Nov 2006
Archive

Shift

Our staff is pumped today. We could run through a brick wall right now. We would probably break some bones, but we could do it.

Ron Carpenter, Pastor at Redemption World Outreach Center in Greenville, came and met with us. He just came, out of the kindness of his heart, to pour into our staff for a whole afternoon. What a good guy. Not many pastors of churches with 10,000 members would do that. Any of you who know who he is and have something bad to say about him, don’t say it in front of me. I’ll jack your jaw. I’m serious. I appreciate and honor people who make time to bless my leadership team.

He helped us work through how the Biblical concept of spiritual authority translates into the context of a church in the suburbs of South Charlotte, where we worship independence and don’t want anyone to tell us what to do.

We talked through the layers of leadership. We talked through the task of funneling the vision of the church through the pipeline of the entire leadership team, until every volunteer gets it and everybody is saying and doing the same thing for the same reason. Until everything is seamlessly connected, from the top down.

You know, I’m learning that there are a lot of leadership styles that God will bless. But all of the effective ones have on thing in common: everyone at every level of the organization is saying the same thing about the main things.

Pastor Ron shared that the success of the church hinges on transitioning well.
This reaffirmed something I’ve been teaching from the very beginning of our core group development:

When we’re faced with the opportunity to go to the next level, we must shift.
If we don’t shift, we’ll stall.
If we don’t shift well, we’ll implode.

If we shift confidently and smoothly, just ahead of the actual transition, we will grow and morph and refine ourselves.

Our next transition at Elevation is structuring for 2,000 people.

I don’t know exactly what this looks like, but I have a good idea, and we’ll all figure it out together.

And we will shift.

Blown Away

Here’s an email I sent to our volunteer staff today…

Folks, we’ll be baptizing 50 people this Sunday. We didn’t even have 50 people on our launch team a year ago.

I’m blown away with what God is doing at Elevation. I know I say that all the time. That’s because it’s true… all the time.

Let me tell you a little about what you can expect this Sunday:

1. For the first time since March we’ll all be together in one service at 10:30. Gonna be a lot of energy in the room. Tell your friends to arrive early as E-Kidz check in will be hoppin’.

2. The baptism service will be a bona fide throw down party. Get ready to go nuts- and bring a towel. (Not because you’re going to get wet. Because you’re going to cry like a baby and a box of Kleenex might not be enough. I won’t be crying. I’m a tough dude… straight outta Moncks Corner yo.)

3. We’re kicking off our Christmas series, Miracle, and I’ve got a Word from the Lord for us. I need you to get the most pressing needs you have in the forefront of your mind for the next 4 weeks, and trust God to do supernatural things in your life during this series.

4. We’ve got a special treat for everyone for the month of December only. I’m not excited about it, but many of you will be. It’s not a big thing, but for some of you, it will revolutionize your Sunday morning experience and feed your addiction.

5. Yes, there will be the beginnings of Christmas music. But it’ll rock. Promise. And no cattle will be lowing.

6. The people you invite this Sunday are going to see the church at its best.

7. I’ve got to finish my sermon in 40 minutes so we can start baptisms on time. Think I can do it? Larry’s taking bets…

Don’t waste this opportunity. It’s time to believe God like never before, and pack the house this Sunday!

(Remember, e-vites are available @ www.elevationchurch.org)

Inviting people should be easy this Sunday. People are tuning into spiritual things as Christmas draws near.

And you’re a part of a church where God is on the move.

Ride the wave! (No baptism/water pun intended… ok, well maybe it was intended.)

I’ve got more to tell you guys… I may email again later this week.

I love being your pastor! I love this church!

Pastor Steven

Gettin’ there

I’m obsessed with progress… and I know it.

If I did 8 reps at 100 lbs. yesterday, I want to do 9 reps at 110 lbs. tomorrow.

If we had x amount in retirement last year, I want x + x amount next year, with interest.

