Friday Five Interview – Pete Wilson

Today on the blog I have the privilege to interview popular pastor and author, Pete Wilson. Pete Wilson is the founding and senior pastor of Cross Point Church in Nashville, TN. This is the second church he has planted in the last seven years. His first church, Morgantown Community Church, was planted just weeks after graduating from college.

Pete graduated from Western Kentucky University with a degree in communications and then attended seminary at Southern Seminary in Louisville, KY. Pete’s desire is to see churches become radically devoted to Christ, irrevocably committed to one another, and relentlessly dedicated to reaching those outside of God’s family.

He is married to Brandi Wilson and they have three boys. When not spending time with church or family he enjoys playing golf and playing golf and playing golf.

Pete is the author of a recent book, Plan B.

Okay, its killing me. What does Without Wax mean? Did Trevin Wax try to sue you for copyright infringement?
“Without wax” stems from the Latin words “sin” (without) and “ceras” (wax) and was often said (no actual proof) to be the origin of the English word “sincerity.” The story went that the phrase “without wax” first became widespread during the height of Roman and Greek artistry, when sculptures first became a popular artistic medium. When a sculpture had a flaw, artists would fill in the chip or crack with colored wax to match the marble. Wax was said to serve as cover-up, masking imperfections on what was most likely cheap pottery. An arguably perfect or quality piece of work was therefore “without wax.” Pottery pieces were even said to be stamped with the phrase “without wax” as proof of authenticity.

When I started the blog I wanted it to be a place where I could present my life, truly, “Without Wax”.

Your church, Crosspoint Church has been at the forefront of flood relief for Nashville. Was this something you were prepared for or did you have to mobilize the church pretty quickly?

We were not prepared at all. We had never led through a crisis even close to this magnitude. I just remember watching the live flood coverage on a local news station when the weatherman said, “Nashville prepare for the 1,000 year flood”. The thought instantly crossed my mind that this was in fact a once in a 1,000 year opportunity for the church to step up and be the church to our community.

The Nashville Floods were pretty much a national news blip, forgotten amongst so many other stories. Do those who have lost everything feel a bit forgotten by the rest of the country?

I don’t think so. There was quite a bit of talk about that during the early days of the relief efforts but people moved past those feelings pretty quickly. The fact that it wasn’t a national story really was a compliment. There was no story because there was no violence or people screaming that they had been treated unfairly.  Nashville and the local church community pulled together and acted like Christ. Unfortunately in our world today that just doesn’t grab the headlines.

I love the premise and title of your book, Plan B. Explain how this project came about.

So much of my life as a pastor has been spent with people struggling to make sense of their circumstances. The reality is everyone has shattered dreams. Whether it’s financial, marriage, career, chidren, or health we all have aspects of our life that just haven’t turned out the way we had hoped they would turn out. We’ve all gone through seasons where we kind of feel as if maybe God has abandoned us or doesn’t know what’s really going on in our lives.

I set out to write a book that would help people begin to understand the undeniable relationship between crisis and spiritual transformation.

Do you think many Christians walk around with guilt and shame because perhaps they feel they failed God or they think God has failed them, that they are done with the rest of their lives?

No doubt. I think there are so many Christians that are not even close to living the life God has designed for them because they can’t see beyond their guilt and shame. I think so many people in our culture today have a very distorted version of who God is and that with every distortion we have about God there is a corresponding consequence. One of my prayers these days is that God would use me through my teaching, writing and life to help people begin to live with a more Biblical view of who God really is.