By NO means is Revolution the perfect church and by NO means am I the perfect pastor. In fact, I could write a book on how not to pastor a church. I have made so many stupid decisions since starting Revolution that I can’t believe she still exists. It is only by the grace of God and the willingness of our people to allow me to grow as a leader that we are still around.

There are a million things we could have done better and could do better now, but there is one area we excel in at Revolution and that is in the area of reaching UNCHURCHED people.  I don’t mean to sound cocky or arrogant but the fact of the matter is Revolution does a GREAT job of reaching people who are far from God. This was never more clear to me as we were building out Holly Springs campus. There was a day when I looked around the building and EVERYONE in the building working was unchurched prior to coming to Revolution. The room was full of addicts, ex-cons, and just people who previously had no interest in God or church.

I find this be awesome.  I mean we started Revolution Church to reach those far from God, yet when our critics start criticizing this is the fact they love to bring up.  I have learned not to pay attention to the naysayers, but as I sat here tonight I started thinking of all the myths there are about churches that are truly reaching lost people.  I actually laugh out loud at many of them due to the sheer lack of ignorance of those who are doing the criticizing.

Over the next couple of weeks, I’m going to shatter some of the myths I hear about churches that are focused on reaching truly unchurched people.  It should be fun.

Some of the myths I want to talk about are:

• You have to water down your message to reach unchurched people
• You can’t have any standards when it comes to leadership
• You can’t talk about money
• It’s all about entrainment
• It’s all about numbers
• We hate Christians
• It’s all about building my (or whoever the pastor is) own kingdom
• Plus a few more I’ll probably think of as I start writing

Since I am now a multi-site expert of ONE week (that is called sarcasm), I thought I would give you some things we learned after just one week.

• Multi-site works. I know that isn’t earth shattering news BUT I think everyone who launches their first site wonders all the way up to the first service if it will truly work in their context. I’m glad to say it does.
• Video Teaching works. The video teaching was not an issue at all.  We will be tweaking the video and trying to make me around 6 1/2-7 ft tall instead of 10 ft tall, but it does work and works well. I loved hearing people who were a little skeptical of the teaching talk about how quickly they forgot it was video.
• Each campus MUST keep our DNA but must be allowed to be flexible enough to do whatever it takes to each their community. Vision, Teaching, Rocking Music, and Awesome Kids ministry are not open for discussion. However, you must create a vibe to let that campus know they aren’t just a overflow service.
• Campus Host is important. We figured we would just send a different Lead Team staff member to our Holly Springs campus every week to lead. After one week and me being there 10 minutes, we decided this wasn’t a good idea. People will listen to video teaching and buy into vision coming off the video screen, but they have to know their is a leader their who sets the standard, who to turn to with questions, and who guards the vision. After about 2 seconds of discussion we decided that Preston will become the Campus Host in Holly Springs.
• Leadership Development is a MUST - At one campus the staff can cover up a lot of mistakes and make things happen. At 2 campuses those holes become very obvious and can’t be covered up.
• Launch is the easy part.  Anyone can launch a second campus, keeping it going week after week is a whole nutha monster.  I’m reminding myself how we launched Revolution and plan on putting those principles into play at our second campus.
• You must be willing to learn. This applies not only to the staff, but volunteers as well. As a staff we are always seeking to grow and realize we don’t know it all. The volunteers who will make it and step up as leaders are the ones who are willing to grow and learn. If you think you know it all, you won’t make it.
• Be Flexible - We had a lot of ideas we thought would work, but didn’t. We can be hardcore and not budge or we can be flexible and make changes to reach people.

I’m sure I’m missing some stuff, but those are my thoughts after ONE service. I’m pumped about what God is doing and what He has in store for us at BOTH campuses.

Dang you people are impatient!!!! I’ve been spending the afternoon with my family after a crazy two weeks and you’ve lit my inbox up! I guess it is good to be loved…or hated.

