why intersect

Who are you? What are you doing here?  Stop and think about that question...

Have you ever heard the saying, "with God their is no coincidences"?  We believe this to be true.  When we look back at ancient times, we see that God had strategic purpose in locating the people of Israel geographically right in an intersection of influence.  Two major trade routes from Rome, Egypt and Asia all intersected in the land of Israel.  God didn't put the children of Israel on a remote island, He placed them at major intersections where they could influence the world. 

God's desire for His kids to influence the world still remains.  When we join God's family and take His name, He places us in different intersections to influence those who haven't joined the fam.  When we know who we are and recognize why God has put us where He has - we can hopefully answer the questions above, who are you and what are you doing here.

Our desire at Intersect is to give people opportunities where their lives intersect Jesus.  As Jesus transforms our lives, He sends us out to have our lives intersect others.  These are our major intersections where God has called us to be:

Intersection of our brokenness and our identity in Christ

It is hard to trust people who don’t walk with a limp.  A lot of “Christians” walk around like they got it all together.  This is scary!  We are all broken in some way because we are born into a broken world. Whether it is physical, emotional, mental, or spiritual, we are all far from perfect.  When our brokenness intersects Jesus, He doesn’t take away our limp.  In fact, He uses our brokenness to qualify us to be used by Him.  Our condition of brokenness doesn’t change but our identity changes.  We no longer live in the identity of the world but we live as a child of God. 

Intersection of people and grace

Grace is to be treated not as we deserve but to be treated with unconditional love, kindness, mercy and favor.  If God treated us as we deserve, our future would look pretty grim.  Thankfully this is not the case; in fact it’s the opposite.  God loves us and continually goes overboard to show it.  Isn’t it pretty awesome that God’s evaluation of us is based on our heart and not on the way we dress, on our political leaning, or on how much, (or little) we got our crap together.  We are pretty fortunate!  God’s desire for us is that we would see others through the lens of His grace. 

Intersection of honesty and safety

Honesty is one of the most important parts to a healthy relationship, however as we all well know, being honest (even with our spouse) can be challenging because of the chance we might be rejected. It says something about God that He knows all about our “stuff” and He still accepts and loves us. In the same way living authentically with each other is critical to ensuring that Intersect is a safe place.  If God is a place where we can find refuge, then we need to be a people where others can come and be in safe hands.

Intersection of our best and peoples needs

 God doesn’t need me!  Really?   The statement is true in the sense that God is all-powerful but He usually chooses to use people to accomplish His purposes.  When we were in desperate need, God choose to give us His best (Jesus) to be our solution.  We live in a needy world. God’s design was that He would use us to meet those needs.  We are called to go the extra mile, to give from the best of what we have, and love out of our abundance.  Our desire is to not only intersect the community locally but to serve the world globally.  Just as God gave us His best, our desire is to meet people’s needs out of our best.

Intersection of truth and love

God is a God of Truth.  Jesus came to confirm the truth. We are to worship in the Spirit of Truth… We believe in God’s Truth!  However, approach is everything.  We want to live out God’s truth not shove it in the face of others.  Not everyone will agree with God’s Truth and it is not our job to convince them of it. Our job is to demonstrate God’s love and to allow His Spirit to draw people to Himself.

Intersection of simplicity and excellence

The question is, would you rather be an inch deep and a mile wide or an inch wide and a mile deep?  Intersect chooses the latter.  Our desire is to be a community who keep it simple and give it our best in the things God calls us to do.