Sometimes I feel like maybe we’re getting too big for our britches at Elevation.
Too audacious.
Setting lofty goals that are laughable and preposterous.
Like we’re asking God for too much, too fast.

Then I read something like this in the Bible:

Isaiah 49:6
“It is too small a thing for you to be my servant
to restore the tribes of Jacob
and bring back those of Israel I have kept.
I will also make you a light for the Gentiles,
that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

I’m so naïve, and ultimately I guess I’m arrogant.
Because the ultimate form of pride is dreaming dreams and living life according to the parameters of my personal limitations.
I categorize this as pride because it factors God out and idolizes human ability.
It gives my opinion of myself veto power over God’s promise concerning me.

It turns out God isn’t intimidated by my big requests.
He is insulted by my puny ones.

God isn’t playing catch up with us.
He’s putting the ball back on the tee again, trying to get us ready to play some real ball.

His abilities and purposes are not the limiting factors here.
Our outdated and fragmented imaginations are.

When we set our Year 2 goals at Elevation, we wrote down a number of people we wanted to see receive Christ as Savior this year.
That goal was surpassed in month 2.
We dreamed too small.
Shame on us.
I’d like to say we’ll do better next time. But we probably won’t.
God’s people have a historical habit of forgetting His faithfulness and underestimating His power.

I’m sorry to say that your dreams are too small too.
You serve the God of inexhaustible, all sufficient, overflowing resource.
Whatever you might imagine God wants to do through your life in your most faith-filled, bold, reckless moments, multiply it by 10.
Take it to the 100th power.
Double it again.
Now you’re starting to uncover a fraction of the blueprint God has already drawn up.

God isn’t waiting for you to downsize your prayers before He answers them.
He demands an upgrade.

He’s not scared by your self-proclaimed unrealistic expectations.

He’s more like:
“Is that all you’ve got?”

… To why Elevation is growing and why God is blessing us, you’ll need to show up 3 hours before our first service or 10 minutes after our last service.

If you only come for the music and slip out during the last song you might think:
“Ok, I get it. A skilled modern rock band, club show vibe, tasteful motion backs… that’s why they’re growing.”
Sorry, you’ve missed it.
Trust me, music and media are high priority to us… but they are not-I repeat-not the key to God’s hand of blessing.

If you sit through the sermon, you’re likely to deduce:
“Well, I know that’s not the secret, it’s gotta be something else!”
And you’d be right.

It must be cool marketing.
Nope.
Although our marketing is cool, because Damion and Ryan are very talented, and uber hip.
And we don’t apologize for trying our best to be slicker than snot.
God deserves excellence, and people need relevance.

Good facilities/location?
Hardly.
There are dozens of churches within 3 square miles of our meeting place.
Some of the parking lots could accommodate hundreds of extra cars at 11:00.
Other churches cause traffic jams for miles, and have to shuttle people ¾ of a mile to the auditorium. Then they have to seat them in the overflow room.
One church explodes with new growth, the other dies a slow death, side by side.
It’s not about location.

The secret to Elevation’s growth is hidden to the unsuspecting eye.

But look closer. I’ll show you the secret:
You see that guy in the orange shirt? The one sweating profusely, lifting a soundboard 1 ½ times his body weight and loading it into the trailer?
He used to play in the NFL.
He got here at 5:00 this morning. And he’ll be one of the last ones to leave.
He’s the secret.

Look in the atrium.
You see that lady working fast and furious to set up the resource area?
She’s a single mom.
She had to make arrangements for someone to watch her kids, get them ready and bring them to church this morning… so she could make sure the resource area was set up to exact specifications. It’s her ministry.
She’s the secret.

Oh, and guess what the staff is eating for lunch today?
A refrigerator full of amazing home cooking prepared especially for us by Brandy Briscoe’s small group. Along with it came a stack of encouraging cards (complete with Hi Pastor Steven spelled out in every imaginable variety of magic marker colors ) about how privileged they feel to be a part of this mission.
These ladies are really something special.
They’re the secret.

