Three years ago we were sitting at St. Francis Womens Hospital in Memphis, TN, while we were watching coverage of Hurricane Katrina, we were also awaiting the arrival of our second daughter, London.  To say that she is full of life - would be a tremendous understatement.  She spends the majority of her time laughing, running, or begging to be thrown into the air.  Funniest line from the past several weeks…

Funniest line from the past few weeks… “Daddy, some boy pushed me down at the playground…If he does it one more time, I punch him in da face!”

I had a great time last week with Bishop Jim Bolin.  It has been 25 years since he started Trinity Chapel and they continue to reach several thousand people in the community of Powder Springs.  Here are a couple of his thoughts…

• “Anointing and power attract.  If you don’t have safeguards in your life than it is the recipe for the perfect storm.”
• “Build bridges.”  Help people get to the place that God desires for them to be - one step at a time.
• “Don’t get comfortable with success. As your community develops and changes - you will have to re-invent yourself in order to reach those who are far from God.”
• “Keep your stories and help people remember how you got to where you are.”
• “Never short-change the power of God and never stop celebrating the Awe of God.”
• “Jesus is more than a principle to follow!”

If you are a church planter/pastor/staff member of a church - he made an unbelievable statement that I will never forget.  The funny thing is that I can’t write it on the blog.  It’s a variation of the three most common temptations and it is good stuff.

If you want to know what it is - let me know and I will tell you.

• Very good day on Sunday.
• We are going to need some of the 11:00 crowd to move to 9:30.
• I think that we are about to do our very first mailer.  I haven’t seen it yet, but I have heard about the design…Should be VERY interesting to see the response.
• I am in the process of reading 3 really good books right now.  One at home, one at the office, and one in the bathroom.  It’s a strange process but it works.
• I met with Bishop Jim Bolin last week.  We hit it off instantly and I can’t wait to write about a few of the things he said.  It was hilarious and challenging at the same time.
• I am confident that Acworth is one of the greatest cities on the planet.
• There was a speech last night at the Democratic National Convention that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen.  I actually dreamed about it and woke up laughing.
• Television is terrible right now.  I watched a few minutes of a show with a guy that was “half man - half tree” and it freaked me out!  The new television season can’t come soon enough.
• The next 6 weeks at Freedom Church are going to be incredible!  Pray like crazy and I will fill you in on the details as we get closer.
• London turns 3 on Friday.  She is going to be an acrobat or a stuntwoman.
• Totally random thought, but my dog is older than all my kids.  He is 7.

Mike Linch and I had the opportunity to attend a breakfast with Ken Blanchard last Thursday.   The story about how he came to Christ and the role that Norman Vincent Peale and Bill Hybels played in his journey was pretty incredible.

Mr. Blanchard had some great things to say, but one comment in particular stuck out in my mind.  He was referencing staff relationships and setting people up for success by making the comment…

“Don’t just mark their paper - help them get and A”.

Exodus 17 provides a great leadership challenge.  They are not difficult verses to understand; however, the implementation of those verses might be a different story.

Most of us don’t have a problem encouraging and speaking well of people that are coming behind us.  It’s our response to the success of other people that will quickly reveal our true motives.

• Do we celebrate our friends promotion - when it means that we will now report to him or her?
• Can we celebrate with the church down the street who is experiencing a season of incredible growth?
• Do we celebrate with our friends and family when they experience financial blessing?
• Do we find ourselves speaking highly of other Pastors (whether or not they do ministry the same way we do)?

Every single day we must make the decision…Are we going to lift the arms of people or just continue to add to the weight?

I very rarely repost something that someone else has written, but I couldn’t help myself with this one.  Pastor Steven knocked this one out of the park.  Here it is…

One of the most devastating effects of sin is the way it strips away our confidence.

I think it’s impossible for a pastor to confidently lead his congregation to trust God for the unknown while he’s nursing known sin in his life. 

Many fathers are unable to fully lead their families to seek and worship God because they’re aware of their own hypocrisy…and it strips confidence away layer by layer.

Unconfessed sin will chip away at your confidence until you find yourself backing down from Christ centered challenges, and settling into survival mode. 

Walking in purity activates a boldness that enables you to follow Jesus with a holy swagger.

Be pure…and be bold.

1 John 3:21
Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. 

Devin and I hung out with Pete and Hollie last night at PF Changs.  I love hanging out with them and we had a blast!

While we were there, they told us about this…  It could quite possibly be the strangest thing I have ever seen at a funeral.

• GREAT Sunday this past week!  Wow!
• Opened up a Twitter account again.  Still can’t decide if I like it.
• Inviting people to church works.  Plain and simple.
• The office building that houses our office complex is for sale.
• Hanging out with three great leaders tomorrow.  Can’t wait.
• No Freakin Way will go down as our best series so far…
• It will only hold the title for about 6 days - because the series after that will be intense!
• Rumor has it that PF Changs is on the agenda for tonight…
• I got IT.
• The Mayor filmed a great video for us the other day.  Great!

We have done several little things over the past 6 months in order to spread the word about what God is doing at Freedom.  In spite of all that, by far, the greatest asset that we have are our people who are passionate about inviting their friends, family, and neighbors that are far from God.

Every Sunday we have tons of people who have invested time in the lives of others and followed through on that investment by doing whatever it takes to bring people with them.  It doesn’t get any better than investing in the life of someone around you and seeing their life changed right before your eyes by the power of the Gospel.

Great job Freedom - you are invitation machines!  It only get’s better from here!

What a great week!  Hanging out and learning from the guys in Perry’s Coaching Network was a blast.  Then, spending time with family, going to a birthday party, date night with Devin, watching the Olympics, and a great day at Freedom yesterday - made for an eventful 3-4 days.

God is stretching us right now - personally and as a church.  Personally, I am on a huge growth curve and I feel like a completely different person every couple of weeks.  Have you ever felt like that?

The church is experiencing some incredible things as well as we had our best attendance by far yesterday (35% higher than our best day ever) and several people accepted Christ.  There are also some great opportunities right in front of us that we are praying through and that could really help us go to a “whole nutha level“.

I love this season that I am in.  Pray for me and for my willingness to listen and to change when necessary…