I can’t remember where I first heard about Hal Mayer, but I am pretty sure it was in a coaching network I was in.  Someone was talking about this church in Tampa that was blowing the doors off.  I came home, checked out their webpage and put it on my “cool churches” bookmark and I would check in from time to time to see what they were doing.

I then attended a coaching network for about 2 months in Tampa before realizing it wasn’t my cup of tea, but one of the reasons I joined was I wanted to take the opportunity to met Hal while I was in Tampa.  I never made that happen, but about that time the cat started blogging and I was loving what he was saying and communicating to his church.  The dude is sharp and has a great preachers voice.

When I cut my blogs down to below 20, he made was one of the guys who made the cut.  Hal is the Lead Pastor at Church At The Bay and is getting it done.  They are blowing the doors off in a portable setting and he has a huge heart for church planters which is always a plus to me.  I love guys who are willing to learn from others and return that knowledge to others.

When I started Twittering, Hal was one of the first guys to start following me and he made the comment that he loved my blog!  Here is a guy I have been hearing all about and I follow and it turns out he is reading my blog!  I thought that rocked!  Today, we communicated and he is coming to hang out with Revolution Sunday, June 22nd.  This is going to be an awesome Sunday because one of my best friends, Greg Rohlinger is teaching for us in our One Prayer series.  I plan on learning a lot that weekend hanging with these two guys!

I am sure many of you already know who Hal is, but if not put him on your radar because the dude is getting it done!

Earlier today I was talking to Brian Bloye, Lead Pastor of West Ridge Church in Dallas, Ga.  As most of you know they are the church that started Revolution and since starting us they have taken church planting to another level.  They have a church planting school and have started a network called Net 35 (yeah the webpage sucks, don’t hold that against them) and they are getting it done in the area of church planting.  Anyway, I said all that to say this:  Since they planted us in the fall of 2004, they have planted 18 churches totaling 10,800 in attendance!!!!  That freaking blows my mind!  I have always felt like we are the black sheep of the churches they plant, but THOSE numbers are why we are active financially in partnering with what they are doing.  Those numbers blow my mind!!!

If you are looking to plant a church, I would recommend HIGHLY that you look into what they are doing and if you can make it to the school, I would do it.

BTW, he probably doesn’t want me to let people know this yet BUT that never stopped me before. :)  Brian has a blog now and told me today that he will be starting to blog regularly on Monday.  Subscribe to it because the dude is a sharp leader.  You can check it out here.

Got a contact today from a church wanting to know if I was interested in being a candidate to be their new pastor (I’m not interested). It was in a pretty rural area in the south Georgia area and while they seemed like great guys, I am not very sure why they contacted me? I would run half the church off the first Sunday and the other half would be ready to run me off.

Here is the part that mad me laugh. They are running around 100 people in attendance (nothing wrong with that) but when I looked over their qualifications I found out you had to have a seminary degree AND have lead a church of over 500 for 4 years. I guess they didn’t realize it, but that disqualified me.

I’ve never been to seminary or much college for that matter. Crap, I barely graduated High School and Revolution is only 3 1/2 years old and we didn’t hit 500 until around our 2nd year so I haven’t pastored a church of 500 for 4 years

Nice people, but I think they might have their expectations a little high.

As we continue to grow as a church, we are always looking for the RIGHT people to bring onto our team and we always do our best to bring those people on staff from within the walls of Revolution.  Also as we continue to grow the need for our Monday-Thursday to match what we do on Sunday becomes more important.  We have made several additions to our team over the last few months that allows us to function in a more structured way.  The changes have been huge!

The latest addition to our team will be a part-time financial assistant.  If you are experienced with numbers, finances, and organization this might be the gig for you.

Below is a job description:

Title: Financial Assistant

10 hrs/week - as we continue to grow this will transition into a full-time position

Responsibilities:

Manage The Giving Database
- Balance Revolution accounts weekly
- Make weekly deposits
- Send out quarterly giving statements

Manage the monthly budget database
- pay bills due weekly
- track individual ministry budgets
- track all purchase orders and check requests
- manage bi-monthly payroll

Experience:
We’re looking for a creative, sharp person with business, financial, and organizational
experience. Experience in accounting is a must.

