• Today we saw 516 people surrender their lives to Christ at NewSpring.  THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!!!!!!
• We shattered a non-holiday attendance record with over 14,100 people in church today!  (EVERY campus set an attendance record!)
• Anderson campus literally ran out of parking spaces at 11:15.
• (The 6:00 service in Anderson was the most electric/anointed environment I’ve EVER been in–EVER!)
• Columbia campus ran out of chairs at 11:15 and had people standing along the walls.
• Florence campus went over 1,000!
• Greenville campus had over 2,800 people show up!
• I believe we presented the most simple Gospel presentation we’ve ever presented.
• We invited the people who received Christ to walk forward and nail their names to the cross after the service…I will NEVER forget that sound!
• The scripture we used today was Romans 3:23-24, Colossians 2:13-15, Isaiah 64:6 and Matthew 7:21-23
• I’ve NEVER seen our church as excited about a service as we were about today…since we preached on “Found People Find People” back on August 8th and did the evangelism seminar that week we’ve had an incredible desperation for Jesus to do something awesome…and HE DID!
• BTW…I had one of our parking volunteers stop me on my way out of the 11:15 service today and thank me for the evangelism seminar…he said that he was able to lead a friend to Christ at work because of it!  YES!!!
• What we saw today was the power of an AWESOME God partnered with people who were crazy enough to take Him at His Word and believe that if we brought people to a place where they could hear the message that HE would do amazing things among us!
• AND…not only that…but we are equipped to GO OUT and share HIS GOSPEL as well!
• I literally prayed Acts 8:8 over Anderson, Florence, Greenville, Columbia and Charleston today…I want to see great joy through an AWAKENING that HE is doing.
• NewSpring…let’s LIVE OUT Isaiah 62:6-7 and not leave God alone until He transforms our entire community!
• Can’t WAIT to conclude this series NEXT WEEK with a message entitled, “Don’t Stop Believing!”  God STILL has awesome things in store!
• CELEBRATING with my great friend Steven Furtick at Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC as they set an attendance record today as well and saw 581 salvations!!!!!  THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!!
• HE IS MIGHTY TO SAVE…and NewSpring Church…THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!  (Zephaniah 3:17)
• I am STILL trying to get my mind wrapped around what happened today.  I know I usually recap the message in these reflections entries, but, like I said, I’ve never seen anything quite like this and am trying to process everything and am asking God what He wants to do next.
• NewSpring Church…I LOVE YOU…what we’re seeing God do right now IS NOT NORMAL..He IS building HIS church…and…the BEST IS YET TO COME!

Whew!  I’ve got to TRY to go to sleep now!  :-)

• What God is doing right now in our church in incredible…I love my church!
• Saw a new attendance record set today…blows my mind.
• Taught on our third core value today – “I Can’t Do Life Alone.”
• One of the mistakes people often make is to think they can follow Christ without the church AND the people in the church.
• I once heard it said that a persons first step away from God is usually a step away from the people of God.
• If Peter walked away from Christ and his friends (Matthew 26:56), THEN tried to follow Jesus at a distance AND also placed himself in a very unhealthy environment (Matthew 26:58) which led to him eventually denying Christ (Matthew 26:69-75) then the SAME THING will happen to us if we follow in those steps.
• We’re called to be SERIOUS in our walk with Christ (Hebrews 10:22) which means we refuse to swerve (Hebrews 10:23) by allowing ourselves to be in REAL community where tough conversations (Hebrews 10:24) and encouragement (Hebrews 10:25) can take place.
• The church should be a place where it is ok to not be ok.
• Just think how much pain could have been avoided in the church if people would have felt free to follow the command given in James 5:16!  (BTW…healing comes only through confession!!!)
• The reason we don’t confess and ask for help is because we are afraid of what people might think about us…not understanding that the consequences of concealment are SO much greater than the consequences of confession!
• Unfortunately…the church in America usually shoots their wounded rather than helping them get back on their feet.
• People that are Christians really do struggle with sin…the battle IS intense…and we really do need one another to overcome those temptations!
• Had a great time exposing the four myths that we believe when it comes to “staying solid” in our faith–you can check out the podcast or website on Tuesday if you want to walk through them.
• Saw LOTS of people sign up to get involved in a group today…thought that was AWESOME!
• Cannot WAIT until NEXT WEEK!  Seriously…let’s do ALL WE CAN as a church to get as many people here next week to hear the Gospel!