• Historic Day at Revolution!!!!
• Yes, we finally launched Holly Springs!!
• I don’t have exact numbers but we had around 225 people at our first Holly Springs service.
• The amazing thing is our attendance from the looks of things was “normal” at our Canton campus.
• That is a 20% attendance increase in one week!!!!
• It is funny how crazy pastor’s expectations are because people keep asking me if I am disappointed.  No, we are not.
• Would we have loved more??  OF COURSE!!!!!!  We always want to reach more people but considering the craziness of this week and our lack of marketing, we’ll take that as a launch team ANY DAY!!!
• We learned a lot through this experience.
• We learned that when your mailers go out 10 days before launch that isn’t good.  The post office messed up and sent our mailers WAY early but that is life!
• We learned that we will NEVER try a build-out in 90 days!!!
• We learned that we as a staff dropped the ball becoming so distracted with getting this project done.  Next time, we will hire a General Contractor and let him go at it.
• We learned you CAN build a church with volunteers BUT you have to give yourself WAY more time because they have this amazing thing called LIFE happening.
• We learned that video WORKS!!!!!!!!!!
• We learned to test the AC before your first service. Yes, the one thing we contracted out was the AC and it didn’t work. THAT WILL BE FIXED THIS WEEK!!
• We learned that we have a lot to learn!!!!!
• We learned that when you follow God, it is always awesome!!!!!!!!!
• Multi-site works. It is a lot of work and we have a lot of tweaking to do but this site is going to blow up!!!!
• I am so proud of our staff.  They went above and beyond. I saw us step in areas that I didn’t know was possible and I saw us show flaws in areas that I didn’t know exist. Both are good because the strengths can be built on and the weaknesses can be improved.
• This morning was CRAZY. In the hustle and bustle of everything we forgot to the move the U-Haul with all of our children’s stuff. When we went to move it, it would not crank. Nice. We got it there about 1 hour late. Stressful.
• Getting that area set up was a beautiful picture of teamwork. Our band and sound crew actually left their run through and unloaded the truck where our team could get a jump on getting set-up.
• Mitchell and Theresa Harris MADE the set-up in kid’s area and children’s area HAPPEN!  They stepped up big time and took charge!  Proud of them for showing leadership like that!!!
• Here are a few pictures of our Holly Springs service.
• I made it to the end of our second service in Holly Springs and I loved what I saw!!!!!!!!!!
• Did I mention the air didn’t work and the building was about 89 degrees????
• I preached one of the hardest messages of my life. If I sounded mad, I was. I am sick of men being wimps and not leading their families.
• It took us ONE Sunday for our first family to walk out of a Holly Springs service.
• I’m disappointed in myself for allowing our team to get so distracted with launching Holly Springs. We’ve got to do a better job of equipping people to lead.
• Music was rocking at both campuses today!!!!
• YES, I know the music was ear splitting at Canton. We have a brand new digital board and it is still in the tweaking process. Be patient and grab some ear plugs on the way in.
• I think there was a church there scouting out Thad today. Some couple walked in and started filming our worship. When I was walking up to preach, they walked out. It was weird.
• How bout them Dawgs??? Looked great yesterday.
• This week we got South Carolina and I can’t wait!!!
• Looking forward to things getting back to normal this week. We have to refocus on reaching people and not on buildings.
• Andy Highsmith has been helping us with sound lately and I got to tell you, I like the guy. He makes me laugh and KNOWS what he is doing. We’ve got some great volunteers in that area but they are all very new at mixing so I’m looking forward to have Andy and my friend Scott King working with them to take them to the next level.
• My fantasy team’s stunk today. I mean stunk.
• I am watching some show about people trying to get through a hole in the wall. It is stupid.
• BLOWN away by the pastor friends God has sent in my life. I got so many emails and phone calls today from guys letting me know they were praying for me.
• Turns out I have a bunch of pastor friends who have my back when they feel we are attacked too. That is good to know.
• Next week, I am talking about sex. One of my favorite subjects
• I’m ready to launch a 3rd campus!!!!!!!!!
• Will Henderson was hanging around today. The dude is from Australia and hanging out in America for a year to learn all he can before going back and planting a church. I have only met him a few times but I dig the dude. Looking forward to getting to know him.
• Thinking through some structure issues. I see some restructuring of how our org chart looks coming up, but not sure what that means.
• Back to eating right and riding my bike in the morning. I haven’t ridden in three weeks due to Holly Springs but I’m up and at it in the morning.
• I am so freaking tired but can’t sleep because I’m so jacked about today.
• Before riding, I’m sleeping LATE as possible!!!!!!!
• PUMPED ABOUT REVOLUTION STUDENTS KICKING OFF IN TWO WEEKS!!!!!!!!! Contact Michael for details!!!!
• I love having Michael and Linda around. Michael stepped up big time this week in making familiy ministries happen.
• I’m glad the fall season of television is back on. I missed Prison Break and Heroes.
• At our Canton campus they opened up with Last Man Standing by Bon Jovi today. GREAT song.
• Holly Springs will hear this week.
• My mind is racing and Lead Team tomorrow will be one of our best ever as we discuss, tweak, dream, argue, and improve.
• I’m going to hang out on the porch with Tim.
• Did I mention how pumped I am for our people, Revolution and Cherokee County? Awesome!!!
• Peace out.

