Amy came home from Target the other day and informed me that they are now selling Dr Pepper slushies.  This is possibly the biggest news she’s shared with me since she last announced she was pregnant.  I haven’t had one yet but it’s only a matter of time.  The is surely a sign of God’s favor on my life.  :)

The Marathon gas station on PIB/McEver Road always has the cheapest gas for miles around.  There’s usually a small line of cars at every pump.  Friday is was something like $3.47 which is great but get this…

I went in and talked to the store manager and he told me that his boss is a millionaire and is tired of getting complaints from Quick Trip and others about selling his gas too cheap so to show them he’s going to be selling it for even less.  Supposedly, they are going to be selling their gas for $2.99/gal a some point this week.  (If that happens, I will be buying a tanker truck and filling up!)  Anyway, I thought you’d all like to know.

If you’re a pastor, especially a church planter, everything new you try should be called an “experiment.”  This lowers stress and allows for failure. 

Whenever you announce some change at your church, it sort of worries people a bit.  The folks that are faithful to you church like it the way it is, for the most part, and change can be scary at times.  When you call changes experiments, it allows people to understand that you’re just trying stuff out.  It also allows you to back up if that changes you’re making aren’t working.

I don’t think this is just a matter of spin either.  I honestly think that you’ve got to look at everything you do as an experiment.  At the end of the day, as church leaders, we’re called to get direction from God and then obey.  We aren’t, however, infallible so we always need to move forward giving it all we’ve got while allowing God to redirect us if necessary.  In other words, we’re participating in a divine experiment.

The cool thing is that even if we miss it God is big enough to help us back on our way.

• I personally think we had one of the greatest days ever at Fusion today.  (That’s my opinion. What do you think?)
• I felt like God was really moving today and I think that He set some ladies free from a lot of junk.
• I’ve really enjoyed having Seth on the keys throughout this series.
• I’ve loved this series and I know that God wanted us to do it and do it right but I don’t think we could afford one more Sunday.  ;)  This has probably been on the costliest series we’ve ever done.
• I loved the reaction I got when I destroyed the Coach handbag.  You would have thought I was killing a child on stage.  It was an expensive illustration but I believe it’s one that the ladies won’t soon forget…and that’s the point.
• I also loved the reaction I got when I gave the “restored” handbag to a deserving young woman in our church.  God told me to give it to her specifically and it made my day to do so.
• We actually even found a home for the destroyed bag too.  A young lady thinks she can doctor it.  We’ll see.  :)
• The series evaluation cards we’ve got back in today are awesome.  The ladies learned so much and I’m so thankful for that.  I was surprised by how much the guys learned too.  God is so cool.
• The all-new membership class was a blast yesterday!  We added another 28 members to the church.  God is so great!
• I’m continually amazed at the caliber of people that God is bringing to Fusion.
• I love my wife beyond words.  She’s absolutely amazing.
• I’m really looking forward to my coaching session tomorrow.  It’s such a wonderful thing to connect with other pastors.
• I really enjoyed this blog post from Davis Hipps.
• Fusion Net is exploding.  I’m so pleased with how that has taken off!
• I haven’t been sleeping well for what seems like months now.  Please pray that I learn how to sleep again.
• Fusion folks, pray, pray, pray.  Pray for our church.  God is really moving but the enemy is doing everything He can to thwart it.
• I said last week that I was going to kick the devil in the throat this week and I think we did that.  It felt good.
• I literally felt like spiritual chains were being broken off people during the message today.  That’s all God and I praise Him for it.
• I just uploaded another videos to Fusion Net.
• I’m hoping to order some equipment for my new hobby this week.  I’m very excited about that.  Stay tuned for more details.
• I think the mirrors were a bit hit today.  (Ladies, am I right about that?)  I hope God used (uses) them to change the way all the ladies look at themselves.
• I hope the school gets their a/c unit fixed soon.  It sounds like a bad mariachi band or a cheap radio is playing behind me when it comes on while I’m preaching.
• Part of me wants to extend this series another week but I know it’s done and I know that we did exactly what God wanted us to do.  If we went another week it would just fall flat.  You’ve got to move with the cloud.
• Ladies, did you feel honored today?  I hope so.
• We need a major prayer warrior to step forward at Fusion.  If that’s you, please contact me.  Actually, I’d like to talk to you even if you’re just a minor prayer warrior.  ;)
• I wouldn’t have made it through this busy weekend without Sheryl.  Thanks, Sheryl!
• If you ask me, Phil and June Bentley as well as Davis and Angie Hipps are all unsung heroes at Fusion!  Thanks for all you do!!!
• I know that God is going to get Angela teaching again at Fusion.  I’m just looking for the right time to break it to her.  Please don’t mention it to her though.  ;)
• I’m so pumped about what God is doing at Fusion!  Lord, help us to partner with you more and more as you move and change lives!
• It’s raining really hard now.  I love the rain!  I usually sleep well when it rains. Got to run and try to get some sleep.
• I love ya, Fusion!

I was joking around with my kids the other day and I said something like, “Well, daddy’s not that bright.”  My 8 year old son replied, “Let’s face it, Dad.  You don’t know the square root of pi.”  That made me laugh really hard.

God is stirring my heart like crazy these days.  Something is definitely brewing.  Trust me, Fusion folks.  God is getting ready to seriously do some major stuff.  Hang on.

I think that this is amazing and freaky at the same time. 

It seems that my blog was having problems with allowing people to post comments and nobody told me.  I think I just fixed that.  Comment away!

This Sunday we are going to be concluding our Beautiful series.  To be completely honest, most of the time, when we work our way through a series, we tend to lose a little steam but that’s not the case with this series.  This thing has just been exploding and I keep having ladies asking me to extend it for about 52 weeks or so.  :D

Ladies, I’m telling you that you simply can’t miss this weekend.  We are going out with a bang like you wouldn’t believe.  I’m going to be talking about how God restores “broken” beauty.  We’re going to learn how God can restore beauty when you’ve been damaged, hurt or wounded.  I’m telling you that this is a can’t-miss service.  Do whatever you need to do to be there and make sure you make every effort to bring every friend you have with you.

I’ll be really honest with you here and tell you that I just didn’t do the job I wanted to do last weekend.  I just couldn’t seem to get into the groove with my message.  (I’ve been remember all sorts of things I should have said or that I should have said better all week long.)  I was just distract by the enemy or something but I promise you that I’m going to kick the devil in the teeth this weekend and do my best to bring my absolute best to the table.

In other words, be there.  Trust me, this is the service to be there and to be there with a friend.  I just know that God is going to move is some amazing ways.

Gentlemen, I want you to know that you need to be there too.  This weekend is going to help you understand your wives and daughters like never before!

We’ve had a lot videos online in the past but they’re all over the place so we’ve decided to upload the bulk on them to one place for your viewing pleasure.  You can check them out at here.  (We’ve just added the “One Day at a Time” video which has had over 19,000 views on YouTube.)

We are also uploading those videos plus some behind-the-scenes stuff on our new Fusion Net.  If you’re a fusioneer, be sure to check out the video section.  (I just uploaded a video that shows what a typical Saturday night and Sunday morning looks like for me.  I think you might find that interesting.)