I’m tired…going to bed!

• Today we talked about the fact that there is a difference in following Jesus and attending church…the tension was obvious; however, as my friend Andy Stanley says – “the tension is good.”
• Unfortunately in America the church is known for how we scream at people rather than how we serve them!
• Core Value #2 that we covered today is...SAVED PEOPLE SERVE PEOPLE! (See Matthew 20:28)
• According to the Scriptures it is impossible to say that we are following Jesus if we are not actively serving others.
• BTW…Chic Fil A was the hands down winner in the “favorite fast food” restaurant vote.
• Their food is really good…but it is their service that takes that restaurant over the top…service makes the difference!
• (I did a leadership post about Chic Fil A back in 2005…you can check it out here if you are interested.)
• One of the things that happens to a follower of Jesus is that we begin to see as Jesus sees…He changes us.
• BTW…if you are not changing then you are not following Christ.  We can’t follow Jesus and stay the same.
• Today we covered the story of the Good Samaritan…who was the one in the story that not only SAW the opportunity…but did something about it.  (See Luke 10:25-37)
• The guy in the story who “fell among robbers” is like so many of our friends and family members who do not know Christ…they walked down the wrong road…had the mess beat out of them…and they don’t really need a song or a sermon but rather someone to come along, pick them up and take them to a place where they can heal!  (THE CHURCH!)
• We can’t say we’re following Jesus if we are not willing to get our hands dirty…because…HE GOT HIS HANDS DIRTY when it came to reaching us!
• Jesus didn’t die on a cross so that we could attend church…He did it so we would one day BELONG to one.
• We’re not trying to raise an audience at NewSpring…we want an army who believes that God can still do the “impossible,”…and we live out Isaiah 62:6-7 by begging Him for it!
• If we are going to be a follower of Jesus Christ then we must respond as Jesus leads…and He does not lead us to sit but rather serve!!!
• He’s not looking for “experts” but rather ordinary people who allow Him to do the extraordinary through them!  (See Acts 4:13)
• A person who will not commit to a local church is a “spiritual hoe!”  (Someone who attends everywhere but belongs nowhere!)  God has called every believer to be involved in a local church spiritually, physically and financially.
• It’s not about the church needing us…but rather about God giving us the church through which He develops the gifts He has given us for His glory.
• I am so thankful for the hundreds and hundreds of volunteers at each campus who do all that they do every week to make sure church happens…you guys are AWESOME!
• I can’t WAIT until three weeks from today when we inform each campus of the AMAZING opportunities we each have to serve through local community projects…it is HARD to resist the message a church preaches when it is actively serving others.
• We had hundreds sign up for membership ownership class today…can’t WAIT to teach it tomorrow night in Anderson and Florence, Tuesday night in Cola and Thursday night in Greenville.  (Monday will be the only time I teach it live…the other two will be via recording.)
• I literally could go on and on about what we learned today…if you didn’t make it then you can watch it online on Tuesday…or download the podcast from itunes.

One more quick thing…

I would really appreciate your prayers this week.  I taught four seminars (two hours each time) last week…and I woke up Friday pretty sick to my stomach…that carried on through today…and I also had a massive headache to make sure the stomach ache was not alone.  Basically I felt like I had been hit by a truck…it backed up…and then ran over me again.  God was so gracious to me by allowing me to preach…and I know that through your prayers HE will continue to set me on fire so that I can teach the ownership class tomorrow night.

