Pastor Steven Furtick"/>

Archive for December, 2006

Auld Lang Syne

Me and Holly are going to sing the song in 2 minutes.
The ball is going to drop.

But let me tell you a secret.

Dick Clark and Ryan Seacrest don’t know jack about how to celebrate New Year’s.

What we did at Elevation this morning and tonight…
Now that’s a celebration.
We threw down.

What a time.
What a year.

God has been so good to me and Holly and Elijah and all of our partners at Elevation.
We love you guys.

Guess what?
I felt something drop and explode in my spirit tonight.

I was thinking about ’07, buzzing off the energy of our services today and all that God has done this year.

Trying to imagine what the next year might hold for Elevation.

And God told me something in my spirit. Clearly. Loudly. Unmistakably.

A simple phrase:

“Here we go.”

Aw yeah. Hang on Elevation!

Is there such a thing as Mach 12?

7 reasons today was a great day

In honor of the year 2007 which is upon us with the fury and velocity of a cheetah on performance enhancing drugs, I’m posting a random Saturday evening entry featuring 7 reasons I had a fun Saturday.

1. My wife made pancakes for breakfast. Mmmm… pancakes.

2. There was a Friday Night Lights marathon on Bravo this morning. Fun show. Melodramatic, but fun.

3. My neighbor gave me 2 tickets to the Meineke Car Care bowl @ Bank of America stadium. Kind of a random last minute thing. Eric and I went. They were good seats. 50 yard line, club level.
Eric bought me a $13 hot dog. It was delicious. He ate a Panther Burger with slaw. It looked reprehensible.
We parked 16 miles away because it was free.
I dressed in Boston College colors even though I could care less about them or Navy. We stayed for the first half.
A very good time. Good game too, actually.

4. My wife got to take 2 naps today. She needed them. I’m happy for her.

5. I was the undefeated champion of Cranium and Catch Phrase last night.
Bow down.

5. My son laid down on my chest today for 2 minutes straight. A new record. It was so sweet. I can’t believe I used that word. Sorry men.

6. We’ve got 2 unbelievable worship experiences planned at Elevation tomorrow. And I can’t wait. But I guess I’ll have to. 16 hours and 15 minutes more, to be exact.

7. I’m in my office right now, putting the last coat on my messages for tomorrow… my new Saturday evening ritual. And as I prepare, I’m listening to Beyonce, Irreplaceable, on Rhapsody.
My new jam. What a great melody.
You must not know bout me… you must not know bout me.

Hero of the Day

My hero of the day is in the office right now, working in the conference room.

His name is Norm Vigue.

In a bizarre twist, I can’t tell you right now why he’s my hero of the day just yet.
Because I’m going to bring him up on the stage and share a part of his story on Sunday morning, and you’ll all get to meet him for yourselves.

Then he will be signing autographs in the back, at the resource table, where he works every single week.

Love ya Norm!

See you Sunday!

Just between me and God

I’m pretty proud of myself. I’ve consistently posted 5-6 days a week since I started this blog. And it’s not really been a discipline most days. I just like to do it. It gives me an opportunity to take some of what God is showing me, process it to a point where it’s fit for public consumption, and then put it out there to hopefully bless someone else.

It’s good for my soul. It clears up my mind. It’s good really good for our church.

Yesterday I didn’t post anything on my blog, but it wasn’t because I had nothing to say. In fact, I filled up 6 pages in my personal journal, and the greater part of the margins on every other page in 2 books.

It’s just that some thing God says to you aren’t meant to be shared with anyone.
They’re just between you and God.

This is a hard tension for preachers to work around, I think.

We think every insight we have needs to be immediately put into outline format and shared with the masses.

I told our staff yesterday that sometimes when I open my Bible I feel like I’m grabbing a hammer or a scalpel: ie. going to work. It’s my job to read the Bible and hear from God. When most people read the Bible, they’re feeding their spirits. When I read my Bible, I’m often preparing food for someone else.
It’s not a bad thing, just different.

In some ways, it makes it easier to keep an exciting devotional life.
Because you get paid to do it.

In other ways, it makes it harder.
Because you get paid to do it.

Does this make sense?

Anyway, I think a good spiritual discipline for me is to sometimes read something in the Bible and think: “Oh man! That would make a great sermon! That would fit perfectly with that series in 3 months.”

And then never preach about it. Or post about it.

Just keep it between me and God.