I keep getting emails and messages from tons of awesome people wanting to know how they can pray for Revolution as we get ready for our second campus. I think that is awesome! I know launching a second campus is pretty normal in today’s church but for us it is a huge deal, so I appreciate the prayers any way we can get them!!!!

Here are some things you can pray about:

• That Jesus is made famous. That is the only reason we are doing this. We want to reach people who are far from God, plain and simple.
• We get our CO (certificate of occupancy). This is a HUGE stress right now. I’m pretty out of the loop because Tim has been handling everything, but I do know we don’t have it yet.  There just a ton of little things that have to be done and we are knocking those out.
• Pray for our staff.  The amount of hours that have been put in by our team over the last 3 weeks is insane.  Pray for their time, their rest, their walks with God, and their families as we near the finish line.
• Pray for me. Yes, that sounds weird. I have NEVER been one to put myself about our team but the reality is that as the Lead Pastor the pressure I feel right now is off the charts. At one time I would have apologized for asking you to pray for me specifically but not now. While our team each focus on their areas, I am focused on the entire church, every ministry, finances, etc. I appreciate the prayers.
• Our Holly Springs launch team. These people are awesome. They are leaving the comfort of Canton and what they know works, to try something crazy. I dig it!
• Logistics.  All of our ideas right now are just that, ideas. The rubber hits the road Sunday in regards to parking, children check-in,  video teaching, juggling bands, etc.
• Finances. God has showed up time and time again through this and the people of Revolution have stepped up the plate. But the best thing to say about our finances is we it is flowing like a cut artery.
• Sunday. In the middle of getting ready to launch a second campus, we still got Sunday coming. Amazing thing about Sunday is it comes every 7 days. This Sunday is going to be awesome and we need time to focus on it in the midst of the craziness that is going on.
• Distractions. This is how the devil works. Today, I have been letting little things bug me that should not be bugging me.  I need to focus on keeping the main thing, the main thing.

I can’t lie. I’ve been stressed out of my mind the last two weeks. As we get ready to launch our second campus this week, I have been very surprised at how nervous, stressed, and overwhelmed I have been. Honestly, that is not my personality. I’m a pretty “keep it together” guy. However, this new campus has stressed me out to the point I have written here much.

Than today happened. I met with our team this morning for a quick 5 minute catch up meeting and as I left, I instantly went back to normal. I went from stressed to THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN AND IT IS GOING TO WORK!!!!

What God has done through our Holly Springs campus has been amazing. I have never seen our church rally around something so much, I have never seen God work over and over again to make it happen, and I have never felt so stretched in my faith as I have through this!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!

