I thought I’d take a few minutes to review what we’ve recently talked about re: Crossroads’ immediate future.

We’re stepping away from our ArtsTech services for several months and we’ll continue to meet in homes for scripture, prayer, food and singing. We’re going to work preaching into the rotation too.

We’ll also maintain our focus on …1) hospitality/parties/loving our friends/sharing the gospel.
And…2) serving our city and friends by meeting needs.

In other words, Love Jesus, connect people, transform cities. Truth, beauty, restoration. Same old vision, little bit of a new look.

We are taking an opportunity to RE-IMAGINE what some of this looks like and re-channel the energy we’ve been putting into ArtsTech services for awhile. We’ll be putting feet to this in the next few months.

It’s no stretch to say this will involve more shared meals, more First Friday parties, more innovative and fun events where our friends and neighbors are welcome.

Overall, we see this as a chance to pause as a community and orient ourselves freshly to what Jesus wants to do in our city. This is something God has orchestrated with his sovereign timing. Does this feel risky? Yes. Do we know what the end game looks like? Nope. Do we have a Father who guides us, Savior who leads us and Spirit who fills us with wisdom and strength? Absolutely.

So, onward into the adventure.

Happy to know Jesus and live as missionaries with you guys.

As we said at ArtsTech, the questions we typically ask about the beginning of the world are not questions that Genesis answers. We’re interested in knowing how matter–quarks, leptons, and so on–came into existence from nothing. We’ve all had lab classes. We find this material origins question (Where did the stuff come from?) intriguing.

But Genesis wasn’t written to us, originally. In approximately 1400 B.C., the main question of origins was a different one: How did things begin to function? How and why does this world work? Genesis 1-2 answer this functional question clearly, telling creation history in poetic, beautiful, non-scientific language.

Why does light give life? Why do plants do photosynthesis? Why do our hearts pump blood? Because God made them function as he intended.

Other than to give God absolute credit for whatever happened, Genesis doesn’t provide us with an account of material origins. “There is no biblical view of material origins aside from the very general idea that whatever happened, whenever it happened, and however it happened, God did it” (The Lost World of Genesis One, John H. Walton, 113).

This doesn’t downplay what God has done, but it does imply a change of focus in how we read Genesis. It also defuses the long-standing argument between current models of evolutionary theory and Genesis. “Biological evolution is not the enemy of the Bible and theology; it is superfluous to the Bible and theology” (Walton, 166).

Genesis doesn’t insist that God created matter in a prescribed way but it says emphatically that whatever process God used, He is the Creator and fully involved. The origins of the human race go beyond a merely natural process. “This follows from how hard it is to get a human being, or, more theologically, how distinct the image of God is” (Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? C. John Collins, 120).

Related to this is the question of Adam and Eve’s role in the creation narrative. Were they really the first humans on earth, as depicted in Genesis by Moses? Are they historical, or a theological fiction?

While Genesis is a poetic, literary book, it is an account of something that really happened. The lives of Adam and Eve, the father and mother of our race, are part of that historical core.

When people suggest that Adam and Eve were not the first humans, they imply at least a couple things.

1. Sin did not come into the world through two people who were originally good. Therefore, sin, evil and death are innate to Creation and this is God’s fault. Either he made earth with sin present or he was powerless to stop sin when it appeared.
2. Sin and its effects–death, disease, despair, and so on–are not an alien invasion in our lives as the Bible depicts. Instead, they’re just part of life. Biblical ideas of atonement, redemption, and resurrection lose much of their force. Jesus dies on the cross, not for the polluting effects of sin in our hearts, but for an unfortunate quirk of creation processes.

Therefore, we agree with Jesus, who believed that Adam and Eve were real people, that their disobedience caused all creation and humanity to fall, and that his life would reverse the blight of sin.

Where do these basic beliefs leave us? Christians are free to examine various origins theories, but with a commitment to the involvement of our Creator in whatever scenario is proposed. Some naturalistic theories of biological evolution deny any divine involvement. Other scenarios, including creationist and some modified evolutionary theories, allow the Creator room.

In the long run, accounts of material origins that allows God space to be God will outlast anything in currently in vogue that denies the direct involvement of his love, wisdom and redemptive intent.

To explore further, we recommend two excellent, readable books. The Lost World of Genesis One by John H. Walton speaks to the functional nature of creation in Genesis and its implications. Did Adam and Eve Really Exist? by C. John Collins tackles exactly what you think it does.

