central stage or podium
  • 00:09:24
    where the acoustics were good,
  • 00:09:25
    people could hear and sightlines were good.
  • 00:09:27
    And look in any church building
  • 00:09:29
    in the last couple of hundred years,
  • 00:09:31
    including Crossroads ones,
  • 00:09:32
    and this is still kind of the prevailing idea.
  • 00:09:35
    A lecture hall style building
  • 00:09:38
    centered around a stage emphasizing teaching.
  • 00:09:42
    Now, I love big auditoriums with lights
  • 00:09:46
    and sound systems so everyone can hear every word.
  • 00:09:48
    I was a musician for most of my life,
  • 00:09:50
    but I just don't think that on their own they're enough.
  • 00:09:55
    What if each of our iterations since that time of Jesus
  • 00:09:59
    leaves something good on the table
  • 00:10:02
    that needs to be recaptured?
  • 00:10:03
    I've been in ministry working at churches
  • 00:10:06
    since I was 17 years old.
  • 00:10:07
    And maybe the purest example of church
  • 00:10:10
    that I've ever experienced didn't happen on a stage.
  • 00:10:14
    It happened in a home around a table.
  • 00:10:18
    That's what I want for you.
  • 00:10:19
    This Journey is all for naught if we can't figure out
  • 00:10:22
    how to do these proven practices
  • 00:10:24
    in the context of community.
  • 00:10:30
    So this is my wife, Rachel. She's amazing.
  • 00:10:32
    She leads a lot of the work
  • 00:10:34
    that happens in our Crossroads Anywhere space.
  • 00:10:36
    And she's, frankly, like the leader
  • 00:10:37
    that I want to be when I grow up.
  • 00:10:39
    But we also got to walk through this thing called,
  • 00:10:42
    man, figuring out community
  • 00:10:43
    and how it happens around our table together.
  • 00:10:46
    And I wanted you to hear from her directly about that.
  • 00:10:49
    - Yeah. So, we were newlyweds, I think,
  • 00:10:52
    and we were doing this study at Crossroads
  • 00:10:55
    where you're supposed to actually practice
  • 00:10:56
    the thing you were reading. Crazy.
  • 00:10:58
    - Crazy.
  • 00:10:59
    - So, we got to the part about the early church
  • 00:11:01
    and how they met around tables.
  • 00:11:02
    And somebody specifically joked,
  • 00:11:04
    "So, when are we going to start meeting together daily?"
  • 00:11:06
    And we're all like, "Ha ha, yeah, right,
  • 00:11:08
    nobody has time for that."
  • 00:11:10
    And then we're like, "Okay, how about weekly?"
  • 00:11:12
    So, we start this weekly dinner.
  • 00:11:14
    We're super excited about it. You love to cook.
  • 00:11:16
    We thought we would bring all our friend groups together
  • 00:11:18
    and everybody would just click.
  • 00:11:19
    - We would align, like, everybody's crazy schedules
  • 00:11:22
    would align around our schedule at our house.
  • 00:11:24
    It'd be really convenient and beautiful.
  • 00:11:26
    - Yes. And so, we sent the emails, texted everybody,
  • 00:11:30
    cooked a big dinner and waited and waited,
  • 00:11:33
    like, they're just late.
  • 00:11:34
    And like, literally no one showed up.
  • 00:11:36
    Nobody came to our first one.
  • 00:11:39
    - It was so sad.
  • 00:11:40
    - It was, you know, you can give up at that moment,
  • 00:11:42
    but we were just like,
  • 00:11:43
    okay, maybe we've just got to do it differently.
  • 00:11:45
    And so we started experimenting.
  • 00:11:47
    And I think we started letting go of the idea that,
  • 00:11:50
    okay, everything's going to align perfectly
  • 00:11:52
    with our favorite people.
  • 00:11:53
    And we're just like, maybe we just do the thing
  • 00:11:56
    and see what it needs to be, like, who needs this
  • 00:11:58
    versus, like, what do we need?
  • 00:11:59
    And we just started. We just kept doing it.
  • 00:12:01
    We just kept opening our home and to see who showed up.
  • 00:12:04
    So, the first people to really commit
  • 00:12:06
    were our friends Matt and Katie.