This Sunday, the ultimate experiement happens for Revolution and as a result I believe more lives are going to be impacted for eternity.  I love that we are all out, sold out, balls to the wall for reaching people. I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!

One Church….Two Locations.

That blows my mind and it just hit me that it is really going to happen!!!!!

Yeah….come on!

• Last week being one church in one location!!!!! That IS weird!
• Can you believe our Holly Springs Campus launches NEXT week????? God just blows my mind!
• I guess no one told our people it was a holiday weekend because we were slammed at the 10:30 a.m. service!
• Preston taught today and I thought it was the best message he has ever taught. GREAT job.
• Every staff should have a Preston. He will lead you to drinking, but he is loyal and buys into the vision like very few people. Love the dude!!!!!
• Work day tomorrow at our office AND Holly Springs campus. See ya there!
• Tim May has knocked it out in completing our Holly Springs campus.  I’ll be glad when it is over because I am ready to have an executive pastor again.
• Thought the band was rocking today!
• New digital board today. Very nice. Check it out here.
• Nate Liston was with us today. It blows me away that a church planter would come from Iowa to hang out with us.
• Jason Noble who I pastored in Iowa and who moved here to help us launch Revolution was here today too. LOVE that dude and really miss him.
• Have I mentioned we launch a second campus in 7 days???????????
• Thad rocked it out on the song NOT MY TIME by Three Doors Down. BEST song he has done.
• Even though he forgot the words to the new song he wanted to do, I thank God for sending him our way. Jill and Thad are a answered prayer. Love what they bring to the table here at Revolution.
• They are Clemson fans though. No one can be perfect.
• Speaking of Clemson….  I can honestly say I have NEVER seen a team just quit like they did last night. NO heart. They quit.
• How bout them Dawgs!!! Offense looked great. Defense has a way to go if we want to win a National Championship.
• Jonathan T. Bryant was with us today too.  He’s been with us a couple of times now but I haven’t really had a chance to connect with him yet.  He’s got a good voice.
• Fantasy Football draft today. VERY pleased with my team.
• Denise Alvarez is the total package. She is pretty and she cooked this for us today. That meal was whole nutha level!
• Loved watching college football yesterday! Glad it is back on!
• One thing I don’t understand about college football is dude cheerleaders. I’m sure they could beat the crap out of me because they all look huge but I don’t get it.
• I love our church. Honestly, there is no other place in the world I would rather be. Sadly, I don’t think most pastors could say that.
• I love that the parking lot is full of motorcycles, I love that you smell cigarette smoke when you walk in, I love that there are BMW’s parked next beaters, I love that there are young and old, black and white. I love that a lot of people smell of liquor and that it is full of imperfect people.
• I love that God allows me the HONOR of pastoring Revolution.
• This fall we go to the next level.  God has prepared us for what is about to happen. Look out North Georgia!!!!
• September is going to be one of the most crazy months of my life! Launch second campus, teaching at Next Conference, coaching network with Perry Noble, Going on vacation, and taking our Lead Team to the Multi-site Exposed conference. C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Get friends to church next week as I can promise you our Ultimate Fighter series is going to be The STUFF!!!
• Praying for Dino Rizzo as they get ready to deal with the mess from the hurricane
• I’m more tired when I don’t preach than when I do.
• PLEASE PRAY FOR MY VOICE. I’ve been battling some type of sickness and my voice is fried.
• Going to rock it out with the family before getting to bed early and getting up early to head to the office.

Today I got the opportunity to meet with a church planter. In the grand scheme of things, not a big deal. A huge part of our DNA at Revolution is doing what we can to help church planters.  There isn’t a week that goes by where there isn’t a church planter in our office, our services, or talking to someone on our staff by phone.

Today was different.  Today was one of those days where it is awesome to see how God works and from time to time He allows us to see a bigger piece of the puzzle.