NewSpring Church…I LOVE MY CHURCH…you guys are awesome…and the best is yet to come!

• We saw 45 people give their lives to Christ today…that NEVER GETS OLD!
• Over 4,400 people signed up for the Evangelism seminar…WOW…more on that later!
• “Nothing But A Good Time” by Poison MIGHT have been the best opening song ever!  :-)
• “Amazing Grace” gets me EVERY TIME, especially the part when we sing, “…that saved a wretch like me…”  I can’t believe how far I was away from God…and that He STILL saved me.  Blown away!  I’ve never gotten over the cross!
• Today we began our “I Love the 80’s” series by teaching the first of our five brand new core values, “Found People Find People”  (Out of John 1:43-51)
• Evangelism is simply one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.  (I didn’t come up with that statement, can’t remember where I heard it…think it may have been Dr. Alvin Reid.)
• According to the Scriptures it is IMPOSSIBLE for someone to say that they are a follower of Jesus Christ and not be concerned for the things that clearly concern Him.
• Lost people matter to God; therefore, they should matter to HIS church!
• The reason I fear that some people have no desire to tell others about Jesus is because they have never met Him…we can’t describe something we’ve never experienced.
• WHEN did Jesus find you?  We didn’t find Him because…well, we were not looking for Him (See Romans 3:10-12) and…He was not the one that was LOST!
• I think the church is one of the ripest mission fields in America…I fear that there are lots of people who are “in the church” but not in the Kingdom.  (See Matthew 7:21-23)
• You know whether or not you’ve met Christ…so…when did you meet Him?
• WHO is it that you know that needs Christ?  Remember NewSpring Church…August 29th, GET PEOPLE TO CHURCH as we will be going all out on that day to present the Gospel in a way that we will NEVER forget!
• Found people find people!
• How do we introduce our friends to Christ?  Simple…one way is to get them to church…but that is NOT the only way…the other is…
• Do what I Peter 3:15 says…be READY to share out faith.  (I read recently that only around 3% of church members in America have ever led someone to Christ!)
• So…THIS WEEK we as a church are going ALL OUT to make sure that we are equipped as individuals to share our faith…and…
• I am so personally bought into this idea of “found people find people” that I am traveling to each campus this week to teach this seminar live…Greenville on Monday, Florence on Tuesday, Columbia on Wednesday and Anderson on Thursday!
• As I said earlier…there are already over 4,400 people signed up…WOW!!!
• AND…it’s not too late to sign up…here is the link, remember we will feed you dinner and take care of your kids…all you need to do is be there…I CAN’T WAIT!
• We don’t change people…we introduce them to Jesus and HE changes them!
• Jesus didn’t die on the cross so that we could establish a behavior modification program…but rather so we could declare His message to a world that is lost and hopeless without Him.
• Next week…wow…already excited about it!
• Charisse told me this afternoon that she likes NASCAR!  I don’t really know what to do with that!
• And…I would ask you guys to keep me in your prayers as I will be traveling and teaching a lot this week.

That’s it for now…expecting HUGE things at every campus next week…asking each one of our members owners to pray like you’ve never prayed and invite like you’ve never invited…and lets do our best to take this state for Christ!  I love you NewSpring Church!