Qualifications:

• Born again Christ-follower (if married, same applies for spouse)
• Active Attender at Revolution (if married, same applies for spouse)
• Member of Revolution Church (if married, same applies for spouse)
• Actively serving in ministry of Revolution Church (if married, same applies for spouse)
• Tither (if married, same applies for spouse)

We are now accepting resumes.  If you are interested in working on the awesome team at Revolution, send your resume to Tim May at tim@therevolution.tv.

I love church planting and I love church planters. I am always looking for guys who inspire me, who are getting it done, and guys I would like to meet. I am always keeping a list of guys that are on my radar, especially guys I have just recently been turned on to.

I have a ton of planters who read this blog so I thought I would start pointing guys out to you that I have recently discovered. You might already know most of these guys, but I’ll share them with you in case you don’t.

A guy I have been checking out lately is Cole Phillips, who is the church planter at Connection Church. I know very little about their church story, but what I have been reading seems very cool. It truly sounds like they are getting it done and they have a huge heart for church planters. Cole has started something called Launching Churches and I wish I would have thought of it.

He might be the BALDEST dude I have ever seen. He doesn’t look like he has a drop of hair anywhere on him, but the information he is putting out on is good stuff. If you are a church planter, church leader, or just looking for some good stuff to read, put this cat on your list of guys to read.

We got a ton of stuff going on at Revolution right now so I thought I would give you the 411 on all that is happening over the next few weeks:

• THIS Sunday, May 18th - We are wrapping up our Prison Break series by talking about Breaking Free From Religion.  I have loved this series and the feedback has been off the hook!  This week we are closing it in style.  You don’t want to miss Sunday!
• Sunday, May 25th - Annual Tailgating Service.  Every year on Memorial Day weekend we party outside!  We’ll combine services and have a time of worship, baptisms, baby dedications, inflatable games for the kids, the grill will be fired up, and you’ll get to hang with the awesome people of Revolution!
• Baptisms - During our tailgating service on May 25th we will be giving you the opportunity to let the world know you’ve entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Baptism is the first step in obedience in following Christ and is our way of letting the world know about the decision we have made.  Contact Preston at preston@therevolution.tv to sign up.
• Baby Dedications - On May 25th we will also be doing baby dedications.  If you would like to bring your child before the church and allow us to pray for you as parents to raise them in a Godly way, we would love to do it!  Contact Preston to sign-up!
• Partnership Class - Take the next step in partnering with the vision of Revolution Church on Friday, May 30th.  During this class we will tell you the history, vision and expectations expected of those who call Revolution home.  We’ll serve you dinner so all you got to do is show up.  Class starts at 6:30 and is being held this time at the ROCK BARN next to Cherokee High School.  We will not have childcare.  Contact Preston to sign-up.
• Sunday, June 1st is going to be one of those CAN’T miss services.  We are going to rejoice in all that God has done at Revolution Church and I am going to share with you some very COOL news about the future of Revolution.  This one is going to be BIG!
• Sunday, June 6th we are joining with over 700 churches across the country for a teaching series called One Prayer.  During this series we are going to be showing some of the greatest teachers in the country teaching their ONE prayer for the church.  It is going to be an awesome series!

• Good Sunday.  Not great, but very good.  I can’t put my finger on it because nothing was really wrong, but things just didn’t seen right.
• Very unhappy with my message.  I could never get in sync but I had some good feedback and I honestly believe some people learned how to let go of their unforgiveness for the first time in their life.
• We were low today in attendance.  We always have a drop on Mother’s day.  I joke that all of our young former hell-raisers take mother’s day to make mom happy and go to church with her.
• I hate that we drop in attendance but they always return the next week appreciating Revolution.
• Kyle O’Neal lead worship for us today.  The dude has a great rocker voice.  He did a good job.
• Confession:  Using different worship leaders has been an adjustment for me.  I think Tim and Thad are as good as any guys around.  Problem is they are such GREAT leaders that we are holding them back by just allowing them to lead worship.  Tim has moved into our executive role and Thad has taken over our family ministries and they are knocking it out of the park!
• Our set-up team is full of nothing but FREAKS.  They literally set-up in the middle of POURING rain, lighting and tornado warnings this morning.  I heard they had AWESOME attitudes and they made it happen.  You guys rock!
• Met Jill’s parents (thad’s wife).  They seemed normal so that gives me hope for Jill. :)  I was afraid they were going to slap me for moving their daughter away but they didn’t
• Diana’s video today about forgiving Ray was POWERFUL.  I love that family!
• I think I have all of Revolution Church twittering.
• I’m trying to work it out where Revolution sponsors the main stage at Relay for Life next year.  We would run sound, lights, and get the music taken care of.  I am trusting Tory to make that happen since she has the pull.
• We had a young teenager get violent with his mom this week.  I had a little talk with him this morning….
• AC wasn’t working today.  It was so freaking hot that I honestly thought I was going to pass out.
• I said the phrase Hot as Hell today and this couple left angry saying I should be put in jail.  Huh?
• I have to be in Gwinnett County at 9 in the morning for a meeting.  NOT cool.
• I will leave the house about 6.
• Pray for Preston’s mom.  She had a heart attack today.  She is fine but pray for God to do some cool things through this.  I love the Porter family.
• Baptisms in two weeks!
• Baby dedications in two weeks!
• MUST ministries has a shortage of food right now so in two weeks we are going to load them up with can goods.  Bring your stuff to the tail-gating service
• Breaking Free From Religion is this Sunday.  If you want to share you story on video about how God has used Revolution to bring you out of religion and into a relationship with Jesus Christ, e-mail Preston at preston@therevolution.tv
• Love reading The Magic Tree House books to Ashlyn.  GREAT way to teach her history.
• Adam and Jenna are on vacation this week.  They deserve it!
• Get to see some plans this week in regards to our big announcement on June 1st!  Very pumped about that.
• Excited about One Prayer in July.
• Ready for next Sunday already!

