Just a quick reminder that we are continuing our Beautiful series this Sunday with what I can promise will be THE sermon of the series!!  The week I am going to be talking about overcoming the guilt from your past.  As I have met with women to discuss this series, I have been blown away by how many women struggle with their past.

I am convinced the reason so many women can’t live for God’s purpose today is because they are living in yesterday.

Ladies, trust me when I say you want to be at church this Sunday and you want to bring a friend with you!

Our staff has been meeting with Tony Morgan lately as we seek to start thinking long term.  I feel God wants to be us in position to be running 10,000 by year 10 and Tony is teaching us how to think strategically and make decisions that will put us in position to fulfill the vision that I believe with all my heart God has given us.

Can I be honest?  I was much more comfortable BEFORE we started this journey with him.  To say we are being stretched would be an understatement.  We (our staff ) realize that in order to do what we feel God has called us to do that we’ve got to make some changes.  CHANGE seems to be the word in my life lately (and it has nothing to do with Obama).  In my coaching network with Perry Noble last month he said he believed every church was one major change away from explosive growth.

Change sucks.  It is painful.  It isn’t fun.  But I refuse to let the discomfort of change keep us from fulfilling the mission God has given us.  One of the the areas we are trying to change our culture is through asking questions.  We are asking the WHY behind everything we do.  We are asking what do we want to accomplish through EVERYTHING we do.  We are asking where do we want to take people once they walk through our doors.  We are asking what do we do with a person once they accept Christ.  We are asking questions, challenging each other, and talking about what has to happen to change a city.  They are tough converesations that anger me, embarass me, and leave me frustrated with how I have led Revolution Church.  Yet, they are questions that HAVE to be asked.  They are questions that must be asked. They are questions we should have been asking all along.

One thing about the process is as painful as it is, it is better because of who I am doing it with.  Some would call it a weakness but I love those who on our team at Revolution.  This sounds hardcore, but I would take a bullet for anyone on our team and I feel confident they would do the same. We don’t always see eye to eye but we are a team.  I can honestly say I have only been around a few churches where those were working there are a team.  Most churches has a staff and there is a huge difference between that and a team.  A staff is a bunch of outside hired hands, but a team is a group that has a chemistry, a shared vision, and enjoys being around each other.

Over the last year we have moved guys around on staff, brought new people on the team, and parted ways with some of the team, but I feel that our team is stronger than ever.  It isn’t perfect and there are some huge holes on our team if we want to reach 10,000 people, but it feels good to be with those who get “it.”

I sat in a meeting the other day with our team and each and everyone of them said while it is uncomfortable to be stretched that they were willing to do whatever it took, even if it mean stepping down from the team to see Revolution Church reach North Georgia. That amazes me.

I feel I am being stretched like never before, but being stretched just loosens you up to kick the devil in the freaking mouth!!!

I have had this thought for a while and was just curious what others thought about it.

One of the negative aspects of working for a church is it is a very rare thing for you to actually get to attend church.  What I mean by that is I am working on Sunday mornings. Our staff is working on Sunday mornings.  It is our calling and we understand that, but the fact is I can’t remember the last time I sat in a church service and listened to a sermon. I can’t remember the last time I listened to worship without thinking about the fact that I am about to get up and teaching. Even on Sundays when I’m not teaching, I’m still the leader of the church and I am thinking of a million things. It is just part of the job and that is life.

Another aspect that most church staff people miss out on Sundays is the ability to enjoy fellowship and just hanging out with the people who attend church.  Don’t get me wrong, I talke to people, hear about their weeks, love the people I get to see, but at the end of the day I am still the pastor and my mind is not focused 100% on enjoying the relationships I get to be part of.

So I had this thought:  What if church planters, pastors, church staff, etc. had a place they could attend (possibly once a quarter) and just enjoy church with others who understand what is like to be in full-time ministry, they could hang out with other leaders, enjoy the company, listen to a sermon that is relevant to where they are in life, participate in some great worship WITHOUT having to be “on.”