• I LOVE MY CHURCH!
• Preached on Ezekiel 37:1-10 today…LOVE IT!
• For some reason if you say “I love ice cream” people think you are normal…but if you say “I love my church” they think you are a part of a cult!  (Usually because they don’t love their church…they endure it!)
• God changed my life through the local church…what the church does matters and I have given my life to it.
• When we say we love Jesus but don’t love the church we are basically booing the bride at the wedding…something the Groom will not tolerate!
• Yes, the church is full of jacked up, hypocritical people…and there is room for one more!!!
• There is not a perfect church!
• BUT…the church is HIS (Matthew 16:18), He said He would build it…and…He is!
• The church was SO important to Him that He gave His life for it, established it and now sits at the head of it…if all of that is true then IT MATTERS!
• We’re not called to attend a church…we’re called to belong to one!
• We are changing things at NewSpring…we no longer have “members,” we have “owners!”  We are changing membership class to ownership class…a member has RIGHTS, an owner has RESPONSIBILITIES!
• I used an Andy Stanley phrase today when I spoke in regards to the best way to make sure your kids one day drop out of church is force them to attend a church that you secretly wished that you didn’t attend!
• As a Christian I MUST celebrate because I WAS DEAD and now I am ALIVE IN CHRIST!!!  (See Ephesians 2:1-10!)  When people cross over from death to life…it’s time to get ROWDY!
• I had a lot of fun talking about people who say a church can get “too big,” it will be on the podcast on Tuesday!
• The potential of the church is AMAZING…and NewSpring, if THIS is what God has done the first 10 years then what are the next 10 going to look like!
• God didn’t die on a cross to raise an audience but rather to raise an army…and an army is willing to do whatever it takes to win!
• Next week we begin our “I Love the 80’s” Series…I cannot wait and am so excited about what I am speaking on next week that I will be in Greenville on Monday night to talk about it live…
• And then I am going to be in Florence next Tuesday night (August 10th)
• And then Columbia on Wednesday night (the 11th)
• And finally in Anderson on the 12th…
• More details to come about this on Sunday…I can’t WAIT to speak live at every campus next week and meet people!
• AND…the deadline for our Early Bird registration for our leadership conference is August 13th…you can go here to sign up!

One more thing NewSpring…I really do LOVE MY CHURCH!  I am here…I am not hopping from church to church every three to five years.  I am bought in!  People sometimes say to me, “Oh sure, you love your church because it has 10,000 people.”  What they do not understand is that I loved this church when it was in a living room and I could barely get 15 people to come!

I love this church…and am so thankful for those of you who have taken ownership and invested time and treasure into this place at every campus and have been a part of what God is doing!

I love my church…and I love you guys.  Thanks for allowing me the honor of serving you as pastor!  We’ve had some amazing times these past 10 years…but THE BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

I LOVE MY CHURCH!

• I had a BLAST today…our live Q & A was better than we anticipated!
• Most common asked questions had to to do with drinking alcohol, tattoos, inter-racial dating/marriage and homosexuality…AND predestination…WHAT a COMBO!
• In the 9:15 and 11:15 service I mentioned Carlos Whitaker’s tattoo…here is his website…he seriously has the best tat I’ve ever seen! (Hey LOS…why don’t you post a picture of it for us???)
• AND…in every service a question was asked in regards to God’s love…more specifically how does He love us if we continually do bad things – Romans 8:38-39 BLOWS ME AWAY every time I read it.
• We saw LOTS of salvations…and, as always, that NEVER gets old!
• One of the things that amazes me is how POWERFUL the WORD of GOD is…questions being asked today were answered THOUSANDS of years ago by a God who desperately wants us to know HIS ways…most often way more than we actually want to know them!
• Next week’s service…I cannot wait…seriously, I think it is going to be one of “those services” that we NEVER forget!
• Tomorrow we leave with 33 charter buses for Daytona Beach for our Youth Summer Camp…we are praying for and expecting HUGE things!
• People are STILL buzzing about the vision event we had at NewSpring on Thursday night…it seriously was one of the most electric environments I’ve EVER SEEN in my life.
• We begin “I Love The 80’s” in two weeks…I will start the whole thing off my rapping, “Ice, Ice Baby!”
• OK…I got a little excited…I will not be rapping!
• I really do love my church…and can’t WAIT to see what happens next!

Uh…one more thing…

Today we had something take place that has NEVER happened before on one of our campuses.

