DeAnna and I just got back home from Nashville.  We had a GREAT time.  No kids and No dog for two days was nice.  Nashville is a GREAT city.  Atlanta could learn something from Nashville.  The downtown area is rocking.  There are some great eating areas, some great music, and it just a great city.  It was so nice just hanging out with DeAnna.  We did a lot of sleeping.

Thursday morning I got up and hung out with about 12 pastors for a few hours and it was great just sharing stories.  Most of the guys I have mentioned a million times, but two guys stuck out to me.

1. Pete Wilson -  Pete pastor Cross Point Church in Nashville and is going a bang up job.  He reminds me a lot of  Batterson in that he might be one of the nicest guys in America.  The thing that stuck out to me about Pete was the building his church meets in.  It is an awesome story and one of the saddest stories I have ever heard.  The meet in a old church  building.  It is freaking HUGE.  Seriously it takes up a whole city block.  It is the old school brick building that has been added onto about 10 times.  It has a worship center that seats well over 1000, has a HUGE gym, thousands of classrooms and is just a lot of building.  They have done a GREAT job remodeling the inside.  It was cool to see how God provided this building for them to lease.  That is the cool part of the story.  The sad part of the story is WHY they can meet there.  On the city block is the first part of this old church building.  A small worship building that actually looks like it is falling apart.  Inside that small building on the same property meets the original church.  At one time they were THE church in Nashville and now they run about 75 people and meet back in their original building having to lease the rest of their building to another church to pay the bills.  It is a sad story of what happens when a church isn’t willing to change to reach the next generation.  I wonder what those people think every Sunday when they show up to their old building and see thousands of people walking into the building they use to meet in?
2. Randy Cook - Randy pastors a church called Crossroads that is about 14 months old.  This guy could be my brother from another mother.  The dude was flat out crazy and the story of his church is CRAZY.  Go check out his blog if you get a chance.  I was really impressed with this cat.

It was a good time and much needed.  Now, I am sitting here getting freaking pumped up about Sunday!  We are talking about something Sunday that we haven’t talked about in a LONG time and it is going to be something we ALL were created with a need to experience.  Oh yeah, wait to you hear the band Sunday.  I can promise you have NEVER seen the Revolution band like you will this Sunday.  It is going to be a fun Sunday!

Tomorrow around lunch, DeAnna and I are heading out of town for a couple of days.  I am SO looking forward to it.  No dog (thanks Preston), no kids (thanks Mom!), and just some time with my bride!

Tomorrow night we are going to hit PF Changs with Joe Case.  Thursday I’m going to hang out with some church planters.  Thursday night and Friday I get to spend all day with the love of my life!!!!  I can’t until Sunday, but I got to be honest and say I ain’t thinking about Sunday one time over the next couple of days!

I’m out for a few days, but I’ll see all of you Sunday!!!

For some reason we can’t do anything small at Revolution. We take a simple idea like dropping plastic eggs out of a helicopter and we turn it into some insane event. We had a meeting today about the Egg Drop and holy moly, this thing is INSANE……in an AWESOME way!!!!!

Honestly, this thing is going to be the craziest thing we have ever done and the craziest thing Canton has ever seen. We are pulling out the stops. This feels like it did before our first service. I joked today that I am freaking out that no one will show up or that way to many people will show up!!!! Today we spent a ton of time figuring out the parking situation. It looks like we are going to be bringing in shuttle buses to make this thing happen!!!

If you know me, you know I THRIVE on big days. I love them and I plan on this one being the biggest one we have done. I have to give a shout out to Preston and Jennifer Popp. Without them, this would crash and burn!! I also have to give a shout out to the people of Revolution. Around 200 of you are already signed-up to help volunteer and you have already taken close to 2500 invite cards to pass out. We ordered 5,000 more today to go along with the fact that it is going to be in Around Canton and we are doing a direct mail piece to let the community know. I am already hearing buzz about it from people!