I am thinking of Revolution hosting such a service on a Sunday night in the near future. We’ll host the event, provide worship, provide childcare, and provide a speaker.  All Church leaders would have to do is show up and enjoy a service without them being involved in making it happen. It could rotate venues quarterly or we could simpy host it since we have a place and most church plants don’t.  The next quarter another church plant could provide child care, worship and a message and we could just host it.

It think it would be great for several reasons:

• Networking
• Sharing Victories
• Worshiping together without the pressure of being ON
• Listening to a message from a church leader who knows where you are in life, is going through the same things, and is relevant to you
• We could even do a panel discussion a certain topic at the end but I tend to say let’s just have a worship service together

Anyway, it is nothing but a thought in my head but I would love to hear your thoughts on it. As a church leader do you see a need for this?  Would you attend something like this? Is it just stupid and I shouldn’t worry about it?

Just curious…..

Seems odd that it is October yet Chistmas music is playing in the office, but it is. We are about to go into a meeting and begin the planning process for our December series.  Last year we set the bar very high and this year we aren’t backing down from that standard.

We have ONE goal for our Christmas series: Make Jesus Famous By Loving Our Community.

We’ve got some good ideas so far for the series, but not good enough.  Revolution does a very good job of making a difference in Canton and Holly Springs. There are ways that Revolution is being the church to people that you’ll probably never even hear about, but make no mistake that our heart beats for this community.

So what is our Christmas series this year? You’ll have to wait a few more weeks, but trust me you’ll love it.

It’ll start Sunday, December 7th and we’ll wrap it up with somewhere around 5 Christmas Eve services on December 24th!!!!

I can’t wait!!!!!

Just thought there was some great stuff out in the blog world worth passing along.

• If you are thinking you might be called to plant a church, go read this short post by JR Lee. GREAT Stuff.
• Pastor, you got to much invested to screw it up. Steven Furtick reminds of what is stake here.
• Perry NAILS it with this post on what people really mean.
• Ben Arment was on target with this post about the Pastor’s Burden.
• Vince has some great thoughts on Rules For Start-ups. Check it here.

• GREAT Sunday. Have I mentioned I love Sundays?
• Felt like I presented way to much information today. Knew it was to much all week long and still didn’t change it.
• From the comments from the ladies, it still connected as they saw how God sees them for the first time.
• Amy Winkle did a great job leading worship at Canton.
• Thad had Holly Springs rocking.
• LOTS of new toys at Holly Springs today.
• GREAT meeting with our Holly Springs Campus tonight. That campus is averaging about 150 and after 6 weeks that is good, but we are about to take it to a WHOLE NOTHA LEVEL!
• We are learning so much about having multiple campuses.  It has stretched like never before BUT I believe in it and am more sold out to it than ever before.
• It does appear that our Holly Springs Campus has turned into the safer of our campuses. TRUST ME when I say I’m about to stir that pot in a HUGE ways.
• Love that there are a ton of pastors doing “drive bys” at our Holly Spring Campus on Sunday mornings. Give me a freaking break!
• This coming Sunday will be the most important message we do in our BEAUTIFUL series. I am going to be talking to the ladies about overcoming guilt. GET YOUR FRIENDS TO CHURCH THIS SUNDAY!!!!
• I got an audible coming up in a few weeks. I feel like I have a message from God that is burning in my bones.
• Our November series is called “Be Careful What You Ask For…” YOU picked the topics and we are going to be talking about about alcohol, sex, the end times, divorce, and racism. This is the series you designed and I can’t wait to talk about these subjects and show you God’s Word says.
• My Dawgs looked decent against UT yesterday, but not good enough to make me happy.
• God is really stretching me on some key things.
• The word I keep hearing over and over in my head is LEADERSHIP.
• There is going to be a day when Revolution church is running 10,000 people. I know that sounds very cocky and I’m okay with that. Just wait.
• Tony Morgan is coming to hang out in the morning. Looking forward to him stretching our staff and stretching me.
• Perry Noble said in our last coaching meeting that he thinks most churches are one major change from doubling in size. That has me messed up.
• We just turned 4 years old as a church and I think we are in a critical time as a church. God has done amazing things, but I believe He wants to do more.
• I feel like I’m growing up in a lot of ways. Look forward to seeing what God is going to do through me in this time of growth.
• Got the opportunity to teach at the West Ridge School of Church Planting yesterday.  Had a blast. I have a love/hate relationship with church planters. I’m convinced 90% of the ones I meet are NOT called to plant a church, but it is worth it when you meet that 10% that are. Out of 14 churches there yesterday, I was semi-impressed with 3 of them. It was worth it for those 3.
• Crepes at Canton today were off the hook!!!!! Man, they did a great job!
• They will be making them at Holly Springs this coming Sunday.
• Would you pray for me? I know that sounds odd to throw in there, but I feel like I need some people praying for me right now.
• Had a very good meeting tonight with Preston and a very good meeting with Tim. Love those guys.
• I drank a rockstar VERY late tonight and I think it is going to keep me up all night.
• Adam and Jenna are on vacation this week. Hope they have a blast.
• Crap, just realized Taylor is on vacation too. Who is going to keep me organized?
• Coaching network with Perry this week. Yeah, come on!
• Well, got to get some dinner. So, I’m out.

