C3, Pt. 3

What an amazing 3 days God gave Julie & me at C3. The encouragement, conviction, teaching, friendships new and old...on and on and on. It was truly incredible.

I'm still processing the whole thing, but I do know this: I love God, I love Julie, I love the ministry, I love Ed & Lisa, I love our staff and church-- I love all of them more today than I did when I left Austin on Wednesday because God let me be there.

All of that came out of something that was birthed when one man decided to leave the comfortable confines of his dad's church and go to a struggling mission church as their first pastor at 28 years old in his first pastorate. In some ways it would've been much easier for Ed to stay in Houston and walk in his dad's wake--and in some ways, not. But he took that risk and that step of faith, and so many of us have benefited so much from it.

I thank God for Ed and Lisa. What God has built into my life through them I'll never be able to repay but investing it in other people is part of why I can't wait to get up and go every day. Lake Hills Church has its own identity, its own flavor and personality, but it's good to know that we come from such incredible stock and have such a heritage.

C3, Pt. 2

We're heading out for C3 this afternoon and I'm really jacked about what God's got in store for our team, for me personally, and I know for everyone who'll be there this week.

One of the really cool things about C3 is reconnecting with really cool friends in ministry from around the country. It's funny--but as our church has grown, my acquaintances have grown exponentially. But, the number of true friends I have in Austin has decreased while the number of friends I have elsewhere has grown. Most of them will be in Dallas this week and I love getting to see them and steal ideas from them.

This isn't a bad thing, it's just an it-is-what-it-is thing. There are a lot of reasons for it, some of which are bad, some aren't. Craig Groeschel pastors LifeChurch which is one of the strongest, most Kingdom-minded churches on the planet. His blog this week speaks directly to the friendship-ministry challenge. I really appreciate his candor and knowing that our situation is common.

I'm curious: is this a phenomenon unique to ministry or do leaders in other arenas experience it as well? Comment back and let me know.

C3, Pt. 1

Next week a large contingent of LHC staff is going to be attending the Creative Church Conference (C3) at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX. It's an exciting time as so many of our staff will get to see LHC's roots, share and grow through the people who'll be speaking, and we'll get some valuable time away outside of our normal routines and patterns.

C3 is one of the few conferences that I make it a point to attend. It always encourages and empowers me to do what we get to do in ministry, at the same time that it challenges and convicts me to change some of the ways that we do it.

I'd love to hear from you: Comment back and let me know where do you go to learn, grow, and recharge?