Beads of sweat stood at attention on Pastor Burt’s forehead. When he looked down to read, they joined forces and raced down the bridge of his nose like an Olympic ski jumper, finally splattering on the worn pages of scripture he was holding chest high. Burt’s voice boomed over the sound system as he read […]
This Is Not For Everyone
I know what you’re thinking. Not everyone will want to be a part of a church that trains this way. That’s true. Not everyone wants to do CrossFit either. This is one possible way of pursuing physical and spiritual fitness. It may not be the best approach for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend trying to force […]
August 27, 2011 by 2 Comments
A Spiritual Hopper Deck
What if we developed a constantly varied approach to spiritual training based upon the hopper deck model? The idea would be to convene a small group of people who wanted to train for Christlikeness and embraced the concept of constantly varied training. The facilitator would identify 20 possible exercises that could be done by the […]
August 26, 2011 by 6 Comments
Spiritual Adaptation Leads to Stagnation
For context, first read this and this. In many churches, attenders pick the kind of event or gathering that is best suited to their personality and strengths. This is not necessarily a negative. It is essential to give newcomers the freedom to go where they’re comfortable in their early days with the community. But if […]
August 25, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Why is Church so Boring?
This is a follow-up to CrossFit is Never Boring and is part of a larger discussion about what churches can learn from CrossFit gyms about changing lives. Let’s compare the varied programming of a CrossFit gym with the programming of the Wooly Mammoth Community Church (Where God’s love is big and fuzzy). Let’s assume the […]
August 24, 2011 by 7 Comments
CrossFit is Never Boring
CrossFit has been called a lot of things: hard, challenging, scary, intimidating, frustrating, humbling, and painful (in a hurt-so-good kind of way). One word that is rarely used to describe CrossFit is boring. Newcomers to CrossFit are struck by how much fun it is even as its kicking (and shrinking) their butt day after day. […]
August 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment
A Direct Experience of the Holy Spirit
Several weeks ago, I shared in a sermon that there is still a part of me that sometimes doubts that God’s love for me is unconditional. Afterward, a gentleman told me that he could tell from what I said that I’ve never had a direct experience of the Holy Spirit, because if I had, I […]
August 21, 2011 by 5 Comments
The Airport Principle
I’ve received more feedback to the following section of Before You Go than any other. I’ve heard from multiple ministers who have written to say, “That is exactly what happened to me!” What do you think about this principle? **** If I could dispense one piece of quirky advice to someone about to move to […]
August 15, 2011 by 4 Comments
A Personalized Training Experience
For context read these posts first: My Health Club The Problem With Many Churches CrossFit is Personal What’s missing in many churches is the kind of personalized training and attention that athletes in a CrossFit box receive. Church leaders must find ways to transition members from private, anonymous attendance to the pursuit of personal goals […]
August 12, 2011 by 3 Comments
Get Started With Online Training
I’ve been posting quite a bit about CrossFit and the connections between physical and spiritual fitness. As you can tell from my writing, CrossFit has had a huge impact on my life. So much so that I now spend part of my time coaching other CrossFitters. Several of you have expressed interest in how CrossFit […]
August 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Telling Stories, Asking Questions, Learning Lessons