NewSpring Conference...Wow.

Totally blown away at the events of today.  I'm not a big conference hound.  This is the first one like this for me and Leslie in almost three years.  It was worth every minute.  It was like drinking from a fire hydrant.  Unfortunately, after not leaving Enterprise until after 5PM yesterday, we didn't get to Anderson, SC until well after 1AM.  We overslept a bit, got lost on the way to NewSpring and totally missed Perry Noble's opening session, which is a bummer because Perry is a huge influence on my life and work.  Huge.  But here's a bit of what happened after that:

• Mark Driscoll - He taught on Ephesians 5 (Paul in jail), and specifically about suffering, and was clear about the fact that when you dedicate your life to Jesus, it's not all gonna be snowcones and lollipops (my words).  His words were a bit more succint: "Those whom God uses greatly, will first be wounded deeply".  A few other quotes (in no specific order): "Preachers who preach repentance but don't practice it create a toxic culture in their church".  Also, "The world's not filled with good guys and bad guys.  The world's filled with bad guys and Jesus".  Also, "Jesus did not suffer so that you would not suffer.  He suffered so that when you suffer, you would be like him".  And,  "Religious people don't suffer.  They cause other people to suffer".  Love him or don't (he's a lightening rod to be sure and not one to shirk from sharing his opinion), Mark Driscoll is a Gospel heavyweight who propels the Kingdom of God forward with insight, intelligence, deep understanding of the Scriptures, and the anointing of the Holy Spirit.  No two ways about it.
• Jud Wilhite - He said this (well, Jesus said it first, but he re-stated it real good): "Go to work, put your hand to the plow and don't look back".  Jud was AWESOME!  "Reach out to eh broken and you will always have an audience", he said, and should know well by now.  He pastors a huge church in Las Vegas where 1 in every 5 attenders are unemployed, and a hughe component of his congregation is people in recovery from addictions of every description.  The Las Vegas economy is one of the worst in the country, and the resources of their massive church have been hit hard.  Driscoll said about them, "You guys aren't just bbroke, you're college-broke!"  Despite all that, they have the largest recovery ministry in the State, they have a church plant in a 700-person Women's Prison, one of their formerly homeless attenders sued and beat the Mayor of Las Vegas paving the way for continued feeding of homeless people on the street, and they have fostered a culture of saying "Yes!"  I'm taking home many big learnings from Jus Wilhite.
• Judah Smith - I was really prepared to not like him, until I heard his story.  Then I had to love him.  He's a real young guy whose a 7th generation pastor, who recently took over his father's church after his father pastored it for 18 years.  He's totally a Pentacostal dude and because of my background in Pentacostal and Word of Faith churches (which I finally ran sreaming from after 16 odd, and I mean odd, years) I was pre-disposed to dislike him.  Having said all that...he TOTALLY won me over, and left me in a puddle of tears after his extraordinarily compelling and right on the money message.  Says Judah (preaching on stormy weather and small watercraft from Mark 4:35), "The only way to get from where you are now to where you should be is to stay in the boat".  He wasn't talking about not walking on the water, he was talking about not giving up when you're afraid, and the wind is blowing and the waves are crashing in on you, and you have NO IDEA how long it's going to last.  Good stuff.
• Francis Chan - Well, let me just say that Francis Chan has the kind of integrity you don't even hear about, let alone see.  I say that based on this: after founding Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, CA and pastoring for 16 years, he recognized that his own celebrity was getting in the way of the Gospel message.  He said today, "I heard the name Frances Chan from the people in my church way more than the name of Jesus".  He stepped down, turned the ministry over to someone who isn't famous, sold his house and is moving with his family to Asia...or somewhere...?  He has absolutely no idea what God is going to do in his life.  He was the most transparent leader I've even seen on the platform.  Honestly, he was a holy mess.  I'm not kidding either.  God is tweaking him so much that he could barely speak today.  So, weeping, he fell to his knees and prayed for everyone in the room.  I've never seen anything like it.  It was...I don't even know how to describe it, except to say that the Holy Spirit moved on the hearts of everyone in the room.  What an incredible honor to have been there for that moment.  He said many things that blew my small mind, and touched my heart very deeply.
• Steve Furtick - Furtick was great, as anyone who has seen or heard him might imagine.  Simple, to the point, and no holds barred.  He said about Jesus (quoting Jesus mother), "Whatever he tells you to do...do it!"  He masterfully wove his message to this point: "Jesus always sent someone to do what He had already planned, and worked out.  So whatever he tells you to do, do it like it's already done, because it is!"  Loved this too, "If no one has laughed at the size of your vision yet, you're not dreaming big enough!"  Furtick did way more good in his message than this short paragraph about it can descibe.  Hugely impressed with his heart, his message, his delivery and his ministry.  Incredible story, for which God gets all the glory.  At the end, he gave everyone in the room (about 2500 people) a copy of his new book, Sun Stand Still.
• Andy Stanley - Guys, if you know me then you know that Andy is a huge mentor to me (of course, he has no idea about that) and his teaching is probably the single largest influence on our church and our ministry in terms of target, and teaching content and style.  Leslie and I sat in the sixth row, center and listened to something that is so large, I can't even talk about it yet (but I did take several pages of notes).  I'll be bringing it back to our staff and leaders soon.  Yes, I totally have a man-crush on Andy Stanley and I make no apologies for telling you that sitting there receiving Christ's message tonight through Andy Stanley was one of the highlights of 21 years serving God.

Big, big day.  I know this was a long Blog post, but if you're stil reading, I really wanted to share just a little bit of what we experienced today.  NewSpring is a wonderful church, and I was blown away by their incredible (and massive, and massively motivated) corps of volunteers!  I've never seen anything like it.  They served with joy, grace, and humility.  What a crew!  On another note: The music, singers, musicians, and songwriters at NewSpring were simply amazing!  But here's the most amazing part: they've got nothing on Nic & Jann and the Crossroads band (except several hundred thousand dollars worth of great sound gear).  I am absolutely serious guys, the whole time I was worshipping today, I kept thinking how blessed we are that God has given us what He's given us at Crosroads!

 

I praise God for each of you and for our church family and the direction He's sent us in the short time we've been Crossroads.  And I want you to know that I thank Him continually for the amazing honor He has given me to serve as your pastor.  I am humbled by it, and I count it as the most precious and important responsibility and privilege that anyone could ever be afforded.  Peace.