- Really great night tonight
- Love all the energy that is in our church
- I can remember when no one would clap or cheer and now it is part of our culture
- Awesome
- It was great having Ben and Austin with us tonight
- Love their hearts for churches in Tucson
- Loved Ben’s challenge tonight, let’s make it happen Revolution
- Do you know how we reach our city? One person at a time
- I had a pastor ask me this week, “Do you know how your church can double in one week?”
- The answer?
- If everyone at Revolution brought someone next week
- Came across this today about how a church should treat a pastor’s wife. So grateful for Revolution and the elder team who treat Katie in unbelievable ways
- We are having a special creative team meeting this week to plan atmosphere, props, videos, songs and other things for our series we are starting January 9th
- I keep telling you, Revolution, we have seen nothing yet
- In 2009, we saw God triple our church, just wait for 2010
- Planning to get away on Wednesday for a day of silence and solitude
- I have fallen behind on this and need to get back into this being a regular practice
- Would appreciate your prayers on Wednesday as I get alone with God and my moleskine
- Just picked up the new Dashboard Confessional this week, does not disapoint
- Wow
- We started Advent tonight
- We’ve never done this as a church, but I think it is going to be a cool thing this Christmas to pause and remember Jesus
- Love how Robert Webber describes Advent, “The inbreaking of God into our world”
- Totally sums up Christmas
- I got to do a wedding this past Sunday, love being a part of that part of people’s lives
- It is a funny reminder to me everytime I hang out with the groom right before the ceremony and how nervous they are
- So far, I think I was worse than anybody I’ve hung out with
- Spent most of this week working on the study guide for the series we are starting January 9th
- I cannot begin to tell you how excited I am for the next few months at Revolution and what God is going to do
- I am loving hearing the stories of how God is working through the tithing challenge and through the Revolution fast this past week
- Love when people take steps in their journey and they see how God works
- Never gets old
- I need a huge win in one of my fantasy leagues tomorrow to stay in the playoff hunt, I’m playing Paul
- This past week, Katie and I got to connect with another pastor and his wife
- Pastors need other pastors, it is one of the ways to have longevity
- Looking forward to tomorrow
- Hanging out with Katie and the kids, then football with some friends
- That’s what I call a Sabbath
Archives
All posts for the month November, 2009
Saturday is part 4 of our series How to be Rich.
This has been an unbelievable series. Everything from the tithing challenge, to our church fasting this past week. It has been awesome to see the way God has been moving and challenging us as we think about how to be rich.
This week we’ll be looking at how saving, investing, what happens to our stuff and what is really important in this world and the next. Definitely appropriate the day after black friday.
If you want to send an e-vite, go here.
We are also starting the Advent season as a church this week. Really excited about doing this as a church this year and seeing how God uses this time over the next 4 weeks to prepare for Christmas.
See you Saturday at 5!
- Audio from the main sessions of Acts 29 recent boot camp in Louisville. The theme was centered around Ambition.
- Winfield Bevins on Letting God speak to you. For many of us, the reason we don’t hear from God is because of things we are doing.
- 7 reasons Christians should twitter. It’s official, Jesus wants you to twitter. (Just kidding)
- Thoughts on your life as a story. Cody is a new revolutionary and new at blogging. Give him some love and check him out. By the way, he is a really good writer. (That’s two who think so Cody)
- Some thoughts on understanding the doctrine of the Trinity.
- Men, lead your family well. I just discovered Dustin Neeley but have gotten so much from what he has written. He says 2 things every pastor needs to hear: “Your church can get a new pastor, but your kids have one dad and your wife has one husband.”
- Great night tonight
- Really weird not having Paul there, but Austin did a great job
- I don’t know if Revolution would be where it is today without the help that Austin gave us at the very beginning and in helping us find Paul
- If you are interested in participating in Revolution’s fast this week or fasting in your own life, here is the fasting guide we put together to help you
- In case you missed it, here are some things I am excited for the holiday season
- Get to perform a wedding tomorrow, love being a part of weddings
- Got Malcolm Gladwell’s new book What the Dog Saw in the mail today, so pumped to read this
- Anything he writes is worth reading
- Some other books I’m hoping to get through before Christmas that I’m really excited about: Relational Intelligence and The Performance Factor
- Planning to take Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to do some serious writing and finish the study guide and small group guide for our series we are starting in January
- It is going to be the most important series we have ever done at Revolution
- Seriously
- We’re having 15 people over for Thanksgiving, love having a packed house for the holidays
- This past week was my monthly lead pastor coaching network
- I am blown away by how much I get out of it and how big of a difference it is making at Revolution
- It was cool reminiscing with Austin tonight as he led worship for us right when Revolution got started a year ago
- Since the last year at this time, we have tripled
- Crazy what God has done in the last year
- The number one question I’ve gotten during this series is what do you do if you can’t afford to tithe, here are my thoughts
- Really excited to have Ben, Austin and the Common Ground band with us next week
- Love the partnerships we are building with other churches in Tucson
- That really is the only way we will ever have a shot at being a force in Tucson, working together
- Really excited to see how God uses our church fast this week
- Can’t wait to see how God stretches our church
- In case you care, I switched from Twitterberry to UberTwitter on my phone
- Way better
- My cousins and great Aunt and Uncle came down from Scottsdale tonight to hear me preach
- First comment, “I was pleasantly surprised, you were better than I thought”
- Awesome
- Blown away again tonight just watching all of our leaders, how hard they work, how selfless they are and how sold out they are to the mission
- Thanks for helping to make Revolution happen
- I can’t believe I get paid to do this
Tonight, we continued our series How to be Rich through Matthew 6. We looked at verses 16 – 18, specifically at the spiritual practice of fasting.
