16 Days of Silence...

It has been 16 days since my last blog post...

That's because in that time I:

- Took a mini vacation in the form of a 900 mile motorcycle trip through South Carolina and Georgia.
- Was caught up in all of the details that surrounded bringing Ted and Gail Haggard's to our church.
- And, participated in the planning and execution of our "non-conference" THR3E.

It's been a busy 16 days...I am now planning to get back to my regular posting (once or twice a week).

I Don't Deserve Any Of This...

Our Lead Staff went through an exercise the other day where we listed out the top ten statements that we felt described what it's like to be part of the culture of Elevation Church.

My #1 statement was, "We don't deserve any of this...so we will remain grateful."

After an Easter Weekend like the one we just experienced (check out Pastor Furtick's blog for details) I find myself sitting in my chair wondering how I got here...

Five years ago you would have found me building decks in Shelby, NC trying to make some cash to help supplement my wife's income while she was paying my way through school. I had my plans for my life, but I had no idea what it meant to follow God's plans for my life.

Now, on the Monday after 740 people received Christ at Elevation Church I am having a hard time figuring out how the steps I was taking then were leading me to this office chair! It's like putting 2 + 2 into a calculator and having 4,000 come out!

I really don't deserve any of this and for that reason I will remain grateful.

Student Small Groups Director

Elevation Church has a lot of students. In fact, we have students who drive 45 minutes every week to spend most of the day serving.

Any time we pull together our leaders for a special vision-casting event you can count on a few rows of rowdy students to be there. They’re the loudest and proudest group of “bought-in” owners of the vision of our church.

So here’s the irony:
We don’t do very much that is specifically for our students!

We have tried a lot of different things from hype events to revivals for students. For the most part they have been pretty successful.

We’ve got small groups for students, but students get involved just like adults do…by seeking them out.

We have a lot of students who volunteer but that’s because when we ask the whole church to volunteer they walk to the table on their own and sign up.

We did a study recently of the top 10 fastest-growing churches and the top 25 most innovative churches and discovered statistics like the following:
• 23 of 25 have a Student Pastor on staff
• 20 of 25 have a separate worship experience for students
• 7 of 10 have a website designated for students

In every statistic we looked at we were the odd one out...

This always troubles me until spring break when our attendance drops and our volunteer teams are thin. Our students are involved! They are serving. Many of them are taking advantage of the opportunity to be in groups. And, probably most importantly, they are here!!!

So, because we want to steward the momentum that God has sent us through our students and, because we want to harness that momentum to make a bigger impact in our city, I’ve got an announcement to make:

We are hiring a Student Small Groups Director! (NOT a Youth Pastor!!)

Check out this link for the job description and if you think you have what it takes, ask five trusted friends and an enemy or two…if they agree you have what it will take, you should consider applying!