Easter

Here's some thoughts about yesterday....
1. Over 5000 attended one of 4 campuses of Highlands.
2. The new Marion campus launched yesterday with over 300 in attendance. That pretty much means two per seat! :-)
3. Our volunteers stepped up big yesterday. We had tons of new faces in First Impressions. We had tons of veterans pulling double and triple shifts. Way to go!!!!!
4. The band was particularly good yesterday. They're playing heavier which I like since I'm a death metal fan at heart.
5. Had a great ribeye yesterday to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. Yes, a cow did die to make the celebration possible. But Jesus lives!!!!!
6. I had a volunteer come up to me yesterday who said..."I finally figured out what I'm supposed to be doing! I love greeting." That was a cool deal.
7. We had a bunch of people come to christ yesterday. I'll have some figures soon...there were two that I know of personally. What a priviledge to get to talk to them yesterday....
8. We had a bishop from kenya visiting highlands yesterday. I met him in the restroom. Jambo!

Well that's enough for right now. We're looking forward to our LifeGroup orientation and connection tomorrow starting at 6pm. Hope you'll be there to here what's cooking.

Conference Possibilities

Recently, I got the chance to attend Saddleback’s small group conference in Orange County and NewSpring’s Unleash in Anderson County. :-) Several times now, I’ve had opportunities to share things that I’ve learned at both those unique moves of God. I loved each experience and learned a bunch. Conferences are designed to mess up your thinking…to throw you off balance…in a good way. I’m going to share a series of posts on how we can put a conference in the proper context so that we maximize their benefit.

Everybody says at a conference… “Don’t go back and copy everything we do,” and yet people will go back and do one of two things. They will either go back and copy everything or fail to leverage the momentum that the conference gives. You go to a conference to glean from the corners of another man’s field. Instead, many folks try to dig up and bring back the soil only to find that the container they brought to hold the wheat won’t hold the dirt. That soil has been fertilized, tilled, planted, watered, and weeded. For us to assume that we can have the same crop without the same toil is folly. On the flip side, a conference exposes you to the white, hot passion of people who are on the same ultimate mission that you are. Why not capitalize on the momentum that an experience like that can create? What you are doing then is saying, “What if…” which is about the most powerful phrase in Christendom. Conferences allow us to see possibilities that before now have gone unseen and that is a good thing. What are some possibilities you’ve seen from the conference you attended?

Part two coming…

Unleash was great!

Props to Perry Noble and the team at NewSpring Church in Anderson, South Carolina for an incredible conference. Our team from Highlands had a great time and learned a ton. Here's a couple of things I was impressed with...
1. The energy of the volunteers. What an incredible first and lasting impression!
2. The Awake Cafe. I love legal stimulants.
3. The organization. Everyone is moving in one direction...
4. Great breakouts with Sherry Moorhead (volunteers) and Michael Brown (small groups).
5. Worship experience. What happened musically, emotionally, and spiritually on the song "hosanna" is a watermark in my journey.
4. Perry Noble...bringing the deep, deep hooks.

It was great fun to eat wings with my team at the best restaurant in the world. Wild Wing!

One Month to Live is Coming!

I'm looking forward to launching our new campaign called One Month to Live. It's going to be challenging and exciting. We have incredible LifeGroup Leaders here and I'm sure that this challenge is going to be faced head on. Our goal is 250 total LifeGroups. That would represent 2500 people in a group and would be more people in a small group than attend our weekend worship experiences. That is a God-sized goal. To reach that goal we need everyone's help! Imagine what would happen if all the folks in groups now were released to HOST their own group. I know that would push many folks outside their comfort zone. Guess what? We haven't been called to be comfortable but to reach the world! Hosting is simple. Simply put, it is Have a heart for people, Open your home, Serve a snack, and Turn on the dvd player. That's it! These HOSTs would go out and invite friends, neighbors, and family to their home for a six week study. HOSTing is easy. We hope that you will partner will us to see our region in a LifeGroup!