If I gave x% in tithes and offerings in 2006, I want to do x + y % in ’07.

Obsessed with progress. I just am. Always have been. Always will be.

So it’s a real joy for me as a pastor to work with a staff (volunteer and paid) that understands this. I guess Elevation Church is pretty successful right now by most standards. And don’t get me wrong, I’m beyond grateful for what we’re doing. But there are 2300 people a month who move to the Charlotte area.

We’re barely making a dent. This creates a holy discontentment inside of me. Thankful for what God is done, while relentlessly pursuing what He wants to do next.

A lot of times, after celebrating something with a staff member (which should happen frequently), I’ll smile and tell them:

“Good job! Now let’s start working on how to do it better next time… “

I heard a story once about Dan Gable, the Babe Ruth of wrestling (not wrassling).

They say that after Dan Gable won an Olympic gold medal (no one even scored against him!) he went running.

Kind of psychotic, I know. But think about it: while everyone else was busy congratulating themselves or feeling sorry for themselves according to what they did or didn’t win, Gable started training for the next event. That’s why he was a winner in the first place.

I like Gable’s style. I know the danger of it, especially for a church. The danger is that we would miss the opportunities to thank and celebrate God because we’re already on to the next thing. Gotta be careful about this trap for sure.

However, the bigger danger is standing still and getting fat.

That’s why we embrace emergency at Elevation. Sometimes we even create emergency.

Because we’ve got to keep moving.

Got to.

Redefining Humility-Part 3

God is really blessing us right now.
I mean really really blessing.

He’s blessing Elevation Church. We’ve had well over 800 people in attendance the last 3 weeks, even this Sunday, the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

We’re gearing up to baptize hopefully close to 50 people this coming Sunday.

A friend of mine who’s on staff at a local church visited Elevation this morning and he said he cried through the whole service because it was so evident that God is at work in a “mind blowing” way. I agree.

God is also blessing me and Holly-emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially. If there are any other categories of blessing, He’s blessing us in those too.

We have a beautiful baby boy. He did just spill a 32 oz. cup of tea on the carpet. But we still love him, and are so blessed to have him.

God just provided me with a new car. Well, it’s new to me. An ’04 Maxima. It’s black and it’s fast and it’s the nicest car I’ve ever owned by far. Gotta love heated seats and heated steering wheel. I didn’t know there was such a thing. The windows are tinted really dark (like, illegally dark). Just call me Pastor Steven Soprano. Seriously, I’m thankful for it. It’s a nice ride.

We live in a nice, spacious house, have tons of friends, and will be able to buy good gifts for the people we love this Christmas. My son will get more new stuff in December this year than some 50 year old just a few miles from here has ever gotten in his life.

How does this make me feel? How should it make me feel? What’s the right thing to do when you know God is blessing you?

I do know what the wrong responses are:

1. Feeling guilty about it.
2. Feeling proud about it.

What are the right responses?

1. Leverage the blessings for the glory of God.
2. Stay low.
This morning as I was getting ready for church I was watching a preacher on TV (of course I was). This man is a multi millionaire. He’s written dozens of books and pastors one of the largest churches in America. His first name sounds like TV. His last name rhymes with cakes. (He’s one of my favorite preachers, by the way.)

He was preaching on humility.

I was very interested to hear what he would say about humility. Because he’s loaded with cash and travels with an entourage that makes the president look lonely. We often think these factors are the antithesis of humility.

But I like what he said.

He said that every time God blesses you, you’ve got to find a way to get down low. You’ve got to realize that you’re blessed to bless. Find a way to give it back. Don’t apologize for it, but don’t act like you deserve it either.

God spoke to my heart, and instructed me to continue building into my life intentional and strategic opportunities for humility.

Today on my way home from church God gave me an opportunity to get down low. I’m not going to post the details of it, it’s a private thing.

But I want to share with you what’s going on in my heart these days as I attempt to enjoy and manage the blessings of God.

