church planting

We don’t even know where to start!  God has been so gracious to us these past few months.

We had our baby girl Mercy Elia Potter on August 8th.  She weighed 7.7 and is so precious.  We love her so much!

These photos were taken by the Elia’s pictured above.  They are also the reason Mercy’s middle name is ‘Elia’.  We love them.

We will continue to keep you updated on our lives.  This week we have our last preview service with Crosspointe Waterford Lakes before we go public in the Radisson Hotel!

We know online giving is a new thing in the church realm and we had a lot of questions ourselves about what happens and how to do it.

Here is a step by step instruction guide to giving to the Potters through Crosspointe church online.

FAQ’s

*When do you get the online support? Once payment is received, the accounting office at Crosspointe cuts and mails us a check.

*Is it tax deductible? Yes.  When you login you will see your contribution schedule and a year to date contribution history and total for your records.

Step 1: Go to the Crosspointe Church Website and click on ‘Give’ in the upper right hand corner

Step 2: Click on the ‘click here’ button to give online or simply mail your contribution to the address provided

Step 3: If you are a new user, click on the ‘create account’ button

Step 4: Fill out the information sheet (this is all strictly confidential)

Step 5: This is where you can either give a one time gift or schedule a monthly contribution.  Click ‘Individual Support’ next to ‘Fund’ and then click ‘Josiah Potter’ next to ‘Sub Fund.’ After that you can choose what day you would like to give and then fill out your Billing Info.  Below you will be able to keep track of your schedule and history with a year to date total at the very bottom.

Thank you all so much for your support!  Please continue to keep us in your prayers!

Our immediate requests are

*Sell our home in Boynton Beach Florida

*Find a house to rent in Waterford Lakes that is big enough to have meetings/small groups in

*That God will provide 100% support by November

Blessings,

The Potters

Sometimes people find themselves under the umbrella of the fact that they might be cooler than “normal” people.  It happens a lot to successful people.  It happens a lot to beautiful people.  It happens a lot to kids who find out that they can wear skinny jeans and still listen to hip hop.  But most importantly it happens to worship leaders.  It’s true, we’re human and we all get to a point where the lights are addicting and our boot cut jeans falling perfectly over our 100$  Buckle boots make us feel cooler than we really are.

1 Peter 5:5
Young men, in the same way be submissive to those who are older. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

I was humbled Sunday morning in a serious way.

Can you tell the difference between these two medications?

Because I couldn’t at 6am until I had ingested the nighttime cold medicine that I thought was daytime.

I shared it with both services and needless to say they howled with laughter and groans of empathy.  It turned out to be fine and the coffee offset the drowsy effect the medication had that morning, but something else was there.  All of a sudden it was no longer about the rad Obey t shirt I was rocking.  It was no longer about the stud Martin I was strumming.  It wasn’t even about the drops and comebacks we did with the new song.  It was about being focused.  I don’t think I’ve ever been that focused on leading worship until that morning.  I wasn’t thinking about opening or closing my eyes.  I wasn’t worried about engaging or connecting (which is a good thing to worry about) My only concern was leading these worshippers into the throne room.

Thank You Lord for humbling me.

How have you been humbled this week?

This picture would have been inspiring a year ago but it no longer is.  This picture would have captured my idea of “worship” six months ago but it no longer does.  This picture would have been used as a promo shot for a worship night with the time and location on it a month ago, but it will no longer even be considered.

This is a dangerous area to enter so I am going to explore it cautiously.  I know there are some of you waiting to bite at the throat the moment you finish reading this and I ask you to keep one thing in mind before you comment….have you ever led worship?  

If the answer is no, please be gracious in trying to communicate your thoughts because they may fall to a deaf ear.  I am coming to realize through this whole blog thing that everyone has an opinion on everything and half the time they don’t have the vaguest idea of what they’re talking about.  Some people like to say things just to say things.  So, with that in mind, before you comment, think….”If my mechanic was telling me something he found out about working on cars, would I attack his opinion even though I don’t know how to change my oil?”  Just a thought…on to the writing.

I’ve been reading “The Dangerous Act of Worship” by Mark Labberton and following up his commentary by exploring the scriptures to test the waters he’s been testing for years.  Along with quotes from his book, I’ll provide commentary on what I’m feeling and exploring this new year in regards to worship, biblical worship.

“Christian worship is only possible as our response to the glory, power and love of God as revealed most clearly in and through Jesus Christ.  The gift of God’s revelation enables humanity to worship.”

I am convicted in the knowledge that my response to the glory of God is continually sinful and selfish.  This goes way beyond Sunday morning.  We’re all good to go on Sunday morning.  Worship goes beyond Sunday morning.  Your opinion of worship in the context of instruments and click tracks and hands raised is elementary and short sighted.  Worship goes beyond our preferences.  Worship should not include our preferences in the fashion we’ve sutured them to our ideology of how things should operate within the confines of the “church.”  There wouldn’t even be a “church” if Christ hadn’t died for us and somehow we lose sight of the only reason we are able to gather as one body.