Our Thanksgiving party in 2011

The end of 2011 roughly marked the two year anniversary of Crossroads Church.*

In November 2009, we began meeting in the Arts Incubator, a landmark gallery and arts nonprofit in Kansas City’s Crossroads Arts District. This was weird in three ways.

First, we, a church community, were embedded inside a space representing a wider group in KC–the creative community–and our welfare was tied to theirs. Second, we shared this space by invitation and at no cost. And third, we took a big risk and launched informal services in the Incubator with a team of about 12 people.

Statistically speaking, it’s hard to begin a church this small and ever break successive growth barriers because of the crowd dynamics that occur when a third of your folks are on the music team, a fifth are watching the kids, and the remaining seven are sitting in the seats nervously praying that all the guests will show up on the same day.

On the other hand, we spend our lives following Jesus in less-than-ideal situations, so it didn’t come as a big surprise that in starting a church, we’d find ourselves taking some risks.

Some of the characters we have to deal with.

We spent much of 2010 having our faith tested on realities like this, and at the same time, God deepened our commitment. We realized that for the gospel to take root downtown, we would need to live as families of missionaries. Our love for our city and our friendships continued to grow. By God’s grace, Crossroads doubled in size. We threw a lot of parties and saw new friends come around.

In 2011, we put some very basic structure in place to help us pursue our mission: love Jesus, connect people and transform cities. City groups are medium-sized groups designed to catapult us into gospel living. Core groups are small, gender-specific groups that help us confront sin and move forward. We also saw more people moving downtown to live at ground zero.

One of our gatherings at ArtsTech

Halfway through the year, we were surprised, along with the rest of the community, when the Arts Incubator abruptly closed its doors. Our crowd met outside under some trees at Liberty Memorial, and I told them that Crossroads might become an “underground” church for awhile, exclusively meeting in homes and third places.

However, my forecast was off. Those circumstances lasted for just three days, as I contacted the director at another local nonprofit, ArtsTech, and he invited us to share their space in a move that mirrored our unique “lease” at the Incubator.** Thanks to God’s provision and the generosity of ArtsTech, our Sunday gatherings continued the next week.

We closed out 2011 meeting at ArtsTech, in a more spacious, less grungy area that came with upgrades: AC and a parking lot. At our Christmas service, I looked around the room and realized that our group had almost doubled in size again.

Thanksgiving party, kids' table in foreground

One of our favorite moments from 2011 was a Thanksgiving party we hosted. Our house was maxed out with 40+ neighbors and friends, celebrating reasons for gratitude with a feast (see the picture). We love seeing new faces enter our community and encounter the gospel in a fresh way.

Heading into 2012, our trademarks are a deep love and dedication to Jesus and the gospel and a deep love for our city. The gospel changes everything. It gives us the fuel to love Jesus and our neighbors, investing in people for the long haul.

Our wish list for 2012 includes multiplying our City groups into more downtown neighborhoods, cultivating more leaders at Crossroads, introducing more friends to Jesus, and adding a bass player to our band.***

Our ultimate goal is to stay in step with the Spirit. Downtown Kansas City is a great playing field for the gospel and we’re grateful to be in the game.

Thanks for keeping up with us and thank you for your prayers!

–
But not in a strict sense. Crossroads Church existed when there were five of us meeting for prayer in a loft apartment. We like grand openings. God likes small beginnings.
** A few of us had volunteered at ArtsTech late in 2010 and kept in touch since then. So, when I got in touch with Dave, the director, he already knew us–although mostly from first impressions formed at the “Breakfast with Santa” event we’d helped staff.
***We’d also love to buy some new sound equipment. Our begged, borrowed and stolen stuff is starting to show some wear. If you’d like to underwrite anything from a mix to a mixer, get in touch.

These original Core group cards are an endangered species, but here are a handful of questions that are always on the table.

Core groups are aligned with the mission of Crossroads Church:

Love Jesus, connect people, transform cities.

Core groups facilitate this by, 1) helping Christians grow while on mission with Jesus, 2) having a presence in community, and, 3) multiplying.

Shorthand, Core groups help us have the character Jesus had and do the things Jesus did. The Bible calls this “discipleship.”

Four rules for Core group.

1. Choose a place & have a presence.
2. Meet consistently.
3. Stay on task.
4. Multiply.

Here’s what that means.