I realize He could take it all away tomorrow. And if He does, He’s still God.

In the meantime, I am determined to inventory and reinvest every single blessing that God entrusts to me.

You’re blessed too, right?

Don’t apologize for it or second guess it. He’s God. He does what He pleases.

Instead, leverage it. And get down low. Limbo. How low can you go?

Hero of the Day

Happy Thanksgiving everybody. Just getting back online after unplugging from email for a few days. The withdrawal symptoms are easing up.

Since I was overdosed on tryptophan yesterday, my hero of the day post was delayed.

But the suspense ends here. The hero of the day for Thanksgiving Week 2006 is:
Sean Lyon.

Sean is our volunteer staff video/photography guy at Elevation.
He and his wife Tonia have put in many-a late night working on projects for which they will never win an Oscar. Usually nobody even knows it was Sean, up into the wee hours with his Mac, agonizing over details that no one will ever know about, all for a clip that usually lasts less than 2 minutes. But it often makes all the difference in a worship service.

Sean made a 2 day road trip with me and Tyler a few weeks ago to shoot some footage (which we’ll be showing the second half of tomorrow). The whole time we were there, I kept telling him and Tyler how much I appreciated them being away from their families to get the job done.

They both had that “Why are you thanking us? The privilege is ours… ” attitude.
I love that attitude. It honors God.

Sean, thanks for all you do.

Now quit reading this, open Final Cut Pro, and get back to work. :)

Get addicted

I have an addictive and obsessive personality.

Why have 1 Diet Coke when you can have 6?
Why watch The Office straight through when you can rewind the funny parts and watch them 8 more times with DVR?
Back when I was 8 years old it was: How could you possibly go to sleep instead of persevering in Legend of Zelda until you conquered Level 9?

Now it’s other things. My addictions and obsessions are more sophisticated, but the song remains the same.

I’m addicted to seeing people give their lives to Christ, so I spend hours every week agonizing over the minutia of our worship services. If you ever see me staring off into space while you’re talking to me, I’m not bored, I’m just thinking about a sermon. Probably one I’m not preaching for 3 more months.

I’m obsessed with calling out the gifts and passions of leaders. So I bounce into staff members’ offices several times a day with a “What do you think about… ?” question that may screw with the entire structure of the church in order to make it better.

I’m addicted to personal growth, so I often have 6 or 7 books lying open on my desk at the same time.
(With obsession and addiction comes a mild case of ADD, I’m afraid.)

People used to tell me that my addictions and obsessions were a bad thing.
That I should get into moderation.

They were wrong, I think.

Addiction is a good thing. If you’re addicted to the best thing.

Being obsessed with the Gospel is mandatory for church leaders. So it turns out I fit the bill perfectly.

If you think this is far out, let’s bring the apostle Paul into the discussion.
Paul, what do you think about being obsessed with and addicted to the Gospel?

Colossians 1:28-29
28We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. 29To this end I labor, struggling with all his energy, which so powerfully works in me.

When it came to the Gospel, Paul went beyond his limits and tapped into the very energy of God.

Call me an addict. But I won’t be going to rehab anytime soon.

Who’s there?

All right. I’ve done my part. I’ve borne my soul. I’ve shared my deepest thoughts. My quirkiest insights. I’ve faithfully updated this blog for several months now, usually daily.

Now it’s your turn. I want to hear from you. We decided to keep the comments section closed on this blog for fear that we wouldn’t be able to sufficiently moderate it.

So it’ll take a little extra effort, but if you love Jesus…

Send us a quick note and let us know you’re reading.

Just click on contact under the pages section and let me know you’re out there.
Any comments on what you do/don’t like about the blog would be great too.

And I’ll have a drawing in about a week and send someone a $20 gift card of their choosing.

Deal?

It only takes a minute, and it saves so many lives.

Not really.

But it’ll make my day!

How does she do it?