At the 11:15 service at our Anderson campus the engine to a Ford F-150 caught on fire…and, because it was windy this afternoon, the fire spread to other cars.  Long story short…five cars were pretty much destroyed and six others were damaged.  (A reporter asked me after the service if I had preached on hell, fire and brimstone!)

Several things to note…

#1 – No one was injured!  The fire took place in the back section of one of our parking lots while the service was going on.

#2 – The local fire department was AWESOME…these guys responded in a matter of minutes and were able to quickly get the situation under control.

#3 – Our staff and volunteers were awesome as well and made sure everyone whose car had been destroyed and damaged were informed and taken care of.

#4 – Everyone I spoke to after the service whose car had been messed up had an amazing attitude!  One lady literally told me, “Well, I have been asking God for a new car…He sure does answer in unique ways!”

#5 – It was one guys FIRST visit to NewSpring Church…wow…I hope he comes back!

Seriously…I am SO GLAD no one was hurt!!!

Have a GREAT WEEK…and once again please keep our youth group in prayer as we are at the beach this week…trust me, you will DEFINITELY be able to tell next week that God did something AMAZING!

• It was an honor to have Jeff Kapusta from Lifepoint Church in Wilmington, NC with us at NewSpring today.
• Jeff preached one of the BEST messages I’ve ever heard in regards to the Gospel!
• We saw 74 people receive Christ today…and…you guessed it…THAT NEVER GETS OLD!
• A few of the things Jeff said that REALLY stuck out to me were…
• “Everyone has a ‘dent’ in their lives, something they are not proud of, something that marks them; however, your ‘dent’ does not determine your identity!”  WOW!
• “We see ourselves as worthless, God sees us as priceless.”
• “If you want to know the value of something you only need to look at what someone is willing to pay for it!  God didn’t go bargain shopping for us…HE SENT JESUS…that means we have value!”
• “The damage done to you does not discount the price paid for you.”
• I could go on and on…you should definitely listen to this message if you were not able to make it today.
• I’m REALLY excited about our “Night of Vision” THIS Thursday night!  We will have a time of worship AND then I will be sharing where I believe God is leading our church over the next 6-8 months…I CAN’T WAIT!
• If you are a volunteer…OR…if you have been considering getting involved then you need to be here (this is EVERY CAMPUS!)  Trust me!
• We won’t have childcare…but…this is definitely worth hiring a babysitter for!!!
• I’m also excited about NEXT Sunday…we will be doing a LIVE Q&A in every service…people will literally text in their questions live…and I will take a shot at answering them!
• BTW – “I don’t know” IS an answer!  :-)
• I cannot believe our youth beach trip (The Gauntlet) is ALMOST here…we’re taking over 1,000 teenagers to the beach…PRAY!
• And YES, as a matter of fact we are beginning a series on 8/1 entitled, “I Love The 80’s!”  AND…”Sweet Child ‘O Mine” WILL be in a service somewhere!  :-)
• The NewSpring Leadership Conference will be here before you know it…you SERIOUSLY should sign up now if you haven’t!

That’s about it…except for the fact that I want every NewSpring member and attender to know that I love you guys…I love this church and I REALLY hope/pray that you will be here on Thursday night!  God has more in store for us than we could ever imagine…I can’t WAIT to share more about it.

