A lot of people come to Nashville to chase a dream, a longed-for career. Seemingly, half of the Christian Industrial Complex® is there, too. Candidly, I would love to do a promo tour with all of the cultural influencers there; so, I’m not judging those who travel there for those reasons. But this trip to Nashville was to try new experiences with my brother, and we got everything out of our time together that we could.
I used to drive all the way from either Ft Wayne, IN, or Lynchburg, VA, to Maryland’s Eastern Shore to watch my brother play soccer. It was worth it. Timmy’s hustle and athleticism challenged me and filled me with joy. When I saw that the USMNT was playing team Canada in Nashville, it led to a text message. “Hey, what are you doing Labor Day weekend?”
I’d stood this close to the pitch at Timmy’s high school games. I’d sat alone and this close to the pitch in a mostly empty Cape Town Stadium. But until September 5, I’d never sat this close for any professional athletic event with a friend, let alone my best man. Front row with Timmy for an international match was a whole new experience.
I didn’t grow up playing soccer/futbol. I still don’t know what is proper strategy, technique, or positioning. But I fell almost entranced, watching the ease and grace and speed at which these men played.
Timmy and I both spent our high school summers on golf course grounds crews (at different courses). Almost every golf game I’ve played since high school was with Timmy. So, with Top Golf within site from our hotel and only a few blocks from Nissan Stadium, you know we had to take some cuts. Haha. Timmy creamed me in everything but the Angry Birds placement contest, for which I had a strange accuracy.
Long story short, we found ourselves in “Nashville’s #1 wild game restaurant.” That led me to wonder, “How many game restaurants do they have here?” They even had a catfish pond IN the restaurant. I can say I’ve never had an eating experience quite like this place.
I emailed Cross Point Church’s Franklin campus to ask if I could hang out with their parking team as I had at their broadcast campus 3 years ago. They agreed and connected me with Jordan. This effervescent dude and I compared notes on our respective ministry teams. I wore my team’s hat out onto his lots, and he wore his sick parking shirt. We both left with new ideas, boosted excitement for our roles in our respective churches, and a connection to the “big-c church.” I got to hear his inspiring Jesus story and bring it home to my team yesterday. I’m grateful for sovereign encounters like this one.
When I walked into the sanctuary of Cross Point Church’s Franklin campus, my brother stood on the front row with his arms raised as he sang the powerful lyrics of this song that neither of us had heard before. Within a few bars, I was moved too. Unlike songs that too often invite God into a place where he already is or focuses on what Jesus does for us, these lyrics challenge the singer to make room for what Sovereignty is already doing and to submit and surrender the things we grip tightly. I’m looking forward to reading my friend Hannah’s dissertation on the shift the evangelical church needs to make in how we approach worship along these lines, and I was stoked to introduce this song both to her and our church’s arts director, Judson. Hannah leads worship with every fiber of her being, and she inspires me to correctly orient my will to Jesus.