My wife cleans up the house, spic and span, neat and tidy…
Just in time for Elijah to drag out Elmo and Ernie and the Rocky box set and Remember the Titans and every other DVD we own and strategically place them all over the downstairs.

And she puts them all up…
Just in time to chase him down because he probably shouldn’t be banging that napkin holder on the computer keyboard and plus, he’s making a phone call, maybe to somebody in Japan, on her cell phone.

So she puts him down for a nap…
For just long enough to get the grocery list made and take care of the online banking thing because now he’s awake again, and he’s calling her name, but not as a suggestion, more like a “Get in here and get me or else” kind of summons.

So she turns on Sesame Street…
Cause she needs a few minutes to get dinner started. She’s cooking barbecue pork chops, mashed potatoes and broccoli for her husband so he can have a good meal when he gets home from work.

She’ll do it all again tomorrow.

Good wives rock.

My wife outrocks them all.

People want to hear

Today I preached on baptism. You can listen online, it’s under What Should I Do With My Life Part 4.

I had no idea what the response would be.

For one thing, baptism is an emotionally charged issue. There are all sorts of opinions about it. A lot of our opinions are all about tradition and have very little to do with Scripture.

Even more than that I was afraid that people would get mad, I was afraid that no one would care. I was kind of worried that people would yawn through the message: What does this have to do with me?

Wrong. People were fascinated with this topic. Dozens of them signed up to be baptized on December 3.

Lesson learned?

People want to hear the truth of the Bible when it’s presented simply, creatively, and passionately.

Preachers, preach the truth. Preach it loud and proud. And watch God work.

Ancient Breaking News

I love my job. As a preacher, I don’t make up much new stuff to say.
I am simply a re-stater. I repackage timeless truth.

In other words, I don’t really create new content. I creatively present and apply the content that the Creator has recorded.

Man, this makes me confident. And it leaves me a lot of running room. It doesn’t hold me back. It actually sets me free.

Tomorrow I’m preaching on a certain subject.

There have been millions of Bible studies taught and sermons preached on this same subject.

Mine certainly won’t be the wisest, deepest, or most profound ever preached. But it will be served up fresh for our congregation in our generation in a way that’s practical.

What an honor to do what I do.

I was listening to a sermon by a friend of mine tonight. (I usually do to get pumped up on Saturday nights.) And I thought about this. He has this unique ability to say stuff that you’re used to hearing so passionately that it’s like breaking news when it comes out of his mouth. Never mind that it was written thousands of years ago. It seems more current than the newspaper. This is the mark of a good preacher.

And it is proof of the eternal relevance of God’s Word.

Hero of the Day

Introducing a new feature here on stevenfurtick.com:
Every Friday (that I remember to do it) I’ll be highlighting someone as my hero of the day.

Stay tuned. You could be next.

This week’s hero of the day is actually not a person, but a couple. So they are technically the heroes of the day. Unless you consider this verse. On to the point.

The subtitle of this post is Flowers in the Bathroom.

That’s because every week at Elevation, Steve and Carol Eyler, 2 of our volunteer staff members, clean the bathrooms.

Big deal right?

Not so fast. Remember, we meet in a public high school. Do you remember what the bathrooms in a public high school look like during the week? And what they smell like. (I hope you’re not eating as you read this.)

Well, the people who attend Elevation every week will never have to know what the public high school restrooms look like. Or smell like. Because by the time Steve and Carol get done scrubbing them (often before the sun even comes up), the bathrooms are as sparkling as a high school bathroom could ever be.

The icing on the cake? They always put flowers in the bathroom. Nice touch.

Does this matter? Are these two highly capable and gifted people using their time well? Yes. It’s one less obstacle between somebody and the gospel. It’s a demonstration of our staff mantra: EVERYTHING matters.

So Steve and Carol are the hero(es) of the day. Happy restroom using, Elevation. Rock on.

Redefining Humility-Part 2

Ok, I suck for this. I started a series of posts about a month ago on redefining humility. I said I would continue it regularly. I have not. Forgive me? Thanks.