• Pete Wilson was our guest speaker today…he is the pastor of Crosspoint Church in Nashville, TN…and I thought his message was INCREDIBLE!
• After spending some time with Pete this weekend I can see why God is blessing his church so much…he is a humble leader who has surrounded himself with great people…and he’s willing to do whatever it takes to reach people far from God.
• His first question blew me away, “Where in the Scriptures did God give anyone an easy job to do?”  WOW!
• I also loved the statement, “we automatically assume that God is not with us when bad things happen.”  (Despite the fact that in Isaiah 43:1-3 He promises to walk with us!)
• And finally his statement, “My greatest temptation is not to chase after the ridiculously evil but to chase after the deceptively good,” ROCKED my world…seriously going to marinate on that one for a while.
• Pete just released his first book called Plan B…here’s the link…and I HIGHLY recommend it.
• If you are from Crosspoint in Nashville…you really do have an amazing Pastor (his wife is awesome as well!)  Get behind them, pray for them…encourage them because your best days are ahead of you…I can’t WAIT to hear about what happens next up there.
• I spent the entire last week in Colorado with Dr. John Walker, an INCREDIBLE, Godly, biblical counselor at the Blessing Ranch in Colorado…pastors, EVERY one of us need a counselor…and if you don’t have one, I HIGHLY recommend John.
• Anderson campus…I will be blogging more about this later on during the week…but I really want us to step up big time for this food drive, seriously, let’s do all we can to IMPACT this community.
• I cannot believe The Gauntlet (our youth beach camp) is only two weeks away!  We have 1,008 students going to the beach…and are praying that Jesus moves in amazing ways.
• I’m also SUPER excited about our all staff meeting this Thursday…we didn’t get to meet in June and I feel that this upcoming staff meeting is going to be one of the BEST we’ve ever had!  EVER!
• The passage of Isaiah 61:1-4 is ROCKING my world right now!  Can’t stop thinking about it!
• Two years ago this weekend we launched our Greenville campus…wow…can’t believe how much has happened since then.  So proud of our Greenville staff and volunteers!
• Also had no idea at the time that we would also be launching Florence, Columbia…and pretty soon, Charleston!

That’s all for now…already looking forward to next Sunday!

I LOVE our children’s team here at NewSpring Church…their passion for teaching kids about Jesus on a level that they can understand is SO appreciated by me as a pastor AND as a dad!

I see a monumental problem in churches today…when we consider that unchurched people are not being reached AND we combine that with the fact that MANY students that were raised in church walk away when they graduate high school…well, that’s a problem.

I think one way to combat that issue is striving as a church to have a healthy youth and children’s ministry.  (I won’t say that much about youth ministry in this post…I did cover some things a few months ago here if you are interested.)

Here are three convictions I have about children’s ministry…

#1 – If you want to reach kids…then you’ve got to spend money on them.  It BLOWS me away that church world always seems to be scratching our heads and wondering why kids FLOCK to Disney (even the Baptist ones) but they don’t flock to church.  MAYBE it’s because Disney spends “squillions” of dollars on them…and many churches have more money in their graveyard fund than they do their children’s budget.  We will spend money on what is important…and I think children’s (and student) ministry is THE most important mission field in the church.

#2 – If you want to reach kids…they’ve got to have fun.  When I was growing up “fun” and “church” were never used in the same sentence; therefore, as soon as my mother died and I didn’t have to go to church anymore…I didn’t.  Kids are not growing closer to Jesus by being forced to sit and listen…or by coloring (with crayons provided by their parents).  They should want to come to church, should look forward to coming to church…and so we unapologetically go all out every week to make sure these kids have a GREAT time.

#3 – If you want to reach kids…they’ve got to learn something. I’ve told our children’s ministry that when parents come pick up their kids that they will ask two questions – the first will be “did you have fun,” and the second will be, “what did you learn?”  I told our children’s team…make sure kids can answer both in a positive way…and THAT’S a win.  (BTW…a “WIN” is when the parents and the kids actually talk about what the child learned!  When parents and the church work together…its an awesome team!

Does it work?  Well…Charisse (my three year old) quoted her memory verse to me the other day.  (AND…she asked me the other day when we were riding around the other morning could we go to the church because she loves it so much!)  Kids LEARN about Jesus on THEIR LEVEL…thus the Great Commission is being fulfilled, disciples are being made because a biblical foundation is being laid in an environment that they LOVE!