“What is ironic and especially pertinent is that many debates about worship are just indirect ways of talking about ourselves, not God.  Our debates can readily devolve into little more than preference lists for how we like our worship served up each week.  It’s worship as consumption rather than offering; it’s an expression of human taste-not a longing to reflect God’s glory.”

Every week I receive a request to do “Revelation Song” by Kari Jobe.  No name, no email, no contact info, no identity.  Just an anonymous request every week from the same person.  I don’t know who this is and I’m not trying to embarrass anyone but this is precisely what Mark is talking about.  This person continues to submit this anonymous request with one thing in mind; “I want this song played.”  It’s tough receiving this request week after week because I have no way of contacting this person to tell them that I have listened to the song and ran it by my teams and we decided that we cannot do the song.  It’s a beautiful song, but it’s one of those songs that you need an entire symphony and four part harmony on to even attempt and just thinking about needing that much production on one song makes me think, “is it really worth it when we have to dress it up so?”

We are consumers.  We live in a nation that glorifies over-consumption.  Sex, media, music, cars, fashion, fame, consume consume and consume some more.  Why wouldn’t our natural upbringing of consumption be reflected on Sunday mornings as well?  This is the Goliath we are trying to attack on Sunday mornings as a worship team at The Journey.  We truly believe, that personal worship is important, but that’s another blog and exactly what it sounds like, personal.  How you choose to personally worship God throughout the week is between you and the Lord.  That’s not what we’re exploring.  We’re exploring worship as a body, a gathering to glorify God as a community, as a family.

Exodus 7:16 

I have a little pages file (for you PC users, Pages is Mac’s answer to Microsoft Word) titled “Joel Osteen Quotes.”

You see sometimes late at night when I can’t sleep, I turn to the Osteen Channel to hear what might come pouring out of his mouth that night.

This is Joel.

Aren’t his teeth beautiful?

Here are some of the quotes I’ve gathered…

“God wants to bless us where we are.” Ok, I’m with you.

“God wants us to prosper financially, to have plenty of money, to fulfill the destiny He has laid out for us.”  

“It’s God’s will for you to live in prosperity instead of poverty. It’s God’s will for you to pay your bills and not be in debt.”

Here are my thoughts as I examined a couple quick scriptures this morning.

What is man’s destiny?

Ecclesiastes 7:2
It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart.

God wants us to be rich?

 Matthew 19:24

Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”

It’s God’s will for us to pay our debts?

Matthew 18:27
The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

One thing I dig about Joel is that he doesn’t take a salary.  Apparently he only lives off his books (which if you have the ability to see and you venture to any shopping center/wal mart/target etc…Joel Osteen books are as common as 2% Milk).

I have mixed feelings about the dude…and I hope it’s just his appearance of inauthenticity and falsity and not who he actually is.

I get it.  I’m screwed up.  As Los puts it “I’m a Ragamuffin.”  I’m not judging Joel Osteen, I think he’s incredibly weird and plastic looking, but I’m not judging or downplaying what he and his church does because it’s visibly changing peoples lives and leading them to Christ.  That’s not what I’m about or here to do. 

What catches my attention when I see televangelists like Joel is this, “How do I come off to people on a daily basis?”

It’s not a pride issue, I’m not worried about what I look like.  On the contrary it’s a heart issue.

How do I come off to people in light of reflecting Jesus Christ?  It’s a tricky thing, and it’s not just for people who work at churches, it’s for anyone proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ.

So two questions for my readers.

How are you authentically representing Jesus this week?

What can I work on so I can represent Jesus authentically?

Seriously, leave a comment and shoot from the hip, this is good kingdom stuff, i want to grow!

So I lead worship for a portable church.  As the worship leader at a portable church I have to brainstorm ideas with a team to come up with solutions for things such as storage, sound, lighting etc.  One day I sat down with our Lead Pastor Scott and our sound/set up/tear down/do anything and everything we’ve ever asked and love him forever guy Chris Gallo to figure out a way to put our drums on wheels so we can make the kit mobile on Sundays.  This is what Chris came up with and built by hand.

Also, we keep all the cat5/mic cables/lighting cables in the cage until Sunday where we run them out to their respectable ports so please excuse the mess.  The walls are made of strong plexi-glass and the ceiling is foamed to sound proof the whole kit from the top and has 3 LED no-heat lighting stations to illuminate each crash and china hit.

yeah it’s got a tow hitch one it.  we pull it with a golf cart

sometimes drummers get warm while they play so Chris cut a hole where a custom air conditioner fits which happens to be another one of his inventions.

The hardware is bolted to the flooring so it doesn’t shake or move when we take it from place to place.  We used a Gibraltar rack to mount all the mics and cymbal arms on.

Did I mention that we have to see it over a 18 inch stage?  Yeah, Chris covered that with a hydraulic system.  There’s one of these scissor lift style legs on each corner.

It’s on wheels baby.  Wheels.

there’s the base.  This thing weighs a ton but moves like a figure skater.  Thank you Chris Gallo!

What has church made to make things easier for your teams on Sunday?  Send me pictures!  I’ll post em.  Or just leave a comment!

This is me on Sunday mornings.  Gathering images and video files for the service that will be happening in an hour and half.  What do you do on Sunday mornings?