The Catalyst Conference is happening right now. Due to the fact that I’ve been gone A LOT the last few weeks, that we are just swamped right now, the fact that I am so ADD that I get bored about 2 minutes into a conference, and that I’m not a big fan of large crowds, we decided to pass on Catalyst this year.

However, yesterday we decided to head over to the conference real quick because Pastor Steven Furtick was teaching. Pastor Furtick serves on our Board of Oversers and I felt it was a matter of respect and honor to be there to hear him speak on such an awesome platform. I’m glad we went.

Here were some of the highlights of my 1/2 day at Catalyst:

• I saw a TON of old friends. Catalyst truly is THE place where my generation of church leaders goes.
• Worshiping with 12,000 people was amazing and stretched my vision for a day in the life of Revolution when all our campuses will come together and worship like that.
• Got to hear Seth Godin.  He writes the #1 business blog out so that was cool. Gave a very interesting talk about TRIBES. Still processing it.
• Got to see Steven Furtick bring the heat and get a standing ovation. It was a cool feeling to see someone you know, someone you are friends with, and someone who is such a key part of Revolution up on the stage doing his thing. Very cool moment.
• Got to hear Craig Groeschel talk about “it.” GREAT talk.
• Was blown away and humbled by the amount of people who came up to me to thank me and introduce themselves because they read my blog.
• Go to go and party with the crew from Elevation Church at a after party they threw for Pastor Furtick. Cool to watch him interact with his people.
• Thought it was funny how many people were twittering that they thought I was wrong to walk into Catalyst without a ticket. FOR THE RECORD:  I did show up without a ticket. I did walk in without a ticket. BUT I had a ticket within 3 minutes of walking in. I would never show up at a place like that without paying so chill out.  I actually had SEVERAL tickets within a few minutes.
• After the after-party I got to go hang out with Jeff Kapusta and his staff for dinner. Highlight of the night for me was finally meeting his team and getting to share with a couple of them what a God-Thing it is that is happening at LifePoint.

A half day is all I could handle or had time for but it was a good time. Catalyst does it RIGHT. They are influencing THOUSANDS of church leaders all over the world and it is truly amazing what God is doing through those guys.

One of the things that makes me the most proud about pastoring Revolution Church is the way in which we have been able to be generous to others.  We’ve never really had core values written out like a lot of other churches, I just figured the things we actually do would determine what our values were.

4 years in I’m glad to say that generous giving is one of those values.  Contrary to what other churches in the area love to say about us, we aren’t a church that has a lot of excess money. Now don’t get me wrong, God has blessed us and I don’t feel the need to let our people know we need a “good offering” every week like I see many other pastors do. Our people give financially to the vision God has given us and God takes that and stretches it in order for us to do what He has called us to do.

I said all that to say this:  Many times those of you who make up Revolution don’t even get to see how your giving blesses others.  Because of your faithfullness to give back to God we’ve not only been able to further the vision of Revolution, but we’ve been able to partner with other great people and great causes to impact areas outside of North Georgia.

In a time where people are stressing over finances more than ever, I want to show you some ways we’ve been able to bless others in the last few months.