It is going to be a blast!

Easter is 4 Sundays a way and I am pumped about the entire weekend. We are going to have a time of prayer and communion on Friday at The Warehouse, Saturday morning we are dropping 50,000 eggs from a helicopter in Canton’s largest Easter Egg Hunt, and Sunday we are launching one of the biggest series we have ever done at Revolution called Rock Star: Making HIM Famous!!! It is going to be an awesome weekend!

We signed our Lead Team, along with Thad for the multi-site exposed conference today.  The conference is in Seattle and I am already dreading the flight.  I hate flying.  However, I am pumped up about the conference.  I am so pumped about this conference.  I love Mark Driscoll and I love John Bishop.  Bishop is one of the guys I have wanted to meet for a while.  I LOVE their story and it motivates me in a big time way.  Can’t wait to hear both of these guys speak.  The topics for this conference look GREAT!

We are also going to couple the conference with our Lead Team Staff Retreat.  The conference ends on Tuesday and we are going to leave there and fly down to Vegas until Friday.  We will be so close and Vegas is SO cheap during the week that we couldn’t pass up the opportunity to hang there for a couple of days and do some planning and dreaming.  I love what Ed Young Jr. says, “Vegas has nothing to say, but they know how to say it.  The church has everything to say, but typically doesn’t know how to say it.”  We’ve got a ton of work to do and I think Vegas will fuel the creative juices.  We’ve got to redo our org chart, we have got to plan out our preaching calendar for the summer and fall, and we’ve got to talk about our structure as we get ready to launch multiple campuses.  Adam and I are the only ones who have been to Vegas so I can’t wait to work all day and spend the evenings walking the strip.  I PROMISE I will keep Preston and Tim away from the poker tables.

Working hard and playing hard.  I love it!

70 degrees today!!!!!  I got to the office early, had our lead team meeting, hung out with our guys for a while, mapped out my week and left the office around 2 to run some errands, and then I pulled the bike out and went for a pretty good ride.

I ALWAYS dread riding UNTIL I get on the bike.  I love being out in the country with no cell phone, no e-mail, no one with questions, and just my thoughts.  I was sucking wind pretty quick but it was just a great way to wrap up the day before heading home.  Monday nights, DeAnna and some of the ladies on our staff hang out so I am on kid duty.  I love getting the kids bathed, play a game with them, and get them ready for bed.  It is always a fun time.  Tonight we have an intense night of Chutes and Ladders planned.  I plan on winning.

After the kids are in bed, I plan on sitting on the front porch and listening to some tunes.

I love this weather!

Sundays are rough for me.  Sunday afternoon I am dead.  For some reason my legs hurt so bad on Sundays that I can’t stand it (might have something to do with that whole weight thing).

Today is worse than normal.  I am so dead.  I literally feel like I have been hit by a car.  My legs hurt, my feet hurt, my head hurts, BUT it is a good hurt. :)  It is a good hurt because I got to get up and teach God’s word and that makes it all worth it!

I’m now going to bed at the early hour of 7:00 p.m.

