Why, What, How? | Sunday, January 11, 2026

And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom, declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I was with you in weakness, in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. (1 Corinthians 2:1–5)

Why does this church exist, what does it do, and how does it work? Paul's words to Corinth answer all three.

A Word for Persia

Before we get into the message, I sense we need to pray for the people of Persia—Iran. Some of you remember the Islamic Revolution of 1979. There has been a miraculous revival of the Christian faith in Iran over the last couple of decades, largely through dreams and visions in which people meet Christ and come to faith. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty—and yet there are horrible massacres being reported right now.

Father, we thank You for the freedom we find in You—not merely political freedom, but freedom from sin and death. We pray for those in Iran standing against a tyrannical Islamic state. Do a work there. Every physical manifestation of violence like this is an indication of a spiritual battle; the Scriptures introduce us to the prince of Persia, a spiritual entity over that region against whom Michael the Archangel contended. Move mightily in the spiritual realm and bring revival to the Middle East. In Jesus' name, amen.

Be Exemplary Among the Saints

Last week I asked you not so much to make a New Year's resolution as to prayerfully aim yourself in a specific direction in 2026: to lay hold of what Christ has for you. As Paul says in Philippians 3, "I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has laid hold of me." My encouragement is that you would become exemplary among the saints.

That phrase comes from Paul's first letter—believed by many to be the first of all his letters. In 1 Thessalonians 1 he gives thanks for their "work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope," and reminds them that the gospel came not in word only but in power and in the Holy Spirit. "You became examples to all who believe." How do we become exemplary? By following the Lord and following those a little further along, growing in faith, hope, and love. As you aim in that direction, you are more likely to hit it.

Peter echoes this in 2 Peter 1: "Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love." If these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful. "If you do these things you will never stumble." That is a great promise. None of us want to stumble, and Peter gives us the algorithm for walking steadfast in the faith.

Continuous Growth and Progressive Sanctification

Here is my first point: life with Christ should involve continuous growth and progressive sanctification. I know "progressive" carries political connotations, but not as I'm using it. The Christian life is characterized by continuous growth—an increasing harvest of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, self-control. God's Spirit does this in us, yet Peter says, "Give diligence to add these things as well."

So who is working—God or you? Yes. "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." Day by day we draw closer to the likeness of Christ. We will not fully achieve it here, because we still battle our fallen nature, but we press on.

And we don't desire this only for ourselves. The author of Hebrews says we should stir one another up to love and good deeds. This is why being together in the body of Christ is so important. Paul tells young Timothy, "Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." I want this for you, for myself, and for us as a church—because this is the abundant life. The abundant life Jesus spoke of is a life filled with the abundance of the fruit of the Spirit, and you cannot grow to your fullest potential in isolation. The church is not just helpful; it is essential. That is why you need a good church.

Why a Church Exists: Purpose, Mission, Vision

I want to share why I think Cross Connection Church is different—the why, the what, and the how. I've been thinking about this since long before I became pastor here in April 2008. I've been part of this church since I was 11; some of my old children's ministry teachers still attend and are as amazed as I am that I'm now the pastor.

A standout memory: in September 2007, half a year before I took over, I was with then-pastor Pat Kenny and our other leaders. The church was in a bit of decline, and I shared that I sensed we needed to adjust our methods—but never the mission or the message. The mission and message do not change; the methods must.

Around that time I began teaching church planting at Calvary Chapel Bible College. Organizational boards spend a lot of time on purpose, mission, and vision. But the purpose of the church is not unique to each church; it was divinely set. Jesus gives us the Great Commission: "Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you." That is the purpose. The early Christians made disciples and gathered into assemblies—ecclesia in Greek, "church" in English. If that's not your purpose, you're not a church by the New Testament's definition.

And the mission? It will blow your mind: the mission is to fulfill the purpose. That's it. The vision, however, is distinct, because every church has different leaders with different gifts, talents, abilities, and resources. North Coast, Emmanuel Faith, Maranatha, and Cross Connection all have different visions because their leaders differ—I'm not Daniel Bentley or Chris Brown, which is a good thing. God needs many different churches to reach many different kinds of people. Values are the convictions a congregation holds highly; strategy is the ways and means by which they fulfill all of it. Together these answer: why does this church exist, what is it doing, and how does it work?

