Today I’m in Cumming, Georgia attending the Evolve Church Planters Conference at Mountain Lake Church. One word: WOW!
This morning in the PRE-CONFERENCE Seminar David Putman spoke on “Launching Large.” God used David to confirm his calling on my life to PLANT a church… I can’t wait… I’m not certain WHERE God wants me to plant, but I do know He has CALLED me to plant…
The conference officially kicked off in the afternoon with a message from Shawn Lovejoy on The Healthy Leader…
Key Thought: Healthy leaders create healthy organizations and healthy churches… Leaders must be relentless in the DISCIPLINE required to sustain personal health (physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually).
In the afternoon I attended a breakout session with Steven Furtick… Okay, this guy turns 28 years old TOMORROW… He looks like he’s in a rock band… Bleached hair… Torn jeans… Rock star shirt… HEART FOR GOD!
The guy is ON FIRE! His journey into church planting began when he was sixteen years old and read Jim Cymbala’s book Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. One sentence in the book nailed him… Cymbala wrote: “I despaired that my life might pass me by without seeing God move mightily on my behalf.”
What a sentence! This sentence was catalytic in creating a hunger for God in Steven’s life… He knew he wanted to see God “move mightily” in his life via a church plant…
God has “moved mightily” on his behalf… After only 18 months, the church recently topped 3,000 in weekend worship attendance! Yea, God!
Steven speaks with passion. He is real… He is anointed… I was moved by this breakout session….
Steven spoke from 2 Kings 4 which contains the story of a widow who desperately needed God’s intervention in her life… A loan shark was going to collect on a personal debt by taking her two sons as slaves… She needed a financial miracle…
The prophet Elijah looked at her and asked, “What do you have in the house?”
GREAT THOUGHT: Steven talked about God using “what we have in ‘OUR’ house” as the platform for His activity…
NOTE TO SELF: Don’t minimize what God has placed in “your house”? Maybe it’s only a little bit of oil, but God may want to use it to do something completely beyond your abilities…
“What do you have in the house?”
The widow responded, “Nothing, except a little oil…”
This is when things get interesting, because Elijah commanded the widow, “Go up and down the street and borrow as many jars as you can get your hands on… Don’t just borrow a few, borrow as many as you can get… Then come home and lock the door…you and your sons... Then pour oil into each container…”
If you’ve read the story you know that the oil continued to POUR until the last jar was filled…
GREAT THOUGHT: Here Steven talked about the fact that our GROWTH BARRIERS are not a result of GOD’S CAPABILITY, but of our CAPACITY…
God wants to blow our mind, but we must go out and get the jars…
Two Principles:
• The Principle of OVER REACTION…
The widow only had a small container of oil, but she was commanded to go out and borrow all of the jars she possibly could… Her willingness to go out and borrow empty jars actually ended up setting the CEILING ON THIS MIRACLE…
How I desperately need to BELIEVE GOD for MAJOR BREAKTHROUGHS… My faith in God’s capability to act will probably be revealed in my willingness to PREPARE FOR THE MIRACLE…
Here’s the SECOND PRINCIPLE…
• DRESS FOR THE WEDDING, NOT THE GAS STATION…
Steven talked about those odd times when we are decked out on our way to a wedding or formal engagement and have to stop and pump gas… We almost feel apologetic and want to explain ourselves to strangers and passersby, “Hey, I’m on my way to a wedding…”
Steven talked about how essential it is to PREPARE for where we WANT TO BE, not simply WHERE WE ARE as church planters… This will probably include the SYSTEMS, STAFF and STRUCTURES you develop for the church God has called you to plant…
Steven shared some of these same principles in the closing afternoon session…
Tonight, it’s late… I’m sitting here in bed and thinking about what God is doing in Charlotte, what God is doing through this 28-year-old rock and roller named Steven, what God has done for Shawn Lovejoy at Mountain Lake, what God has done for Chris Hodges at Church of the Highlands... Shoot! The list goes on…
All I can say is, “God, please do it again…”
“I despaired that my life might pass me by without seeing God move mightily on my behalf.”
Is this the way I really feel? Is it the way you feel? Are you so passionate about seeing God do something in your world that you will pray with passion, worship with abandon and believe with AUDACITY…
God is using a 28-year-old rocker to turn a city upside down! Why? Because the dude is HUNGRY for God to "move mightily."
I’M READY TO BE IN ON GOD ACTIVITY! How about you?
Well, it’s time to get some sleep… Tomorrow is DAY 2 of the Evolve Church Planters Conference… I’m looking forward to it already.
2 comments:
Wow! I'm not surprised, but just really excited for you. I guess that makes two of us sensing God's calling to be involved in church planting! God is doing some big stuff!
Thanks for the comment, Hoover... Great to hear from you, Bro. I look forward to learning about what God is doing and speaking in your life as of late... Keep the faith. Chris
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