  • 00:12:08
    And they just start coming every single week.
  • 00:12:10
    Like, literally, I think they came every week
  • 00:12:11
    - for like four years. - Yes.
  • 00:12:13
    - They never missed.
  • 00:12:14
    They had multiple children during this time.
  • 00:12:16
    And it was amazing.
  • 00:12:17
    And just having those two other people as the anchors
  • 00:12:20
    of the group up front made it great.
  • 00:12:23
    And then slowly more people just start to come.
  • 00:12:25
    So, the next person was our friend, Anissa.
  • 00:12:27
    She was our neighbor. She lived upstairs.
  • 00:12:29
    She seriously saved the group because she taught us
  • 00:12:34
    really early on that it wasn't an entertainment thing,
  • 00:12:36
    it was a hospitality thing.
  • 00:12:37
    And the biggest way she did that was just by helping
  • 00:12:40
    Like, she's from Libya, so she's from a culture
  • 00:12:42
    where like eating at big tables, big meals,
  • 00:12:44
    lots of people is normal.
  • 00:12:45
    And so she was just always the first one to,
  • 00:12:47
    like, get up and help us clean the dishes
  • 00:12:50
    so that actually when people left,
  • 00:12:52
    our house was cleaner than before they came here.
  • 00:12:55
    - Hear us on that.
  • 00:12:56
    When we finished a dinner for a boatload of people,
  • 00:12:59
    our house was cleaner than we started.
  • 00:13:00
    I know it sounds miraculous, sounds too good to be true,
  • 00:13:03
    but just find yourself a person like Anissa is amazing.
  • 00:13:05
    - Yes.
  • 00:13:06
    And she would just drop off 10 lb bags of rice
  • 00:13:09
    at our door because we were always just trying
  • 00:13:11
    to figure out cheap ways to feed a lot of people.
  • 00:13:13
    And she would literally wash all the dishes
  • 00:13:15
    and hand people brooms.
  • 00:13:17
    And then people just started following her lead,
  • 00:13:19
    like, they would just start doing that, too.
  • 00:13:21
    - And there was, like, what started as a meal
  • 00:13:25
    for our friends grew into a meal for not our friends
  • 00:13:28
    and sort of, like, a surrogate family.
  • 00:13:30
    Like, that was one of the trends.
  • 00:13:31
    It was like people who either didn't have community
  • 00:13:34
    nearby or didn't have community at all,
  • 00:13:38
    they were drawn to this thing.
  • 00:13:40
    And it became a really special thing where God
  • 00:13:43
    was just a natural part of the conversation.
  • 00:13:45
    It wasn't a program, like, but it --
  • 00:13:49
    really amazing stuff happened.
  • 00:13:50
    Talk about, like, some of the good stuff that came
  • 00:13:52
    in that season and we didn't expect.
  • 00:13:54
    - Yeah, like there was no content. It was just dinner.
  • 00:13:57
    But over time, just, I think just the nature of people
  • 00:14:01
    showing up for each other over time,
  • 00:14:03
    and at least most of the group knowing God.
  • 00:14:05
    When somebody needed something, we would just help.
  • 00:14:07
    Like, something would come up around the table
  • 00:14:09
    and we'd say, "Well, hey, well, we'll pray for that,
  • 00:14:11
    or can we actually help you with that this week?
  • 00:14:14
    Like, can we come around you?"
  • 00:14:15
    And, you know, we baptized somebody in our bathtub.
  • 00:14:19
    We had some friends that were struggling financially,
  • 00:14:21
    like, really bad.
  • 00:14:22
    It was amazing that they always knew
  • 00:14:23
    they just had a place to eat, you know,
  • 00:14:25
    they just had a place that they knew
  • 00:14:27
    they were going to get good food at least once a week.
  • 00:14:29
    We would send them home with leftovers.
  • 00:14:30
    It was just easy and natural and it wasn't weird.
  • 00:14:32
    If somebody had any need,
  • 00:14:33
    they didn't have to fill out a form
  • 00:14:35
    and wait for the church to get back to them
  • 00:14:37
    because they were just already with the church.