To ALL of our staff and volunteers at NewSpring that work with our kids…YOU ARE ALL AMAZING!  THANK YOU for the COUNTLESS hours of prayed and preparation you guys gave in order to make today happen!  The Gospel was preached…and according to Isaiah 55:8-11 there WILL be a harvest.  Thank you for fulfilling I Peter 4:10 and simply doing what the Bible says to do, because of the way YOU ALL served today…God’s Kingdom was both honored and enlarged!

Keep up the GREAT work!

• First of all…you are INSANE if you miss next Sunday at NewSpring Church…the children’s ministry is taking over the service and it is going to be straight up awesome!
• People always ask me, “Did you have a fun time really bringing it to the men?”  The answer is no…because, well, I’m a man…and I am FAR from perfect.  :-)
• Being a godly husband and father are two of the most difficult things I’ve ever done…it honestly feels like so many times I am playing “king of the mountain,” I will do good for a little while and then fall on my face!
• We are called by God to fight for our families (see Nehemiah 4:14)
• Men…if you don’t lead your family then satan will!  (See Genesis 3:1-6)
• EVERY family in the Bible was jacked up…so is mine…so is yours!
• The harder a family tries to pursue image over integrity the harder the fall will be when it all comes crashing down.
• The family today has sacrificed integrity for image…it’s not what we do that really matters…it’s how we appear to others.  And…uh…it’s NOT working.
• Men…the way we walk and talk WILL impact our families…this was SO evident as we examined Ruth 1:1-4 and Acts 10.
• In America it seems all to often that the ritual that makes a boy become a man is when the boy tells his mother that he is staying home with his father and not going to church.
• Call it what you want…make excuses for men all day long…the bottom line is that we tend to want to walk away from a challenge, especially the one to lead our family spiritually.
• BUT…the man who will STEP up MAKES a difference…I read a statistic the other day that BLEW me away – if a woman takes her kids to church there is a 1 in 50 chance that child will become a regular church attender…if a man takes his kids to church there is a 1 in 3 chance that they will become regular church attenders.
• Ezekiel 22:30 says God is looking for a man to take a stand…I want to be that man will all my heart.
• If you are a dude and think that at times it feels weird to lead you’re family spiritually…that just means you’re normal!  It’s weird at times for me as well…we all struggle with this!
• Quality time with our kids is not letting them watch a DVD in the mini van while we drive five minutes to the grocery store.  (We usually do that so we don’t have to talk to them.)
• The reason most men would rather spend more time at work than at home is because they are actually built up and encouraged at work…ladies, it is your job to make sure you encourage and build up your husbands as much as possible.
• Single ladies…if the dude isn’t running after Jesus now then he’s NOT going to be able to lead your family!  (AND…if you are making excuses for him you probably know what you need to do.)
• Our words to and about our kids have power…to build up OR destroy.  (If you didn’t get to see it you really should take a look at the message when we get it online on Tuesday when I shared the paper and glass illustration.)
• Too many men seek to lead their families through intimidation…but, INTIMIDATION leads to ISOLATION…we can intimidate them for their first 10 years…but that will isolate them for the next 50!
• Dads…when is the last time you told your son/daughter that you are proud of them.  UH…they NEVER get tired of hearing that!
• Too many parents refuse to talk to their kids about the tough issues…uh…the world is talking to them about those issues!  (Telling our church about the conversation with Charrise after she asked “what’s that” after I got out of the shower was…uh…uncomfortable!)
• Our kids are not just listening to our words…they are watching our lives.  SO…that means we can’t do things like tell them not to speed when we have a radar detector in our car!
• If you are a husband/father and you feel like you’ve dropped the ball…you can start TODAY and make things right!  There is ALWAYS hope in Christ!!!  I am praying Romans 15:5 for you as well as Romans 15:13!
• It was SO moving to see HUNDREDS of men stand today to be prayed for!

I really could go on and on about today…it was great.  I hope you will check out the service online this Tuesday…or you can download the podcast.  It honestly was the most challenging “man message” I think we’ve ever put together…and I am praying that God continues to do GREAT things through it.