- Where to begin
- I didn’t do a mind dump last Saturday because we were on vacation
- I know many pastors don’t take vacations, for a variety of reasons
- Here is a newsflash that I have learned: your church will not die without you
- I’m grateful that I have a team that would not let me not take vacation
- I’m grateful for elders who will not let me burn myself and my church out by preaching every week
- It was awesome getting away with Katie and the kids, no cell phone or computer
- Love that
- We took hikes, sat on the back porch drinking coffee and reading books
- With 3 small kids, we didn’t sleep in, but that is life
- It was awesome going to church with Katie and just sitting and soaking in being at church
- Today was the rummage sale for our adoption
- I was once again reminded this week about how amazing my wife is and how far I married up
- It was so humbling to have people donate the things they did and the time they gave
- We could not have done it without so many friends giving stuff and time
- We had friends who gave up over 12 hours of their time
- A huge, huge thank you. Words cannot express our gratitude
- At the end of the today, we raised almost $1800
- We are doing another one at our house in a few weeks, so we’ll keep you posted
- We are almost done with Phase 1, so excited
- Tonight was an awesome night at Revolution
- We continued our One Prayer Unstoppable series by using a sermon from Steven Furtick on God’s unstoppable power
- We shared tonight with parents that we are transitioning from Cody leading Rev Up to having Paul Samson lead it
- Excited about what Cody has done and what God is going to use him for in the future as he re-enlists in the Army
- Excited to have Paul on board
- We are also going to have Rev Up meet on Friday nights when we move so that students can be part of the service and serve on teams
- Really excited about this
- Even though I’m sad that the US lost today, I’m excited about the soccer still to be played
- There is nothing like the World Cup
- This week, our entire staff team is on vacation, so I’m planning to get a lot of upcoming stuff done for joining Acts 29, working on the study guides for our Ultimate Fighter series on 2 Timothy and working on my book proposal
- Two weeks ago, we used a message from Craig Groeschel about killing the lions in your life and fulfilling what God was calling you to
- For me, I have always wanted to write a book and started one but never finished for a variety of reasons
- So, on vacation I decided to start working on it
- I remember Mark Batterson telling me that you know you are ready to write a book when you are willing to write it even in you have to publish it, I can honestly say that is where I am at, so excited about this topic that is just burning in me
- Stay tuned
writing
- Tonight was our BBQ/Baptism
- I got to baptize 6 people
- I’ll post some pictures and video when we have it
- Love when we do baptisms
- Love hearing the stories of life change
- This one of the reasons I love what I do
- Definitely going to sleep well tonight
- It was awesome to see everyone just hanging out tonight and talking
- Community is happening at Revolution, which is amazing to see
- So many people put in a ton of hours to make tonight happen
- I am reminded every week how blessed we are to have the team we have at Revolution
- We simply have the best volunteers on the planet
- We have our small group tomorrow, we’re talking about families, raising kids, what that looks like
- Should be fun
- My summer break has unofficially started
- I’m still getting some things done, which is part of the plan
- Can’t believe we leave for San Diego one week from today
- So excited about that
- Started my break by reading through Mark Buchanan’s The Rest of God, so far it is great, a much needed look at sabbath and rest
- Katie’s Dad and Stepmom were here this week, it was great to have them here
- Got to grill 4 ribeye’s from Dickman’s while they were here, always tasty
- We also got to go to the Pima Air & Space Museum
- Spent all day yesterday shooting a bunch of videos for our next series
- Can’t wait to show them, they are hilarious
- In case you haven’t heard yet, Katie is blogging, so check it out
- Thinking about going to see the new Transformers movie this week
- Hope it’s good
- My big project this week is to finish writing the partnership class that we are doing in August
- Our partnership class is Revolution’s membership class
- I’m almost done with it
- I could keep going, but I am just blown away by how God is working at Revolution and that I get to be a part of it
- Tonight I’m reminded of the words of Bill Hybels, “I get to do this”
Right now, I have the biggest sense of relief. I just put a package in the mail with all of my assignments for my D.Min. class. It was a lot harder than I thought to write a 15 page research paper, makes me not excited about my dissertation in 3 years, but we’ll work up to it. I know I said I would post the paper here to read, but because it involves some of the history of my current church I am not going to do that. Why? Because it is my opinion of what happened before I got here (right or wrong), but my opinion. If you are curious to read how we are transitioning right now from a seeker – sensitive church to a missional community and want to read it, leave a comment and I will e-mail it to you and you can give me some feedback.
Looking forward to a little down time over the next month as our due date gets closer. I am not speaking for a few weeks here at church, which is exciting, because I want to raise up other communicators within our community. This will also not only give me a break as I have preached every week for almost 6 months, it will allow those getting tired of hearing me to hear some fresh voices. I can also get a jump on our next series titled The Lost Art of Community which we will begin in September on what community looks like.
When I take some time off, I always try to read a novel or 2, so I am going to start reading through the Harry Potter books. Never read them, saw the movie, so I thought it would be an interesting read, especially since they are now done, I can finish and find out what happens, so don’t tell me.
I am also speaking at the MissionalX conference in September on “Preaching in the missional church” so I have to write that. And I am trying to finish my book proposal. So lots going on. Then in September, we make the trek east for my good friend Kevin’s wedding.
I would appreciate your prayers over the next few weeks. I have been swamped with writing a lot of other things that won’t necessarily make interesting posts. Besides writing the messages I am preaching right now through the book of James, I am also rewriting our partnership class for Beginnings, which used to be called our membership class. I am also gearing up for our next series called The Fabulous life of Elijah, so I am researching that as well. I am also writing my chapter for the Wikikklesia book and working on a book proposal, so life is packed. And for some reason, I decided to ride in the Tour de Tucson and do the 66 mile race in November.
The last issue of SAM Journal was just published. The issue was on leadership, and I have two articles published in it:
I am going to be part of an e-book project called Wikiklesia: Voices of the Virtual World. My chapter is going to be called “Communicating Orally in a Visual World.” Should be fun. Another cool aspect of the project is that it will be released as an audio book, with each author reading their chapter. All the proceeds go to Not for sale.
Some of the other confirmed authors are Peter Rollins, Scot McKnight, and Andrew Jones. Our chapters are due June 4th, so it should be out sometime this summer, watch for details.