To our army of over 500 volunteers between our Central and Union campuses, you’re the secret.
You’re the reason 227 people have given their lives to Christ in the last 2 months (!) and the reason hundreds more will make the same decision in the next few months.
You’re the reason we’re already averaging over 400 people in worship at our Union campus!

(To the idiot who’s mumbling: “Jesus is the reason lives are being changed, not your volunteers.” Yes, Jesus is the reason, but volunteers are the vehicle. Go listen to another Piper sermon on your iPod and get over yourself.)

You parking lot guys who smile and wave and put up signage in the pouring rain are the secret.

You Union E-Kidz volunteers who have to listen to the sermon on the way home because you’re changing diapers while I’m preaching… you’re the secret.

Some days being a pastor is draining and lonely.

Other days you realize that to step down from your job to be the President of the United States of America would be a demotion because you are doing the most significant thing possible with the most incredible people on the planet.

I feel that way today.

Some of my friends say God often wakes them up in the middle of the night and speaks to them and they can’t go back to sleep.
That only happens to me a few times a year.
Thank God.

I mean, almost every night I can barely fall asleep because my mind is racing, but usually once I do, God is very respectful of my need for sleep and he leaves me alone.

Not tonight.

3:20 AM, wide awake, and my imagination is running wild with some new things I think God wants to do at Elevation.

Usually when this happens I beg God, like I used to beg my mom on Monday mornings, to just give me 5 more minutes to sleep. And if He doesn’t, I lay there kind of grumpy in a semi-coma and try to work myself back into hibernation as quickly as possible.

Tonight (or this morning, I can’t really figure out what to call it) I don’t seem to mind as much.
If God has something exciting enough to speak to me about that it can’t wait until the morning, I’m ready to hear it.

You know I have to ask it:

Is there a dream alive and kicking in your heart so consuming, so challenging, with big enough implications to occasionally wake you up at 3 am… not so you can worry about it… but so you can dream and pray about it some more?

Christians talk a lot about accountability.
The basic idea is that we should hold each other to Biblical standards.

Some people take this concept so seriously that they form accountability groups.
Usually, “accountability partners” ask each other questions like:

Did you skimp on your Bible reading this week?
Did you have too much to drink at the company party last week?
Have you looked at pornography since we last met?
Etc.

The discussion (in my experience) usually revolves around making sure we’re doing all the stuff that makes us “good Christians” and not doing the stuff that makes us feel Junior Varsity.

That’s a good start, but I believe there’s a higher level of accountability required of God’s people.

What if accountability was focused more on making each other great than making sure we were being good?

We would all agree, and rightfully so, that if you see blatant sin in the life of another Christian, it is your responsibility to call it out. To challenge it. To confront it.

But what about when you see blatant potential that is lying dormant in another Christian’s life?
When you see underdeveloped greatness in the life of someone you love, isn’t it just as important to call that out too?

To ask each other questions like:

1. Are you consistently cultivating the anointing that God has placed on your life? Or do you have skills and abilities that are rusting in the toolbox?
2. Are you taking full responsibility to steward every gift God has given you, stretching yourself beyond your prefabricated limitations?
3. Do you have a God sized vision for your life? One that, every once in a while, makes you sick to your stomach with nervous excitement? Are you fulfilling it daily?
4. Have you said no to a risk that God recently instructed you to take?
5. Is your life oriented around changing the world or merely surviving it?

Read these 3 Scripture passages that command this type of accountability:
Ephesians 4:1
Romans 12:6-8
2 Timothy 1:6-7
Here’s what I want you to do today.

Approach someone in your life who is living below his or her potential and privilege as a child of God.
Someone who has let some dreams lie dormant because of fear, insecurity, busyness, or laziness.

Remind them how gifted and resourced they are to do exploits for God.
Get in their face about the greatness of God in their life.
Speak into them about their unlimited and unique potential in Christ.

And call it out.