1. Choose a place in the community. It may be a “third place” like a restaurant, park or coffee shop. It might be a “second place” like a corporate cafeteria or break room. Choose a place where your group will have a ministry of presence around employees, patrons, or coworkers whom you will grow to know by name & pray for.
2. Be it weekly or biweekly, meet consistently for about an hour. Core groups are for men and women who are serious about growing in the gospel. This means a regular time commitment.
3. Since we usually default toward a lack of structure, we have a simple plan for making sure that Core groups really are Core groups and not just coffee clubs or knitting circles (below).
4. Recruit others who want to grow in the gospel and live on mission, and start new groups.

Core group agenda (our simple plan)

• Answer tough Qs. Our assumption is that we are not OK but that the Spirit works to grow us through the work of Jesus, the gospel. Therefore we confess our sins in order to move forward.
  
• Believe truth. As we subject our struggles and desires to the gospel, God liberates our wills and changes our hearts. Therefore we come not just to vent or share but to turn to the gospel in the Bible–and to develop habits of regular Bible reading throughout the week.
  
• Pray. When issues are raised, pray. When friends have needs, pray. When in doubt, pray. God is the central member of Core group. Therefore we pause conversations with each other to talk to our Father, the author of the gospel–and to develop habits of regular prayer throughout the week.

When you meet, cut to the chase:

Welcome to Core group. How have you followed Jesus this week?

Some of our folks taking a tour of ArtsTech

As you might recall, back in June we were meeting outside and reminding our people that being the church didn’t require a building. Then the Arts Incubator reopened its doors after a two week closure, and we thought our weekly services were back on track.

But without warning, a week later the Arts Incubator closed for good.

There was no press release, just a final board meeting, and the Incubator, one of downtown’s anchor art destinations, was dissolved due to financial issues.

You can read some of my thoughts on that here.

Our community was shocked, as were the Incubator’s other artists and tenants. Within a few days, we were moving our equipment to a corner of my basement. I told our folks, “God may want to keep us light on our feet for awhile. We don’t need a weekly service to love and serve our community.”

Our plan was to continue meeting in homes as City groups indefinitely.

In the meantime, I shot an email to Dave Sullivan, the director of another downtown nonprofit, ArtsTech, and asked him if their space got much traffic on Sundays. ArtsTech uses the arts to mentor at-risk high school students, and we knew Dave because a few of us had volunteered at a fundraiser late in 2010.

A couple days later, Dave and I sat down for coffee and I explained our predicament. Within 30 minutes, he had offered me a set of keys to the ArtsTech building.

As shocked as I was when the Arts Incubator closed its doors, seeing the doors to ArtsTech swing open may have been a bigger surprise.

Mere days after telling our crowd that Crossroads was going underground for the foreseeable future, I was updating them again: Hey…apparently God wants us to keep having these informal services after all.

You can’t make this stuff up. We’re deeply grateful to be at ArtsTech, and we see it as an ideal staging area for Crossroads, because we’re embedded in the arts community, serving our city, and surrounded by people we can love and befriend.

However, we don’t believe a visible church service is the barometer of our success. More important are the roots we sink downtown for the long haul, the neighbors we know by name, and the number of people who are encountering Jesus through our lives and words.

Steven and Abbey bought a 100-year-old house by downtown, moved in, and started renovating. They’re expecting their first baby, but they’ll stay in the city, keep having people over, and continue to make their front porch a living room for neighbors.

Ruth, Anne and Bethany share an apartment by the Crossroads District because they want real community. They invite friends into their circle, host parties, and see their career tracks in marketing and medicine as missionary callings.

John and Hailey moved into the city because they wanted to be at ground zero. John found a job in the Crossroads District and bikes to work. In the evenings, they can watch the downtown sunset from a deck they share with neighbors.

This incarnational,“moving into the neighborhood” is a slower work, but thanks to the Spirit, it’s happening. We’re thankful for the growing number of friends we have downtown, the handful who have met Jesus, and the growing number of people who are having their imaginations stirred by a Jesus they don’t yet know.

We’d appreciate your prayers for more of the same.

City groups: the church has left the building.

Actually, “reloaded” is an exaggeration. (For background on City groups, go here.)

However, we’re adding a little structure to help us live out our identity as families of missionaries more deliberately. We want to Listen, Eat, Serve, Celebrate and Rest in distinctly gospel-centered ways. As you may remember, when we debuted City groups at Crossroads Church Kansas City, we effectively blew up a typical “small group” structure and started from scratch.

We did this because we did NOT want to create Bible studies, therapy groups, social clubs or activist circles. We wanted groups that would help us live as families of missionaries in our chosen mission field, downtown Kansas City, Missouri.

