Evolve has come and gone. What an amazing 2 days! Mark Batterson spoke today, along with Darin Patrick and Bil Cornelius. Yesterday, Shawn Lovejoy and Steven Furtick spoke. The teaching was top notch. It was cool that they gave God the glory for what had happened in their churches. Most of them shared some of their failures as well, from family relationships to failed church plants. I got to speak briefly with Mark Batterson about his book, "In a Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day", and tell him the impact it had on my life. He told me to keep him updated in the future b/c he wanted to see what God does in our life. He said as he wrote the book, he had a team praying for the readers and that it would have significant impact on lives. I'm thankful to Brett for recommending it. After reading it, God gripped my heart and that was the point that I realized I had to leave Acworth. That was the turning point that God put on my heart that it was time to either fully follow Him or just settle for a position and a paycheck. I decided I don't want to settle. It was definately hard to leave Brett and Joel, b/c people rarely get to work with the friends that we share life with, but it was something I had to do, and even though it was difficult, I am glad I did and it's amazing seeing God honor our obedience!
One of the coolest features of the Evolve Conference was that our wives got to come for free. It is awesome seeing the vision that God has placed on my wife's heart for ministry. I'm thankful that she got to attend this conference with me. Not only did God speak to her heart and confirm His calling for our service to Him, but we got to have 2 dinner dates since the kids were at her parents house until this evening! It was great to get to date my wife again. My friend, Mark Ayers, said he could see a huge difference in the burden lifted off of her since this past summer when his wife and he hooked up with us and Brett at PC Beach for dinner during Summer Xtreme. I'm thankful to Pastor Johnny not only for his investment into my life and ministry and future, but I'm also thankful for my wife to have the opportunity to be ministered to in the church!
By the way, after all the trash talking on his blog re: the Guitar Hero contest, Gary Lamb got embarrassed. He's definately a great leader and church planter, which is probably why he wasn't that good at guitar hero. Too busy doing ministry...
Lisa was reading Proverbs 19 today. We have a vision now of what we desire to do in the future in what we believe God is leading us to do, but we are praying for wisdom in the journey to get to that place. A couple of verses she underlined today.
Prov. 19:1 Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool. (be honest in all that we do, in our success, failures, self-evaluation, relationship with God and others, etc...)
Prov. 19:2 Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. (Don't rush into where God is calling us without being properly prepared!!!)
Prov. 19:20 Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. (we're totally in an amazing place to get advice and instruction during this year!!!)
Prov. 19:21 You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. (We must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we properly prepare and equip ourselves to follow God's purpose for our lives!)
We had lunch with a new friend that is a church planter in Vegas. It is amazing what God is up to there. We are praying about an opportunity there, but we're unsure of the timing. However, if we are obedient to God and use the wisdom He provides, everything will work out in a way that is honoring to Him.
Speaking of preparation, I need to finish (and start) preparing for a Bible Study I am teaching tomorrow at Woodstock, then get ready for a test. I'm drinking a Latte' I made-I definately kick Starbucks butt with my Latte's and home made frappachinos.
Looking forward to hooking up with one of my old roomates from Liberty, Trey, tomorrow evening. He is a student at SouthEastern Theological Seminary now. I haven't seen him in years, so I'm looking forward to it!
Oh yeah, started back on the exercise and "watching" what I eat (watching every single bite!!!) routine. Working on some new veggie dishes (like Tofu Pot Pie-which sounds horrible, but tastes amazing with bacon grease added (kidding about the grease-but it probably would be good)) and the self-discipline factor in my life. Fun stuff!!!
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