What a Day!

Today was the first Sunday of my sabbatical. And by the way I am going to try and be more faithful in updating the blog to share what's happening with me during this time of rest and study.

Dr. Billy Compton spoke at Living Hope this morning and I heard through texts and emails that he was a blessing. I also heard Jon Crosby did a great job leading Living Hope in worship. Thanks guys for loving the people of Living Hope so well today.

The day started for me at Crosspoint Community Church. I got to worship with my brother and his wife at the 8:30 worship service. My wife and children attended worship with her dad and mom. After the 8:30 service I headed west to the Dickson campus of Crosspoint Community Church with pastor Kevin Cook. He is the future campus pastor of Crosspoint's North location.

It was great to see how God is working at the Dickson campus. The entire set up reminded me of the early days of BCC, where I served for five years. We used to meet at Bellevue Middle School. Those were hard wonderful days of setting up and taking down, but we saw thousands of people gather for worship and come to know Christ.

The Dickson campus provides live worship, outstanding classes for children, and a loving environment. It offers what the central site on Charlotte Ave offers. The pastor's message is delivered via video at the Dickson campus. That is the only functional difference. I wasn't sure what I would think of that, but I enjoyed it. I watched Pete live at the central campus and then watched him on video in Dickson and I could actually see him better at Dickson. The sound quality was the same.

There is a lot to take in and I still have a lot of logistical questions, but these guys may be on to something. Instead of spending millions of dollars to stay at a central campus, they are spending hundreds of thousands and having the same impact.

After the service at Dickson, I headed to lunch at Carrie's parents - Whitt's bar-b-q with potato cheese casserole without onions. It was mighty fine. And then it was back to BG and a nap with Asher.

It is so crazy hot! Tonight we all jumped in the pool. All five Pettus people went for a swim. We are so stinking loud. I believe people could hear us several streets over. But that's how it goes.

Tomorrow Jackson and I are off to the Southern Baptist Convention in Louisville, Ky. I am speaking at a dinner for missional minded churches. We are looking forward to hearing Mike Huckabee speak. I am bummed that we are going to miss hearing Ed Stetzer and the other Godly men presenting at the pastor's conference.

I hope to give you the low down on that adventure tomorrow night.