Michael had a good post the other day about the need for pastors needing others pastors who are preaching truth into their lives.  You can read it here.  I couldn’t agree more.  As a pastor, I never get the opportunity to sit in a church service and listen to other pastors because obviously I am teaching.  I have learned as a leader and a pastor it is vitally important for me to listen to teaching and I can tell a huge difference in my spiritual life when I am not taking the time to listen to other preachers.  Podcasts are a God-send in my book because it allows me to listen to some of the greatest communicators in the world and listen to them when I have time.

Right now here who is speaking to me (I listen to several others but right now these are the guys who I don’t miss):

Perry Noble - I think he is the preacher of choice in our office.  At one time or another I walk through the office and everyone in the office is listening to Perry during the week.  I think he is one of the greatest leaders I have ever been around and I consider him a friend, a mentor, and I consider him my pastor.  BTW, Perry will be teaching for us during our One Prayer series via video.  Can’t wait!

Ed Young Jr. - There are times when I connect with Ed more than others through his teaching.  Right now, I am connecting BIG TIME.  Revolution Church would NOT exist if not for Ed Young Jr.  I have never met him, but I started Revolution after seeing what God was doing through him.

Brian Houston - Brian is the pastor of Hillsong Church in Australia.  Hillsong is probably more known for the worship than they are their preaching and that is why I started listening to Brian.  I wanted to hear a guy who was so secure in his calling that he could have a church that was known more for worship than his leadership.  Here is the deal:  THE DUDE CAN PREACH.  I am enjoying him big time right now.

TD Jakes - The BEST communicator in the church today if you ask me.  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE this dude.  He makes me want to be an overweight black dude.  Man, he could preach the phone book and I would listen.  Right now he is the first sermon I listen to every week.  You have to pay for TD’s podcast and I think that is pretty lame but it is worth it so I do it.

I also listen to Steven Furtick, Greg Rohlinger, Craig Groschel, Eddie Cox, and a couple of old school guys that would actually shock you on a very regular basis.

Holy Smokes, tomorrow is going to be an awesome Sunday!  We are continuing our Prison Break series and we are hitting on a subject that hits EVERY one at one time or another.  We are going to be talking about breaking free from unforgiveness and I pumped about the service we have planned.

It is amazing the amount of people I meet who hold onto bitterness and unforgiveness for literally years and it is even more amazing how much it affects  them without them realizing it!

Kyle O’Neal is leading worship in the morning and I am excited about hearing him bring it and I am big time pumped about sharing what God has shown me on the subject of unforgiveness.

Invite a friend and I’ll see ya on the morning!

God is doing some amazing things across America in terms of church planting.  I love to keep up with stories of guys who have started with nothing and now are knocking it out of the park.  It also seems that it is the same people you hear about all the time.  Don’t get me wrong I love hearing about God moving in around these guys, but I want to learn about those guys have have started churches that have grown and are truly impacting their communities and no one has heard of them.

I’ve got some guys like that I want to share with you over the next week or so, but if you know of some guys getting it done in your area, send their information to me by clicking the contact button at the top of this page, I want to learn from them.