Today I had the opportunity to meet with Nate Liston. Nate is planting a church in Ames, Iowa.  About 9 years ago, God called DeAnna and I to start a church in Ames. We had never met someone who had started a church, had never read a book on it, and knew NOTHING about it. We moved there and started a church and God used that church as my seminary.  I learned how NOT to do church in Ames, Iowa.  When I was about to walk away from ministry for good, God sent a dude named Tony Liston to invest in my life. He showed me church could be different, that you could focus on lost people and that it didn’t have to suck. God used Tony to keep me in ministry. I will never forget that.

As awful as our church experience was in Ames, we truly loved the city. It was a college town (home of Iowa State), was a great place to raise kids, was beautiful, and we loved the city. There has been very few days that have went by that I haven’t prayed for Ames. It is a city in need of a great church that is focused on reaching lost people.  Due to it’s location, I believe you can change Iowa from Ames.

Today I get to spend some time with Nate who is planting a church there that will start in January. Nate’s brother is Tony, the guy who invested in my life when I was ready to leave ministry. Because of the investment Tony made in my life almost 7 years ago in Ames, today I got the opportunity to return that invest in his brother who has now been called to Ames. Not sure I did a good job of explaining that, but I find it very cool.

Investments we made there in learning the area and reaching people, I get to share with Nate. He came down today with one of the guys who was in my church in Iowa and was here at Revolution the first 3 years. He’s back in Ames and helping start a church that will reach a city we started reaching years ago.

Today I get to see the reaching of a city come full circle.

Pray for Nate as he launches Freedom Ridge Church to reach a city that I love. You can follow his adventure on his blog here.

You would think after 4 years of being the pastor of Revolution Church, I would be use to God doing His thing. I have seen him meet our needs and exceed our expectations over and over through the planting of Revolution. Yet, I always find myself amazed at the awesomeness of the God we serve. I never want that to change. I never want to get use to seeing God move. I never want to get use to God doing awesome things. I never want to take for granted that God is so much bigger than us. I love the feeling of being overwhelmed by the goodness of God.

Hands down, we are in the most crazy time in the history of our church.  We are 10 days away from launching a second campus, we are out of room in our 10:30 service, we are trying to figure out how to manage two campuses when we don’t know how to manage one, we are stretching a dollar as much as we can, we have more people going through CRAZY times right now than ever before, YET I wouldn’t trade this time for anything.

I am more sold out to what God has called me to do in North Georgia today than ever before. I am more consumed with reaching truly lost people than ever before.  I have the conviction that the style of church we are is the most effective for this area than ever before.  I KNOW God is going to use Revolution to do great things more today than ever before.

There is no place on earth I would rather be than Revolution. There is no other team I would rather do this with than the staff we have. There is no other people I would rather lead to change the world than the awesome people who call Revolution home.

Today, in the midst of the craziness I was overwhelmed with how lucky we are to be part of a movement of God.  Churches and pastors all over the world would give everything they have to be part of what God is doing here. I know this to be a fact because I talk to guys every day who tell me that.  What God is doing here is not normal. I forget that at times.

Revolution, God is doing awesome things and we get to be a part of it!

That blows me way.

