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.

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

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.

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?