  • 00:14:38
    You know, if they had a God question,
  • 00:14:40
    they didn't have to ask a stranger or wait for a pastor.
  • 00:14:42
    They would just ask somebody there.
  • 00:14:44
    People started growing in their faith, and having friends.
  • 00:14:46
    And, you know, it's funny, this was years ago now,
  • 00:14:48
    this exact group.
  • 00:14:50
    But we've been struck lately as we've been adopting,
  • 00:14:53
    like, the main people who are showing up for us,
  • 00:14:55
    helping us adopt are all our friends from that time.
  • 00:14:58
    Like, they're the first ones to start donating,
  • 00:15:00
    to start talking to us about it, start helping
  • 00:15:02
    because it really did just become a family.
  • 00:15:04
    It was a random group of people who did not know each other,
  • 00:15:07
    but just started eating together every week
  • 00:15:08
    and became some of our best friends.
  • 00:15:10
    - Yeah. - There were definitely
  • 00:15:11
    some nights that we didn't want to do it.
  • 00:15:13
    Like, community is not always fun.
  • 00:15:15
    Like, to think of something every week,
  • 00:15:16
    that feels exhausting just to think about sometimes.
  • 00:15:19
    - It was daunting.
  • 00:15:20
    - Even in the moment, it is sometimes,
  • 00:15:21
    like, there are plenty of nights where we thought,
  • 00:15:23
    "Oh, maybe we should just cancel."
  • 00:15:25
    But I actually think the weekly-ness
  • 00:15:28
    is what makes it good because
  • 00:15:29
    that's where our relationships could grow.
  • 00:15:31
    Like, even if we were super tired
  • 00:15:34
    before people came over, after they left, we weren't.
  • 00:15:36
    We felt better, like, we felt more connected.
  • 00:15:38
    We felt more energized.
  • 00:15:40
    We had -- because we had people.
  • 00:15:42
    And like, we all just need people to grow.
  • 00:15:44
    We need people to, you know, cheer us up.
  • 00:15:47
    That's -- I feel like that's always what happened,
  • 00:15:49
    Like, even on the nights that weren't the best.
  • 00:15:51
    - Right.
  • 00:15:52
    - There's still something that happens in community
  • 00:15:54
    that fills you up.
  • 00:15:55
    - And ours isn't the only example of this
  • 00:15:58
    that we've seen.
  • 00:15:59
    Like, people out of our open house dinner,
  • 00:16:01
    they started their own.
  • 00:16:02
    There were brunches.
  • 00:16:03
    There were other really cool examples of
  • 00:16:06
    open, accessible community.
  • 00:16:08
    And actually I just heard of one this week
  • 00:16:11
    that I want to highlight right now
  • 00:16:13
    and want to introduce you to a friend of mine,
  • 00:16:15
    Damanuel and his Friday night dinners.
  • 00:16:19
    - All right. Hey, this is Damanuel.
  • 00:16:22
    Damanuel's the man, and he's, like,
  • 00:16:24
    well, let me just tell you a story
  • 00:16:25
    to help you get to know this guy.
  • 00:16:27
    So, you remember the pandemic when the rest of us
  • 00:16:29
    were, like, face first into a bag of Cheetos?
  • 00:16:32
    We were just, like, sad eating?
  • 00:16:33
    Like, yes, you remember that? Okay.
  • 00:16:35
    Well, Damanuel was not that guy.
  • 00:16:37
    He instead was -- What were you doing?
  • 00:16:39
    Calling who?
  • 00:16:40
    - Calling all of my contacts on my phone.
  • 00:16:43
    - Every single person. - Every single person's phone.
  • 00:16:45
    How many how many contacts do you have in your phone?
  • 00:16:47
    - It was like, it was over 1000. - Oh, my gosh.
  • 00:16:50
    That's giving most of us social anxiety just hearing it.
  • 00:16:53
    He called over 1000 people,
  • 00:16:54
    some of whom you hadn't talked to in...?
  • 00:16:56
    - In years.
  • 00:16:57
    - Like, your buddy Phil from, like, second grade.
  • 00:16:59
    - Yeah. - Yes. Okay.
  • 00:17:00
    - Just to see how they're doing. - Right.