• POWERFUL SUNDAY!
• We heard the story of Christina Clayton, who attends Revolution and has bone cancer in 88% of her body.
• Her video testimony was so powerful. After the last two weeks  of hearing powerful stories from people around the country, it was over the top today when we heard a story from someone who is part of the Revolution family.
• After her story we brought her on stage and anointed her with oil and had our Lead Team pray for her.
• Closed out the service with the song Healer from Hillsong. That song is a perfect example that God can use anyone to communicate truth. GREAT song.
• Totally no our normal vibe this morning and yet it was so powerful. One of those Sundays that really hit home.
• I felt like my sermon was a little off today, but God showed me that it isn’t always about me. Which is a good thing.
• LOTS of opinions on my shirt today. I really liked it but it would seem no one else did. It was a kinda of like the scrubs that doctors wear but tattoo art on it. I guess what I think it cool, isn’t to anyone else.
• ALIVE appears to be hitting home with people big time. We have never had such a response to the messages like we have. Tons of stories of people changing their lives through this series. It is awesome!
• We wrap up the series this coming Sunday with a message called, “Life Doesn’t End Here.” If you have friends who don’t know Jesus than get them to church Sunday!
• We have some hurting people at Revolution. Know I am praying for you during these difficult times!
• Can you believe we are two weeks away from launching our second campus? Blown away!
• Tim has done a GREAT job leading up our construction project. Love him and Courtney.
• We have a lot of work left to do this week. We will send out a work schedule later this week.
• Lot of buzz with what is about to happen with Revolution Students. Pumped about that!
• I will try and get pictures posted of our Holly Springs campus tomorrow!
• HOLLY SPRINGS LAUNCH TEAM MEETING THIS TUESDAY!!  If you want the 411, e-mail Preston at preston@therevolution.tv
• HUGE WORK DAY ON LABOR DAY. WE’LL COOK OUT AND PUT THE FINISHING TOUCHES ON EVERYTHING! BE THERE OR BE SQUARE!
• Pumped about Ultimate Fighter, our new series that starts in two weeks! We are going to be tackling the issues men face head on. Power, Sex, Money, and a a lot more!
• We are about 90% full in our second service and we need some of you to move to the first service!
• We are working HARD to allow the theater to let us move our two services times to 9:30 and 11:00. Please pray this happens because it will even out our services more and free up more seats.
• Ashlyn had her first slumber party this weekend. CRAZY! The girls were awesome but they were crazy!
• My parents came to church this morning and over to the house for lunch. I have great parents and it was nice to have them hang out for the day.
• We live about 1 1/2 from my parents which I think I perfect. They live close enough to see them on a regular basis but no close enough to see them every day.
• The next two weeks are going to be insane!
• I honestly can’t remember a time in our church where things were so busy! It is insane!
• The vibe among our people right now is off the hook! Seriously, God is doing some cool things.
• College football starts next weekend! Yeah…come on!
• How bout them Dawgs!
• New burger join in Towne Lake that has a Grilled Cheese Cheese Burger. It is a half pound burger with two grilled cheese sandwiches as the buns. Wow! I got to try that.
• Is summer over? It feels like it is, but I don’t think it is here to stay.
• Going to do some fasting this week. Don’t want to, but feel like I need to.
• Before that happens, there will be a Waffle House run with the family tonight.
• NEXT Conference is coming up. It’s free and I’m sharing the Revolution story so why aren’t you signed-up? Seriously, if you are a church planter, get signed up for this conference.
• Okay, I’m done though I have a ton more things to say. I’ll save them for another day.
• Peace. I’m out.

One of my jobs at Revolution Church is to be the primary Sunday morning teacher.  I take that role very seriously and much thought, planning and prayer goes into our Sunday morning experience.  I have always thought we have done a great job of covering topics that both the church and unchurched are struggling with. Obviously, we connect better at times than at others.  When you nail a need there isn’t a better feeling in the world.

To say we have nailed it during our current series called “ALIVE” would be an understatement. We’ve been asking the question if you only had 30 days to live, would you continue living life going through the motions or would you live life ALIVE?  We knew the series would connect but we had no idea it would connect at such a high level!

The response to our current series has been insane!  We have received more feedback from people during this series than ever before. The sermons are hitting a nerve with people and the video stories are connecting in huge ways.  I truly believe this is going to go down as one of THOSE series that we look back on as a turning point in the life of our church.

As awesome as the series as been, you ain’t seen nothing yet. This Sunday things are going to hit home like never before.  We’ve been watching stories from people across the country the past few weeks as they face life-threating issues. This week we will be hearing from one of our own.  This story will inspire you to live each moment to it’s fullest and it will make you thankful for the life God has given you.  After the sermon we are going to be doing something we have never done at Revolution and I think it was will be a very impactful moment for our church. I truly believe this is a life-changing Sunday coming up.

If you call Revolution home, do everything you can to be in church and do whatever you can to bring someone with you. It is going to be one of THOSE Sundays!