• Good day. I am glad winter break is over!
• The band was insane today.
• Dave Anderson was hanging out today.
• Laney and Jenna seemed pumped up after spending the week at the children’s confeence at Fellowship Church.
• Different type of message today, but one I felt needed to be talked about.
• I shut down my facebook account today. It was fun at first but I am sick of answering movie questions, getting monkeys thrown at me, being asked to join everyone’s hobby horse issue, and just how much time I spent logged in there.
• Movie started early again. I hope this isn’t a trend.
• Three Days into losing weight against other pastors. I feel GOOD, but tomorrow I turn it up another notch.
• DeAnna and I are going away for a couple of days this week to Nashville. I am meeting with a bunch of pastors to talk shop. We are staying an extra night to practice what I preach.
• Easter Egg Drop is coming fast!
• Easter Sunday is coming fast!
• I am really seeking God on some location things and I think I am starting to get some clarity.
• Met a guy starting a church in Canton this week. God has really grown me in this area. 3 years ago, I felt like I owned this town. Now, I just want to see people meet Jesus and we could use a dozen more churches who are actually reaching people. I’m excited about what he is doing.
• I am REALLY checking out another Canton location. IF (a big IF) you could find the right location you could be centered between Macedonia, Holly Springs, and Hickory Flat and there are a ton of homes there and no one really making an impact. The area is wide open.
• Excited about Thad starting this coming Sunday!
• Student Ministry? Wait for it……. Trust me, it is coming very soon.
• The song “God Of This City” is rocking my world right now. Not a normal song I would like but the words are so freaking powerful. I love the city God has called us to reach.
• DeAnna ran another race yesterday. She is so disciplined. I’m proud of her.
• Bummed I am not going to see Van Halen again tomorrow night because they cancelled. Oh well, I am thrilled I got to see them once.
• Several churches wanting to do our ONE series. Very cool. If you want the graphics shoot us an email. They are very simple and that is on purpose. You probably don’t want the intro video as it is very focused on Revolution and wouldn’t work in other churches….probably.
• Thad, have you sold your house yet?
• This morning was just chaos before the first service.  It is just one of those mornings where things were tense.  I’m done a lot better at not coming in the mornings, but this morning I did.  Not a good idea.
• DeAnna took the kids off today to something.  I should remember what, but I can’t.
• Bil’s talk at ChurchPlanters.com is still messing with me.  The phrase swing until your hands bleed is something I can’t get out of my head.  We are going to swing until our hands bleed to get the word out about Easter.  There are so many areas where that doesn’t make sense but I want people knowing what we have planned.
• Still a few, a very few spots open for the Unleash Conference.  If you want to go, you have to let us know this week.  Trust me, you want to go.
• My weight isn’t the only thing I am being more disciplined about.  Starting this week I have to get my schedule and my time back under control.  That is a good thing.
• Reading several good books right now.
• I’m going to to chill out.  See ya!

Tim and I were going to see Van Halen on Monday night, but it is not happening.  They have postponed some of their dates.  I figure Eddie and David can’t get along so that makes me all the more glad I got to go see them two weeks ago.

We got tickets tonight to another concert and I am looking forward to it big time.  This dude is one of the most talented artists out today and he can do any type of music.  I hear he puts on one of the best shows out there so I am looking forward to it in a big way.  I love concerts!  I’ll tell you how it is AFTER I go to the concert.

Many of you have asked for them, so here very quickly are the points I hit on in my talk at ChurchPlanters.com.

1.) If you have portability issues, you really have vision issues

Though they will never admit it, most churches have a vision to build a building, not reach unchurched people

2.) Eliminating excuses starts with you

You are the leader. You set the tone. If they see you not liking the fact you are portable, the church won’t either

3.) K.I.S.S

Keep It Simple, Stupid. You are portable, accept it. Don’t make your set-up harder than it has to be.

4.) Spend the money to be portable

Spend money on cases, totes, good equipment, carts, etc. Your people are worth it.

5.) Learn from others how to be portable

Don’t reinvent the wheel. There are others out there doing it great. Visit them, call them, email them, look at pictures, etc. Learn from their mistakes where you don’t have to make them.

6.) Staff for portability

Make sure the people you bring on staff UNDERSTAND what it means to be portable. Make sure they understand the difference between being portable and not being portable.

7.) Get creative

Bring your people in and pick their brains on how to come up with better ideas. Running out of space? Get creative.

8.) Look for opportunities to teach about portability

They are everywhere. Let your people hear WHY you are portable and let them hear the results of that.

9.) Plan for problems

They are going to happen, be prepared.

10.) ENJOY IT!!!

There will be a day when you have a building and a huge loan payment. You will miss the days of being portable so enjoy it while it you are in the middle of it.