1. I love Halloween!
2. We are having a ton of people over to hang out, pass out candy, eat candy, scare children, and eat candy 3. We brought the teachers and administrators of one of the local Primary schools a ton of food this morning.
4. We are getting very close to being able to pull off our Christmas event.
5. We now need $24,000 to get our sound/lights/video/etc. That is down $5,000 from a few days ago.
6. A Penguin just walked in front of me. Not a real one, but it was very tall.
7. Saw a sign for a Halloweenie roast today. Wow!
8. I met a TV Celebrity today….He will remain nameless to protect the innocent.

I love watching the activity of God. Sometimes it is evident what God is up to and sometimes His work is happening behind the scenes.

Bottom line….God is working.

Not just in my life, your life, my church (you know what I mean), or your church, but all across the world. The key for us it to get in on what He is doing. Stop selling God short and pray huge prayers, dream huge dreams, and trust in the fact that the same God who raised Jesus from the dead - is alive and well inside of us! Living in that reality - will drastically change your perspective.

It has mine.

Funniest quote of the day…

“Hi J.R., my name is Andy Stanley”.

- Andy Stanley

Several weeks ago, Mike Linch, asked me if I would like to sit in one of their leadership meetings with about 40 people and Andy Stanley. I decided it would be worth my time
Andy talked about some of the quotes that he has sitting around his office that have challenged him recently…

1. “When your memories exceed your dreams - the end is near.”

2. “The next generation product almost never comes from the previous generation. Act early, develop a totally new product and give the product a new name.”

* And no, he wasn’t talking about the gospel. Save your email.

3. “To reach people who haven’t been reached we will need to do things that others aren’t doing”.

He said that the limit to our leadership and forward thinking is 90% emotional.

4. “What do I believe is impossible to do in my field, but if it could be done - would fundamentally change my business.”

5. “If we got kicked out and the board got a new CEO. What would he do? Why don’t we walk out the door, come back in and do it.”

I will take the time to give a lot more thought on a few of these quotes in the days ahead, but for now, a huge thank you goes out to Mike for bringing us to the table and to Andy for taking the time to speak into all of our lives…

1. I am really looking forward to some of the community events we have coming up in the next two months.
2. Acworth is an extremely diverse city.
3. We can buy a ton of equipment at a way better price than we could get anywhere else for $29,000. Pray that God would provide that through whatever means necessary!
4. Speaking three times tomorrow. Good practice for the future!
5. What an incredible journey!

Church planting is one of the hardest but most enjoyable things on the planet!

The people who are thinking about starting a church because they think it’s cool are crack smokers; however, if you know you are called to do it - it is a blast!

Next week is going to be crazy busy, but I love the opportunites that we are going to have to make a difference in this community and to learn from some of the best… Gotta love it!

Todd and I drove up to Canton today to hang out at Cracker Barrel with Gary.

The best days so far for Revolution are just around the corner! They have some very strategic things on the agenda that will really help leverage their influence in that community. I am pumped for them and for the people that live in that city that have no clue what they are going to experience.

My only complaint….

I do have this hidden fear that Gary is going to accidentally cause me to have a car accident when I am driving down the road and I see him pedaling away on a bicycle while wearing his spandex

Many people have asked me how they can pray for us and for Freedom Church. I love the fact that people from all over the world are willing to spend time praying on our behalf!

First, pray for our community and not just our church. There are a lot of needs here and we will need a ton of people, churches, and organizations to make an impact.

Second, we have a ton of financial needs right now. We need $29,000 ASAP for the sound/lighting/video/etc. that we will need when January rolls around.

Third, pray for influence. We want to be an influential church that is making a difference and making the name of Christ famous in our community. We want to influence others to join us in the most exciting journey on the planet!

Community is something that is extremely important to us.

With that in mind, even in the days when we have no money (let me emphasize- zero money!) we are being very intentional about making an impact in the lives of people. If you don’t do it when you have little - you will NOT do it when you have much!

Whether it is providing breakfast for all the employees at city hall, food for all the teachers at a local elementary school, doughnuts for hungry college students, cookies and other stuff I am not allowed to eat for the neighborhoods in our area, or getting ready for a big Christmas giveaway….we are consumed with letting people know we care about them - no strings attached.

So even when we are praying for our largest need to date ($29,000) - we will invest in this community! Not then……now!

1. Miami pulled out a win against Florida State yesterday. We very easily could be 7-1 right now…And yes, we are just a year or two away.

2. Crazy busy two weeks coming up. A ton of meetings and speaking at a couple places.

3. If our Christmas idea comes together - it will definitely be something that has everyone talking. Same caliber as the “Egg Drop” from Elevation a couple years ago. I don’t know of any other churches that have tried this thing. Pray that it works out!

4. We got a membership at Gold’s Gym 3 weeks ago. Since then, I have been sore every single day.

5. If #3 works out - there will be some very happy little kids!