Here are the different types of fasting found in the Bible:
- Normal fast. A person abstained from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water – usually to prepare for some significant event. Jesus fasted for forty days in preparation for his temptations from Satan and the inauguration of his public ministry (Matthew 4:1 – 2; Luke 4:1 – 2).
- Partial fast. Sometimes people entered into a partial restriction of diet, but not total abstention. For a three-week period of mourning, Daniel ate no meat or drank no wine, and he applied no lotion to his body (Daniel 10:3).
- Absolute fast. During a relatively short, urgent period of time, people could abstain from all food and water to discern God’s leading. Esther neither ate nor drank for three days during a period of national crisis (Esther 4:16), and at Paul’s dramatic conversion he abstained from eating and drinking for three days (Acts 9:9).
- Private and corporate fasts. Fasting is usually a private affair, but at times the people of God came together for corporate or public fasts, such as on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:37), in times of national emergency (2 Chronicles 20:1 – 4), or for seeking God’s guidance in prayer (Ezra 8:21 – 23).
For more information on fasting or to participate in Revolution’s fast this Monday into Tuesday, click here.
Last night, Katie and I had our weekly date night. We spent it at Montana Avenue, a favorite of ours. Wow.
Anway, I can still taste the ribeye. Just sayin. While there, we talked about many things, but we talked about what we are excited about for the holiday season. Thought I’d share some of those things:
- This is Ashton’s first thanksgiving and Christmas, not that he will remember them, but it is always fun.
- We will have a house full on Thanksgiving, 15 adults and 11 kids. Love packing out our house.
- Grilling our turkey. I know that people passionately push deep frying and bags on me, but nothing beats grilling a turkey.
- We’re getting a Wii. Really excited about this.
- My family is coming out for Christmas. Love having them in our house and love having them at Revolution when I preach. I think you would have to see my teenage years to appreciate the true irony of this.
- Celebrating the Advent season as a church. This will be a first for Revolution, but starting November 28th we will take time in each of our services to read through the Advent season. Great way to focus on this season.
- Doing a wedding on Sunday. Love being a part of people’s lives for the highs and lows, it is one of the greatest parts of my job. Weddings fit into the highs category.
- This Christmas will mark 1 year that Paul and Jennifer have been at Revolution. It still blows my mind that they joined us and so excited about what God is doing through them on our team.
- Putting up our tree the day after thanksgiving. Ava would already have it up if she got to decide, but we told her we had to wait, at least until the day after thanksgiving.
- Spending the month of December reading several books on teamwork.
- Okay, that has nothing to do with the holidays, but will be crucial to Revolution in 2010 and beyond. Our structure is shifting with our growth. Trying to see beyond our next steps to what our team needs to look like.
- Christmas music.
- Okay, that was a complete lie.
- Winterhaven, love taking the kids there.
- Having a week off between Christmas and New Years. This is one of my favorite breaks of the year, so crucial to be at full steam starting in January. We experience are second largest growth in February.
- You read that right Revolutionaries, so be ready for an explosion in February.
- Lamb on New Years Eve with Todd and Alicia. So good.
- January, we will embark on our largest and most important series ever at Revolution. It will literally set the stage for the next 5 years as a church.
- Hearing how God is moving in the lives of those who are doing the 90 day tithing challenge at Revolution. Over 25% of our church is participating. Can’t wait to hear how God is working in their lives during the 90 days.
- Having three times as many people at our Christmas Eve service this year as we had last year.
- What God is doing at Revolution is not normal and I never want to get used to seeing him work. I love being able to pray with people, challenge them and see them take steps in their journey back to God.
- Never gets old.
Those are some things I’m excited about. What are you excited about?
Do you know someone who is experiecing financial strain? Do you know someone who needs to find freedom in the area of money and finances, or just life in general?
That’s what tomorrow at Revolution is all about.
So who are you bringing? It is going to be a great night as we try to discover how to find freedom in our lives.
If you want to send an e-vite, go here.