Having taken steps in that direction, it’s time to add a little structure to our groups…because being spontaneous all the time isn’t a recipe for success. Here are the structural tweaks we’re making.

Week 1 of each month will be reserved for First Friday or other informal get togethers with friends (Celebrate, Rest…).

Weeks 2 and 4 of each month will be set aside for meeting in homes, eating together, applying some Bible, and praying (Listen, Eat, Rest…).

Week 3 of each month will be another unscripted opportunity to spend time with friends and/or volunteer in our community, perhaps both (Serve, Celebrate…). No need to go it alone, though. Collaboration would be ideal.

“Two In, Two Out”
The gospel changes from the inside out in ways that affect our families, friends, and communities. We want our City groups to reflect this dual focus of discipleship–both inner change and outward gospel focus. As Jesus’ people, we need to both care for and encourage each other and extend grace and generosity to our friends. Thus, our monthly calendar: two weeks “in,” two weeks “out.”

Our goal in “programming” these times into our calendar is to give us all a chance to be more intentional in how we plan and include our friends in our community. If we can combine “light on our feet” with “deliberate,” we’ll be that much more effective for the gospel.

If you wonder what I’m talking about, flesh out details with your City group…or get involved in a City group. Let’s run with this and see what God does.

This sign marks our new Sunday am spot

After a two-week hiatus following the closure of the Arts Incubator, we’re restarting our informal Sunday morning services this Sunday (July 17).

The Incubator was a great partnership for us because it gave us a chance to locate ourselves in the heart of the downtown community, volunteer with a visionary nonprofit, and share space with some great folks. We didn’t want church to be something foreign and exterior to our local cultures and friends, and the Arts Incubator helped us live that. Amazingly, we’re now moving on to version 2.0 of this type of relationship.

ArtsTech is another great nonprofit located at the east edge of the Crossroads (1522 Holmes). They combine youth mentoring and arts, with great effect. We got acquainted through a couple volunteer opportunities last year and stayed in touch. When I sat down with executive director Dave Sullivan last week, he invited us, virtually without hesitation, to share their space. We are thrilled.

When I have time, I’ll write a post reflecting on this type of church-nonprofit relationship. Maybe I’ll call it, Starting a Church in Your City’s Basement. We’re amazed and grateful that God has blessed us with not just one, but now two, of these unique, win-win partnerships.

For now, just take note that our informal services are back, punch “1522 Holmes” into your GPS, or just stroll over there Sunday morning at 10:30am. There’s lots of parking. We’re excited to open the title page on this new chapter.

The interior of ArtsTech

I’m holding a new key and security code, so this is now official:

ArtsTech has invited us to use their space for informal services, effective immediately.

Some of you will remember ArtsTech from last year, when several of us volunteered there around Christmas. Located at 1522 Holmes on the east edge of the Crossroads, ArtsTech is a nonprofit that offers mentoring, arts training and job skills to youth who are often referred from the court systems. We respect their work a lot.

I met with executive director Dave Sullivan on Wednesday, and he invited us to use their event space for our services. Similar to our partnership with the Arts Incubator, we’ll look for ways to volunteer and work towards the ArtsTech vision whenever possible.

Our plan this Sunday, July 10, is to move our equipment in, take a look around, and thank God for causing this new partnership to materialize so quickly. We have a lot to be thankful for.

On Sunday, July 17 we’ll resume our worship services and pick up where we left off in our 1000 New Beginnings series.

Our first workday at the AI

Well, it was a good run, Arts Incubator. We never thought we’d be starting a service in the gut of an arts building, embedded in the community, with less than 15 people, at the request of an enigmatic director who said that if we started something small and simple, he’d go.

He never did show up but a lot of other people did, and a few stuck around. We knew we were breaking every rule in the church planting books, but for our crowd, it worked.

The AI was a filter that strained out folks who weren’t urban enough or indie enough or crazy enough, trusting enough or loving enough or determined enough, to begin a risky gospel adventure. The paint-splattered floors, improvised walls and rickety freight elevator shouted, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE UNSAFE, HIGH-RISK VENTURES YOU’VE BEEN WARNED ABOUT. TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN!

People with an OK risk tolerance and respect for the underdog settled in. The others didn’t darken the door twice. A year and a half later, we’re still a hair shy of critical mass and I’ve quit my habit of writing down my number projections only to snicker and cross them out later. But the people who are part of Crossroads Church are part of Crossroads Church.