You can catch up here and here.

Now, the answer to the question… 5 weeks after I asked it:
1. What went wrong with Pastor Jones?
2. What’s the problem with Philippians 2:3, which tells you to regard one another as more important than yourselves?

I’ll answer the second question, then move toward the first:

Philippians 2:3 doesn’t say “regard one another as more important than the will of God for your life.”
The point is: others are more important than your selfish desires. (Check the first half of Philippians 2:3).

Now it makes sense. Considering others as more important than myself might look like this (for me):

1. Instead of buying another iPod, I send a special gift to Tushabe, our Compassion International kid this Christmas.
2. When Holly asks me: “You or me?” early in the AM when Elijah starts babbling, I get up, change his diaper, get his bottle, and bring him upstairs, with a good attitude, before his babbling turns to whining, which turns to screaming.
3. I order my life around discerning and affirming the gifts and talents of others, and spend myself and leverage my leadership trying to help them surface.

What this should not look like for me (or Pastor Jones, or any other pastor, or any other person):

1. I spend the whole evening on my cell phone solving other people’s problems while my son and wife wait for anything resembling my attention.
(Remember, my wife and my son are others too, and they are the highest ranking others in my life.)
This is not humility or selflessness. This is poor prioritization.
It’s why Pastor Jones freaked out, and it’s enough to tear apart any family.

2. I let other people’s self inflicted emergencies dictate the course of my day, doing the most urgent thing rather than the most important thing.
Pastors particularly struggle with this when it comes to preparing sermons. Sermon preparation will wait, the logic goes, sick people need me now. So preachers end up with a half baked sermon and catastrophic stress on Saturday night.
This is not humility or selflessness either. It is poor planning.
I decided when we started the church that the main thing I could do to put others first as a preacher of the gospel was to tell a few others no so I could speak a fresh Word from the Lord to hundreds of others every single Sunday.

3. I play humble pie and “Aw shucks” my life away. Humility is not denying the gifts that are in you: “Well, I’m not much of a preacher/leader/whatever”.

Humility is having a correct view of God and a correct view of you.
It is recognizing your gifts, realizing constantly that they come from Jesus, and giving them back to Him wholeheartedly and confidently every single moment of every single day.

When we live like this, God is honored and people were blessed.

This series may be continued, but no promises this time!

Audacity and Persistence

I was reading this verse this morning, and I realized why God blessed Elisha’s life. I think it’s the same reason he’s blessing Elevation Church right now:

Elisha had the audacity to ask
And the persistence to pursue.
Nice alliteration huh?

Audacity

When Elijah asked his apprentice what he wanted, Elisha wasted no time playing humble pie. He got right to the point.
I want to assume the responsibility for this ministry. I want God to anoint me with a double portion. I want to move into the fullness of everything God has me.

God is honored by the magnitude of our requests. The bigger it is, the better He looks when He comes through. The only way for God to outshine our smallness is for us to walk in greatness.

Jesus is astonished when we think big.

He’s insulted when we don’t.

Persistence

Faith and action go hand in hand.
2 times Elisha had the opportunity to turn back.
Not a chance. He was determined. Determined people don’t take no for an answer.

Just ask my one year old.

This weekend at Elevation we had the audacity to ask God to save lots of people.
He did.

Our people said they would demonstrate the persistence to tear off the roof and get their friends to Jesus.
They did.

2 questions:
1. Did you ask God to do anything audacious through your life yet today?
2. Are you going to pursue the dreams of your heart no matter who or what tells you to turn around?

Elmo Soup

Elijah now makes Elmo Soup. At least that’s what Holly calls it.

The recipe is pretty simple:

-1 plastic spoon for mixing
-1 plastic red bowl with a picture of Elmo at the bottom
-3 cups and 2 tablespoons of absolutely nothing

He walks around stirring the spoon in the bowl. And every once in a while he offers you some (if you’re lucky).