God Chooses the Weak

I think 1 Corinthians 2 answers the why, what, and how for Paul. It's worth asking why he even says it. First and Second Corinthians are different from his other writings—he spends a lot of time defending himself, and you sense he's uncomfortable doing it. Scholars believe Paul wrote four letters to Corinth; what we call First and Second Corinthians are probably the second and third.

Paul planted the church in Corinth (Acts 18), but after he left, a much better speaker named Apollos came and drew a following—and then Peter, Cephas, who had walked with Jesus and even walked on water. A personality cult developed: "I am of Paul," "I am of Apollos," "I am of Peter," and the super-spiritual ones, "I am of Christ." So Paul has to defend what he did, how he did it, and why—because what he did was different enough that people looked down on him.

The why is in verse 5: "that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God." That is my second point: the what and the how of Paul's ministry were meant to bring the greatest glory to God. "All of that was by design," Paul says. "I didn't want you to look at me; I wanted you to look at Him."

They were calling him a fool—weak, ineffective, lowly, base, despised, nothing compared to Apollos and Peter. Look back at 1 Corinthians 1:26: "Not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and the weak things to put to shame the things which are mighty... that no flesh should glory in His presence." Paul says, in effect, "Those are just the people God chooses, because through them He gets the greatest glory."

And here's the wonderful part: that means God can use me and you. If God only ever used the good-looking, well-spoken, well-educated, and lofty, every one of us would think He can't use me. Instead He chooses the dyslexics, the neurodivergent, and the ones who live in Escondido—you don't have to live in Carlsbad. He chooses the nothings.

Different by Design

This is one of the things I loved about the Calvary Chapel I grew up in: uneducated, untrained men and women who did marvelous things because they had spent time with the Lord. It pains me to say that the Calvary Chapel of 2026 is not the Calvary Chapel I knew. Once, a well-educated seminarian who didn't know I was connected to it told me, "Those Calvary Chapel Bible colleges are just glorified Bible studies." I thought, I'll take that.

In 2011 we changed our name from Calvary Chapel of Escondido to Cross Connection Church. There were several reasons, but the core one—which I've not said publicly—is that I knew Calvary Chapel would split when Pastor Chuck Smith died, and I did not want this church associated with the trash that would come out of that. And it has: today Calvary Chapel is divided into groups that fight each other. I caught a lot of grief for that decision, but it was a refusal to be carnal. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 3, "Are you not carnal, behaving like mere men, when you say, 'I am of Paul,' and 'I am of Apollos'?"

So yes, Cross Connection Church is different—and different by design. It's not just the red suit, the man bun, the Cybertruck, or the orange, though that's part of it. We're still connected to Calvary Chapel, and most of my friends are Calvary Chapel pastors. In 2014 we also joined a loose affiliation with the Southern Baptist Convention—and I later earned a master's degree and pursued doctoral work at a Southern Baptist seminary. But even there we're different enough that the "back-row Baptists" would feel like overzealous deacons here. When people ask if we're part of the SBC, my answer is, "We're on the edge of the inside, close to the exits." We don't have a huge allegiance to any earthly organization; we're seeking to be faithful to Christ in this little corner of His kingdom.

All of Grace

When I think of my calling, I think of 1 Corinthians 15:9: "I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me."

My third point: all that we are or will ever be is holy because of God's great grace. The moment you lose sight of this—the moment you think it's because of your education, your oratory skill, your ability to network—is the moment God says, "I can't use you." Never lose sight of it.

From that position of having received an abundance of grace, I work as hard as I possibly can for God's kingdom. Over 27 years, since being a pastoral intern at 19, I've been privileged to do things that still blow my mind. Two and a half years ago I stood on top of Mount Si with David Guzik and hiked to a cave believed to be where Elijah heard the still, small voice of God. How does that happen? By the grace of God. None of this is boasting in me; it's boasting in the amazingness of His grace—and in the truth that God wants to do just as much in and through your life for His glory.