  • 00:17:02
    - I heard that story.
  • 00:17:03
    I was like, we have to hire this guy.
  • 00:17:04
    Like, I don't even know him, but he's amazing.
  • 00:17:06
    - So, Damanuel is just, he's just a connector.
  • 00:17:09
    Like, that's just who he is. He loves people.
  • 00:17:11
    He loves seeing them get connected.
  • 00:17:14
    So, Damanuel, I wanted to have you here to talk to us
  • 00:17:17
    about what it looks like for people to get connected
  • 00:17:19
    here at Crossroads.
  • 00:17:20
    - Yeah, we have 100 groups around here
  • 00:17:23
    in the local space and in your own cities.
  • 00:17:26
    And we want to help you get connected in those places.
  • 00:17:28
    So, we have some people that are in Indiana,
  • 00:17:31
    we have some people that's in Texas.
  • 00:17:32
    We want you to get connected with people.
  • 00:17:34
    And so, if you are looking forward to a group
  • 00:17:37
    or people around you, shoot me an email
  • 00:17:39
    and I can help you out with filling that out
  • 00:17:41
    and getting people around you.
  • 00:17:42
    And so, I love connecting people
  • 00:17:44
    and I love getting people to know each other
  • 00:17:46
    and to grow in the next place together.
  • 00:17:49
    - We have like 28 regional leaders, right?
  • 00:17:51
    They're everywhere. It's amazing.
  • 00:17:52
    - D, man, tell us about Friday night dinners.
  • 00:17:54
    Tell us about how that got started,
  • 00:17:56
    what it looks like for you guys.
  • 00:17:57
    - Yeah, so one of my closest friends, Megan,
  • 00:18:01
    had this dream after she moved back here to Cincinnati
  • 00:18:04
    to open her house and just have people over for a meal.
  • 00:18:07
    And so, because she knows that through COVID
  • 00:18:09
    I loved to cook.
  • 00:18:10
    And she's like, "Hey, can you come cook for us?"
  • 00:18:12
    And I'm like, "Yeah."
  • 00:18:13
    So every Friday night we have a different theme.
  • 00:18:16
    So, in the clip, there is a video of me
  • 00:18:19
    cooking for a tropical dinner.
  • 00:18:21
    So, I had to cook something up some kabobs and some stuff.
  • 00:18:25
    And so, it was really fun just to actually
  • 00:18:28
    get to be a part of that because as I'm cooking,
  • 00:18:31
    I get to have a conversation with people
  • 00:18:32
    just over as I'm cooking and people love to help.
  • 00:18:35
    And so through that, I get to have a conversation
  • 00:18:37
    of, like, how are you doing
  • 00:18:39
    and how can I be praying for you along the way?
  • 00:18:42
    And so, I get to do a check in just while
  • 00:18:44
    I'm the cook at Friday night dinner.
  • 00:18:45
    So, it's been really good to actually get connected
  • 00:18:48
    and to understand how can we make this somewhere,
  • 00:18:52
    not just in Ohio, but everywhere else?
  • 00:18:54
    - Yeah. So, I guess the question is, like,
  • 00:18:56
    so what are we supposed to do with this info?
  • 00:18:58
    Well, like, my answer is hopefully we make it
  • 00:19:00
    more than just information, right?
  • 00:19:02
    Like, hopefully we do it, that we --
  • 00:19:05
    that we use the thing that we already have, your table,
  • 00:19:08
    and the thing you already have to do
  • 00:19:09
    multiple times a day, eat,
  • 00:19:11
    to connect and create community. Right?
  • 00:19:14
    So, here are three ways you can try it for yourself.
  • 00:19:17
    First, just grab a beer or dinner with a friend
  • 00:19:20
    and intentionally take the conversation deeper,
  • 00:19:22
    like, bridge that gap between drinking buddies
  • 00:19:25
    and genuine community.
  • 00:19:27
    Second, consider starting an open house dinner
  • 00:19:30
    in your neighborhood, in your dorm, in your whatever,
  • 00:19:32
    maybe with your Journey group.
  • 00:19:33
    We're trying to get these going all over the country
  • 00:19:35
    and think that they're an amazing opportunity
  • 00:19:37
    for a disconnected generation.