The questions inevitably came up. Why are we singing, why am I preaching, in the dog days of summer, without AC, with the sweat dripping off us? In the winter, why are we wearing triple layers? Those led to other questions, like Why are we acting as ushers and serving chili, Why are we cleaning gigantic plate glass windows, Why are we calling the Crossroads home, Why are we moving downtown, Why are we building a community from scratch?

Thanks, Arts Incubator. You helped us make the answers to those questions obvious. It wasn’t just for kicks. It wasn’t to be casually hip. It wasn’t those great summer parties with fiery grills and sudden cool breezes. It wasn’t even the startling joy of spinning the barrel, pulling the trigger, and laughing out loud when our choice didn’t explode in our face.

Merely saying true things is never enough, Arts Incubator, and while we said again and again that we were downtown because Jesus was downtown, you eroded a lot of the alternative explanations. You helped us be on mission. You kept us a little on edge. You made sure we couldn’t build a church in the name of loving other people that was simply a glorified way to love ourselves.

It’s been a great ride, Arts Incubator. You were a coach to train us toward Team Jesus. You kept us light on our feet. You gave us a panoramic, bird’s-eye view of our city. When we looked around and said we loved Truth, Beauty, and Restoration, you helped us believe it.

You were a prophet, lots of rough edges, shoving us into a new identity as a Jesus tribe. When we shop-vacuumed cigarette butts, commented on third-floor roller derbies, and, in occasional surreal moments, glanced around at each other in disbelief, we knew Someone Else was holding this thing together. For all of this, we thank you. And in thanking you, of course, we’re thanking Jesus.

We were shocked, God, when you moved us in and we were no less shocked that you moved us out. Maybe living by faith feels a little like this. When you shoved us into that shabby-chic second floor corner with the lean-open windows and abandoned chalk board, you knew that a year and a half later you’d give us a week in the echoing, white Cocoon Gallery before you slammed the door shut.

That’s why we’re trusting your sovereignty and goodness, throwing a party, saying our prayers, and typing a goodbye letter to the Arts Incubator. We trust you, Father. Now we’re looking around at our city, cautious but curious, a little shell-shocked but very interested to see what you have in mind.

That one door with countless tape smudges and perpetually broken buzzer is closed. Felt like our fingers were in it. But we’re still here and the game is still on. Open the next door just a crack, God; if we have to, we’ll use our knuckles and knock that sucker down.

You were good to us, Arts Incubator. We loved you for it. And so, goodbye.

Now, Father. Lead us, we’ll follow. A lot of the time we know that we’re here to love Jesus, connect people and transform cities, a block at a time if need be. Help us learn that better. Guide us with your Spirit. Show us how you want this to work.

[The Arts Incubator, a landmark studio and gallery building in the heart of Kansas City's Crossroads Arts District, unexpectedly closed permanently on Friday, July 1, 2011. The nonprofit offered affordable studio space to dozens of aspiring artists (shoehorn Crossroads Church in there), won international awards for excellence, and helped the Crossroads District earn its reputation as a premiere arts community.]

We just received some news from the Arts Incubator that was unexpected, to say the least.

Effective immediately, the AI is closing its doors. This time, permanently.

Apparently the recent fire code issues brought some additional things to light, the result being, the AI is no longer financially solvent. I’m fuzzy on the details. The upshot is, the staff has been let go, the AI is no longer functioning, and all tenants, including Crossroads Church, will need to clear out their things.

We’re devastated for the artists, staff, board, and everyone this affects. What a loss for the arts community and KC itself. The Incubator has received international awards for excellence. Honestly, it’s simply hard to believe this has happened.

How does this affect Crossroads?

Well, as we like to say at the end of services, THAT’S IT, BUT THAT’S NOT IT. Our Arts Incubator services are apparently over but we’re still the church. God seems to be emphasizing once again that we are a family of missionaries. We’re here to love Jesus, connect people and transform cities, not merely to fill seats once a week.

Now’s the perfect time to thank God for the ways he blessed us through the AI, pray for the people this affects, and look to the future.

Tonight, we’re throwing a First Friday party, because God is sovereign, good, and merciful enough to direct our steps. Even this setback will turn out for our good as we trust our Father.

Sunday morning, we’ll cram into the Brick House (1827 Washington) at 10:30am to pray and discuss what happens next. I can think of a couple ways this could go, but our plan won’t be to immediately strategize, but to worship and pray before we look to solutions.

God is good, he’s trustworthy, and he’s got this under control. That’s why we’re still partying tonight. I mean that.

Check back here for further details or keep an eye on our Twitter stream (@CrossroadsKC).