Four Things That Set Us Apart

What is the why, what, and how that makes Cross Connection Church different? My friend Daniel Fusco pastors a church near Portland and is doing his part to keep the Pacific Northwest weird—dreadlocks down his back, also Italian. We talked recently about the strange things God is doing in both our churches, and I told him one of the things that sets us apart is that we love people—even the skeptical, far-from-Jesus kind. I enjoy conversations with skeptics and atheists, and we want them to find answers in the gospel. We try things that are different, and we're not afraid to give up on what doesn't work. People sometimes call that pragmatism, but it simply says, "This isn't working; let's try something else."

One of the surest signs of a dying church is when people say, "We don't do things like that here." Or, in a dying Calvary Chapel, "That's not the way Chuck did it." I was in the room when Chuck Smith told 4,200 pastors, "The one thing I hope you never say is, 'That's not the way Chuck did it.'" Twelve years after his death, I hear it constantly.

There are four targets we aim at. First, integrity—doing what is right when no one is looking. This was underscored again this week when a well-known Christian author, with more than 15 million copies sold, was revealed to have been in an adulterous affair for eight years. It's understandable that so many struggle to trust religious leaders. If you can't trust us to do right when no one is looking, what else matters?

Second, intellectual diligence. We live in a skeptical, questioning, complex culture that daily tempts us to deconstruct everything in search of something firm. Much of what comes from Protestant churches online is pablum—not rigorous engagement. If the Bible is true, and I believe it is, it can stand up to the skeptical criticism of a skeptical age. But you have to actually contend with those criticisms, not pretend they don't matter.

Third, relevance. God's word is timeless and never detached; it speaks to the issues of the moment—technology, artificial intelligence, culture, relationships, meaning. We're not after a theoretical lecture but an applied theology. Every time I open the Scriptures, I ask: what does this say to this moment? It is the most relevant thing for our culture—far more than X or TikTok or Snapchat.

Fourth, connection. God created us for connection with Him and one another, and we must reach out to a world far from God and bring it back into connection with Him. Social media can't give that; AI can't; entertainment, jiu-jitsu, CrossFit, book clubs—none of it answers that desire. Only the body of Christ.

The Devotion of the Early Church

Interestingly, those things aren't so different from the early church. Acts 2:40 says Peter exhorted them, "Be saved from this perverse generation." Those who received his word were baptized—about 3,000 souls. "And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers... Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common... So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."

My fourth point: God's people are strengthened by simple, steadfast devotion to the word, connection, hospitality, and prayer.

First, they "continued steadfastly." That means it wasn't casual or occasional—they devoted and committed themselves. This is worth highlighting, because church commitment has become casual and occasional. When I became pastor in 2008, it was still normal for people to engage with their church two to three times a week. Then engagement shifted toward two to three times a month—and markedly so after 2020. Now nearly 50% of our church families attend once a month. You will not grow to fruitful abundance attending church twelve times a year. It won't happen. And if you think your casual commitment won't affect your kids and grandkids, you're fooling yourself. They're watching. If you want them engaged in the life of the church, they must see that it's important to you.

Second, the early Christians were committed to simple things: the Scriptures and preaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread—both hospitality and the Eucharist—and prayer. These aren't revolutionary or novel, but they are what produce growth and the fruit of the Spirit.

Third, commitment to these essentials produces growth. Look at the last words of the passage: "And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved." Individuals grow, and the church grows, as we commit to these things.

A New Devotion

If you're new to Cross Connection Church, this is what you joined. If you've been here a long time, thank you for sticking with us through a wild ride that's probably not over. We say no to a lot of other things so we can focus on a few simple ones. For all of us, the next step for 2026 and beyond is not a New Year's resolution but a new devotion: don't just attend—be steadfastly devoted to the word, connection, hospitality, and prayer.

Commit to showing up consistently, not haphazardly. Join a connect group or life group. Plug into a team and serve as part of the body. Read the Scriptures when we gather and on your own, and pray. In this you will be exemplary among the saints. I'm happy to stand out because we're weird—because we are. Amen.

Closing Prayer

God, thank you for the exhortation of your word. I pray these exhortations would find open and receptive hearts, and that you would continue to transform us more and more into your image and likeness, that we would show forth your glory and proclaim the praises of you who called us out of darkness into your marvelous light. May we see a revolution of your grace in our lives and in this church. We pray this in Jesus' name. And now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless until the coming of the Lord. Amen.