  • 00:19:39
    Like, so many people are lonely.
  • 00:19:41
    This is a chance for us to connect.
  • 00:19:43
    Thirdly, hey, I would love for you guys to join us
  • 00:19:47
    in our upcoming community cohort.
  • 00:19:49
    Like, that's 21 days to jumpstart community in your life
  • 00:19:53
    so that you can grow in the area of community
  • 00:19:56
    with teaching, with resources, with daily challenges,
  • 00:19:59
    and with people to grow alongside you.
  • 00:20:02
    It's designed to dive deeper into, not just the what,
  • 00:20:05
    but the how of building
  • 00:20:07
    and experiencing community for yourself.
  • 00:20:09
    Now, just some call outs, like, I know some of you
  • 00:20:11
    are like me, you're introverted and you're like,
  • 00:20:13
    "This sounds rough."
  • 00:20:15
    Or you're like, "My schedule's insane
  • 00:20:17
    or I don't know how to cook or I hate brunch."
  • 00:20:20
    I don't know.
  • 00:20:21
    We're going to talk about all of that
  • 00:20:23
    in the community cohort.
  • 00:20:24
    So, just click the link below or follow the link
  • 00:20:27
    and we'd love to have you join us
  • 00:20:29
    for our upcoming community cohort.
  • 00:20:31
    It's going to be worth your time.
  • 00:20:32
    Now, God doesn't want you to be alone.
  • 00:20:35
    He wants you to connect and grow.
  • 00:20:37
    And He gave you great tools, like the table,
  • 00:20:40
    that can help you do that.
  • 00:20:41
    So, let's put that table to use in our life
  • 00:20:44
    and recapture some of the beauty of the early church.
  • 00:20:48
    Because after all, the church isn't a building,
  • 00:20:50
    it's people, it's you and me.
  • 00:20:52
    It's not something we attend on Sunday morning.
  • 00:20:54
    It's who we are.
  • 00:21:08
    - This is the last week of the Journey.
  • 00:21:10
    And hey, congratulations, you made it.
  • 00:21:12
    You just completed something. That's a big deal.
  • 00:21:14
    We don't often complete a lot of things,
  • 00:21:16
    so you should feel great.
  • 00:21:17
    This is week five of the Journey.
  • 00:21:19
    And you know what? This isn't the end.
  • 00:21:21
    Because just like Andy said, you can get in a cohort,
  • 00:21:24
    you can do it.
  • 00:21:25
    You can take that next step into community.
  • 00:21:27
    - They're so great.
  • 00:21:28
    They're easy to fit in your life of taking the next spot,
  • 00:21:30
    which that's what we want for you.
  • 00:21:32
    This journey wasn't like, "Hey, grow for six weeks
  • 00:21:34
    and then, you know, and then you're good."
  • 00:21:36
    It's like, get you moving, get you going.
  • 00:21:38
    So, keep going, keep growing.
  • 00:21:40
    When you grow, it can lead to you wanting to give.
  • 00:21:42
    How about that? - That's exactly right.
  • 00:21:44
    You set me up for that. Thank you very much.
  • 00:21:45
    You know what Kyle threw to me,
  • 00:21:47
    because that's what our script said.
  • 00:21:48
    But for real, this is serious.
  • 00:21:50
    Giving leads to growth because it's the one thing
  • 00:21:54
    that takes us outside of ourselves.
  • 00:21:56
    And we don't have time to get into why we should give
  • 00:21:58
    and all of the spiritual life change.
  • 00:22:00
    So, we've set up a page that you can learn
  • 00:22:02
    all about that and you can give right there
  • 00:22:05
    at Crossroads.net/give.
  • 00:22:08
    - We've got more for you right here next week.
  • 00:22:12
    - Did you know that Jesus wants you to be happy?
  • 00:22:14
    He really, really does.
  • 00:22:16
    And today I want to help you step into a practice,
  • 00:22:19
    the practice of celebration that can help you
  • 00:22:22
    experience more of the happiness
  • 00:22:24
    that Jesus has and wants for you.

Oct 14, 2022

Recent Series