Just saw this in the Cherokee Tribune.  Love the press that this thing is creating!  We might end up in jail, but it is going to be fun!

I was transferring some of the BIG things I pray continually to God about concerning Revolution into a new notebook and thought I would transfer them here so you can join me in prayer about these things.  These are just a few of them.  Some are private things I want to keep to myself, but these I’ll share with you.

• For us to be a church with 75% of the people being formally unchurched.  According to our latest survey we are around 67%.
• For us to run 15,000 people in North Georgia across 5 locations in the next 10 years.
• For someone to give us a house.  Yes, I said give.  I want to a house so we can house a church planter year for free.  They can come here and learn about church planting for a year without financial pressure and leave here with our support.
• For someone to give us a 50,000 sq ft building.  Again I said give.  I don’t want to pay for it, I want it given.
• For us to change North Georgia with the Gospel.  I mean literally change the face of North Georgia and the way it views church and the way it functions.

Tomorrow I am heading up to Anderson, S.C. with 100 of our crazy people.  If you are one of those people, let me give you some 411 on how all this is going to go down:

• We are LEAVING at 5:30 a.m. at the MOVIE THEATER.  Do NOT go to the office because there will be no one there.  We are meeting at the movie theater.
• We are heading up on two  rented buses so don’t worry about driving up.
• It is about 2.5 hour drive.  They are going to have coffee and small things to eat at the conference so we are NOT stopping.  If we stopped we would have to leave earlier.
• You might want to bring a jacket.  It will be chilly in the morning and it could be slightly cold in the worship center at New Spring.
• We will do lunch at the conference.  Trust me, it will rock!
• On the way home we are going to do a quick dinner.  We will stop in Commerce where they are a bunch of places to choose from.  We’ll hang around for about 45 minutes and let you eat on your own.
• We should arrive back in Canton no later than 9 p.m.
• Get ready to have your world rocked and your vision stretched!

Holy cow!!!!!! We had a day today. Our Lead Team met from 10 until about 4:30 talking, tweaking, dreaming, improving, keeping each other accountable, and doing all we can to make ourselves better to reach North Georgia with the message of Jesus Christ! It was awesome!!! I love doing life with the guys I get to do it with!

I’m very excited about the team God has brought together. After today’s meeting, I think you are going to see some different things over the next month in the way our staff handles themselves, who is doing what, and how we lead Revolution. I’m pumped.

As cool as the Lead Team meeting was, it was even cooler to come back from lunch with brand new iPhones on the desks of our entire Lead Team. Someone in our church decided to be a HUGE blessing and purchase them for our Lead Team. WOW! To say we were shocked would be an understatement. I have been coveting one for a while especially since Jennifer flaunted hers in my face everyday. God is awesome even in the little things!

Oh yeah, if you a Revolution person, check out the cool things Kevin said about his visit yesterday.  I didn’t get to hook up much with them but they are planting in San Diego and I can’t wait to hear big things.

Last week I went up to Anderson, S.C. to hang out and hear Steven speak to the New Spring staff. To illustrate his point of how much he believed in New Spring, he shared with them how much it was costing to bring their entire crew down to Unleash.

So today, I added up our investement and it came in at $7500. That is taking 100 people and renting two buses to haul their butts up there. I could have probably added a bunch of other things as well, but the point is it is a HUGE investment for our church to go to Unleash AND it is worth every penny.

I have been counting down the days until Unleash and if last year was any clue, this will be a life-changing event for our people. It is only two years old, but Unleash will be the one conference we won’t miss and we will always take large groups of people to see.

• I think Revolution is unique, but we are influenced by New Spring more than other church and I want our people to see what we are doing and see it down the road. The large majority of our people have never been in church so they are clueless when I am casting vision and seeing New Spring allows them to see that God can do anything.
• It is an investment in our people. We have the greatest people in the world and we can never reapay them for all they do, but Unleash allows us to pour invest in thier lives for one day. It is our way of saying THANKS.
• It allows them to be around other churches that are crazy and think they can reach their entire towns for Christ. We are one of those crazy churches and I am glad our people get to see we aren’t the only ones.
• It allows our volunteers to get to hang out. Being portable leaves very little time for our people to get to know each other. By dumping them in a bus together, they get to know each other. You can’t put a price on that.
• It causes people to step up. Last year the large majority of our people left Unleash with a new passion and zeal for the vision we have.
• It causes people to leave. This one is just as important. Last year everyone stepped up into leadership OR they left. We were fine with both.
• It is fun!!!!

We are going to have a blast at Unleash!!!! If you want to go, there are still about 5-6 spots left, but you GOT to let us know by Monday.

Unleash is a huge financial investment for us, but one we will make every year.  Show me a leader who isn’t willing to invest in his people and I will show you a leader that doesn’t have many people.