• This past week we were able to give the soundboard we had when we started Revolution to another church!  It was a very good soundboard and the church plant in Chattanooga actually drove down to buy it from us. As I thought about selling it to them, I felt convicted. Because of your generous giving we’ve been able to always take care of equipment needs and wants. Because of your generosity we were able to invest in a church plant where I had never (and still haven’t) met the guys. Thank you!
• Because of your generous giving, we were able to give away the red dually to a church plant in downtown Atlanta. Again, we tried to sell it over and over. The day we had someone ready to buy it, I heard about a church that needed it.  It was a great feeling to make the phone call and tell this planter who I believe in to come and get The Beast.
• Because of your generous giving, we are able to send out our graphics and videos EVERY week to church plants across the United States.  We’ve invested a lot of finances in those because we feel it is important, but once we are done with them, it is AWESOME to get to send them to churches that couldn’t afford to have them made for free.
• Because of your generous giving we are able to hear about Vince Antonucci feeling called to plant a church ON The Strip in Las Vegas and INSTANTLY decide we wanted to partner financially with him. He sent me a bunch of junk in the mail this week and I instantly threw it in a file cabinet (it was too nice to throw away) because we’ve already made up our minds to start supporting him January 1st. In a day and time where churches are dropping missions because of finances, we are stepping out on faith to take more on.

I could go on and on. Those are things outside of North Georgia that we are able to do because of your genorisity and being obedient to God with your finances. It doesn’t even include the fact that we were able to launch our Holly Springs Campus WITHOUT any type of big offering, capital campaign, or loan.

If you don’t attend Revolution, please don’t take this post as me bragging….well, yes do take it that way. I’m bragging on the awesomeness of our people.

If you do attend Revolution, let me say THANK YOU. Thank you for being a church that understands generosity and puts us in a position to be generous to others.

BTW, wait to you see what we planned in December for generosity. We’re taking it to a WHOLE NOTHA LEVEL!

CONFESSION:  I was a little freaked out when I felt God wanted us to do a series for the women of Revolution. I can talk to dudes all day long, I have no problem smacking them around, and telling them to get their crap together. Matter of fact, I actually like it.

I was a nervous wreck last Saturday knowing we were about to start this series.

Needless to say, my fears were quickly put to rest!!! It was AWESOME to see God move at both of our campuses on Sunday. To say we hit a nerve would be an understatement!!! I was blown away by the way the women of Revolution stepped up and got their friends to church. We were SLAMMED with first time guest this past Sunday. It was awesome.

This week the fun continues!!!  Ladies, you want to get to church early and you want to bring your friends with you this week. At our Canton campus we will have a Crepe Chef there making custom Crepes for you (Don’t worry Holly Springs, he will be at your campus next week) and at our Holly Springs campus we will have a huge spread of fruit and pastries for YOU to snack on.

The band is pulling out the stops with some more “chick” music which ought to get you a little rowdy!!! I was shocked how hard the women of Revolution rock! You guys were rocking it on Sunday!

On top of all that, I have a message I am dying to teach. We are going to be looking at Proverbs 31 this week and I am going to show the women of Revolution Church how God sees you. Most preachers, I have heard use this part of Scripture to guilt women into doing certain things, yet I see it totally different. I see Proverbs 31 as God letting women know how He sees them and how awesome they are.  I can’t wait to share with you the message God has laid on my heart.

Ladies, this series is for you!!! I’ve been overwhelmed by the feedback we have gotten this week from so many of you. I appreciate you sharing with us how God is working in your lives!!! I can’t wait to see all of you Sunday!!

BTW, if you want to get a headstart on Sunday, take some time out this week and go read Proverbs 31. We’ll be hanging out there on Sunday.

Just wanted to give a quick shout out to Matt Adams and the gang at Factor 1 Studios for the new blog look.  We’ve been using Factor 1 for a couple of years now and we love the work they do, their attitudes, the quickness in which they work, and they are very competitve with their pricing.

On top of doing my blog, they have done our last two web designs. Their latest redesing of TheRevolution.tv is my favorite site we’ve had (and we’ve had a ton).

If you are looking for a website, give these guys a call.