Steven Furtick, the pastor of Elevation Church in Charlotte spoke this morning at Newspring.

There are a million things I could say, but let me just say this. I am proud of what God is doing at Elevation church and in the life of this young (same age as me - 27) pastor. The message from 1 Samuel 14 was amazing and right on target for my life, the life of our team, and everyone who had the privilege to hear. I am honored to be part of the Ground Level Network with you guys and I am pumped about what God is going to teach me as a result. Just like Newspring (and many others as well), Elevation is a vision enhancing force in my life.

I am challenged by you to become the person that God created me to be! Thank you for following hard after the heart of God. Get ready Charlotte - you haven’t seen anything yet!

God’s promises truly are bigger than our perhaps! (1 Sam. 14:7)

We made it to Newspring this morning after driving through the pouring rain and seeing a 3 car accident literally right in front of us. We met up with Michael Brown who gave us a tour of the facility and allowed us to ask questions, etc. We had a great time and they have some of the friendliest people you will ever meet.

I love that church! I have been there 4 times now and it has been incredible every single time. The people who made the trip with us were blown away! The band was amazing and Steven Furtick did an INCREDIBLE job bringing the message (more on that in the next post). Perry Noble and the team are doing a great work in Anderson and are experiencing the favor of God in a big way. Thank you Newspring for being a vision enhancing force in my life and the lives of countless others! The best is yet to come!

Mike Linch from NorthStar Church has finally jumped on the blogging bandwagon and created one of his own! Mike has been a huge blessing to me and the guys at Freedom Church. I am pumped that he is now entering the blogging world.

Go check it out here!

Another random list…

1. I saw the funniest shirt I have ever seen yesterday. It still makes me laugh.
2. I bought some jeans without trying them on….when I finally did - they barely made it past my shins.
3. Devin and I played tennis last night - we are still looking for two of the balls.
4. Several of us are heading out to Newspring on Sunday….Can’t wait.
5. Launch team meetings offically begin Wednesday. One more meeting tonight to get ready.
6. These thoughts from Jon about our recent conference experience were hilarious.
7. My car is very old! Just a few more years and I can get one of those special tags.
8. I saw a Mercedes Golf Cart yesterday that cost $9,000. It had spinners…

To all the dads in the world with very young (younger than 5) daughters… Here is a discussion that just took place a couple days ago.

Lexi (5 yr. old) - Mommy I am not going to school next year.
Devin - Why not Lexi?
Lexi - Well, I was thinking and I decided I am not going to school until I get some boobs.
Devin - (Laughing uncontrollably) Lexi, You are 5 and no one in your class is going to have boobs.
Lexi - Yes they are. Everyone in school has boobs - haven’t you seen High School Musical?
Devin - Your not in high school - you will be in kindergarten.
Lexi - Well I guess I will go but I really need some boobs.

Are you serious? I don’t know if that is funny or if it scares me out of my mind. Perry, Todd, and all the other guys with young daughters like me - I think we need a support group immediately!

The Church Planter conference is officially over… We actually had a great time and met some great people. It was good to be able to learn some things and network with other planters.

While we weren’t in sessions or staff meetings (we met for around 10 hours as a staff outside the sessions) - we laughed uncontrollably. It was unbelievable.

Whether we were throwing water on the the middle school campers who kept running up and down our hall or just hanging out in the room at 1 or 2 in the morning - we had a lot of fun. More team building stuff happened this week than in the past 3 months combined.

Last night we met as a staff for right at 5 hours AFTER we had been in meetings all day with the GBC. We actually had a ton of fun in the process and tonight will probably be more of the same.

We are having a blast talking about everything that pertains to Freedom Church and getting ready for what God has in store.

One of the commitments we have made is to create a culture of excellence from the very beginning. Doesn’t matter whether it is a brochure, guest registration packet, launch team meeting, or whatever. If we can’t do it with excellence - we don’t do it.

That mindset has been ingrained into the minds of all our guys and they are FREAKS about making sure we stick to that plan. Mucho bueno!

Right now I am sitting in something called a Rotunda in Toccoa GA at a church planting training event.

It has been very interesting………

The team and I have had a ton of fun hanging out between sessions, after sessions, and during late night trips to WalMart to escape for a few hours. The guys on our team are hilarious. We have been able to get a lot done, but at the same time, I am pretty sure I haven’t stopped laughing the entire time I have been here.

Well, except for that one time after talking to this one guy…..

Anyway. I am pumped about the opportunity to have all our guys in the same place at the same time. Tonight we are going to go at it over several issues. Oddly enough, we always have a good time when we have the hard discussions.

One thing that every church planter will learn is the need to network with and learn from other guys and other churches.

We have been very fortunate to be able to learn from a variety of incredible people, churches, and/or organizations. We have a lot more questions than we do answers so we have to surround ourselves with people who can help us in the journey.

As a result, we are excited to be able to be one of just a few churches in the Ground Level Network. This network was started by the pastor of Elevation Church - Steven Furtick and the Executive Pastor, Chunks Corbett. They have been a great source of knowledge and are always willing to help. The other guys that are in the network are incredible as well. Gary Lamb, Tadd Grandstaff, and Daniel Floyd are ahead of where we are in this church planting endeavor and will be three more guys who are great to learn from.

I am pumped about the people God has surrounded us with. There are too many to list right now, but we will definitely talk more about them in the days to come.

Last night we had our first pre-launch team meeting in Acworth. I say pre-launch because this was more of an informational meeting to get ready for the actual launch team meetings that will begin a week from Wednesday.

The thing went great and people are PUMPED about what God has in store! I am excited about watching this team develop and grow as we experience the journey!

More to come about last night a little later…