• AWESOME day today!!!!!!!!
• I was shocked at how bad losing an hour made me feel. I was DOG tired today.
• Got to get an ultrasound this week. No, I am not pregnant.
• This coming Sunday we are having what could be one of the most powerful services we have ever had! You do NOT want to miss it!
• It is still daylight!!! I love daylight savings time!!!!!!!!
• I was supposed to go to Elevation on Tuesday, but had to reschedule to some things, so now Tim and I are going to see Kid Rock Tuesday night at the Gwinnett Arena. Should be fun.
• Unleash Conference is Thursday and I can’t wait to hang out with the awesome people at Revolution. We have about 5 spots left if you want to go, all you have to do is let us know TODAY. We’re flipping the bill, all you got to do is take off work.
• Fish tank is GONE!!! Man, that thing was a lot of work just to watch fish keep dying.
• Matt Adams is redoing my blog. Can’t wait to see it!!!!! I have said it before but let me say it again: If you are looking to get a webpage done, no one is better in quality and price than Matt and Factor1Studios.
• Digging Lee’s first CD. GREAT stuff.
• This was my 6 years old take on the CD after hearing the rocking ending to track 2. “Only daddy can rock like that, but it is on Guitar Hero not for real.”
• iPhone could be coming very soon. My treo is now cracked in 3 different places.
• I am getting VERY excited about Easter Sunday. We have some VERY cool things planned to let the world know Jesus is ALIVE!!!!
• The egg drop is insane!!! The paper is running a article this week, we have cards in CRAZY places, and we have a mailer hitting next week. I think this event is going to be crazy!!! I can’t wait!!!!!!
• I am so proud of our children’s workers. Jenna has got the Planet Shaker crew rocking!!!!!!!
• We tried to go live with computerized children’s check-in today. The key word is TRIED.
• I am down to only 20 blogs I follow through bloglines now. I am in laser focus mode right now with what I allow to have my time. Some of the ones I deleted, I will still go check out from time to time, but not every day anymore. About 10 of them are leadership ones, the other 10 are my close friends in ministry that I want to keep close contact with.
• I have some VERY damaging photos of Denise that if she gets out of line, I will post here on this blog.
• Jim Carpenter from Compass in Athens was in services today. That dude makes me laugh.
• Can you believe Easter is only TWO weeks away?????
• I also got a copy of the new song from Swift.  He has been in the studio and the song is tight.  We’ll be busting it out in church soon.
• Hung out at the salon today (yes, I go to a salon ) with some of my favorite people. I love the people from Goshen Valley Boys Ranch. They have all been in full time church ministry before so I just feel like I can be myself around them and they understand.
• First service was a GHOST town today.
• I have lost 11 pounds. Considering I was disabled last week, I am happy with that.
• I got about 7 sermon series ideas for our May series, but can’t get peace about which direction to go. I have never cut it this close before.
• I value your prayers right now on some decisions I need to make. I just need some peace and clarity on a few things I am thinking about doing.
• When is it going to warm up?
• I’m out.

• DON’T FORGET TO SET YOUR CLOCKS ONE HOUR AHEAD SATURDAY BEFORE GOING TO BED!!!!
• As of today I have been blogging three years.  I would have never imagined I would have kept with it when I started.
• If you are a regular at Revolution go check out this post from Perry on when to pray for your pastor. Good stuff.
• I am praying through a BIG decision. Steven and Perry threw something at me yesterday about a leadership decision I should make that I did NOT see coming! I couldn’t sleep last night pondering what it could do for Revolution.
• Sunday is going to be awesome! The music is off the hook and I am very excited about the message and what we will be talking about!

Today I left the office at 6:30 a.m. and drove up with our Lead Team to Anderson, S.C. to hang out at New Spring.  They had their monthly all-staff meeting and Perry invited us up to hang out.  Steven was teaching to the staff today and it was insane!  It spoke to me on so many levels that I am still processing it all.

After the staff meeting, we had a meeting about some upcoming things and than I sat in an office with Perry and Steven for around 4 hours just talking, listening, and processing everything I was hearing.  I wish I could have recorded some of the things we talked about where others could hear the leadership lessons that were being discussed.  I got to vent about some things, I got to hear those guys vent, I got to hear about what was working and what wasn’t working, I got advice, and I sat there the whole time thanking God for the favor He was showing me to be in the room and to learn from two of the sharpest pastors in the church today.  I would have paid big money to sit at that table, yet I got to do it because God has connected me with both of those men and they believe in me and they believe in REVOLUTION.  It was simply awesome.

As we got up to leave we all looked at each other and wondered who we should bill because it was better than any therapy session we have ever been part of.

I got the office at 6 this morning, read the bible, listened to Andy Stanley’s talk at Catalyst last year, and enjoyed the quiet.  Once 8:30 hit, the office was ANYTHING but quiet.  Tuesday is the day our entire staff is in the office and it is a mad house!

The first Tuesday of the month we have all staff meeting and today was just very productive.  We have the first budget in the history of our church!!!!!!  It took us 3 1/2 years to get it together and I believe it is going to PAINFUL to adjust at first, but it feels so freeing to actually have some focused guidelines on how we operate.  Jennifer has done a bang up job getting things ready for us to implement this.

I loved hearing the staff share stories of people and life change happening.  THAT is why we do Revolution.  I shared my heart on some things and there was just a good vibe.  After lunch we had an all-staff meeting about our Easter Egg Drop and I am so impressed with Jennifer Popp and Preston.  They have done a great job getting this thing together and today I felt good knowing this thing is going to work.

I ended the day by doing monthly reviews with the entire staff.  They were short and took about 10 minutes, but it was just great to hang out one on one with our team and hear what God is doing in their lives.  I love our team.

Lots of BIG things planned in every area.  This was Thad’s second day and I am excited about the dude.  I just like him.  We talked a lot about youth today and he informed that things are clicking along at rapid speed and he is ready for an UPRISING….. (you’ll have to continue to wait, but trust me that BIG things are coming SOON.)

I love days like today!

Thanks for all the emails.  I am alive and I am doing somewhat better.  I’m a little sore but the medicine seems to helping.  Though it is a little weird, I do appreciate all the emails checking on me.

BTW, it is VERY interesting to see all the different names everyone has for that area as they are emailing to ask me how I’m doing.  Very interesting and quite disturbing in some cases.