Just saw this video from Ed Young Jr. and thought it was something every person on staff in a church staff should watch. GREAT stuff. Check it out here. Ed has been hitting betrayal hard lately and while it isn’t the most “encouraging” stuff, it is stuff every leader should hear.
I’m sitting here enjoying the evening. There is a slight breeze outside, it is overcast, and I am jamming to the new CD from Three Doors Down (it is VERY good). I am trying my best to enjoy the peacefulness of the evening before the the craziness starts.
Tomorrow, Ashlyn has her dance recital and ALL the family is coming to it and then coming to the house for dinner. That means I have to get the yard cut, help DeAnna get the house cleaned, and get ready mentally to deal with family tomorrow. 
On top of that, my mother-in-law is spending the night Saturday.
Sunday is our yearly tailgating service. We are doing church outside, baptizing a ton of people, dedicating a ton of babies, and grilling a ton of food. Ashlyn is getting baptized Sunday which is AWESOME but that means family two days in a row. I LOVE this service but it is a lot of work on a weekend when most pastors take off. Sunday night we have our monthly student service called UPrising. It is going to be off the hook!
Monday we will be up EARLY to head to Alpharetta for DeAnna to run a 10k. DeAnna is the most disciplined person I know and I love getting to go and cheer her on!
Tonight it is just chill out and that is the most awesome thing of all!
Today was just a great day! Shawn Lovejoy worked it out where I got to go eat lunch with Bill Hybels (yes THAT Bill Hybels) and I am still processing some of the stuff he said. The dude is amazing and his heart for the church is awesome. He has stood the test of time and I was honored to hook up with him. Thanks Shawn!
I also got news today that our June 1st announcement is confirmed!!! Awesome job by Tim for nailing it down!
In case you haven’t noticed, we have space issues especially in our 10:30 service. That is a GREAT problem, but is still a problem and one that needs to be solved. We have been working non-stop trying to figure out how to free space.
Here is what we have learned: Finding space is NOT easy! Canton basically was a small pit-stop town before you got the mountains about 5-7 years ago so there isn’t a lot of empty buildings. The ones that are empty have about 5 parking spaces.
I was talking to a pastor yesterday and he said, “maybe God is trying to tell you guys it is time to stop growing.” REALLY????????????????? With all due respect, I can promise you that isn’t what God is telling us. We WILL continue to do WHATEVER it takes to reach people in this community and we will do WHATEVER it takes to keep creating room for God to fill them up with more people.
I think this pastor is a great guy, but I think he is like many pastors and he is not willing to do WHATEVER it takes to reach people. There are times when the “normal” way of doing church isn’t possible and though normal would be easier, I refuse to allow people in this community to die without hearing about Jesus because we aren’t willing to work a little harder, we aren’t willing to take a risk, we aren’t willing to attempt what others say can’t be done. Time to stop growing? I don’t think so. It is just time to get more creative and keep doing what we do and that is reach those far from God.
The greatest thing about what I just wrote? I’m not the only one with that mindset. I have a team around me that would LITERALLY charge hell with a water gun if they thought more people would be reached with the Gospel. Not only do I have a great team that I get to work with, but you would hear the same response from our people! The people who make up Revolution are FREAKS. Honestly, I have never seen a group of people who are so willing to do whatever it takes even if it means they are uncomfortable and have to work a little harder.
Stop growing? There are 150,000 people in our county and around 83% of them don’t attend church on Sunday. Not growing is not an option.
Church Planting is the extreme sport of ministry and I love that we get to be part of it!!!
I heard this thought the other day but for the life of me I can’t remember where or who said it:
The last generation of pastors sacrificed their families on the altar of ministry. This generation of pastors is sacrificing the ministry on the altar of family.
I’ve been part of churches that I thought were on both sides of this quote and I have to admit this is a constant balancing act for me. I had never heard it said this way, but the thought has really stuck with me. Still processing the thought, so I thought I would share it here for no other reason than sharing it.
Just a reminder to all the freaks at Revolution that we are having only ONE service this Sunday and it is outside in the parking lot at 10:00 a.m.
Also a reminder that we want to help out MUST Ministries with their food shortage at their food pantry. They are in dire straits right now with the overload of helping people and we are going to slam their pantries with can goods and non-perishable food this Sunday. Bring your stuff with you to church and we’ll load it down trucks and take it to them to help with their shortage.
I was just sitting here looking over our preaching calendar for the next few months and I am pumped up what we have planned. We are going to be hitting on some awesome topics!
Tomorrow morning we wrap up our Prison Break series by talking about Breaking Free From Religion. I have enjoyed this series and A LOT of people have broken free from a lot of junk they carry around in their lives. Tomorrow I am going to talk to you about the Prison I was in the first few years of my life as a Christ-follower.
It is going to be a great way to wrap up the series and head into our Tailgating service which happens next Sunday!
See ya in the morning!
I am a HUGE Chick-Fil-A person. I love their attention to the small things, I love their food and I love their conviction not to be open on Sunday and the fact that they stand by it.
I saw this article today about the huge menu changes they are rolling out on Monday and thought it was another great lesson for the church in general. They are the best and yet they are making changes while everything is going great because they know eventually the changes will have to be made!
I never want Revolution to be content. Things are going GREAT right now and we are always looking for things that can be changed to make us more effective. Go check out the article and see an inside glimpse into a great company and their thought process.