As I announced last week on Twitter, Holly and I have the honor of partnering with Ed and Lisa Young on a very exciting initiative: C3 Global. Ed Young has been a model of leadership for me and challenged me to expand my vision of what the church is capable of in this world. And now through C3 Global, we want to partner together to see the same thing happen for ministries all over the world.
Take a few minutes today and check out C3 Global and its vision.
Today my great friend Stovall Weems released his new book, Awakening. I had a chance to preview it and it’s phenomenal. If you want your soul to be ignited with the passion it was created to possess, you need to read this book. Stovall is an incredible leader of this generation and a great man of God. And not only am I honored to support him in the release of his book, I’ll also be recording a sermon for the Awakening movement in January when almost a million people from around the world will come together for 21 days of prayer, fasting, and online teaching. You can join in from anywhere and it’s not something you’ll want to miss.
But before then, pick up a copy of the book for yourself. Buy a few as Christmas gifts for other people. And join the Awakening.
In just over a month I get to preach for my good friend Perry Noble at NewSpring Church’s Leadership Conference.
Perry is one of my best friends and has been a mentor and confidant for me since Elevation’s earliest days. I don’t know a gutsier, bolder, or more dynamic leader in our generation. But sometimes you may see a highly visible, highly confident, highly successful pastor like Perry and wonder if he’s the real deal. He is. You won’t find anyone with more integrity or a bigger heart for the Kingdom.
And the lineup he and the incredible team at NewSpring have put together for this event is unbelievable.
Perry Noble. Francis Chan. Mark Driscoll. Jud Wilhite. Judah Smith. And as of yesterday, Rick Warren.
A leadership conference headlined by just one of any of these guys would be worth any price. But to have all of them in one day for $99 is just straight up ridiculous. But that just shows the heart of Perry and his leadership team to put on a ridiculously low-priced conference that anyone can be a part of and yet still get to hear from some of the best leaders in the church today.
Register here. And don’t hesitate. The $99 early bird registration ends this Friday.
Get yourself there. If you can, get your entire staff there. This one day has the potential to be the highlight of your entire year.
Pastor Craig Groeschel is a great man of God and a good friend. God has used him to revolutionize my understanding of unity and the Kingdom of God. The team at LifeChurch.tv provides more resources and creates more opportunities for partnership in the Gospel than any church I’ve ever encountered.
A while back, Pastor Craig preached a powerful message series called Practical Atheist. He defined a practical atheist as someone who says he believes in God, but lives as if He doesn’t exist. One of the sermons gripped me so powerfully that I took an entire weekend at Elevation to broadcast the message to all of our campuses. The response was overwhelming.
When Pastor Craig told me that his next book, The Christian Atheist, would be based on this concept, I immediately started imagining the impact it could have on Christians and churches all over the world.
The book releases next Tuesday. Although Pastor Craig didn’t ask me to do this, I really felt I needed to take a day on my blog and help get the word out. Of course, I strongly encourage you to order a copy for you and your peeps. But I’d also recommend that you take this opportunity to expose as many people as possible to the challenge in creative ways. Here are a couple ideas.
-Show one or more of the messages from the series, Practical Atheist, in your church. Because of the incredible generosity of the LifeChurch.tv team, you’ll be able to download and show the messages free of charge. This is a tremendous blessing.
This link should take you right to the series: http://open.lifechurch.tv/series/3475
The sermon we used specifically was Week 2. They’re all fantastic.
-Buy a couple dozen, or a couple hundred books for key people in your church. Use it as small group curriculum. Give it as a gift to new Christians (would be especially helpful as Easter approaches.)
You know I don’t use this blog to advertise or promote stuff very often. But I believe when God has anointed a man and a message, we should all get behind it in any way we can. I really believe in Craig Groeschel, LifeChurch.tv, and the truth in this book. Now go buy a bunch of copies.
