Thanks for being patient with me during a relatively slow blogging week.

Dallas was great. Shopping with Holly on Wednesday was great. (I know I just admitted that I enjoyed a shopping trip. Get off my back.) C3 was great.

I scribbled notes from the conference until my hand hurt.
You should see the way I take notes at an event like that. Or anywhere, I guess.
Holly says it drives her crazy. For a couple of reasons:

1. My handwriting looks like a 4th grader’s. That’s being generous. Maybe a 4th grader with a broken hand, writing on a school bus while drinking vodka during an earthquake.

2. I draw arrows everywhere and write in a code language that is only intelligible to me. That’s because my notes are really top secret plans to take over the world. I’m only kind of kidding.

3. I never write down what the speaker is actually saying. I mean, I may start there, but then I start translating that into what I think it means to me and to us now and 5 years from now. It’s hard to explain, but I think most leaders are going, “Yep, me too.”

I can always feel the tectonic shift inside of me when I peel away for a couple of days like this. This week was no exception.

It was very good for Holly to make the trek with me. We had some great conversations, and I think her faith was stretched. Which says a lot, because she was already full of faith.
I needed her to see that behemoth campus, the kids’ area, the production level, the real estate… and then be able to close her eyes and picture even bigger things than that here in Charlotte. I think she’s got it.

It was also cool to meet a lot of people who have heard what God is doing at Elevation. Elevators, take my word for it, God is using you far beyond Mecklenburg and Union County. People from all over the country are being encouraged by your faith and sacrifice. I don’t share that to brag. I share it to inspire those of you who are behind the scenes, because it’s not fair for me to be an encouragement hog.

We are in a season of favor right now at Elevation.
I know that’s a really abused church word that some theological traditions never even use. I’ll elaborate briefly.

When you walk in the favor of God, opportunities chase you down. You don’t have to manipulate, and it’s almost as if you’re stumbling into blessing and opportunity. You can’t earn it or improve upon it. And the only way you can stop it is to say no to the next step of obedience God asks you to take.

I feel God’s favor on our church and I give Him all the glory.

Tomorrow we continue our search for the elusive sexy.
I advise sitting at least 4 rows back.
Because when I get overly fired up about preaching, I spit pretty far.

And I just listened to Ed Young Jr., Ed Young Sr., Craig Groeschel, and Bishop T.D. Jakes all in a 24 hour period.
Pack a lunch, boys and girls. I’ve got a lot to say.