There is no theological application here. No practical take away.

Just wanted to let you know what’s up at home.

(By the way, Elmo Soup is low carb.)

A few fun numbers

Warning: If you don’t think churches should talk about and analyze numbers, stop reading right now. Go sing Kumbaya with 3 other people who believe just like you do and debate the finer points of the Nicene Creed.

Sorry, I’m feisty today!

If you believe that every number represents a person whom Jesus died for, read on!

We were looking at our numbers from yesterday and I realized a few fascinating things:

1. We had more kids in E-Kidz yesterday (131) than the total number of people we had in worship on our first Sunday just 9 months ago! I think Heather and her volunteer staff are doing an amazing job.

2. We had more volunteers serving yesterday than the total number of people we had in our first worship service. Great job LB, and I love all ya’ll volunteer staff.

3. We had more first time guests at our services yesterday (110) than we had at our first worship service.

4. One fun money number: We took in more money this Sunday than we took in during the entire month of March!

5. There were more middle school students in Spin yesterday than there were in our original core group just a year ago.

6. When I talked with Clayton King this week and asked him if he had a specific number of people that he was praying for to receive Christ, he threw out a weird number: 33.
It was a weird number until exactly 33 people stood up and boldly confessed Jesus as Lord in our 2 services.
I’m not saying he’s a prophet, but if I played the lottery, I’d have Clayton help me pick the numbers.
Pretty amazing. (By the way, this is the most important number of ‘em all!!!)

God is working, and numbers help us to discern and commemorate His activity. All glory to Jesus!
As long as there are hundreds of thousands of people within driving distance of Elevation who don’t know Christ, we’ll be keeping track of numbers… for the glory of God!

Oh My Dang

Well, it’s official. God blew our minds and exceeded our expectations this morning.

850 people showed up for worship this morning.

33 of them trusted Christ for salvation.

Enough said for tonight. I’ll be reflecting on this some more tomorrow.

(Or maybe later tonight since I most definitely won’t be able to sleep.)

Praise God for His goodness and His power to save.

Days like today are what it’s all about.

Go ahead girl

One of the Winthrop students who attends Elevation sent me this email. I think Sunday’s gonna be pretty awesome, how about you?

(For the record, I did know what facebook was cause I’m cool like that.) Here’s the email:

Hello Pastor Furtick!

I have great news that I wanted to let you in on…and I’m really excited about it. I wrote on my card last Sunday that I would invite 3 people that I knew this week to Elevation.
However, I had this random idea to make a Elevation Church invite group on thefacebook.com. If you’ve never heard of it, this site is mostly of college kids to write back and forth and put up pictures from vacations, etc. Anyway, I made a group for Elevation and included info about Clayton King coming this Sunday. It started off with me inviting my 30 or so friends…and by the next day about 200 people had been invited on this site. As of right now 279 people have been invited, with 53 coming for sure, and 70 who might be coming… I just wanted to tell you this story since it is just awesome to see how God is working to get people to Elevation. I think Elevation is awesome and if I lived in the area, I would come every Sunday…however, I do come when I am at Winthrop. So, all in all, Winthrop students will be packing Providence High School this Sunday if everything goes as planned. My friend is also trying to organize transportation for anyone from Winthrop who needs it…

If you know anyone on facebook, get them to show you the group “Elevation Church” and check out what’s going on. I can’t send a link b/c you have to be logged into the site to see it.

Anyway, have a great day!
Ashley Wheeler
Junior at Winthrop University

Awesome stuff Ashley!

It comes in waves

It’s the perfect storm:

1. I’m fired up from spending the first part of the week at this conference with some of our leaders.
2. I had 6 hours in the car today driving to and from Raleigh for a missions caucus (I’m so cool that I just got to say I went to a caucus).
3. I don’t have to preach at Elevation this week cause I’m letting my buddy come shuck the corn. (That means preach the gospel hardcore.)

All these factors have combined to give me a vision buzz.

