First of all, many thanks for the stacks and stacks of emails that have been pouring in to celebrate our one year blog birthday.
I can’t wait to take a few hours and read through them all one by one.

Honestly, the past few days have been a bit of a blur for me. As a leader, I have been stretched and strengthened in ways that have simultaneously supercharged me and sucked me dry.
I spent the last few days in Houston being trained by some of the most influential pastors in the nation, and I cried like a baby during the opening session as I realized that yet again, God is perfectly positioning me for the next stage of my development. The Lord is good.

I can sense irrefutably that God is preparing us to crash like a wave into another major season of blessing and growth within the next few months because of…

1. … the way God is equipping me.

God has been building me up in significant ways in the last several months.
T.D. Jakes says that you can tell what God is getting ready to build in your life by the kind of equipment He’s bringing around you. If God is bringing heavy duty bulldozers and cranes onto the jobsite, He’s not going to build a chicken coop.
If that’s accurate (and I believe it is), God’s drawing up blueprints for a sky scraper at Elevation.
In the last couple of weeks, God has brought connections and relationships into my life that I certainly don’t deserve. He is bringing people around me who are bigger, better, faster, and stronger than me, to help me learn and force me to grow. I’m grateful for that. Really grateful, and really humbled.

2. … the way God is pruning me.

As God has been building me up, He’s also been cutting back.
This part of preparation isn’t nearly as enjoyable, but it may be even more vital.
Jesus said that God prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear even more fruit.

I like to bear fruit. I don’t like to get pruned. Too bad. You can’t have one without the other.
God always strips away something before He brings forth something else.
He always subtracts before He multiplies.

The last 6 weeks I have been in a pruning season. It’s very painful.
I have sustained some major losses (details aren’t important) that have left me seeing stars.
But I know it’s profitable. It’s fruitful. And I’m excited.
God is just about ready to load our vine with more fruit. In fact, it’s already beginning. 162 salvations on Sunday. A season called Dominate just around the corner that is going to turn heads all over the city. A new wave of leadership that God is raising up and bringing forth.

Does it feel like God is cutting back on you during this season of your life?
Watch out: He’s about to grow some freaking watermelons on your vine…
In your ministry, in your business, in your family, in your marriage… and beyond.

This line of thinking isn’t called self-help, it’s called Biblical hope.
Receive it today… in Jesus’ Name!

Tomorrow is a big day for the Furticks. Updates to come!