Vision comes in waves for me, and I have to be ready to ride ‘em when God provides ‘em. Hey, that rhymed.

I’ve got 5 major ideas that are stirring in me concerning the future of Elevation.

What are they? Can’t tell you yet. Stay tuned. 2 of them are so bizarre that they might just work.

Warning: Change is comin’

If you are a volunteer staff member at Elevation, watch out.

You need to know that we had some major breakthroughs this week as a team and you need to beware of several upcoming things:

1. You’re about to feel more appreciated than you ever have
2. You’re about to know your role more clearly than you ever have
3. You’re about to see God do bigger things than you can explain
4. You’re about to be more equipped and enabled than ever before

Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Tomorrow I head to Raleigh for an important meeting that could ignite a big overseas partnership for Elevation.

Be praying Elevators!

Now I’m going to spend time with my wife. I’ve missed her bad and gotta leave again tomorrow.

Peace!

The right track

Here’s a letter I sent out to our volunteer staff today. Check it.

You’d better not let us back in the city limits.

We’ve got about 15 staff and volunteer staff at a conference called Drive in Atlanta, and we’re so fired up it’s scary. And we’ve only been to one session so far!

Here’s the thing though. We’re not fired up about the things that normally fire up a group at a conference.

At a conference like this, you usually see a level of production in the worship service that blows your mind. And you come back feeling like “Dang it, we’ve got a long way to go. I wonder if we’ll ever be able to pull off something like that.”

Well, tonight our post-session conversation was more like:

“That was really awesome. I saw a few tweaks we could make based on the way they did things. But we’re definitely on the right track.”
 Read more

Tear off the roof

Things are about to get very interesting at Elevation.

This morning I preached on the 4 crazy friends who tore off the roof to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus and directed our peeps to write down names of their spiritually paralyzed friends and family members.

One by one we brought up our lists of names and forcefully laid them on the stage, believing that God is about to do something great in the lives of these people who are far from Him. We committed to tear off the roof to get them to church next week.

Then we took communion together. It was probably the most moving experience we’ve had together on a Sunday morning in our 9 months as a church.

I haven’t heard the count yet, but there were easily 1000 names represented on the cards.

And Sunday, I’m bringing in one of my best friends to preach the Gospel. I can only imagine what God is going to do.

Elevators, make some noise!

Please keep me pure Lord

Did this really happen?

What should happen to Ted Haggard if it all turns out to be true? How about if only the least incriminating part of it, which he’s already admitted to, is true?

I don’t know.

I do know that the Lord used this incident to revive my desire to be pure.
 Read more

Don’t tell me good morning if you don’t mean it…

And if you can’t mean it, you need to find another job.

I have this philosophy about people who answer the phones for organizations. I think they should be sharp and happy and peppy and kind.

So when I called a Christian university this morning to wish one of our church members who is employed there a happy birthday, you can imagine my surprise when Marge Simpson’s sister Selma answered the phone. For you poor misguided people who don’t watch or approve of The Simpsons, Selma is a grumpy DMV worker who smokes 10 packs of cartoon cigarettes a day.
 Read more

Clutter kills

I am very blessed to work with a staff that is dedicated to protecting me as a leader from endless piles of clutter. My wife also really helps me with this.

Visionaries (at least that’s what I aspire to be) have a hard time with details. It’s not that we can’t do details. It’s just that they sap us of energy and block our line of sight.

So every step I take toward handing off the day to day responsibilities of Elevation to someone with an administrative anointing (yes, I believe there is such a thing) is a step toward the big picture success and progress of our church.

Weird-o-ween

Ok. I’m going to do it. It fits with my message. And it’s bound to cause at least one or two people to walk out of the church.

But I can’t help it. I feel it in my bones. This Sunday I’m going to bring up some of the weird, dumb ways Christians handle Halloween.

I was going to blog about it, but I like the suspense. Ah, I can feel it.

Hint: I will be referring to this passage.

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